A 15-member group responsible for reshaping the way Tennessee's teachers are evaluated has submitted its suggestions to state officials.
Among the potential changes: a new five-point teacher evaluation scale and twice-yearly observations for principals.
"I think we have some strong recommendations," said Jill Levine, principal of Normal Park Museum Magnet School in Chattanooga and a member of the statewide committee.
All the committee's policy recommendations will go before the state board for a first reading at an October meeting.
The plan recommends that 35 percent of classroom and subject teachers' evaluations be based on how well their students progress on standardized value-added tests as mandated by the state Legislature earlier this year.
One of the biggest issues not fully resolved, however, is how to evaluate educators such as music, art or first-grade teachers who have no value-added data since their students don't take standardized tests.
Under the plan, teachers for whom there is no value-added data will be judged on schoolwide data.
"There's sort of this backlash to No Child Left Behind that says, because we've focused so much on test scores, that the noncore classes have suffered," Levine said. "By saying that all of these arts teachers all contribute to that schoolwide value-added [score], we may be acknowledging that they play an important role in achievement."
During a recent committee meeting teleconference, Tennessee Education Association President Gera Summerford expressed concern over the proposed categories in which teachers likely will be evaluated: significantly above expectation, above expectation, at expectation, below expectation or significantly below expectation.
She said she preferred a numbers-only system.
"We are very fearful of terms like 'unsatisfactory' ... being picked up by the media and having a very negative connotation," she said. "We recognize there are people out there that need improvement and need support, but we feel like it might be better to stick with 'I'm a level-two teacher' or 'I'm a level-four teacher.'"
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