EMPOWERING
PEOPLE
Expanding access to high-quality teaching is critical in ensuring all students in Tennessee graduate from
high school prepared for postsecondary education and the workforce. Research indicates that teachers
have a greater impact on student learning than any other in-school factor.1 In the short term, highquality teaching has large positive effects on math and reading achievement.2 In the long term, students
assigned to highly effective teachers are more likely to attend college and earn higher salaries than their
peers who experienced lower-quality teaching.3 Every student in Tennessee deserves access to great
teaching in every subject and classroom.
After teachers, principals are the most important in-
District leaders also have become more involved in
school factor affecting student learning. Principals
instruction in recent years. District leaders engage in
influence student achievement directly by holding
instructional leadership when they develop district-
high expectations for students, maintaining a safe
wide learning goals, engage in instructional planning,
and orderly learning environment, and organizing
visit schools and classrooms to observe instruction,
the school schedule around instructional needs.
develop instructional policies, and make instructional
They also influence achievement when they make
knowledge a priority in hiring decisions.9 District
staffing decisions and provide direction and support
leaders also play an imp ortant role in developing
to teachers. Together, these direct and indirect
principals as instructional leaders. They can do this by
influences account for up to 25 percent of a school’s
modeling instructional leadership, engaging principals
impact on student learning.6
in challenging conversations about their practice and
4
5
ways to improve, along with connecting principals to
Principals must serve as instructional leaders. In
other principals or central office staff for instructional
this role, principals work to improve the quality of
support.10
instruction in their schools by providing teachers with
actionable feedback, modeling effective instruction,
supporting teacher collaboration, and providing
UPDATE ON THE WORK
opportunities for professional learning.7 Principals who
participated in SCORE’s 2015 Listening Tour reported
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spending a large portion of time supporting teachers.
State-Level Leadership. Over the past year,
However, they noted that despite an increased
Tennessee underwent transitions in leadership at the
emphasis on instructional leadership, their other
state level. In January 2015, Dr. Candice McQueen was
duties as administrators, such as student discipline
sworn in as Tennessee Commissioner of Education.
and building maintenance, have not decreased.8
Commissioner McQueen previously served as Senior
In an environment where more is expected of
Vice President and Dean of the College of Education
principals than ever before, principals must receive
at Lipscomb University and began her career in
high-quality training and support, both during their
education as a classroom teacher. Over the past year,
initial preparation and through ongoing professional
Commissioner McQueen spent time traveling the
learning opportunities.
state and listening to educators about the successes