Assistant Commissioner Brooke Amos presented findings from a landscape analysis and the work of a teacher-evaluation advisory committee, saying the department will deliver a report to the legislature in January 2026.

Amos said the review stems from legislation (Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49, Chapter 1 Part 2) requiring a landscape analysis, advisory committee and a report. She described the state's evaluation system as based on multiple measures — qualitative observations, achievement measures and growth measures — and said Tennessee has unique observation cycles tied to teacher experience and prior effectiveness scores.

Amos summarized recent trends: around 75% of educators receive an overall effectiveness level of 4 or 5, new teachers (first three years) generally earn at least a level 3, and hundreds of approved evaluators complete required certification each year (the department reported over 9,000 recertifications/training last year). The advisory committee found the system to be robust and useful, especially for novice teachers, but flagged design areas for refinement including potential subjectivity in some measures, the depth/weighting of growth measures for tested and non-tested teachers, and whether the rubric should be simplified.

Board members raised questions about announced vs unannounced observations, piloting narrower observation focuses to support coaching, and the possibility of fewer or more focused rubric indicators. Amos said the committee will meet again and provide draft recommendations at the next meetings; the department plans a committee recommendation report on Jan. 31. "We are working on a final report. All of this will culminate into a report that will go to the legislature, in January 2026," she said.

Next steps: advisory-committee deliberations continue, department will finalize a committee recommendation and present the report to the board and legislature in January 2026.