Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee:
Listening and Gathering Feedback on Tennessee’s Teacher Evaluations
To identify and support effective teaching, Tennessee has completed its first year of implementing a new statewide
teacher evaluation system. The primary purpose of the evaluation system is “to identify and support instruction that will
lead to high levels of student achievement.”
Major characteristics of the system include:
• Teacher evaluations will be based on multiple measures, with 50 percent based on student achievement data
and 50 percent based on qualitative measures (such as classroom observations of teachers);
• All teachers will receive an annual evaluation;
• Evaluations will differentiate teachers into one of five effectiveness groups (significantly above expectations,
above expectations, at expectations, below expectations, and significantly below expectations);
• Evaluations will be used to inform personnel decisions such as professional development, assignment,
promotion, retention, tenure, and compensation.7
Flexibility exists for districts to develop their own variations, provided their plans are consistent with the format
described above and meet with approval from the State Board of Education. School districts across the state are now
implementing one of four evaluation models. The Tennessee Department of Education is supporting the implementation
of the model being used by most districts in the state (the TEAM model). However, Memphis City Schools, Hamilton
County Schools, and several districts participating in the Association of Independent and Municipal Schools (AIMS) have
devised and are applying their own models of evaluation.8
Summary of the four teacher evaluation models
Number of teachers
(Percent of TN
teachers)9
Qualitative component
and weighting
Model
Districts
Project
COACH
Hamilton County
2,925 teachers
(5 percent)
• Observations of teacher practice,
based on Kim Marshall’s model
(50 percent)
TEM
Memphis City Schools
7,329 teachers
(11 percent)
• Observations of teacher practice,
based on DC IMPACT (40 percent)
• Student feedback, using Tripod
Survey (5 percent)
• Teacher knowledge, list of approved
options (5 percent)
TIGER
Alamo City, Alcoa
City, Bradford Special,
Greeneville City,
Lebanon Special, Lenoir
City, Lexington City,
Maryville City, Milan
Special, Paris Special,
Trenton Special,
Trousdale County
1,606 teachers
(2 percent)
• Observations of teacher practice,
based on Charlotte Danielson’s
model (50 percent)
TEAM
All other districts
52,989 teachers
(82 percent)
• Observations of teacher practice,
based on TAP Teaching Standards
(50 percent)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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