Research

Background

A guiding principle of teacher evaluation in Tennessee is a commitment to research that will strengthen the system over time to produce better feedback for teachers and better outcomes for students. The TEAM Rubric Research Base document includes information on the research used to inform TEAM model development. The division of research and analysis works to analyze data collected by the teacher evaluation system and identify areas for improvement.

Reports on TEAM Implementation

 

Department Reports & White Papers on Evaluation

 

Additional Projects & Research

 

  • Tennessee Educator Survey (Division of Research and Analysis in partnership with the Tennessee Education Research Alliance): This annual survey of all teachers and administrators across the state includes educators’ perceptions of the teacher evaluation process as well as school climate and other issues important to Tennessee’s educators. A report on survey findings, full lists of questions, and individual school and district responses can be found on the survey website.
  • In Exploring Teacher Improvement in Tennessee, John Papay and Mary Laski (2018) look at 10 years of educator data in Tennessee to understand how individual teachers improve over the course of their careers. Extending previous research on teacher effectiveness, this brief shows that, on average, teachers in Tennessee continue to develop throughout their careers and perhaps more rapidly in recent years. (Papay, T. P., & Laski, M. E. (2018). Exploring teacher improvement in Tennessee: A brief on re-imagining state support for professional learning. Nashville, TN: Tennessee Education Research Alliance.)
  • How Principals Drive School Success (Blanchard, 2018) is the first brief in a series aimed at building our knowledge on what we know about effective school leadership. Exploring the relationship between principal observation ratings and student outcomes in Tennessee, TERA researchers find that student achievement gains, as well as teacher perceptions of school climate and leadership, are higher in schools where principals’ leadership practices are rated more positively by their supervisors. Additionally, highly rated principals retain effective teachers at greater rates. Taken together, these findings show that principal leadership matters for student and school success and point to key policy levers for state and district leaders to consider as they work to drive achievement in schools. (Blanchard, A. (2018). How Principals Drive School Success.)
  • Beyond Ratings: Re-envisioning State Teacher Evaluation Systems as Tools for Professional Growth (Connally & Tooley, 2016) features Tennessee as one of four states with a highly effective teacher evaluation system. The report explains how states that capitalize on the information gathered through teacher evaluations are able to propel teacher and student growth. The report highlights Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, and Tennessee for using a combination of strategies to strike a balance between teacher support and accountability. (Connally, K., & Tooley, M. (2016). Beyond Ratings: Re-Envisioning State Teacher Evaluation Systems as Tools for Professional Growth. New America.)
  • Measuring Student Growth in Tennessee: Understanding TVAAS (SCORE, 2014) details the history of TVAAS and how it relates to teacher evaluation in Tennessee. For more information on TVAAS, click here. (SCORE. (2014). Measuring Student Growth in Tennessee: Understanding TvaasMeasuring Student Growth in Tennessee: Understanding TVAAS. Nashville, TN.)
  • In May 2016 (Toch), Georgetown University’s Center for the Future of American Education published Grading the Graders: A report on teacher evaluation reform in public education, a report that includes Tennessee’s Instructional Partnership Initiative (IPI). (Toch, T. (2016). Grading the Graders: A report on teacher evaluation reform in public educationGrading the Graders: A report on teacher evaluation reform in public education. Georgetown University: Future Ed.)