What’s in the legislation and how can it improve our schools?
First to the Top allows districts to establish their own salary scale. Until the legislation passed, every district in Tennessee was required to follow a rigid salary schedule that mandated, for example, that every 10th-year teacher with a master’s degree gets paid the exact same salary, regardless of the teacher’s effectiveness. Ditto for principals, who are paid based on seniority, the degrees they have and the number of students in their school—not based on whether student achievement is increasing or decreasing at their school. Now, districts and teachers’ associations can jointly establish an entirely new salary scale, one that rewards outstanding performance and provides additional compensation for great teachers and principals while slowing or freezing raises for poor performers.
First to the Top will also transform how teachers and principals are evaluated. Beginning in 2011, every teacher must be evaluated every year, and 50% of an evaluation will be based on how much students learned in that teacher’s class. This is a sea change. Heretofore, Tennessee law required only that tenured teachers be evaluated once every five years, and the law forbade using student performance measures as part of a teacher’s evaluation. Principals also will be evaluated annually and at least half of their evaluation will be based on student achievement.
Evaluations will also include observations of teachers teaching and principals leading and managing their schools. Done well, these evaluations can create real improvement in our schools by rewarding our best teachers and providing meaningful, annual, focused feedback to all educators.
The First to the Top Act also improved Tennessee’s proposal to win federal "Race to the Top" funds for school reform. Last spring, the Obama administration announced it would make grants of up to $500 million to 10 states that promised major reforms, including evaluating principals and teachers annually and making measures of student achievement count for at least 50% of those annual evaluations. Because of the First to the Top Act, Tennessee submitted a strong Race to the Top proposal that placed the state among finalists for funding.
Tennessee has two other advantages in the Race to the Top competition. First, Governor Bredesen and the legislature have already raised our graduation standards and the rigor of our state tests. No doubt, there will be much gnashing of teeth when results from the new, tougher state tests are released this summer, but we should keep in mind these new standards will ultimately help our children. Second, Tennessee has the most robust data system in the nation. Since 1990, Tennessee has collected student-level data in a way that allows the state to assess progress of schools and students and to determine the impact of individual teachers.
If Tennessee wins the grant, districts will get half the funds to invest in local efforts to improve instruction, strengthen their data system and provide support for low-performing schools. The state will get the other half of the federal funds and will use it to support Tennessee’s lowest performing schools, provide professional development for teachers and strengthen teacher training programs in universities. I had the privilege of working with the team that wrote the proposal, and I am convinced that it is bold and strong.
Clearly, winning half a billion dollars would help the state implement major changes. But whatever happens with the grant proposal, we can’t forget that the laws have changed, and we now can bring forward major reforms. We have to seize this opportunity. The only way Tennessee is going to be First to the Top in economic development and quality of life is if our children are well-educated. The door to make that happen has just opened wide. We must do whatever it takes to move forward.
