Pre-K and Kindergarten

General Information

According to state statute and policy, each district and charter must implement one model of individual growth for non-tested teachers. Scores generated by peer-reviewed student growth portfolios represent 35% of participating teachers’ LOE within the state’s TEAM evaluation model in lieu of individual TVAAS scores that teachers in tested courses generate.

During the 2014-15 school year, a group of teachers, district leaders, principals, and academic coaches worked to develop and pilot a portfolio growth measure for pre-K and kindergarten teachers. The pre-K and kindergarten student growth portfolio models were developed by teachers, district leaders, principals, and academic coaches and approved for use by the State Board of Education beginning the 2015-16 school year.

During the 2016 legislative session, the General Assembly passed the Pre-K Quality Act. One key component of this law is the requirement that all districts and charters with a voluntary pre-K program (VPK) must utilize the state board-approved pre-K and kindergarten student growth portfolio models for their pre-K and kindergarten teachers (see T.C.A. §§ 49-6-103–49-6-110). Find more about statute and policy here.

In 2021, the educator effectiveness team collaborated with the department’s Office of Academics and the Portfolio Redesign Advisory Council to better align the pre-K and kindergarten student growth portfolio models with instructional best practices. As a result, several updates were made to the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten portfolio models. Beginning with the 2021-22 school year, districts implementing portfolio will see:

  • Clear alignment between grade-level standards and student expectations.
  • A streamlined approach to standards selection focused on skills-based mastery.
  • Increased focus on phonological awareness, phonics, word recognition, and fluency.
  • An updated format to help teachers and peer reviewers clearly align student work to performance levels.
  • Embedded tasks provided to give clear expectations of student performance of the standard.

Resources

 As educators explore and implement the contents of the following materials, it is recommended that they do so within a professional learning community (PLC) or other collaborative group that focuses on long-term and short-term planning, ongoing formative assessment, standards-based instruction, differentiated and targeted instructional practices, and student work. The art of analyzing student work when grounded in collaborative thinking, self-reflection, and differentiated instruction can have a profound impact on student academic growth.

For support, contact Portfolio.Questions@tn.gov. Please include relevant TLN with all inquiries.