Race to a Rocky Top

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This week, the Tennessee legislature will be negotiating and voting on a monumental shift in K–12 education with possible legislation that mandates the use of student achievement data to evaluate and tenure teachers.

Since 1992, the state of Tennessee has used student achievement data to identify the gains in academic performance (the Value-Added Model) by individual students from year to year and from subject to subject. The state has also restricted the use of value-added assessment to evaluate and tenure teachers, which was a compromise between the Tennessee legislature and the Tennessee Education Association (TEA).

With $400 million of federal funds at stake, Governor Phil Bredesen is pushing for 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation to be determined by student performance data. The stimulus funds would be part of a $4.3 billion education reform initiative called Race to the Top, or "Investing in Innovation Fund," a competitive program that rewards individual states that have enacted a host of reforms including the use of student performance data for teacher evaluations.

On Saturday, TEA approved a plan that would allow for 35 percent of teachers' evaluations to be tied to student achievement data. According to Bredesen, however, achievement data will have to make up 50% or more of a teacher's evaluation "to really engage the issues." TEA lobbyist Jerry Winters maintains that Bredesen's proposals are too high. "There's too many factors that go into student achievement that's beyond their control to agree to something that high" he said.

TEA joins both the Nation Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers in opposition to linking student achievement data to teacher evaluations and tenure.

"We are disappointed that the administration continues to focus so heavily on tying students’ test scores to individual teachers," said NEA president Dennis Van Roekel in a press release. "The continuing eligibility requirement that states must not have any barriers to linking data on student achievement or growth to teachers and principals for evaluation purposes misses the mark."

Many state legislatures are not backing down. For state Senators Andy Berke and Lowe Finney, linking teacher evaluations with student performance data is a matter of hiring, supporting and maintaining the best teachers. In a recent editorial in The Tennessean, the two senators laid out an argument for mandating the use of student performance data:

Teacher evaluations should include student performance data. For years, the state has tracked student performance data to analyze how much value a particular teacher adds to the classroom.

Although we've had the data, the state has been reluctant to mandate its use. It's time for that to change. This data will add insight for identifying outstanding performers and teachers in need of assistance.

The senators' point is illustrated by the Center for American Progress November report, Leaders and Laggards, in which states are graded on educational innovation. While Tennessee earned a B for its use of data, the state earned a D in the category "Staffing: Removing Ineffective Teachers." The report concludes:

Tennessee receives a low score on the ability to remove poor-performing teachers from the classroom. Seventy-one percent of principals say that teacher unions or associations are a barrier to the removal of ineffective teachers, which is 10 percentage points above the national average of 61%. In addition, 91% of principals report that tenure is a barrier to removing poor-performing teachers.

If passed into law, Bredesen's proposals could simplify the process for terminitating ineffective teachers.

The Hamilton Project

The current method for teacher staffing, including evaluation and tenure, has been challenged by a 2006 Brookings Institute report, Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job, which emphasizes the use of student achievement data to evaluate, reward and fire teachers. The report was published as part of The Hamilton Project, a democratic economic research and policy group that focuses on "how to create a growing economy that benefits more Americans."

The Obama administration is closely allied to the leaders of The Hamilton Project, and Race to the Top's four keys areas of reform are similarly alligned with the research group's education proposals. For instance, Race to the Top funds are awarded to states who are enacting reforms that improve teacher effectiveness, use data systems to improve student learning and teacher performance, initiate more rigorous standards and "improve achievement in low-performing schools through intensive support and effective interventions." Since July, Obama's Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, has been speaking out against state laws that prevent the use of student data to evaluate teachers as well as encouraging union leaders to accept changes to tenure.

In much bolder terms, The Hamilton Project's reccommendations call for firing ineffective teachers despite seniority, awarding bonuses to effective teachers—especially those working in high-poverty schools—and opening the teaching profession to college graduates without traditional teacher certification. The report's central claim is that performance data—not "paper qualifications"—provide the clearest distinction between effective and ineffective teachers as well as shape all other areas of reform.

The Tennessee Teachers' Dilemma

Bredesen's push for student performance data to comprise 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation comes as the state launches the Tennessee Diploma Project, an overhaul of statewide curriculum standards. The initiative is expected to raise standards and toughen the requirements for scoring "proficient" and "advanced" on standardized tests. The governor's special session was also called for only one week after a University of Tennessee study found that the number of teachers in Tennessee public school systems will not keep up with future demand, leaving the state with 11,503 positions to be filled next school year. Combined, these challenges present a major hurdle for school districts and teachers in the coming years—challenges that may be compounded if the legislature enacts Bredesen's proposals.

In light of these challenges, the details surrounding new education laws and the use of Race to the Top funds remain uncertain. What should districts, administrators and teachers expect as a result of tying teacher evaluations with student performance? If Bredesen's proposals are enacted, the new funds will be best applied to developing better methods for recruiting new teachers and providing bonuses to effective teachers, which could offset the teacher shortfall while improving student performance.