MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An online petition to not include TNReady data in teacher evaluations for a year topped 1,000 signatures Tuesday.
“It just makes good sense not to use it at all until it is valid,” said Memphis Shelby County Education Association Interim Executive Director Keith Williams.
MSCEA leaders told WREG they are backing the petition to toss out students’ TNReady scores in teacher evaluations for a year.
“We have no problem with testing but the test must be fair, it must be valid if you’re going to hold our students and educators accountable for it,” said MSCEA President Patricia Scarborough.
Right now, teachers receive TVAAS scores which measures a teacher’s impact on students.
Part of that score, comes from students’ TCAP results.
However, this year, students are scheduled to take the brand new TNReady test instead of parts of the TCAP.
The new test is meant to better assess students’ understanding, not just test taking skills.
“This is the first year of a brand new state assessment, and so, there’s even more concern especially from teachers statewide because it’s a new assessment,” said Tennessee Education Association President Barbara Gray.
TEA was one of several organizations who backed the petition.
The organizations, collectively, went by “Tennessee Strong” on the petition.
Teachers unions weren’t the only ones asking for a slower change.
The state legislature passed an act designed to ease the transition to the new scoring system Governor Bill Haslam signed it into law in April.
It essentially gives teachers the best of both worlds.
If TNReady results benefit a teacher, those results will be weighted at 35%. If they do not help a teacher, 10% of the TNReady score will be incorporated, as will TVAAS data from previous years.
That wasn’t enough for the teacher’s unions WREG spoke with.
“The state has even opined that, saying well it would count this much for some teachers and this amount for some,” said Williams, who believed the system remains ambiguous.
To see the petition, click here.