Tenure : Tennessee

Identifying Effective Teachers Policy

Goal

The state should require that tenure decisions are based on evidence of teacher effectiveness.

Nearly meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Tenure : Tennessee results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/TN-Tenure--8

Analysis of Tennessee's policies

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. 

Citation

Recommendations for Tennessee

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.   

State response to our analysis

Tennessee recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.

Research rationale

Numerous studies illustrate how difficult and uncommon the process is of dismissing tenured teachers for poor performance. These studies underscore the need for an extended probationary period that would allow teachers to demonstrate their capability to promote student performance.

For evidence on the potential of eliminating automatic tenure, articulating a process for granting tenure, and using evidence of effectiveness as criteria for tenure see D. Goldhaber and M. Hansen, "Assuming the Potential of Using Value-Added Estimates of Teacher Job Performance for Making Tenure Decisions." Center for Reinventing Public Education. (2009).  Goldhaber and Hansen conclude that if districts ensured that the bottom performing 25 percent of all teachers up for tenure each year did not earn it, approximately 13 percent more than current levels, student achievement could be significantly improved. By routinely denying tenure to the bottom 25 percent of eligible teachers, the impact on student achievement would be equivalent to reducing class size across-the-board by 5 students a class.

For additional evidence see Robert Gordon, et al., "Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job," Hamilton Project Discussion Paper, Brookings Institute, March 2006.