It’s not clear yet whether the U.S. Department of Education is going to let states use value-added data to meet the NCLB requirements for highly qualified teachers. Given its trailblazing work in this arena, it’s not surprising that Tennessee is the state pushing this issue. According to Keith Brewer, the deputy commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education, the problem is that there are many good teachers who improve student achievement but do not appear to be “highly qualified” under the law. “You’ve either got to go back to school…or go back and take a test,” Brewer explained to Education Week.
Department of Education advisor Gretchen Slease greeted the proposal with guarded optimism: “we want to provide flexibility for states…As long as [Tennessee] can justify that the [value-added data] would demonstrate that the teacher has sufficient content knowledge, they are welcome to do that.” We’ll keep following Tennessee s efforts.