The following may be attributed to Knox County educator and Tennessee Education Association President Tanya T. Coats:
“Tennessee already has school accountability in its comprehensive online report card system that is easily understood. Every Tennessee school lists achievement and growth on standardized tests, including subgroups like English Language Learners and students with disabilities. The system also reports other factors like absenteeism, graduation rates and college and career readiness among others – indicators not reflected in a single letter grade.
It is insulting to students, parents, educators and communities to label our schools with a single letter grade weighted heavily on a flawed high-stakes standardized test. It is impossible to capture the hard work of Tennessee students and educators with such a simplistic rating.
We’ve seen in other states the harm caused by labelling schools with a single letter grade. Utah and Michigan join a list of others that have already repealed what was a flawed idea first put forth by education reform groups in the early 2010s. Tennessee should learn from the mistakes of other states and not subject our schools to these harmful and misleading letter grades.
The important work happening inside our great public schools is too complex to be captured in one letter grade. TEA believes the law should be repealed or, at a minimum, heavily amended to avoid harm these letter grades will ultimately cause Tennessee students, educators, schools and communities.”
