Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Tennessee is on the right track in connecting tenure decisions to evidence of teacher effectiveness.
Tennessee has recently increased its probationary period to five years, and now requires probationary teachers to receive an overall performance effectiveness rating of "above expectations" or "significantly above expectations" during the last two years of the probationary period.
A tenured teacher who receives two consecutive overall ratings of "below expectations" or "significantly below expectations" may be reverted to probationary status until they receive two consecutive ratings of "above expectations" or "significantly above expectations."
Because Tennessee's teacher evaluation ratings are centered primarily on evidence of student learning (see Goal 3-B), basing tenure decisions on these evaluation ratings ensures that classroom effectiveness is appropriately considered.
Ensure sufficient evidence is considered in tenure decisions.
To ensure tenure decisions are based on sufficient evidence of teacher effectiveness in the classroom, Tennessee should consider basing decisions on cumulative evidence of performance, rather than just two years' ratings.
Tennessee recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.