Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee: Executive Summary | Page 5

Executive Summary
funding across the state, but also created the Tennessee ValueEducation is the key to both Tennessee’s
Added Assessment System (TVAAS), which is still recognized
future and the future of every individual who
today as one of the nation’s best longitudinal data systems.
lives in our great state. In a recent speech to the
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, President Barack Obama said,
Governor Bredesen has continued this tradition of strong
“We know that economic progress and educational achievement
education leadership, primarily by implementing the
have always gone hand in hand in America…Let there be no
Tennessee Diploma Project, which raises the state’s standards
doubt: the future belongs to the nation that best educates its
and revises the state’s assessment tests to align with these
citizens.” The same is true for states – the future belongs to
standards. The Governor has also prioritized improving
the states that best educate their citizens. These states will be
teacher quality, although several of his
more successful recruiting businesses and
boldest efforts in this area are still in
will be better able to control the costs
their development phase.
of healthcare and other social services.
Citizens living in these states will have
While many good things are happening
more opportunities and live healthier and
W h i l e m a n y g oo d
in education across Tennessee, much work
more prosperous lives.
remains to be done to make Tennessee an
t h i n g s a re h a ppe n i n g
education leader – first in the Southeast
No single metric can fully describe
and then across the country. Specifically:
how well a state educates its citizens.
i n e d u c atio n across
However, one can gain a sense of a state’s
• Substantial work remains in providing
performance by examining a range of
T e n n essee , m u c h
districts, schools, and teachers the
outcomes, including national and state
support they need to successfully
standardized test scores, ACT and SAT
wor k re m a i n s to
implement the Tennessee Diploma
scores, graduation rates, and a state’s level
Project. While the Tennessee
of educational attainment. When one
b e d o n e to m a k e
Department of Education has provided
examines these metrics, one finds there
teachers substantial training on the
are essentially none on which Tennessee
new standards, much work remains in
ranks above the national average. Many
T e n n essee a n e d u c atio n
helping superintendents and principals
argue this should be expected, as southern
answer some of the legitimate questions
states generally rank relatively low on
l e a d er — f irst i n t h e
the Diploma Project raises, especially
educational measures. However, even
about the role of career and technical
among states in the Southeast, Tennessee
S o u t h e a st a n d t h e n
education and how to identify, recruit,
only ranks in the middle, consistently
and train sufficient numbers of highranking behind North Carolina, Florida,
across t h e co u n try.
quality math and science teachers.
Kentucky, and Virginia. It is clear
Much more also remains to be done to
Tennessee has significant room to improve
educate the average Tennessean on the
– first among states in the Southeast and
importance of the Diploma Project.
then among states across the nation.
Tennessee has some great assets on which to build. First and
foremost is Tennessee’s tradition of strong education leadership.
In the early 1980s, then-Governor Lamar Alexander’s devotion
to education earned him recognition as the state’s “education
governor.” Alexander’s Better Schools Program, while creating
some controversy within Tennessee, was broadly recognized as
a model for the rest of the country and was at least a partial
reason President George H.W. Bush appointed Alexander to be
U.S. Secretary of Education in 1991. In 1992, Governor Ned
McWherter’s leadership helped pass the Tennessee Education
Improvement Act. The law not only established the state’s Basic
Education Program, which aims to equitably distribute education

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T h e S t a t e o f E d u c a t i o n i n T e n n e ss e e

• The state lacks a comprehensive strategy for improving
teacher quality. While there are some promising efforts,
including the Governor’s task force on teacher effectiveness,
the Tennessee Board of Regents’ Teacher Quality Initiative,
and the State Board of Education’s Teacher Training
Program Report Card, these efforts are piecemeal and do
not represent a comprehensive strategy.
• The state has never systematically focused on creating a
high-quality pipeline of superintendents and principals.
Although the State Board of Education recently passed a
policy that would in theory significantly improve the quality