2015-16 Public Education in Tennessee: A Policymaker’s Guide | Page 31

resentative samples of students in grades
4, 8, and 12, and provide common metrics
to indicate levels of student proficiency
across states and selected urban districts.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB):

The No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 is the current version of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA) that established an
accountability framework for all public
schools based on student achievement on
standardized tests. The law stipulates that
all students, including historically underachieving groups of students, such as
minorities and students with disabilities,
must make a certain amount of progress
each year, also known as “adequate yearly
progress,” in order to receive federal funds.
See also Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

No Child Left Behind Waiver: In order to
provide states with flexibility for No Child
Left Behind, the U.S. Department of Education began to grant waivers from portions
of the law in 2012. Tennessee and other
states voluntarily applied for waivers that
detailed alternative plans for promoting
accountability and student achievement.
Approved waivers exempted states from
specific NCLB requirements, usually with
regard to adequate yearly progress and the
100 percent proficiency standard required
by 2014. Instead of continuing to measure
AYP, Tennessee will ensure accountability
by identifying schools with large achievement gaps or low performance and providing targeted interventions to those schools
and districts.
Race to the Top (RTTT): Race to the Top is a
federal competitive grant program focusing on four key areas of reform: standards
and assessments that prepare students
for college and career; building data systems to measure student growth and inform teachers and students; recruiting,
developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and leaders; and turning
around the lowest-achieving schools. RTTT
funds are awarded to states and allocated
at the state and district level. Tennessee
was one of two first-round recipients of a
RTTT grant, securing an award of $501 million. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Education announced a Race to the Top competition for districts.
Report Card on the Effectiveness of Teacher
Training Program: State law requires that all

approved teacher preparation programs in
Tennessee be evaluated annually based
on the placement and retention rates,
Praxis II scores, and teacher effect data of
their graduates. As part of the state’s First
to the Top initiatives, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission has made improvements to the report card.

Response to Intervention and Instruction
(RTI2): RTI² focuses on high-quality in-

struction and interventions that are tailored to individual student needs and
where instructional decisions are made
based on student outcome data on
high-quality assessments. It is a threetiered model with progressively more intense interventions provided to students
who are not showing growth in general
instruction or in response to initial interventions. Student progress is monitored
regularly through research-based assessments, ensuring that instructional decisions and decisions to intervene are made
based on student data.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): STEM is a common ac-

ronym for the fields of study of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics. Additionally, STEM education is about
incorporating technology in the classroom
to enhance learning. STEM is often discussed as an area in need of improvement
and growth to meet the demands of the
21st century workforce.

State Salary Schedule: Tennessee’s State
Salary Schedule for teachers is a minimum salary amount determined by years
of experience teaching and professional
degrees earned. A first-year teacher with
a bachelor’s degree can earn a minimum
$29,680 according to the salary schedule.
Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS):

State Longitudinal Data Systems are intended to enhance the ability of states to
manage, analyze, and utilize education
data by pooling data from K-12 sources or
even P-20W (early learning through college
and the workforce). The end goal of SLDS
is to enable states, districts, schools, educators, and other stakeholders to make
data-driven decisions to improve student
learning and outcomes. Tennessee received a federal grant in 2006 to develop a
longitudinal data system.

Summative Assessments:

Summative as-

sessments are given at the end of instructional units or school years to evaluate
students’ progress toward mastery on a
set of academic standards. State standardized assessments such as TCAPs or
EOCs are examples of summative assessments given in Tennessee. Formative assessments are used to monitor student
learning throughout the school year.

Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment
Program (TCAP): The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) is a
collection of criterion-referenced achievement tests designed to evaluate the levels of students’ proficiency in reading/
language arts, math, science and social
studies. Among the assessments are the
Achievement Test (grades 3-8), the Writing
Assessment (grades 5, 8, and 11), the End
of Course tests (grades 9-12), and college
readiness exams (grades 8, 10, and 11).
Districts may also choose to administer
TCAP assessments in selected subjects
to students in grades K-2. There are four
proficiency levels on the TCAP: below basic,
basic, proficient, and advanced.

Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM): TEAM is the state-developed

teacher evaluation system implemented
in the 2011-12 school year. TEAM combines
quantitative and qualitative components,
and th