This mixed-methods study focuses on school improvement planning in middle schools in east Tennessee. Utilizing the improvement plans of 17 middle schools and surveys that were administered to 493 teachers and 35 administrators, this study found that there was (A) an overemphasis on academic goals, (B) an overreliance on the use of…

Chapter 740 of the Public Acts of 1988 mandated that student needs assessments are to be conducted annually. Needs assessment may be defined as a process for idenitfying the gaps between educational goals (outcomes) established for students and students' actual performance. Whether goals and objectives are explicit or implicit, they play a…

This report presents the Tennessee edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's 2008 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook." The 2008 "Yearbook" focuses on how state policies impact the retention of effective new teachers. This policy evaluation is broken down into three areas that encompass 15 goals. Broadly, these goals…

The Design for Tennessee Assessment and Evaluation of Title III, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was developed to provide a tool for educators to use in evaluating projects and programs in Tennessee schools. An intensive workshop on evaluation was held using the Tennessee Evaluation Design as the synthesizing structure. The presentations…