Teach October 2013

TEA General Counsel: TVAAS too Complex to be Trusted page 7

Special Insert:

Published by the TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION October 2013  Vol. 45, No. 3  www.teateachers.org

American Education Week Poster page 8

Will the State Let Love Chapel Elementary Fall Through the Cracks? page 4

Speaking out with you Gera Summerford, President

Salary Increase: Let’s Do the Math Governor Haslam announced in early October a new goal for teacher salaries in Tennessee. He plans to increase teacher salaries at the fastest rate in the nation. With no specifics in the announcement, we’re left to ask what this means for Tennessee teachers.

Teacher salaries in our state currently rank about 45th in the nation. Both the beginning salary and average salary for Tennessee teachers are lower than in half our border states. Georgia ranks highest among southeast states, with teachers there earning on average some $4600 more than in Tennessee. The highest-paid teachers are in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and California, yet the salaries in these states have not grown rapidly in recent years. Over the past two years, though, some states have seen high rates of increase – as much as three-to-five percent. Does the governor intend to fund salary increases to match those rates?

Gov. Haslam said that over the past two years, teacher salaries in Tennessee have increased by four percent. We can assume he’s referring to the 2.5 percent raise in 201213 followed by an “Does the governor intend to raise all teacher increase of 1.5 percent this year. But, due to salaries or simply changes in the minimum increase state funding as salary schedule and state mandates for he did this year?” differentiated pay, less than half the school systems in Tennessee are giving all teachers the 1.5 percent salary increase for 2013-14. This administration has said they want local school districts to determine how best to apply state funding for teacher salaries. But whether called differentiated pay, alternative pay, or strategic compensation, these plans usually mean some teachers get a raise while others don’t. Does the governor intend to raise all teacher salaries, or simply increase state funding as he did this year?

We know that salary rankings are based on average salary. Now let’s do some math: If five teachers each earn $40,000, we can give everyone a raise of $2000 and the new average is $42,000.

However, if we give one teacher a $10,000 raise and leave the other four salaries the same, the new average is also $42,000. So we can raise the average salary even though four out of five teachers’ salaries stay the same. While the governor’s intent may be to increase the average teacher salary in our state, who will actually get a raise?

We’ve heard the State Board of Education express concerns about low-ranking teacher salaries in Tennessee, and now Gov. Haslam has set a goal for our teachers to have the fastest-growing salaries in the nation. How will these concerns and the governor’s goal be addressed? The details are yet to be forthcoming. As for now, we just have more questions.

Mitchell Johnson, Interim Executive Director Fight for Public Education for the Public Good There has been a lot of talk by so-called education reformers in recent years promoting the need for charter schools and vouchers (sometimes disguised as “opportunity scholarships”). The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a huge player in advancing the extreme agenda of these neo-reformers, pushing the idea that the free market and the private sector can address a child’s intellectual and social development better than any other entity, including local government. The battle cry they use to attract the uninformed offers parents socalled “school choice,” options other than public schools, for their children. TEA supports the belief that all of Tennessee’s children should enjoy all available options and opportunities. The operative word here is “all”.

The southern strategy for ALEC, adopted by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and other highranking state leaders, is to create a dual school system in the state: One that is unequal serving the majority of school systems; and another one that is more prosperous and affluent, rich with resources but unavailable to most students. The push for a dual education system is accompanied by shameless discrediting of the traditional public schools; describing them as failures; then starving them with limited resources; disturbing the education process by implementing a highstakes testing system; then disrupting public education through divisiveness by implementing counter-productive reforms. Chief among those reforms is the state’s punitive evaluation system. On the other side, state leaders promote charter schools and vouchers as viable options for those wishing to escape the discredited public schools.

Their solution to adopt a corporate model of school reform turns the schools over to private managers. Their solution creates a system of winners and losers.

TEA advocates another option. We encourage educators and other like-minded groups to unite to promote this basic principle — Public Education for the Public Good. TEA believes every child should be given the opportunity to pursue a rich and productive life — both individually and as a member of society — through a system of publicly funded, equitable and democratically controlled public schools.

A strong public education system has made the United States the strongest in the world because of a commitment to provide all children with the opportunity to attend a quality public school in their community. To preserve our leadership position in the future, public schools should be appropriately funded for success, equity and the educational value they provide our communities.

Unfortunately, many of our schools remain segregated and unequal to this day and the corporate-reform solution would only create greater segregation and inequity. Some students would be able to get a stronger education than others under their schemes. When Tennessee fails to properly fund public education, we shortchange our children and ultimately shortchange our future. The result is that some students are able to access a better set of circumstances than others. We must preserve opportunities for all children to access a quality education and not hand this responsibility over to private corporate executives, entrepreneurs or distant philanthropists who view our students as commodities and collateral.

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TEA HEADQUARTERS STAFF INTERIMEXECUTIVEDIRECTOR:MitchellJohnson;ASST.EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS,TerranceGibson;CarolK.Schmoock;Duran Williams; MANAGEROFBUSINESS AFFAIRS:StephanieFaulkner; INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY&SYSTEMSMANAGER,Galen Riggs; MANAGEROFLEGALSERVICES:Steve McCloud;STAFFATTORNEYS: JohnAllen,VirginiaA. McCoy;MANAGEROFGOVERNMENT RELATIONS:JimWrye;GOVERNMENTRELATIONSCOORDINATOR: AntoinetteLee;WEBMASTER&COMMUNICATIONSCOORDINATOR: AmandaChaney;MANAGINGEDITOR&COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR:AlexeiSmirnov; INSTRUCTION&PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTCOORDINATORS:SusanDalton,ChelseaMcKissack; COORDINATOROFMEMBERSHIP&AFFILIATERELATIONS:Shannon Bain.

UniServ Staff contact information can be found on page 16 or by scannig the Quick Response code below.

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October 2013

Teacher Salary Schemes: Much Talk About Little Pay District Plans for State Salary Increase Funds

9% 4%

Raise

7%

Bonus Performance Pay

10%

52%

Step and Degree Increases No Funds to Teachers

18%

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recently announced a plan to make Tennessee the fastest improving state in the nation when it comes to teacher salaries. While the details of his plan remain vague, lessons learned from prior education initiatives urge a sufficient amount of caution about the governor’s most recent proposal.

Earlier this year, the State Board of Education voted to gut the state minimum salary schedule (SMSS), approving the proposal of Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman who encouraged school districts to distribute the 1.5 percent state salary increase to teachers on a voluntary basis under the guise of local control.

That state board vote could have been a lot worse. Thanks to hundreds of TEA members’ calls, emails and presence at the meeting, TEA prevailed in its plea to increase the base salary on the new minimum state salary schedule by 1.5 percent. The increments have likewise been increased by that amount. That victory was significant because it was not a part of the proposal Huffman presented to the State Board at a prior meeting.

While the Department of Education admitted in its salary schedule fact sheet and during the board meeting that local districts can continue to use their existing schedules this year (including the ability to continue to reward teachers for years of experience and advanced degrees), new data from across the state shows that less than half of all school districts followed through with giving teachers their hardearned, permanent 1.5 percent raise.

In the graph above, it appears that 52 percent of districts chose to distribute the salary increase.

That percentage includes districts distributing the 1.5 percent raise as the main portion of their new salary plan, coupled with other initiatives such as

Undecided/No Response

pay-for-test-scores.

Another four percent of districts chose to not distribute the salary increase and an alarming 10 percent decided to exclusively tie the salary increase to a local pay-for-test-scores scheme.

Today, teacher salaries in Tennessee rank about 45th in the nation. Both the beginning salary and average salary for Tennessee’s teachers are lower

“If we want the best for our students and teachers, we should go back to the standard, proven state minimum salary schedule.” than in half of our border states. Georgia ranks highest among southeast states, with teachers there earning on average some $4600 more than in Tennessee. As TEA President Gera Summerford points out in her commentary on the opposite page, the highest-paid teachers are in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and California, yet the salaries in these states have not grown rapidly in recent years. Over the past two years, though, some states have seen high rates of increase – as much as three-to-five percent.

“Does the governor intend to fund salary increases to match those rates?” Summerford asks.

It’s still unclear whether Haslam’s plan to increase teacher pay will be solely tied to student test scores and teacher evaluations.

“TEA appreciates the governor recognizing how hard Tennessee educators work and how little they are currently paid,” said Summerford. “Teachers

have been under increasing pressure during the past three years, and compensation is one way to show appreciation for their tremendous efforts in raising student achievement. If we want to recruit and retain the best educators, we must get Tennessee out of the bottom 10 states for teacher pay.”

“Our concern is whether the governor’s intent is to make the increases solely based on unreliable student test data and a flawed evaluation system,” Summerford said. “TEA believes any compensation plan must include input from educators and opportunities for all teachers to realize higher salaries. We are eager to learn more about the governor’s plan and hope to see real increases in teacher pay, not just another pay-for-performance scheme.”

The recent radical changes reduced Tennessee’s 21-step salary schedule for teachers to four steps and collapsed the levels of advanced degrees from four to one.

The overall effect of these changes was a substantial reduction in teacher salary requirements from the state, especially the requirement for improved salaries for teachers with degrees above a master’s. In addition, the new plan allows the state to ignore the value of teacher experience beyond 11 years of service. The current plan spells frozen salaries, especially for those teachers with an education specialist, doctorate, or a master’s degree plus 30 hours of additional coursework; flatlining of salaries for career teachers above 11 years of service; decreased lifetime earnings; negative impact on retirement benefits; as well as growing competition among teachers for limited salary funds.

“The reason Commissioner Huffman made this radical change was to push for local differentiated pay based on student test scores,” said TEA Interim Executive Director Mitchell Johnson. “We know now that such a plan is creating wide disparities in teacher compensation within schools and school systems.”

Considering the recent gutting of the state minimum salary schedule, Johnson said it’s easy to remain skeptical about the recent teacher salary initiative from Governor Haslam.

“The purpose of the state minimum salary schedule is to ensure that no teacher, regardless of gender, race, or school system earns less than the state minimum,” Johnson said. “If we want the best for our students and teachers, we should go back to the standard, proven state minimum salary schedule.”

3 www.teateachers.org

“Don’t Ask for Help from the State”

Unicoi County teachers, superintendent were left to fend for themselves in wake of the largest sinkhole in history

W

hat happens when nature threatens to wipe a school building from the face of the Earth? If the story of Love Chapel Elementary in Erwin is any indication, everything will run smoothly when the teachers, principal and school board work together as a family, but they shouldn’t pin their hopes on the state government or the Tennessee Department of Education under its current leadership.

Love Chapel Elementary School Principal Ben Evely was in his Bible study class on Saturday, August 18, 2012, when he received news that a sinkhole was discovered at his school. Evely rushed to 1426 Love Station Road and found a gaping void in the middle of the driveway where parents lined up to pick up their kids less than 12 hours prior.

Founded in 1922, Love Chapel Elementary was about to break all known records as the site of the largest sinkhole on public school grounds in Tennessee history.

“It was massive compared to what I was expecting to see,” says Evely, who during the next seven days worked around the clock with his staff and Unicoi County Director of Schools Denise Brown to transfer Love Chapel and its students to alternate locations.

After a week-long break, students in kindergarten through second grade were moved to the Intermediate School and third-grade students were transferred to the Middle School as their teachers prepared to operate from rolling carts in tight spaces.

In hindsight, Love Chapel staff is amazed they were able to pull it off.

4 October 2013

“We took the whole school and moved in about five days,” Evely says. “We threw things into boxes—it was organized chaos. We relocated the same student body, teachers and staff.”

In a word, no child was left behind at Love Chapel, except in this case it was not a contrived edu-slogan but a true testament to the hard work of teachers and the local authorities who trust them to do their job.

“Our local, UCEA, reached out to our teachers to see if they needed anything.

They were very supportive and positive.”

Ben Evely,

Love Chapel Principal The sinkhole eventually reached 35 feet in diameter and took in 100 tons of rock as engineers commissioned from Florida worked to stop its expansion. The void was measured at 122 feet deep.

Further seismic testing revealed four other active and two potential sinkholes on the six-acre property.

“Even the geologists and engineers who worked on this said it’s one of the biggest sinkholes they have seen,” says Unicoi Co. Director of Schools Denise Brown. “The testing we’ve done found one active

sinkhole that was 172 feet deep. I dealt with a lot of things in 11 years on this job, but it’s the first time I’ve dealt with a sinkhole. The credit goes to this staff. If this had happened anywhere else, I don’t think it would have gone as smoothly.”

As the sinkhole and the news about it spread, Brown had a leadership team assembled by Sunday morning.

“We placed nine different teachers on rolling carts,” Brown says. “All the related arts were moved out of the rooms, which affected the faculty and staff at the Intermediate and Middle schools. Everyone was just amazing. I know it was hard to uproot so many teachers. We had to improvise with classrooms.

We used the band room for lunches at the Middle School.”

The Love Chapel librarian weathered rain, sleet and winter storms as she crossed the road between school buildings several times a day to get from one set of students to another. The school’s secretary contracted pneumonia twice, but none of the hardships mattered because the faculty and staff kept their focus. In the end, Love Chapel won the prize. In spite of the havoc visited upon the school by Mother Nature, not to mention the unfavorable regulatory and political winds faced by all Tennessee’s teachers in recent years, Love Chapel students scored the highest out of four K-3 schools on the achievement tests last spring.

“It speaks to the quality of staff and their positive attitude,” Brown says. “During the week we were out, we scheduled a meeting with parents to walk

them through all the changes, to let them know where their children would be. We tried to cover everything we could. When time came for questions, I was holding my breath. I think our parents had only three questions, and they were all very supportive.”

Janie Love, veteran Love Chapel teacher and Unicoi Co. EA member since 1984, says the school offered counseling to students and parents, but not many of them used it.

“I think it’s because we were calm, knowing that our bosses were taking care of the logistics and letting us teach,” says Love’s colleague and fellow UCEA member Renee Lingerfelt.

Last February, the Unicoi County School Board voted to permanently close the nearly 60-year-old building of Love Chapel Elementary due to safety issues and relocate the school to portable classrooms near Unicoi County High School.

As we discuss the upheaval caused by last year’s unexpected cataclysm in one of the brand new portables which will be home to Love Chapel Elementary for the next three years, one thing becomes crystal clear—the superintendent, principal, teachers and support staff at Love Chapel truly mean it when they say they are family. They are quick to give each other credit for their success, eager to thank the Unicoi County Education Association and the network of 17 area superintendents for support. At the same time, the silence from Nashville is deafening.

Brown says she has been “pretty vocal about the things going on at the state level.” She was among the superintendents who signed the petition asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam to rein in Tennessee Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman. Brown’s opinion of the goings-on in Tennessee public education didn’t change for the better after she spent nearly four months to get a 15-minute audience with Haslam to discuss the future of Love Chapel.

After a royal runaround, which included being told

that the governor can’t meet with her and there is no money for Love Chapel, Brown wanted to hear it from him personally, “even if it took sitting in front of his office.” Brown has been in touch with other local, state and federal officials, including U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, and Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.

“They are supportive, but we still haven’t found the financial help,” Brown says. “The thing with Unicoi County, 52 percent of our land is federally owned, and our county commission is almost bonded out.”

Principal Evely struggles to contain his emotions when he says that the state “didn’t come to offer any assistance in any of the phases of the move.”

“No one from the state department or their local people ever reached out or offered any assistance that I’m aware of,” he says. “No one ever contacted or emailed our school. We’re not high enough on the list, I don’t think.”

Even after the school persevered and yielded the highest scores in end-of-year achievement tests in the district, everyone in the room laughs at the suggestion that the State Department of Education would want to hail their hard work.

“I haven’t received an email saying ‘Man, you did great after that sinkhole’,” Brown says.

Yet Gov. Haslam’s re-election campaign mailers do reach Love Chapel faculty and staff.

“For $250 you can attend his reelection kick-off in Greeneville,” Evely says.

“Or you can take a picture with him and the first lady for $1,000,” says Amy Lowery, Love Chapel teacher UCEA Association Representative at the school.

“First and foremost, we’re thankful that nobody got hurt,” Lowery says. “We know that no one worked harder than our boss and his boss. At Love Chapel, we know who delivers on their promises. It wasn’t chaos and we could focus on our kids because Mr. Evely and Ms. Brown were taking care of all the other stuff. That’s how we did it.”

Unicoi Co. EA member Amy Lowery reads to Love Chapel Elementary students in one of the new portables which will house the school for the next three years until the new building is funded and built. Opposite page, left to right: Love Chapel teachers Renee Lingerfelt and Janie Love, Principal Ben Evely, Amy Lowery and Unicoi County Director of Schools Denise Brown.

Listen to This Superintendent Denise Brown: “I said to the parents, God is gracious and we are blessed. We’re in school five days a week and out two, and this happened during one of those two days. It still gives me chills to talk about it.

I have a building sitting out there and we have to figure out what to do with it. We can’t use it for school. We’re looking at possible property purchases.

We have found 12 different sites. Then I’ll start working with the architect and the school board attorney. I believe with all my heart that we’re going to be in a new school.

To build a new school for 350 students we need 10 to 15 acres of land and $10-$12 million. Property development is now part of my ‘other assigned duties.’

Just knowing that there is support was a big plus.

TEA UniServ Coordinator [Jennifer Gaby] was very helpful. We have 17 school districts in our region.

By Sunday afternoon, every single one of them contacted me to see whether I needed any help.

People sent us cafeteria tables and dividers. I even had to send an email saying we didn’t need that many dividers.

To sum up what we’ve been through, everything goes back to relationships, trust and keeping the focus on our students. Talking about the [State Education] Commissioner’s office and the Governor’s office, they have not built those relationships, and with a lot of things they’re trying to force down on us, they just don’t have the trust. To be successful, I don’t care what position you have, you must have relationships.

Tying teacher licensure to testing is absolutely absurd.

You don’t have to mess with local control. To tie a piece of [TVAAS] data that nobody can tell me is 100percent valid to somebody’s life? We don’t do that in the medical field; we don’t do that in any other field.

We don’t need state officials, most of whom never ran a school, trying to tell us that we’ve been doing well. We don’t need anything tied to licensure to affect strong, capable teachers. It’s just added stress on our veteran teachers.

Why do [they] want to push these reforms that are hurting the very essence of public education?

I think private education has its own place, but it shouldn’t be paid for with public funds. I’m against school vouchers and charter schools because we educate everybody.”

5 www.teateachers.org

An active Clarksville-Montgomery Co. EA member, Brown applies the same attitude to helping his colleagues during summer conferences and in day-today struggles.

Having watched teachers stress over their TVAAS scores, Brown is quick to point out that statistics is probably one of the most used—and misused—subjects in the world.

“I’ve seen a study with graphs and charts proving that the block is the most effective educational tool,” he says. “The next study said it’s the most terrible thing. It seems like in education you can find a study that supports anything you want to be good, and you

Take it From a Math Teacher: “Don’t Let a Number Define Who You Are as a Person” Montgomery-Central High School teacher Mike similar. I try to avoid situations when students feel Brown is convinced that everyone would enjoy math discouraged,” Brown says. and science if they had an opportunity to understand He doesn’t believe there’s a kid in America who how it’s applied in daily life. wakes up, looks in the mirror and thinks, ‘I want to “Welcome to the best class in America!” was his be a failure.’ Sometimes students may accept being a greeting when we walked into his classroom in early failure, but a good teacher can build an environment October. in which students can keep trying until they are Brown has earned the right to say that. As a successful. finalist for the 2013 Presidential Award for Excellence “I think kids like school, but it’s really easy to be in Mathematics and Science Teaching, he makes discouraged,” Brown says. “I’ve been discouraged.” explaining mathematical concepts seem effortless as When he was in college, Brown had a side job as a he cheers on his students whenever they hit upon a meter reader for the electric service. ‘eureka’ moment, which It was a pretty good happens quite often. job, and one day he Brown’s students decided he would quit As a finalist for the 2013 respond in kind, hailing college and continue to Presidential Award for the longtime Clarksvillemake a living as a meter Excellence in Mathematics Montgomery County EA reader—all because he was member as their favorite in a class he was doomed and Science Teaching, Brown teacher. to fail. makes explaining mathematical Students say Brown “I had no chance at concepts seem effortless... is never cranky, and his all, so I made up my mind tireless positive attitude that I was just going to allows them to feel quit,” Brown says. “But my comfortable when tackling math and science problems. teacher at Austin Peay, Mel Mayfield, I guess he could They are comfortable asking questions, feel like they sense it, and he invited me for a Reuben sandwich. He have the right to be wrong, and they get an emotional told me I could do anything I wanted in life.” high when, all of a sudden, a problem presents a Mayfield, who recently passed away at 92, was solution. the founding professor of the physics department at The classroom atmosphere is positive and relaxed.

Austin Peay State University and the type of teacher It’s throw-back day, with most of the class donning who would stay with students at his office, explaining 1980’s outfits. physics and the science of life.

It doesn’t seem like a long time ago when Brown Mayfield’s encouragement changed what was going was discouraged about things he didn’t understand. to be Brown’s last day in college into a lifetime of “Do you remember Rubik’s Cube? I tried it a couple helping young men and women. of times, but it didn’t take me too long to throw it “That’s what I try to do. I try to be like Mel in the trash. I could assemble just one side. Math is Mayfield,” Brown says. “I feel crazy blessed.”

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October 2013

can find another study that would put almost anything you want in a bad light.”

Brown encourages teachers upset with their TVAAS scores to avoid getting wrapped up in a number.

“How can you trust the magic formula of TVAAS? How can you let your sense of self-worth be determined by a number somebody else gives you?” he asks. “If they say you’re a ‘two,’ a ‘three’ or a ‘four,’ it’s not a measure of who you are as a person. You go in every day and try to make young men and women better than they were yesterday. And when somebody calls you an ‘ineffective teacher,’ in the overall scheme of things it’s irrelevant. We’re in the business of helping kids accomplish their dreams.”

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TEA General Counsel: TVAAS too Complex to be Trusted

By Rick Colbert For some teachers, TVAAS results may be the basis for half of their overall evaluation (35percent “growth” measure and, for others, 15 percent “other measures of achievement” as well). For the 60 percent of Tennessee teachers in subjects for which there is no standardized testing, 25 percent of their individual overall evaluations are still based on TVAAS results -- for some it is school-wide, for some it is system-wide, and for some it is the results of a completely different school. Those teachers do indeed get measured based on standardized test results of students they do not teach.

But TVAAS is more problematic than this, because the evaluation results produced by TVAAS are not really “scores” at all. To call them “scores” is to attribute some sense of mathematical certainty to them that is not warranted. TVAAS results are statistical “estimates” generated through a complex formula applied to student test scores that have been transmitted to a company in North Carolina, SAS, which uses a proprietary computer program to generate those estimates.

Setting aside the question of whether the TVAAS statistical formula can accurately isolate a teacher’s effect on student learning from all the other factors that affect learning, there is another

more fundamental problem with using TVAAS What’s more, TVAAS estimates for prior years results for high-stakes decisions about teacher are recalculated each year as new data arrives. A employment, compensation and licensure. As with teacher with a TVAAS result of “four” in 2012-13 all statistical estimates, TVAAS results may be could see that result lowered to “three” or raised affected by measurement error as well as random to a “five” retroactively, at the end of 2013-14. In error. Accordingly, every teacher’s individual other words, recalculation next year could reveal TVAAS report shows the teacher’s “estimate” that a high-stakes decision reached this year accompanied by a “standard based on TVAAS estimates error.” The standard error is was undeserved.

“Inappropriate uses of TVAAS itself a separate statistical Of course, a teacher has ‘estimates’ tend to be accepted estimate to account for the the right to grieve her or his precisely because TVAAS is possibility of measurement evaluation result, but only complex and mathematical, error or random error that may based on failure to follow and we mistakenly equate that affect the TVAAS estimate. If the required procedure or one adds and subtracts twoon accuracy of the data. mathematical complexity with times that standard error to Grieving a TVAAS result based precision and certainty.” and from the TVAAS estimate, on accuracy of the data, the result is a 95 percent however, is pretty difficult “confidence interval.” In statistical terms, what because the underlying data on which the result is that means is that while we have produced a based is not available to the teacher.

TVAAS estimate, it is not absolute truth. We can Because of its statistical complexity, be 95-percent certain that the real absolute truth TVAAS remains a mystery to most teachers. falls somewhere in the confidence interval we Inappropriate uses of TVAAS “estimates” tend to get from adding and subtracting two-times the be accepted precisely because TVAAS is complex standard error. and mathematical, and we mistakenly equate For most teachers, this process produces a that mathematical complexity with precision and confidence interval that can span as much as certainty. three of the five possible points in the rating.

Rick Colbert is TEA general counsel.

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                     

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                             

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       

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Join the conversation:

www.facebook.com/TennesseeEA

Tennessee Education Association shared a link: Knox County teacher and TEA member Lauren Hopson addressed the Knox County School Board earlier this month, giving voice to her frustrations and those of many Tennessee teachers.

“I’m tired of trying to plan five different lessons a day that hit 61 different indicators on a rubric, and that’s just to score a rock-solid “three,” Hopson said during her speech. “I am tired of the public being convinced that Knox County is moving in the right direction when I see good teachers at my school in tears at some point during the day on a regular basis… Believe it or not, during training we spent one whole day figuring out what kind of penguin we were.”

Knox Co. EA member Lauren Hopson Hopson, a teacher at Halls Elementary School in Knoxville and Knox Co. EA member since 2002, told school board members what Tennessee’s teachers really think about the evaluation system and other attacks on public education.

Julie Levine Crowe Let’s be real, the people who can change this aren’t listening because they are the people who brought this chaos to public education. If I were a conspiracy theorist, not just a skeptic, I might even think this is another attempt at destroying public education, this time in favor of for-profit charter schools, at the expense of our children.

Letitia Wilson The only way to start to change the climate and leaders in Tennessee is to ignore your political party. Many voters will only vote along party lines and that party ignored their educators.

Maria Orlando Gee I worked hard to elect someone different for Anderson Co., and he didn’t get elected, but I am willing to work again.

10

October 2013

Tennessee education in the news

Memphis-Shelby County Teachers Vote No Confidence in State Education Commissioner Huffman The newly unified MemphisShelby County Education Association (M-SCEA) issued a unanimous vote of no confidence in Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman during its monthly representative assembly on October 15, according to an M-SCEA news release.

“Enough is enough,” said Keith Williams, M-SCEA President. “Since his appointment by Governor Bill Haslam as Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education in April 2011, Commissioner Huffman has shown only a lack of respect and contempt for Tennessee’s teachers, our unions and our system of public education.”

“While framing his initiatives as ‘education reform,’ Commissioner Huffman has promoted unfair, invalid teacher and principal evaluations, lowered most of the base teacher salary schedule while converting the state’s teacher salaries to a pay-for-testscores system, and threatened teachers’ licenses based on errorprone, inaccurate data.”

Williams said recent reforms have been based on an unreliable, unproven TVAAS formula rather than using more reliable, valid and useful measures such as pre-test and post-test measurement of student achievement.

“In Shelby County especially, Commissioner Huffman has urged school closures and state takeovers of local schools even though local I-Zone initiatives have had more academic success,” Williams said. “He has failed to provide any additional funds for the transition as has been done in other districts that merged.”

The M-SCEA vote of no confidence in Huffman comes on the heels of similar votes by the Metro Nashville Education Association and Rutherford Education Association.

“With his continual words of praise and support, Gov. Haslam seems to be extremely happy with the commissioner’s efforts to destroy public education in the state and especially in Shelby County and to continue demoralizing attacks on dedicated education professionals,” Williams said. “Tennessee and its students will depend on educators to clean up the mess and to repair the damage already inflicted by the policies of Commissioner Huffman, his department and the appointed state school board. Commissioner Huffman is trying to hijack our profession, and we’re joining the superintendents and education associations across the state

“Commissioner Huffman has shown only a lack of respect and contempt for Tennessee’s teachers, our unions and our system of public education.”

Keith Williams in fighting back.”

According to Williams, “True education reform ensures that education professionals and our unions are at the table, creating solutions to achievement gaps, designing reliable evaluation systems that improve teacher and student performance, and dealing with other education issues. The best way to reform public education is to make sure we all respect, fund and support the hard work of our education professionals who are dedicated to the children of our state and who, unlike Commissioner Huffman, are licensed to teach in our state.”

Have a Legislative Idea? Send it to TEA Since the founding of the Tennessee Education Association, promoting legislation to advance public education – and to benefit students and educators – has been a major objective of the Association.

In keeping with that objective, we are asking for your recommendations of items to be included in the next TEA legislative program. All suggestions will be considered by the TEA Legislative Editing Committee appointed by TEA President Gera Summerford.

The editing committee will develop a proposed program to present to the TEA Representative Assembly next spring. The legislative program gives guidelines to leaders and staff as they work to promote TEA’s legislative concerns in the General Assembly.

The Tennessee Education Association is responsive to members’ concerns. If you have issues you would like for TEA to submit to the Tennessee General Assembly, please email them directly to TEA Government Relations. You can be assured that your suggestions will be given serious consideration by the TEA Legislative Editing Committee.

Please send your feedback no later than October 31, 2013, to Jim Wrye, manager of TEA Government Relations, 801 Second Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37201-1099, or email to sstinson@tea.nea.org.

Legislative Contact Team members at the ready—TEA held a Legislative Contact Team meeting in October in preparation for the upcoming legislative session.

Look for your new TEA membership card in the mail in December

Common Core Toolkit Available Online The NEA Common Core State Standards toolkit is available on the TEA website at www.teateachers.org. The standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics have been developed to advance the knowledge and skills required for successful entry into college and careers.

NEA developed this interactive toolkit with resources and access to forums to prepare educators to implement the standards and positively impact student achievement. The toolkit facilitates a feedback loop of information about the standards and corresponding assessments; informs instructional practice with strategies and curricular design methodologies; and provides a continuum of support for implementing the standards, along with strategies for advocacy and parental and community engagement.

11 www.teateachers.org

12

October 2013

Feeling the Spark

Blount, Sevier County teachers team up to expand local reach Two local associations came together in the Smoky Mountains during the weekend of September 6-8 to advance their cause of fighting for the learning conditions of students and the working conditions of teachers and education support professionals.

The leadership team of Blount Co. EA, along with their UniServ Coordinator Jason White, recognized the benefit of last year’s leadership training in Gatlinburg and decided to expand this year’s program.

“By inviting the Sevier County Education Association, we were able to further the purpose of the retreat, which we called ‘Setting a Spark in the Park’,” White said.

Held at the Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg, the retreat provided a scenic backdrop for attendees who were trained in emerging leader or advanced leadership tracks.

“We were excited to hear from TEA President Gera Summerford about keeping up the fight,” said Mary Jones, fourth-grade teacher at Boyds Creek Elementary and Sevier Co. EA treasurer. “We are so engulfed in what we’re doing inside those four walls of our classrooms. It was amazing to get outside, talk and get to know each other.”

White said expanding the retreat allowed his

colleague, UniServ Coordinator Tina Parlier, to present the parallel track alongside his session.

The goals of this year’s program were to increase membership, bring in members who have never attended a TEA event before, and help equip local leaders and Association Representatives for the ongoing fight for public education.

Courtney Whitehead of Blount Co. EA said the original idea came from BCEA President Grady Caskey and the BCEA executive board.

“He called me last summer to ask if I could put something together,” Whitehead said. “I love to plan events and parties. Grady gave me the budget and I just organized the food and rooms. It is really important to have fellowship in our organization.

I would recommend other locals find a weekend to plan, organize and talk.”

Caskey said the retreat idea emerged when he sought feedback from the executive board on how to engage local building representatives (ARs), especially among younger members.

“We acknowledged that everyone was busy and maybe a weekend retreat at a good hotel in a familyfriendly atmosphere would be an incentive,” he said.

“I began investigating the idea and asked Courtney Whitehead to help organize the event. Every local

needs a Courtney Whitehead.”

Event planners made sure to invite family members and allow time for family activities.

Caskey said partnering with SCEA was a great idea which turned out very well.

“Joining with another local allows members from each association to interact and share,” he said.

“From the feedback we received, the needs of our reps were met and we have valuable suggestions for our retreat next year.”

Caskey also strongly encouraged other locals to host similar events.

“Most building reps do not know each other outside AR meetings and an event like this provides an opportunity for reps to meet in a casual atmosphere with family members and get to know each other,” he said. “We have young members that are becoming better educated about the association and they want to get involved. In my opinion, if a local is not reaching out to its reps and not doing something for the members, it is a sure path to mediocrity. Members, and especially leaders, need to see that their association cares about them and that begins with building relationships. An event like this is a great relationship builder.”

13 www.teateachers.org

Celebrated Monroe County Entrepreneur Calls for Adequate Education Funding in TEA Spot “Long before I started Benton’s Country Hams and Bacon, I was a student and later an educator in Monroe County public schools,” says Allan Benton, owner and proprietor of Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Monroe County.

Benton’s company is hailed as one of the top boutique operations in the country, with celebrity chefs and hardworking restaurateurs singing his praises.

“Allan Benton is the rock star of American bacon,” writer Allan Benton John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance LONG BEFORE I STARTED BENTON’S SMOKY MOUNTAIN COUNTRY HAMS, I WAS Aand a regular contributor to the STUDENT AND LATER AN EDUCATOR IN York Times Philly.com. “There’s just something MONROE New COUNTY PUBLICtold SCHOOLS. very primal about his bacon. It’s assertive. It’s like OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE PRODUCING THOUSANDS OF WELL-EDUCATED barbecue and is so distinctive. You know when it hits your GRADUATES EACH YEAR WHO BECOME skillet and the first waft of smoke and grease starts to THE LIFEBLOOD OF OUR COMMUNITIES. spiral up.”

Allan Benton, Business Owner, Monroe County Benton, who has been called the epitome of the Southern gentleman, stars in the TEA Pencils to

“

”

Visit pencilstopaychecks.org to learn more about the great things happening in your local public schools.

Award Nominees Sought If you believe that excellence in education is both an art and a science that cannot be reduced to a number, the Tennessee Education Association invites you to find out how you can recognize TEA members at all levels of service and experience through the Distinguished Educator Awards Program.

Every year, TEA honors educators who inspire students, parents, colleagues and the community through their talents, leadership and service.

This year, all award winners will receive a 14

October 2013

Paychecks campaign featuring TEA members and small business owners who graduated from Tennessee public schools.

The goal of Pencils to Paychecks is to connect local public schools and educators with the communities they serve.

Receiving grant money from NEA for the media campaign provides an opportunity for TEA to combat the negative rhetoric surrounding public schools and promote a positive message that Tennessee educators are doing great things every single day.

TEA knows our public schools are producing thousands of graduates each year who later become the lifeblood of our communities, and it is time for business leaders and community members to know it, too.

“If I could have made a living in education, I probably wouldn’t be making ham and bacon,” said Benton, a former teacher, TEA member and tireless champion of public schools. “Educators are expected to be the end game for everything and are blamed for many of our society’s ills. It doesn’t work that way. From kindergarten to high school and college, teachers are just not appreciated. They are doing a great job, laying a great foundation for our economy.”

significant technological gift which they will find useful both in the classroom and at home.

Awards will be issued in the following categories: • Distinguished Classroom Teacher Awards (9) – All grades with three awards from each grand division of the state; • Distinguished Education Support Professional Award (1)—Any classified educator; • Distinguished Administrator Awards (3)— One administrator from each grand division; • Distinguished Higher Education Faculty Member (1)—One faculty member whose primary assignment is at the college or university level; • Distinguished New Teacher Awards (3)—Honors educators with five or fewer years of service in the following categories; grades P-K-4, grades 5-8, and grades 9-12.

The deadline for all the distinguished educator award categories is February 15, 2014.

The same deadline applies to Susan B. Anthony, School Bell and TEA Human and Civil Rights awards nominations.

More details and nomination forms are available in the Scholarships, Awards and Grants section at www.teateachers.org.

Benton’s unwavering commitment to public education comes from his and his wife’s teaching experience, as well as his observations as a successful entrepreneur.

“Teachers deserve to be treated and paid better,” Benton said. “They are absolutely underpaid considering the superb job they are doing. Show me a company that cut spending in research and development and I would guess it’s starting to go downhill. I certainly hope that education is one place where we don’t cut spending in Tennessee. I think that would be ill-advised.”

“Visit PencilstoPaychecks.org to find out how you can be a part of great things happening in your local public schools,” Benton says in the TEA spot, which is available on Youtube.

Get Involved in the Campaign!

Join TEA in spreading the word about the great things happening in Tennessee’s public schools. Share the link to the Pencils to Paychecks website, PencilstoPaychecks.org, with your friends and family through social media.

TEA is also looking for more quotes to include on the website. Ask a local business owner who graduated from a public school to submit a quote to appear on www.

PencilstoPaychecks.org. Quotes from educators and business owners may be submitted to Chris Watson at cwatson@tea.nea.org.

Nominate a Teacher for 2014 Humanities Award Humanities Tennessee seeks nominations for the 2014 Awards of Recognition for Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities. Fulltime public 3rd – 12th grade humanities teachers in Tennessee are eligible. Any Tennessean may nominate a teacher.

This award is available to teachers who have demonstrated excellence in teaching the humanities and make the humanities an important part of their students’ lives.

Up to six teachers will receive a $2,000 fellowship to further their professional development in the humanities. The teachers’ schools will also receive $1,500 for humanities programs and materials.

“Teachers often tell us this award is a career highlight,” says Paul McCoy, Program Officer with Humanities Tennessee.

“Teachers have followed the trail of Lewis and Clark, toured archaeological sites in Mexico and visited European basilica mosaics, seeing for the first time what they have long taught.

Simply put, this program changes lives.”

Since the Teacher Awards program began in 1985, Humanities Tennessee has provided almost $400,000 to Tennessee teachers and schools. The humanities include, but are not limited to, the study and interpretation of language; literature; history; philosophy; archaeology; ethics; and the history and criticism of the arts.

Draft nominations must be postmarked by December 31, 2013. Final nominations must be postmarked by January 31, 2014. Nomination forms may be obtained by contacting Paul McCoy at 615-770-0006, ext. 17, paul@humanitiestennessee.org, or by visiting www.humanitiestennessee.org.

TEA Pink Out to Kick off Advocacy Conference

November 1 event will help raise breast cancer awareness The Tennessee Education Association’s 2013 Fall Advocacy Conference will open with the TEA Pink Out, an event promoting breast cancer awareness among teachers and education support professionals. All attendees are encouraged to wear pink.

Dubbed “Statehouse, Courthouse, Schoolhouse and You!” the conference will be held on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2, 2013, at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Expected to draw hundreds of teachers from Memphis to Mountain City, the conference will connect urgent battles in the state legislature with the concerns of school districts and will equip teachers with the tools to fight for public education jobs going forward.

“As we advocate to win back the rights lost during the last several years, it’s crucial that we also focus on our health,” said Shannon Bain, coordinator of membership and affiliate relations at TEA. “Breast cancer could be a fatal illness, but it can be stopped with timely screening.”

The TEA Pink Out will commence at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a government relations and legislative town hall meeting.

“With the implementation and pending enactment of various ‘education reforms,’ this is a critical and challenging time for our profession,” said TEA President Gera Summerford. “The TEA Advocacy Conference will focus on skill development and strategies needed to promote the collective voice of Tennessee’s teachers as advocates for our profession and for our students.”

Conference sessions will tackle childhood poverty and student achievement, professional rights and responsibilities within the advocacy framework, ways to use collaborative conferencing to advance the Association’s agenda, instructional issues and social networking, plus an informative new look at the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System.

On-site conference registration will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, and will continue Saturday morning. Hotel checkin will be available after 4 p.m. on Friday. The conference will end at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Breast Cancer Awareness • In 2013, an estimated 232,340 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed among women in the United States.

• In 2013, approximately 39,620 women are expected to die from breast cancer.

• A woman living in the U.S. has a 12.3 percent (or a 1 in 8), lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer.

• Every three minutes, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer.

• Every 13 minutes, a woman in the United States dies from breast cancer.

• In 2013, about 2, 240 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 410 men will die from the disease.

• Less than 15 percent of women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease.

• Having a first-degree relative (mother, sister or daughter) with breast cancer can double a woman’s risk.

• African-American women have a higher rate of death from breast cancer than any other race.

• Risk of breast cancer increases with age. Seventynine percent of new cases and 88 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in women 50 years of age and older.

Share the breast self-awareness messages: Know your risk, get screened, know what is normal for you, and make healthy lifestyle choices.

(Information obtained from the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen Foundation).

15 www.teateachers.org

For new and nearly new teachers

Sharpen Your Teaching Skills At TEA New Teacher Conference introduces best practices for Novice teachers will have a delivering powerful instruction to dynamic opportunity this year to increase student learning. This session sharpen their teaching skills and improve their success in the classroom promises to strengthen teaching in ways that at TEA’s New matter when it Teacher Comments from last year’s comes time for Conference set enthusiastic participants observations for Saturday, demonstrate the value of this annual under the February conference: state’s 22, 2014. evaluation Participants • Great presentation! Ideas process, can choose to presented could be used for any whichever attend one of grade level; received many good evaluation two tracks, each model is used. of which runs ideas to take to my classroom.

I Can Do It! the full day, • Great attitude! Great teacher is the highly from 8:30 a.m. advice! acclaimed til 3:30 p.m.

• Very animated!

I will use classroomPowerful many of the ideas introduced in management Teaching

training program that addresses one of the most pressing issues beginning teachers face. The program covers classroom transitions, reinforcements, rules and routines, and dealing with difficult behavior.

Both tracks offer valuable insights and practical tips for teachers of all subjects at all grade levels.

Teachers in their first three years of classroom teaching are invited to attend the conference, and will earn six hours of professional development credit for doing so.

Registration information for the New Teacher Conference is available online, though registration cannot be confirmed until a check is transmitted to TEA. A $40 registration fee, payable in advance, secures a spot in the training. An early-bird registration discount of $10 applies for those who register by December 20, 2013.

The registration fee will be refunded to TEA members who attend if their registration fees were paid by personal or Association check.

More details and registration information have been mailed to local presidents, and can be found online by scanning the QR code below or by going to www.teateachers. org/new-teacherconference.

2013-14 teach publishing schedule

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Need information, services?

Tennessee Education Association 801 Second Avenue N., Nashville, TN 37201-1099 (615) 242-8392, (800) 342-8367, FAX (615) 259-4581

UniServ Coordinators

District 1 — Harry Farthing, P.O. Box 298, Elizabethton, TN 37644; phone: (423)262-8035, fax: (866)379-0949; Assns: Carter, Hancock, Hawkins, Rogersville, Johnson, Sullivan, Bristol, Elizabethton, Kingsport. District 2 — Jennifer Gaby, P.O. Box 70, Afton, TN 37616; (423)234-0700, fax: (855)299-0723; Assns: Cocke, Newport, Greene, Greeneville, Unicoi, Washington, Hamblen, Johnson City. District 3 — Tina Parlier, P.O. Box 70288, Knoxville, TN 37938-0288, (865)6881175, fax: (865)518-3104; Assns: Claiborne, Grainger, Jefferson, Sevier, Union, Scott, Campbell, Oneida (in Scott Co.). District 4 — Vacancy, Assns: Knox,TSD, District 5— Jason White, P.O. Box 5502, Oak Ridge, TN 37831; (615)521-1333, fax: (865)301-8366; Assns: Anderson, Clinton, Oak Ridge, Blount, Alcoa, Maryville, Lenoir City, Loudon. District 6 — Jim Jordan, P.O. Box 4878, Cleveland, TN 37320; phone: (423)472-3315, fax: (855)299-5674; Assns: Bradley, Cleveland, McMinn, Athens, Etowah, Meigs, Monroe, Sweetwater, Polk, Rhea-Dayton, Roane. District 7 — Theresa Turner,HCEA 4655 Shallowford Rd., Chattanooga, TN 37411; (423)485-9535, fax: (423)485-9512; Assns: Hamilton.

District 8 — Chris Brooks, P.O. Box 3629, Chattanooga, TN 37404; phone: (615)332-2636, fax: (866)483-2514; Assns: Clay, Cumberland, Fentress, Jackson, Morgan, Pickett, Putnam, Overton, York Institute, TN Tech.

Univ, Bledsoe, Sequatchie,Van Buren, White. District 9 — Jackie Pope, 2326 Valley Grove Dr., Murfreesboro, TN 37128;phone: (615)898-1060, fax: (855) 301-8214, Assns: Bedford, Moore, Cannon, DeKalb, Coffee, Franklin, Grundy, Manchester, Tullahoma, Marion, Warren. District 10 — Jeff Garrett, P.O. Box 1326, Lebanon, TN 37088-1326; (615)630-2605, fax (855)3208755—; Assns: Rutherford, Murfreesboro, Sumner, MTSU, Macon, Smith, Trousdale. District 11 — Cheryl Richardson-Bradley, P.O. Box 354, Goodlettsville, TN 37070; (615)630-2601, fax: (888)519-4879; Assns: Wilson, Lebanon, FSSD, Williamson. District 12 — Miley Durham, P.O. Box 10, Lawrenceburg, TN 38464; phone: (931)766-7874, fax: (913) 762-9391— Assns: Giles, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Fayetteville, Maury, Wayne, Marshall, Perry. District 13 — Forestine Cole, Vacancy, Metro Nashville, 531 Fairground Court, Nashville, TN 37211; (615)726-1499, fax: (855)299-5837 (Cole), (855)299-4968 (Smith); Assns: Metro Nashville, TN School For The Blind. District 14 — Rhonda Thompson, TEA 801 Second Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37201; phone: (615)354-3305, fax: (888)519-7331; Assns: Clarksville-Montgomery, Robertson. District 15 — Maria Uffelman, P.O. Box 99, Cumberland City, TN 37050; phone: (931)827-3333, fax: (855)299-4925; Assns: Benton, West Carroll, Central, Clarksburg, Huntingdon, McKenzie, Henry, Paris, Houston, Humphreys, Stewart, Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman.

District 16 — Lorrie Butler, P.O. Box 387, Henderson, TN 38340; (731)989-4860, fax: (855)299-4591; Assns: Chester, Hardeman, West TSD, Henderson, Lexington, Jackson-Madison, McNairy, Decatur, Hardin. District 17 — Karla Carpenter, P.O. Box 177, Brunswick, TN 38014; (901)590-2543, fax: (855)299-4892; —Assns: Crockett, Dyer, Dyersburg, Gibson, Humboldt, Milan, Trenton, Haywood, Lake, Lauderdale, Obion, Union City, Tipton Weakley. District 18 — Zandra Foster, 3897 Homewood Cove, Memphis, TN 38128; (901)377-9472, fax: (855)320-8737;—Assns:, Shelby, Fayette. District 19 — Assns: Memphis Education Association — Ken Foster, Executive Director; MEA UniServ Directors: Susanne Jackson, Terri Jones, Tom Marchand, 126 South Flicker Street, Memphis, TN 38104; (901)4540966, fax: (901)454-9979; Assn: Memphis.

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October 2013