NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — Tennessee teachers say the state has gone too far in using student test scores to assess their performance since winning the $500 million Race to the Top federal education grant competition in 2010.
The state’s largest teacher’s union says this isn't what it signed up for when it helped the state win the Race to the Top grant. Tennessee Education Association President Gera Summerford says her organization is now calling for legislation to place a moratorium on the use of Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System - or TVAAS - scores, until a special committee can review them.
“What we find is that there’s a large standard errorin those TVASS estimates, so they’re not precise. They’re much more volatile than we originally thought.”
Teachers also want legislation that prohibits the scores from being tied to teacher licensing. Summerford says TVASS scores haven’t yet cost a Tennessee teacher’s job, but they are having an impact.
“In some cases teachers have been denied bonuses or certain alternative pay supplements based on their TVASS data.”
TVASS proponents note that Tennessee’s student achievement scores have improved faster than any other state in the union since the assessment system was implemented.