Lakeland’s school board voted Monday night to oppose use of the TNReady data (from student’s statewide testing) for teacher evaluations for this year. The resolution will be passed to Tennessee legislators in hopes they will approve a one-year waiver from the requirement.
The new use of computerized testing and other variables make it unreasonable to hold the teachers accountable to the testing scores this year, board members agreed.
Board member Teresa Henry said teachers not only teach the material, they also teach how to take the test.
“We always hope that our students are going to excel, as they always have, and we have faith in our teachers that they know the material,” she said. “It’s just how well are the students going to be able to convey that knowledge, because it is different taking the test on a computer.”
Board member Laura Harrison, who works for a company heavily invested in IT, said she is also concerned about the level of system stress testing the computing system has had. She has not heard of a sufficient statewide test.
“It’s not fair to either the student or the teacher,” she said. “… I think this is a great way to show them that we value what they do and we know that there is going to be hiccups and problems, and we want to support and acknowledge that it’s not someone’s fault that there are going to be IT challenges.”
Chair Kevin Floyd said, “I believe there are just too many unknowns to hold teachers accountable this first year.”
Other business
- In a unanimous vote, the board approved teacher tenure for the first time, selecting first-grade teacher Tonya Carson of Lakeland Elementary School. Commissioner Teresa Henry thanked her for coming to the district and said she’s heard wonderful things about her. To be eligible for tenure, state law requires that teachers complete five years of education experience with scores of 4 or 5 for the past two years. This includes previous work at other school systems, as Lakeland School System is only in its second year of operations.
- The school district achieved a clean audit for its first year of operations, superintendent Dr. Ted Horrell reported. The routine annual audit of the past school year showed no exceptions and no recommendations for change.
- The superintendent also updated the board on the cafeteria’s continuing financial turnaround at Lakeland Elementary School. Last school year, the cafeteria was $11,294 in the hole through November 2014; this year, it was in the black by $4,227 through November 2015.
- The board approved the use of the same mascot for Lakeland Middle School as is currently used for the elementary — the lion.
