Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee:
Listening and Gathering Feedback on Tennessee’s Teacher Evaluations
TEM
• Inclusion of student feedback provides important additional performance information for teachers.
In the Memphis TEM model, student feedback through an annual survey comprises 5 percent of teachers’
evaluation scores. The MET research project found that the combination of these student survey results, value-added results, and observations of teacher practice was the best predictor of student achievement in a
given teacher’s classroom.46
• Initial and ongoing evaluator training helps ensure the accuracy of observers. Initial training for observers consists of two days on the observation instrument and how to use it, followed by independent practice
scoring observations for several weeks before taking a certification test. Observers participate in regular follow-up sessions to monitor and ensure reliability.
TEAM
• All teachers and principals have access to a rigorous evaluation model and related training and tools,
regardless of geography or placement. The state-developed model ensures all teachers and principals have
access to a rigorous evaluation system to provide teachers with needed feedback and supports to improve
instruction, regardless of their district’s budgetary situations or geographic location.
• An online resource portal provides a useful set of resources for teachers and principals. Teachers and
principals said they appreciated the availability of these resources to support instruction in their schools.
Educators consistently called for more resources to be added, especially exemplars of effective teaching in
multiple grades and subject areas.
• A data system that houses all teacher evaluation data enables school, district, and state leaders to
monitor results on an ongoing basis. All schools and districts using the TEAM model have access to the data
system housing their evaluation data, enabling ongoing reflection and refinement throughout the year.
In districts where teachers are actively engaged in the implementation and ongoing refinement of the evaluation system, and
where improving instruction was emphasized as the ultimate goal of implementation, teacher satisfaction is higher. This was
consistently reported among those districts implementing the TIGER model and in Hamilton County, where the COACH
model is being implemented. Of respondents to SCORE’s online questionnaire, 56 percent of teachers in TIGER districts and
55 percent of teachers in Hamilton County agreed that “overall, the new teacher evaluation system we are using in my school
will have a positive impact on my own teaching practice,” compared with 29 percent for teacher respondents in the aggregate.
It is also worth noting that there are several districts using the TEAM model in which more than 50 percent of the
teachers responding to our questionnaire agreed that the evaluation system would improve their practice. This finding
suggests that which evaluation model is being used may matter less than how it is used – in particular, results may depend
on how district and school leaders and other evaluators and coaches engage teachers to help them improve their instruction
and, ultimately, students’ outcomes.
Key Themes from Feedback Collected Across the State
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