Tennessee's Data Once Again Crucially Missing

ASCD attacks a recent report that showed Teach For America teachers outperforming (slightly) their "certified peers":

However, there are serious issues that the report glosses over, according to an analysis done by the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality. These issues include the fact that many of the control group teachers actually had less preparation than the TFA teachers, that more TFA teachers were fully certified than their novice control group peers, and that the achievement of students in both groups was "abysmal," (14th percentile in reading and 17th percentile in math, at the high end).

Key data from Tennessee: Novice teachers get really bad value-added scores as a general matter, and it takes 10 - 12 years for their effectiveness to max out.

Key policy issues:

#1. -- Why are new teachers so poorly prepared? To their credit, Tennessee's schools of education are working together and with Bill Sanders on this issue.

#2 -- Why does it take so long for their effectiveness to improve? I'd suggest the lack of collaborative, reflective work on quality teaching and learning (e.g., Lesson Study) but it is absolutely clear this is a critical issue that should be getting serious study. But I'm pretty sure Tennessee isn't doing this. Our Department of Education has been amazinly unimaginative and unresponsive to the cutting-edge, general-wisdom-challenging, best-in-the-world data we've had for over a decade now. Of course, one of the Commissioner's of Education in that period spent almost six years trying to kill that data -- an error of intent rather than ineffectiveness. Works out the same, however. We have not moved the cause of education forward as we could have. For shame.