By Lisa Fingeroot, The Tennessean
The number of Tennessee teachers apparently not told how poorly
they scored on a teacher evaluation is worrisome to Education
Commissioner Kevin Huffman, who questions how they can improve without
feedback.
"It's been disconcerting that so many teachers have
emailed to say, 'You made a mistake,' " when notified of their results
by the state Department of Education, Huffman said. His staff has
verified the results, though.
"It means (their) principal had not
talked to them" about their poor scores, Huffman said. "How are you
going to get better if no one talks to you about it?"
Huffman made
his remarks Thursday to the State Board of Education during a work
session where members receive updates and review topics they will
discuss at a business meeting the next day.
Even though Tennessee
is into the second year of teacher evaluations, the first year-end
results have not been released to the public. A department spokeswoman
earlier said the results are expected soon.
After examining the
first half-year results, officials said the high scores given to
teachers by principals after classroom observations were not supported
by the outcome - student test scores.
When the lowest teacher
scores are removed from the picture, though, the two sets of scores are
much more aligned, said Sara Heyburn, assistant commissioner of teachers
and leaders for the department of education.
"People are having
trouble with those on the low end," Huffman said. "We need those
teachers to improve. We have to give them feedback."