Tennessee Addresses Teacher Equity

Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Education has launched a project to improve the teaching workforce in high-poverty schools and schools with large minority student populations. Teams from six school systems this week are studying how to recruit and retain effective, experienced teachers for such schools. The department, the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and the Appalachian Regional Resource Center together are training district officials to create a plan to be used in the next school year.

 

“We must ensure all students have access to experienced and effective teachers,” Federal Programs Executive Director Julie McCargar said. “The Effective Teacher Conference will help districts with strategies to recruit these teachers to hard-to-staff schools and address obstacles to prevent teacher turnover.”

 

The department conducted two studies before launching the Effective Teacher Project. The first study in the spring of 2007 found that beginning teachers and teachers without master’s degrees are disproportionately assigned to high-poverty schools and schools with larger minority student populations. The second analysis, conducted by Dr. William Sanders, found the least-effective teachers were disproportionately assigned to these same schools.

 

Participating districts must complete a plan by spring 2008 to recruit and retain the most effective and qualified teachers to teach students who need them most. This plan must be implemented for the 2008-09 school year.

 

Hamilton County Schools, Jackson-Madison County Schools, Knox County Schools, Memphis City Schools, Metro Nashville Schools and Shelby County Schools are each part of the initiative.

 

Teams from each district consist of the following representatives:

-         Superintendent or a designee

-         Human Resources Director

-         Federal Programs Director

-         school board member responsible for contract negotiations

-         teacher’s union member responsible for contract negotiations

-         a principal from each a high-poverty school and a low-poverty school

-         a representative of the local education foundation

-         a representative from the Mayor’s office

-         a representative from the local teacher training program

-         the district coordinator for the district improvement plan

 

For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us.