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Rep. Jim Hackworth - House District 33
IMMEDIATE RELEASE January
21, 2010
LEGISLATORS END SPECIAL
SESSION ON EDUCATION WITH NEW OPPORTUNITIES & BETTER
ACCOUNTABILITY
Legislation to improve teacher accountability and
increase college
graduation rates passes overwhelmingly
NASHVILLE (Jan. 21) – On
Thursday, State Representative Jim Hackworth (D-Clinton) and
fellow representatives finished an intense special session on education.
The session passed two important bills designed to improve K-12 teacher
accountability, increase the number of Tennessee college graduates, and
put Tennessee in the race for nearly $500 million in new federal
education funding.
“These past two weeks saw
the power of taking politics out of the mix and working together on
common problems,” said Hackworth. “Though we did not agree
on every measure involved in these laws, Democrats and Republicans
worked together to get the job done for Tennesseans.”
There were two main bills
passed during this special session. The first, “Tennessee First
to the Top Act,” was a bill designed to reform the state’s K-12
teacher accountability mechanism in order to bring Tennessee more in
line with the requirements set out by the federal government. The
second, “Complete College Tennessee Act,” addressed low
graduation rates in Tennessee colleges and enhanced the use of community
colleges and technical schools throughout the state.
RACE TO THE
TOP
Last spring the federal
government approved $4.35 billion dollars in “Race to the Top” funding,
a competitive grant program designed to encourage and rewards states
that implement ambitious plans to reform education. Tennessee schools
are currently in the running for nearly $500 million of the total grant.
Under the grant guidelines
set for the Race to the Top Fund, more than one-quarter of Tennessee’s
score will be determined by state education-reform measures that promote
the development of “Great Teachers and Leaders.” Evaluations and
multiple measures that take into account student growth and learning
data are used to assess teacher success.
For over twenty years
Tennessee has collected data through the Tennessee Value Added
Assessment System (TVASS). TVAAS provides information to teachers,
parents and the public on how schools help each child make academic
gains each year. It helps school administrators identify
weaknesses in even the strongest schools. TVAAS lets central
administrators, school boards and policy leaders ask harder, more
penetrating questions.
Until now the data provided
by the TVAAS system has never been used to evaluate teachers.
Under Race to the Top guidelines, teacher evaluation must be implemented
to strengthen our ability to draw down federal dollars.
Thanks to the hard work of
many people, including those representing Tennessee’s teachers who
endorsed the final bill, the House and Senate passed legislation that:
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Removes limitations
on use of TVAAS data so the data can be used in making decisions
on teacher tenure.
-
Requires annual
evaluations of teachers and principals.
-
Creates a 15-member
teacher evaluation advisory committee to recommend guidelines
and criteria to the State Board of Education
-
Allows local
schools systems to create local salary schedules for teacher
sand principals, with state approval.
-
Establishes an
“Achievement School District” that allows the commissioner of
the state Department of Education to intervene in consistently
failing schools.
“This bill won’t
solve all our problems in public education, but it is an
important first step to help our schools become the schools our
students deserve and Tennessee must have,” said Hackworth.
COMPLETE COLLEGE
TENNESSEE ACT
Tennessee lags the nation
in college graduation rates. We are 40th in bachelor degree completion
and 45th in associate degree completion. On average, less than half of
our full-time students graduate in six years, and only 12% of our
full-time community college students get an associate degree in three
years.
“To compete in today’s
global economy more of our citizens should have a college degree,”
Hackworth said. “Too many Tennessee college students drop out before
finishing, and we have to find a way to keep people in school.”
Under the “Complete College
Tennessee Act,” Tennessee will change funding to state universities as
follows:
-
Fund higher
education based in part on success and outcomes, including
higher rates of degree completion.
-
Make community colleges the centerpiece in Tennessee’s
education strategy by expanding common programs and common
courses to promote consistency and quality across the two-year
system.
-
Create a statewide transfer policy so that any student who
earns a two-year degree at a community college can move on to a
four-year university as a junior.
-
Require the Tennessee Board of Regents and the University of
Tennessee to establish dual-admission and dual-enrollment
policies at all two- and four-year colleges and universities.
“In today’s world,
Tennesseans need more education to compete for good jobs,” said
Hackworth. “To reform education in Tennessee we must make
improvements at all levels. This legislation helps streamline our
colleges and universities so they can work harder to graduate more
students and help Tennesseans get better jobs.”
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