By Chrissy Keuper
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-919958.mp3
Knoxville, TN – As students in Tennessee head back to the classroom, the state's system of teaching them is undergoing some fundamental changes. In part, a half-billion dollars of Race-to-the-Top funds are forcing politicians, administrators, teachers, parents and students to re-examine nearly every aspect of the education process. One of the most contentious areas involves teacher evaluations. From WUOT in Knoxville, Chrissy Keuper looks at how teachers have been evaluated in the past and what the state has already planned for the future
"I think public education made this country great " VL Stonecipher.
VL Stonecipher was a teacher, principal and director of schools in the Anderson County School system for more than 40 years. He says there were no official methods in place to evaluate teachers when he began teaching in the 1960's. But he says he was observed from time to time.
"When I began," Stonecipher explains. "Principals came into the classroom, visited, and administrators from Central Office as well, but there was no formal evaluation method."
That began to change in the 1970's when local school systems and the state began to develop a system. In the1980s, a state program called Career Ladder offered more money for teachers who had more experience and could pass certain tests.
"You had portfolios, there were certain criteria you had to meet It wasn't hearsay, in other words, if an evaluator came in, and you said, I do this, this and this', well you had to have documentation. Pretty tough process,"
Career Ladder didn't last. As time passed, local school districts began to add their own methods to the system required by the state. The result was a confusing and inconsistent effort that encouraged administrators to lay off teachers to save money. Stonecipher says by the time he retired last summer, the state's evaluation system had developed into something resembling a business model, where the main goal is to cut costs by cutting the workforce: And as education funding has been cut over the years, more work must be done by fewer people.
"The bottom line is it takes up teacher time and it takes away instructional time from the students," Stonecipher said.
Tennessee Senator Jamie Woodson chairs the First to the Top Advisory Council. That group oversees Race to the Top funding. It also guides the Teacher Evalulation Advisory Committee, the committee responsible for coming up with a new evaluation method by next July. Woodson says the aim is to shatter the current system.
"It was not a meaningful exercise between school leaders and teachers on what a teacher might need it was a sort of once every few years sort of thing, hit or miss, check a few boxes and you get through the process," Woodson said.
Knox County Superintendent Jim McIntyre says there's always been a disconnect between what's required for the evaluation process and what actually goes on everyday in the classroom... "And so if you can tie the evaluation process to what's happening in the classroom every day, it doesn't become a surprising conversation, it becomes just a part of an ongoing dialogue about how you improve teaching every single day," McIntyre said.
At this point, the Evaluation Advisory Committee has a rough idea of what the new system will look like. Fifty percent of teacher requirements will be based on classroom observation and prior evaluations. That may include surveys of parents, students, and other teachers, as well as some sort of testing of teacher knowledge.
The other fifty percent is a problematic combination of student test scores, such as TCAP and ACT scores, as well as what's called TVAAS: the Tennessee Value Added Assessment Score. That's a measurement of student academic growth over a year's time.
Part of what makes the requirement problematic is that many teachers don't have TVAAS or test scores on which to be evaluated people like art, music and drama teachers, guidance counselors and librarians. And that's just one of many concerns that the Committee will be working to address in the next year.
Jennifer Evans works for the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, studying workforce development in the region. She says there are always great workers and those who struggle. But in the teaching workforce, Evans says, there are many who struggle, but don't receive a meaningful evaluation of how they can improve. The state's First to the Top education law now requires that teachers and principals undergo a yearly evaluation. Evans thinks the new system should help with that.
"To be able to sit down with them every year and create kind of a learning plan for them, how do I grow and use data to do that, that's gonna be kind of earthshattering," Evans said.
The stated purpose of any new teacher evaluation system in Tennessee is to make sure teachers have guidance and tools for their own professional growth. Superintendent Jim McIntyre feels that any support for teachers will be welcome, because they understand that they're own growth is an important part of the job.
"Teachers want to be treated like professionals because they are professionals What I think they're hoping for is that we make sure that the process is rational and supportive and developmental, rather than punitive," McIntyre said.
The new teacher evaluation process will be in development until next summer; the state hopes to make it permanent next fall.