Heidi Alexander: “I thank the Senator from Kansas because I would like to make my point, if I may. Remember, the State of Tennessee won…”

“I thank the Senator from Kansas because I would like to make my point, if I may. Remember, the State of Tennessee won Race to the Top. It has been working on teacher evaluation for 25 years. It developed the Sanders Model, which was the first real way that we related student achievement to teacher performance. May sound easy. It is pretty hard. Nobody else would do it. This professor at the University of Tennessee's Agriculture Department, a statistician, said: I think I can do it. He did it, and it is being used all around the country in many places--but not everyplace. Some do not have confidence in it. So Tennessee wins $500 million in Race to the Top--to do what? Have a teacher and principal evaluation program. Here they are doing it. Twenty-five years of experience, and it is the front page news: ``Evaluation of Teachers Contentious''--all the struggles with that program. Then we get here into what is involved. It says: Under the new system-- This is the Tennessee system of evaluation-- tenured teachers will be evaluated at least four times each year. Nontenured teachers will be evaluated at least six times each year. . . . Teacher effectiveness ratings are calculated using a formula that is 50 percent qualitative and 50 percent quantitative. The quantitative portion combines student growth (35 percent) and student achievement (15 percent). Now, they are having a tough time down in Maryville, TN, and Nashville, TN, about implementing their own proposal.…”