Our Teachers, Our Future: Details of Teacher Evaluation Feedback

Official Press Release

Organization Will “Listen and Gather Feedback on Successes and Challenges”

(Nashville) - The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) today announced details of a statewide feedback process on Tennessee’s new teacher evaluation system at a meeting of the State Board of Education. The process, which is designed to gather input from a wide range of voices, particularly from educators, follows a charge by Governor Bill Haslam to conduct a formal feedback process, independent of state government. “Great teaching is the number one school-based factor in improving student achievement,” SCORE President and CEO Jamie Woodson said. “Our state is now in the first year of implementing a teacher evaluation system to identify and foster great teaching. Critical to the success of this implementation work is robust and extensive feedback from educators and community leaders to identify what is working and what can be improved. Over the next four months, SCORE’s role will be to listen.” From February through May 2012, SCORE will gather feedback and input in four ways:

• Regional Roundtables: SCORE will facilitate eight public regional roundtables across the state. Roundtable participants will include teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, and community and business leaders.
• Online Survey: Beginning March 1, SCORE will launch an online survey to gather feedback on current teacher evaluation practices and policies from educators.
• Discussions with existing groups and networks: SCORE will gather feedback from existing groups, such as superintendent, principal, and supervisor study councils, as well as leaders and educators from each of the four evaluation models.
• Educator Work Team: SCORE will convene a representative group of teachers and principals from across the state to provide ongoing feedback.

Seven organizations have partnered with SCORE to gather feedback from educators and community leaders. They include: Tennessee Education Association (TEA), Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA), Tennessee Business Roundtable, Tennessee PTA, Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS), Professional Educators of Tennessee (PET), and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry. More details on the regional roundtables and educator survey are available at www.tnscore.org/feedback. Following the feedback process, SCORE will produce a report to the Tennessee State Board of Education and Department of Education. The report, which will be completed by June 1, will provide a catalogue of feedback from across the state on the four approved evaluation models and will propose a range of policy considerations for teacher evaluation moving forward. SCORE’s work will be led by Dr. Sharon Roberts, who has served as a teacher, principal, and superintendent in Tennessee, and now works as the Chief Operating Officer at SCORE. The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) collaboratively supports Tennessee’s work to prepare students for college and the workforce. We are an independent, non-profit, and non-partisan advocacy and research institution, founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.