Supporting Effective Teaching in Tennessee: Executive Summary | Page 54

On April 1st, SCORE’s meeting focused on school data and
accountability. The Steering Committee heard from Sandy
Kress, former education advisor to former President George
W. Bush, and Bill Sanders, the creator of the Tennessee ValueAdded Assessment System (TVAAS).
Both discussed the importance of using
data to improve school performance and
classroom instruction.

Programs at the Wallace Foundation, and Jon Schnur, CEO
of New Leaders for New Schools. Both Laine and Schnur
discussed the importance of developing strong school leaders
and providing them ongoing. meaningful support, especially in
their first years leading a school.
In addition to these statewide meetings,
SCORE has conducted 40 town hall
meetings with educators, business leaders,
government officials, and community
leaders from across the state. The map in
Figure 5.1 displays the locations of those
town hall meetings.

I n l ate O cto b er ,
SCORE’s April 30th and May 22nd
meetings both focused on improving
S C O R E wi l l re l e a se
teacher quality. The April 30th meeting
focused on improving the quality of
a f i n a l report wit h
teacher preparation programs and
SCORE is also online with an interactive
featured Jeanne Burns, the Associate
website (www.tennesseescore.org) where
Commissioner for Teacher Education
reco m m e n datio n s
educators, parents, and interested citizens
Initiatives at the Louisiana Board of
can comment on the SCORE blog, sign
Regents and Michael Whitmore, the
o n h ow T e n n essee
up to receive the biweekly newsletter, and
director of the teacher urban residency
submit stories of “promising practices”
program at the Academy of Urban School
c a n i m prove its
in their hometown. SCORE also has its
Leadership (AUSL) in Chicago. The
May 22nd meeting featured John Deasy,
own Facebook and Twitter pages - links
e d u c atio n syste m .
Deputy Director of Education at the Bill
are available on the SCORE website.
and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Tim
Daly, the president of The New Teacher
Over the next two months, SCORE will
Project. Deasy talked about the need to
continue holding statewide and town
hall meetings. In late October, SCORE
create a comprehensive set of policies
will release a final report with recommendations on how
to improve teacher effectiveness, and both Daly and Deasy
Tennessee can improve its K-12 education system. In midemphasized that student achievement was one of multiple
November, a follow-on effort to SCORE will be launched to
components for determining teacher effectiveness.
both pilot the recommendations SCO RE puts forth and to
SCORE’s July 1st statewide meeting focused on school
advocate that those recommendations be implemented into
leadership and featured Richard Laine, Director of Education
statewide policy.

Figure 5.2

SCORE Timeline

2/18/09
Kick-Off

7/30/09
Interim Report

10/29/09
Final Report

11/16/09
Launch Phase II

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