While many states still haven’t recovered from the Great Recession, TN is a leader in K-12 state funding increases

In 2014, Gov. Bill Haslam promised to lead the nation in teacher salary increases, but had no pay funds in the budget when revenue dropped. TEA was highly critical, and the governor took exception. We explained to him that when he was wrong he’d hear it, and when right, well, he’d hear that too. 

The majority of Tennessee kindergarten teachers would like to see the new state portfolio standards to be implemented as a pilot this year in light of many problems associated with their roll out, a TEA survey has found. TEA is working with the legislature to ensure it is so. 

For many teachers, the new standards came as a surprise after the hard work to implement the standards and portfolio system for the 2016-17 school year, which many teachers supported. 

Low proficiency rates, strange “bowl” curves, compact cut scores, huge TVAAS assumptions, and a disconnect from ACT outcomes among biggest problems

Teachers believe in assessments, we were the ones who invented them. 

Yet TEA and others have growing concerns about TNReady as the testing data is provided to schools, teachers and parents from last year. 

Drill. Drill. Drill. Test. Punish. Repeat.

This is the education system our current generation of children is experiencing. Our children are growing up in a time when all they know is the test-and-punish model that has ruled public education for too many years now.

Educators question age-appropriateness of new ELA demands. With new math standards being developed, TEA works for teachers to have their say

Kindergarten teachers across the state have been dealing with a new portfolio and student standards. For many teachers the changes came as a surprise after the hard work to implement the previous standards and portfolio system. 

Association continues to fight inappropriate state board licensure rules

TEA has filed a lawsuit against the State board of Education on behalf of a member as it continues to object to the board’s proposed massive overreach in teacher licensure rules, expanding the board’s power to overrule local boards and suspend or dismiss teachers. 

The lawsuit asserts the state board has no statutory authority to create a rule to revoke or suspend a teacher’s license for misconduct. 

The ACT and graduation rates indicate we’re on the right track, but the state test says most students are failing. Who is wrong? 

The 2016-17 testing year saw thousands of misscored tests and errors in student rosters; problems with test booklets and instructions, along with returned tests through the mail; wide swings in TVAAS scores for teachers and schools; delayed scores and a continued inability for parents and teachers to review the tests; and a wide disparity in test scores compared to ACT and graduation rates.