News Brief

07/16/13

Tennessee Seeks to Toughen Standards on Teacher Licensing

Tennessean (07/16/13) Fingeroot, Lisa

Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman has proposed linking teacher licenses to student test scores, making it tougher for teachers to obtain and maintain licenses by demanding higher scores on initial licensing tests and requiring more frequent renewals. The new licensing requirements would be based in part on the evaluation of teacher effectiveness. One of Huffman's proposals would gradually raise the acceptable Praxis scores over a period of 10 years, and another proposal would reduce the number of license types and cut the number of years a license would be valid. The first license would be valid for three years, and subsequent renewals would be valid for six years instead of the current 10. Advancement from the initial level of practitioner to the next step of professional would require a teacher to earn a 2 or better on the 5-point overall evaluation for two of three years, as well as a 2 or better for two of three years on an individual growth score. "All of this fits with the same broad principle; we think teaching is the most important profession and we think we need to have policies and laws that recognize the importance," says Huffman. "The current process is completely backwards in the sense that we have a lot of hoops to jump through, but nothing that ensures quality."
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