A long-awaited review of Tennessee’s system for evaluating teachers came out yesterday. Six months ago Governor Bill Haslam asked the education group SCORE to study the new system, after hearing complaints from educators about the fairness of the evaluation, and how much time it takes.
The 46-page review doesn’t give a ton in the way of concrete recommendations.
Teachers in subjects that don’t have standardized tests, like art, have complained that too much of their evaluation comes from results from students they’ve never met. SCORE says instead such teachers should be able to make classroom observations count for more of their overall review.
But the report (PDF) doesn’t say just how much more. An example in the report puts it at 75 percent:
But CEO Jamie Woodson says that’s not SCORE’s specific recommendation:
“There is no magic number to the percentage of balance between qualitative and quantitative information. The research is ongoing in that regard.”
Another sticking point has been just how often principals should observe teachers in the classroom. SCORE doesn’t give a hard recommendation, simply saying it favors multiple visits each year, even for licensed teachers.
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The review also says the evaluation system needs to connect the feedback it gives teachers with specific ways for them to improve. And it says district leaders should make it easier for principals to spend more time in classrooms.
SCORE says the state did not pay for the review; rather, CEO Jamie Woodson says SCORE footed the bill itself. Woodson didn’t say just how much the effort cost – it included gathering online feedback from more than 15 thousand teachers.
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