A new teacher-evaluation system based heavily on value-added scores is set to launch in districts across Tennessee in six months, even though parts of it haven’t been written and principals haven’t been trained to use it.
Tennessee’s legislature approved the system last year under an education reform initiative that secured $500 million in federal Race to the Top funds.
Under the proposal, 50 percent of teachers’ evaluations will be based on student achievement. The rest will be based on a principal’s classroom observation, but the state is still testing observation models and has yet to choose one, The Tennessean newspaper of Nashville reported last week. Principals are to begin training on the new system in June.
