NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A measure that adjusts the way Tennessee evaluates its teachers has been introduced in the State Legislature.
Governor Haslam proposed the bill, temporarily lowering how much of a teacher’s evaluation depends on student test scores. Currently, 35 percent of an educator's evaluation is composed of student achievement data.
Barbara Gray, President of the state’s largest teacher’s union applauds the proposal. She says the current student assessment, the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS), is deeply flawed.
“The more TEA digs into the methodology behind TVAAS, the more its flaws and its inaccuracies come to light, and it’s unfair to tie a teacher’s evaluation to an estimate that doesn’t’ measure what really matters.”
Haslam wants assessments in English and math to count 10 percent of the overall evaluation the first year new tests are used in 2016, 20 percent the second year and back up to 35 percent in year three.