Governor Bill Haslam has announced an education listening tour as part of a multi-phase plan to get feedback on statewide assessment.
In a press conference Tuesday morning, Haslam acknowledged the criticism surrounding TNReady testing and said most of it “has been earned.”
The governor said he wants to focus on foundational public education in his remaining months as governor.
The listening tour will include six stops throughout the state and provide an opportunity for educators, school technology and assessment coordinators, and school district administrators to provide feedback on the online delivery of state assessment.
Haslam said the goals of the tour are to:
- Engage in an open conversation about assessment and ways to improve administration
- Gather feedback that can inform a smooth delivery of state assessments this school year and beyond, including feedback on the selection of the state’s next assessment partner to be chosen later this school year
- Discuss how to better provide schools, educators, parents and students with meaningful and timely results from assessments
- Distinguish assessment content from delivery in an effort to focus on the value assessments can provide.
“Tennessee’s unprecedented improvement in education is the result of high academic standards and an assessment that measures knowledge of those standards,” Haslam said. “Without aligned assessments, we don’t know where our students stand and where we need to improve..."
The tour will begin August 24 in Knoxville and will be followed by stops planned for Hamilton County, Shelby County, Williamson County, Greene County and Gibson County. Specific locations and times are being finalized.
