NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday defended the state’s new teacher evaluation process against critics who argue that negative consequences for educators who perform poorly should be delayed while kinks in the program are worked out.
“I think it’s really important that we not give up on this process too quick,” Haslam told reporters. “And if it’s the right thing to do for next year, I’m not sure why it’s not the right thing to do for this year.”
The governor noted the evaluations were proposed by his predecessor, Phil Bredesen, and passed by the General Assembly. They were the key factor in Tennessee winning a $500 million federal Race to the Top grant to carry out education reform, he said.
“We’ll let the process work out,” Haslam said. “Remember, this is November and we started [the new evaluations] in September. It’s not like we really have a long track record in this. It takes a little bit of adjusting to get used to evaluations.”
The 2010 law requires that all school personnel be evaluated annually and that personnel decisions be based, at least in part, on evaluations. At Haslam’s urging, the GOP-dominated legislature this year made the evaluations a key part of winning and maintaining tenure for new teachers.