State of Education in Tennessee Executive Summary – 2011-12 | Page 22

SECTION 2: S CORE Card

Strengthening Teacher Preparation Programs
As new standards are set for student learning in
Tennessee, the state must partner with teacher training
institutions to ensure new candidates for licensure
are knowledgeable of the standards and equipped
with the skills to meet them. The Report Card on the
Effectiveness of Teacher Training Programs highlights
essential indicators of quality and areas in need
of improvement for teacher training institutions in
Tennessee.

The Report Card could be improved,
however, by incorporating additional
resources and inform ation, including:
• Sharing best practices for highly
effective programs, including
alternative certification programs
• Providing more specific feedback
to individual programs
• Exploring additional measures of success
beyond test scores, potentially including
other assessments of teacher effectiveness
As the state implements new policies and standards
to improve teacher effectiveness, it should partner
with training institutions to ensure their curricula for
teachers-in-training align with these new expectations
in order to prepare them for the professional standards
they will encounter upon entering the classroom.
THEC has begun this important work, as it partners
with institutions of higher education to align curricula
with Common Core standards. Common Core training
sessions should also include teacher training personnel
so they are able to appropriately align standards.
These sessions should be supplemented with
professional development for teacher training faculty.
In addition to enhancing accountability, teacher
preparation programs must continue to build
stronger relationships with local school districts for
the preparation and on-going support of teachers.
Community and philanthropic groups, along with the
Department, can help facilitate these relationships and
build support for their sustainability. These partnerships
should focus on expanding awareness of and preparing

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THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE 2011–12

teachers for Common Core standards, as well as on
ensuring curricula are matched to the needs of schools
in surrounding communities.
To address the needs of rural communities, teacher
training institutions, where they do not already, should
incorporate opportunities for their students to gain
experience in rural schools while pursuing licensure.
Just as classroom teachers receive professional learning
on the effective use of technology in educational
practice, students in teacher training programs should
also be exposed to effective strategies regarding
how to use technology in ways that advance student
learning. Such approaches would enable new teachers
to blend online and traditional instructional practices
from the start of their service.
Lastly, teacher preparation programs must equip new
teachers with an understanding of available education
data and how to use data in ways that address the
educational needs of students. Data use will only grow
in importance as an instructional tool, especially as
the state implements its Early Warning Data System of
potential dropout indicators. The Department must
partner with higher education institutions to ensure that
the use of data as an instructional tool is consistent with
state needs.

Expanding and Strengthening the Principal
and Administrator Pipeline
The strategic plan developed by the Department
focuses attention on the necessity of developing a
wider pool of potential principals across the state.
The Department’s division of Teachers and Leaders
will include an office of Recruitment, another office of
Leader Licensure, Evaluation, Program Approval, and
Professional Development (TASL), as well as a Principal
Training Academy. By allocating specific resources to
enhance the pool of potential principals and provide
high quality professional learning opportunities
to school leaders, the Department recognizes the
essential role performed by principals in implementing
reforms and ensuring educational quality for students
throughout Tennessee.

The state should enhance accountability
by implementing an appropriate process
and timetable for site visits to principal
training programs to ensure their quality and
alignment with the needs and performance
expectations of principals upon assuming
a school leadership position. These visits
would ensure programs are meeting requirements
the State Board of Education established four years
ago under the Learning Centered Leadership System.
Evaluation teams are empowered to determine whether
instructional leadership programs meet criteria of the
Tennessee Standards for Instructional Leaders. These
standards focus on core competencies for effective
principals that include:

• Demonstrating comprehensive
understanding of classroom practices that
contribute to student achievement
• Developing a culture of high expectations
• Collaborating with teachers, parents,
and other key stakeholders to create
positive learning environments
• Making use of data to guide school,
curriculum, and instructional practices
Effective models for expanding the principal pipeline
can be readily found in Tennessee. The Knoxville
Leadership Academy, recently established Principal
Leadership Academy in Hamilton County, and a
partnership between Kingsport and Greeneville City
Schools and East Tennessee State University all present
possible models for replication in other areas of the
state. The Knox County model of courses teamtaught by university faculty and current practitioners
is particularly compelling for its pairing of educational
theory and practical experience. This pairing of
research- and practitioner-based perspectives is also
modeled by the Principals’ Leadership Academy of
Nashville (PLAN) at Vanderbilt University. In addition,
the Center for Urban School Leadership at the
University of Memphis provides a year-long, intensive
training program for rising school leaders in Memphis
City Schools that partners with teachers, students,
parents, and community leaders. District partnerships
with colleges and universities, as well as non-profits
and businesses, provide opportunities for building

leadership pipelines that can be leveraged to broaden
the pool of candidates to lead schools throughout
Tennessee.
Small and rural districts should also consider creating
a principal pipeline through consortia models in
collaboration with institutions of higher education, as
these systems often lack the personnel or capacity to
build effective pipelines of their own. This consortia
model could be supported by the Department or
philanthropic and non-profit partnerships.
The need for mentorship and leadership development
for principa ls does not end upon receiving their
school administrator certification. School leaders
need ongoing, targeted professional learning, and
the state should mirror its commitment to improved
learning opportunities for its teachers by enhancing
the quality of offerings for administrators. The state’s
evaluation system holds principals accountable for
the performance and academic growth of students
in their schools, and school leaders need ongoing
support to understand expectations for student
achievement and how best to employ their resources
to pursue achievement goals. As discussed earlier in
this report, the Leadership Action Tank, which focuses
on identifying and sharing effective practices of school
leaders in high-poverty, high-performing schools, is a
potential avenue for this work.
In addition, the state’s Field Service Centers should
be used as hubs for professional learning for school
leaders that is directly tied to areas of need identified
by administrator evaluations. Although larger districts in
the state often receive approval from the Department
to host their own professional learning programs, many
smaller and more rural districts lack the capacity to
do so. Groups of smaller districts, however, should
partner with Field Service Centers to develop ongoing
professional learning programs that reflect the needs
of their communities and school leaders. Districts
and Field Service Centers can also leverage distance
learning technology to facilitate common professional
learning time across districts. School leaders could
meet by video conference, hosted by the regional
service center, to address areas for improvement and
share practices that have demonstrated positive results.

THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN TENNESSEE 2011–12

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