STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE: 2012-2013 – Section II: Education Priorities
STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE: 2012-2013 – Section II: Education Priorities
The Department and State Board of Education
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Continue to play an active role in connecting educators with high quality professional learning opportunities and use the Centers of Regional Excellence in delivering and tailoring professional development to the
individual needs of schools and districts.
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Enhance the Electronic Learning Center so that the resources and training materials are accessible, easy
to share, and useful for educators. This may include reorganizing the site and improving communication
about the resources offered.
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Enlist a statewide recruiter to bring talented educators into Tennessee schools. The UTeach program,
which is in place at four campuses in Tennessee, actively recruits undergraduate math and science majors
into teaching and has had significant success in increasing the number of candidates training to teach in
STEM fields. There needs to be a recruitment strategy to bring high quality candidates into the teaching
profession throughout the state.
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Ensure that the process for teacher licensing is rigorous and that renewal is based, at least in part, on performance as measured by student achievement outcomes and evaluation results.
Teacher Training Programs
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Strengthen the admissions and recruitment process to actively seek high quality candidates. From the
Tennessee Report Card on Teacher Training Programs, we know that many of the public institutions in the
state are admitting and graduating candidates with less than a 15 on the ACT. While ACT scores should
not be the sole indicator of higher admissions standards, there should at least be a minimum standard that
future teachers must meet.
Ensure that all graduates have an understanding of the new evaluation system, the Common Core standards, and how to use data to enhance instruction.
Districts
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Use the results from the new evaluation system to support teacher growth by providing job-embedded, ongoing professional learning opportunities to support teachers.
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Use funds strategically to recruit, support, and retain the best teachers. In 2010, the First to
the Top act enabled local boards to apply to the commissioner of education to create salary
plans that deviate from the state model in order to attract and retain effective teachers.
As an example, Metro Nashville responded to the law by raising its beginning teacher
pay from less than $35,000 to $40,000, making their beginning teacher pool more
competitive.
Expand student access to effective teachers. Research has found that the
problem of retaining teachers is not simply a failure to retain enough
teachers – it is the failure to retain the most effective teachers. For
example, Memphis City Schools prioritized the staffing of its Innovation Zone schools to ensure that the best teachers were hired
early.
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