Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee:
Listening and Gathering Feedback on Tennessee’s Teacher Evaluations
The evaluation system is highlighting the importance of individualized professional
learning for teachers.
Educators said the evaluation system identifies their areas of needed improvement, prompting them to pursue individualized professional learning. One school leader said, “We look at our teachers’ scores and can target professional learning
to the areas our teachers need it most.”36 For their part, many teachers said they are becoming more engaged participants
in their own professional development. “All of a sudden, professional learning is fresh, it’s more important, it matters to
me,” one teacher said.37
Another teacher said, “We have much better professional development in-house now. The evaluation system brings to
light best practices that haven’t been introduced to the faculty as a whole before. Best practices are becoming a part of
everyday routine, where before they weren’t because teachers didn’t know about them.”38
Principals said that having a clearer understanding of their teachers’ strengths and development areas enables them to
better target professional learning to their teachers’ needs. “This has allowed us as administrators to go in and differentiate
our professional development,” one principal said. “Typically, we’d have this blanket professional development. Now, this
[system] has allowed us to identify specific goals for teachers to then go in and say, ‘Here’s something I want you to read
on this, here’s someone you should go watch.’”39 District leaders said this specific performance information is also helping
them be more targeted and intentional with the professi