Task Force To Work Out Letter Grading System For Tennessee Public Schools

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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

After seven years, the Tennessee Department of Education is finally making some forward progress with the development of a system for assigning letter grades to schools. The state law requiring the system was passed in 2017, but the department did not get the program started before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The intention of the grading system is to provide an overview of how each school performs during the academic year and to be able to make comparisons over time. The initial delay due to the pandemic was compounded by the U.S. Department of Education’s requirement that the state adjust its school accountability plan to comply with federal requirements.

In August, the state began soliciting public feedback regarding the new grading system. They held a series of community meetings and accepted online comments. There were more than 300 public comments submitted before the task force began to meet.

The School Letter Grades Working Group has already met three times to work on the system, and they have two more meetings scheduled for this month. Each meeting has covered a different aspect of the potential model.

• Thursday, October 5: Meeting 1- Introductions & Overview of the Task at Hand

• Tuesday, October 10: Meeting 2- Required Component of the A-F Calculation: Achievement

• Thursday, October 12: Meeting 3- Required Component of the A-F Calculation: Growth

• Monday, October 16: Meeting 4- Required Component of the A-F Calculation: Other Indicators

• Friday, October 20: Meeting 5- Putting it All Together: Weighting

“This next phase of work brings us one step closer to fulfilling the state’s promise to its citizens to create a letter grade calculation for schools that is transparent, meaningful and easy to understand,” Education Commissioner Lizzette Gonzalez Reynolds stated in a news release. “This group will move forward with those goals in mind to help create calculations to clearly show how Tennessee’s schools are performing so they can target student academic needs.”

All materials, including slideshows and recordings from the meetings, are being posted HERE.

Group members include the following individuals:

• Raumesh Akbari, Senate minority leader.
• Chrisi Bollinger, analytics, strategy, and special projects, Emerald Charter Schools.
• JC Bowman, executive director & CEO, Professional Educators of Tennessee.
• Margaret Bright, teacher, Lenoir City Schools.
• Sarah Carpenter, executive director, Memphis Lift.
• Scott Cepicky, House Education Instruction Subcommittee chair.
• Tanya Coates, president, Tennessee Education Association.
• Melissa Collins, 2022-23 teacher of the year, Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
• Kevin Deck, assessment analyst, Williamson County Schools.
• Venita Doggett, director of advocacy, Memphis Education Fund.
• Russell Dyer, director of schools Cleveland City Schools.
• Bob Eby, chair, Tennessee State Board of Education.
• Victor Evans, executive director, TennesseeCAN.
• Tammy Garrett, director of schools, Bedford County Schools.
• Norma Gerrell, director of schools, Paris Special School District.
• Mary Graham, president, United Ways of Tennessee.
• Aleah Guthrie, vice president of policy and government relations, State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE).
• Wendy Hansard, assistant principal, Knox County Schools.
• Kirk Haston, House K-12 Education Subcommittee chair.
• Patsy Hazlewood, House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee chair.
• Christy Carrol Highfill, vice president of advocacy, TN PTA.
• Ryan Holt, board member, State Board of Education.
• Christy Hovanetz, senior policy fellow, ExcelinEd.
• Kim Inglish, 2022-23 teacher of the year Grand Division winner, Murfreesboro City Schools.
• Corby King, director of schools, Putnam County Schools.
• Yetta Lewis, principal, Gestalt Community Schools.
• Kyle Loudermilk, 2022-23 principal of the year, Kingsport City Schools.
• Harold Love Jr., House Education Administration Committee member.
• Jean Luna-Vedder, director of schools, Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools.
• Jon Lundberg, Senate Education Committee chair.
• Jim Mcintyre, dean of the College of Education and assistant provost for Academic Excellence, Belmont University.
• Debra Moody, House Education Instruction Committee chair.
• Francisco Moreno, parent.
• Sara Morrison, executive director, State Board of Education.
• Nate Morrow, board member, State Board of Education.
• Bob Nardo, executive director, Libertas School of Memphis.
• Erin O’Hara Block, school board member, Metro-Nashville Public Schools.
• Tim Parrott, director of schools, Anderson County Schools.
• Eddie Pruett, director of schools, Gibson County Special School District.
• Gini Pupo Walker, executive director, Ed Trust.
• Tyler Salyer, principal, Collierville Schools.
• Jenna Sharp, principal, Clinton City Schools.
• Missy Testerman, 2023-24 teacher of the year, Rogersville City Schools.
• Joey Vaughn, director of schools, Manchester City Schools.
• Tim Ware, executive director, Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School.
• Warren Wells, board member, State Board of Education.
• Mark White, House Education Administration chair.
• Maria Paula Zapata, director of programs, Conexión Americas.