Latest Research
Exploring Race and Gender Gaps in Classroom Observation Scores in Tennessee
This brief analyzes patterns in classroom observation scores teachers receive along racial and gender lines.
About the Research
TERA research explores the pathways and pipelines that prepare, attract, and retain highly effective teachers and leaders. In addition to general research in these areas, we specifically focus on issues related to educator diversity in Tennessee schools.
School Leader Effectiveness and Retention
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Do All Students Have Access to Great Principals?
2019 - This second brief in a series aimed at expanding our understanding of school leadership in Tennessee explores how principal quality is distributed across the state. TERA researchers find that effective school leaders are distributed unevenly across Tennessee schools.
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How Principals Drive School Success
2018 - This brief is the first in a series aimed at building our knowledge on what we know about effective school leadership.
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Principal Licensure Exams and Future Job Performance
2017 - Tennessee is among 18 U.S. states and territories that rely on the School Leaders Licensure Assessment when licensing principals. Researchers analyzed data for 10 years of Tennessee SLLA test takers, including their performance evaluations, student achievement in their schools, and their teachers' survey ratings of school leadership.
Teacher Effectiveness and Retention
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Promising Practices in Preparing Tennessee's Future Leaders
2020 - This brief examines whether having a more instructionally effective clinical mentor matters, and what the state, districts, and EPPs can do to ensure that student teaching experiences ready future teachers.
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Exploring the Professional Learning Landscape in Tennessee
2020 - Using data from the Tennessee Educator Survey, this brief examines teachers' overall experiences with professional learning and whether teachers across the state have access to regular and helpful professional learning opportunities.
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Transforming the Pool of Tenured Teachers in Tennessee
2019 - This brief examines how the pool of eligible teachers changed after the implementation of tenure reform in Tennessee.
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Comparing the Effectiveness of Early and Upper Elementary Teachers
2019 - This brief examines whether Tennessee schools are distributing teacher quality equitably across the Pre-K and elementary grades.
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Exploring Turnover and Retention Patterns among Tennessee's Teachers of Color
2018 - This brief explores turnover patterns among teachers of color in Tennessee. Findings show that there are significant turnover differences between Black and White teachers, but these differences can be explained in part by high rates of teacher transfer, school contextual factors, and feelings of racial isolation among teachers of color.
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Exploring Teacher Improvement in Tennessee
2018 - TERA's flagship brief on teacher improvement in Tennessee examines 10 years of educator data to understand how individual teachers improve over the course of their careers.
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What We Need to Know to Improve Professional Learning
2017 - TERA convened a gathering of researchers and practitioners to shape the organization's research agenda on professional learning. This document outlines the research questions that came from this meeting.
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Tennessee's Professional Learning Challenge: Aspirations, Assumptions, and Knowledge Gaps
2017 - Professional learning has emerged as a critical component in the Tennessee Department of Education's strategy in meeting its ambitious educational goals. This brief outlines current knowledge on professional learning and serves as a starting point in TERA's work on the topic.
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The Impact of Performance Ratings on Job Satisfaction for Public School Teachers
2014 - This study examines the effects of teacher ratings from Tennessee's annual educator evaluation system on job satisfaction. Findings indicate that teachers who received higher ratings reported they were happier in their jobs than those who received lower ratings.
Evaluations of Strategic Compensation Reforms
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Effective Teacher Retention Bonuses: Evidence from Tennessee
2014 - Tennessee's teacher retention bonus program awarded $5,000 to teachers who received the highest effectiveness rating on the state's teacher evaluation system (level 5) if they decided to stay in one of the state's Priority schools. Level 5 teachers receiving this bonus were 23 percent more likely to remain in a Priority school, compared to teachers just below the cutoff for receiving an effectiveness rating of 5. Among level 5 teachers, those receiving the bonus and teaching in tested subjects were 24 percent more likely to remain teaching in a priority school, whereas those in non-tested subjects were no more or less likely to stay.
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Final Evaluation Report: Tennessee's Strategic Compensation Program
2016 - This report contains the final evaluation of the strategic compensation initiatives in Tennessee. School leaders had generally favorable views of the compensation programs and their effects, while teachers were more critical. However, although only half of teachers expressed favorable perceptions about the program, about two out of three indicated they wanted the bonus program to continue. There was no evidence that the compensation programs increased retention in bonus-only schools. The strategic compensation programs had no impact on student achievement in math and reading. Importantly, the study did find that awards to teams of teachers (including school and district-wide bonuses) had a greater effect on achievement than awards to individuals. However, the effect was marginally significant and only true for math achievement.
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Evaluation of Tennessee's Strategic Compensation Programs: Interim Findings on Design, Implementation, and Impact
2015 - This report presents findings from the second year of a multi-year evaluation of Tennessee's strategic compensation programs. The majority of officials in participating districts felt that compensation reforms had improved teacher practices through a greater focus on professional development, instructional coaching, and student data. The majority of teachers in both types of programs (traditional salary schedule vs. alternative salary schedule) believed the performance-based payouts were personally motivating. The study did not find evidence that the existence of strategic compensation programs reduced teacher turnover in participating schools, and found little evidence indicating an impact of program participation on student performance.
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Evaluation of Tennessee's Strategic Compensation Programs: Interim Findings
2012 - This report examines activities in the planning year and the first year of implementation of Tennessee's Strategic Compensation Programs, which involved performance-based bonuses for school employees.