I-_MI

__ Education
epartmen! of

Monday, Aug. 13, 2018

Directors Hopson and Joseph,

I hope the 2018-19 school year is off to a good start for both of you. We at the Department of Education
are excited about the beginning of another school year and wish you, as well as every teacher and
student in your districts, the very best.

Let me begin by sharing my disappointment that the letter you addressed to Governor Haslam and me
has been shared widely in the media but has yet to actually be shared with the Governor or me. This is
particularly disappointing given the multiple opportunities you each have had to engage with the
Department of Education and provide input on a variety of topics, including TNReady. Many of the
teachers in your districts do engage regularly with us, and we greatly appreciate their feedback and
input. I would encourage you to take advantage of the opportunities to provide feedback that can help
us improve, such as by participating in our regional meetings, our monthly webinars with all directors,
and our large district convenings. Over the past several months, these conversations have been
influential in helping us to take new and better steps in our work and would have benefited from your
participation. I hope you will consider joining those in the future to add your feedback to those of your
colleagues across the state.

I completely agree we need to improve how we administer TNReady, and what happened this spring is
not acceptable. It is my hope to be able to work with both of you to help make sure 2018-19 is a success.
I also wanted to respond to the matters raised in your letter and share some feedback about what the
Department of Education is already doing to improve.

It is important to note that Tennessee educators have been engaged extensively in the development of
TNReady. Tennessee teachers help to write questions, design the test, edit questions and forms, and
review and finalize our state assessment. This year, we are bringing in 37 new educators to serve as
TNReady ambassadors to further improve our assessment and make sure educators inform and are
involved with each aspect of the testing program. Additionally, for the past several months, educators
from Metro Nashville Public Schools and Shelby County Schools have served on the Department of
Education’s Assessment Task Force to advise our next steps with TNReady. As a result of
recommendations from the Assessment Task Force, we have reduced testing time, expanded higher
education partnerships that will allow students to get college credit for their TNReady exams,
introduced new initiatives like the free ACT retake, developed new and better TNReady score reports,
and streamlined and improved a number of testing components. Despite these initiatives and the
expanded opportunities they provide to Tennessee students, we know that there is more that can be
done, and we are working hard to take all possible steps to ensure an improved assessment experience
in Tennessee in 2018-19. Many of these were announced and shared throughout the summer and can
be found here.

As you know, both state and federal law require an annual statewide assessment. More importantly, a
statewide assessment is the critical backbone to ensuring we are all accountable for the success of every
single student in our state. High expectations, an assessment that asks how well students are meeting
those expectations, and rigorous accountability centered on student success are the foundation of an
I-_MI
__ Education
epartmen! of

education system that serves every student. Historically, it has been the students from racial and ethnic
minorities, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English learners who
have been most ignored and underserved by our schools when we have not had a statewide assessment
that accurately measures student performance, or when we have not used the same measuring stick for
all kids. We hope you share our excitement about the national recognition Tennessee’s statewide
assessment has received for its accuracy in measuring and reporting student performance and in
providing teachers, parents and other school leaders the tools they need to improve the educational
opportunities available to each and every student.

Your letter asked us to eliminate state assessments for this school year. As previously noted, pausing a
state assessment would be both illegal and inconsistent with our values as a state. It would turn our
back on the students we most need to ensure receive a world-class education. I am confident you share
my desire to see every one of our children grow into well-rounded, successful adults who are equipped
and able to get a job, raise a family, and contribute to their communities. Having a statewide
assessment that looks at how we are doing annually at preparing students for life after high school
graduation is one part of how we get there.

The Department of Education also takes seriously our role in providing resources that support our
districts in their work toward that goal. Your districts take advantage of the eRate program that has
provided hundreds of millions of dollars to support district technology and network infrastructures over
the last few years. As a state, we have invested $1.5 billion new dollars in education since 2011, which
includes doubling the amount of annual, recurring technology funding. We believe technology is
necessary for everyday teaching and learning to prepare students to be successful and interact with the
world we live in. Our hope and expectation are that you are purchasing technology not simply to take a
test but to provide students with a world-class education. In fact, there is no need for special technology
to take TNReady—as you know, the Nextera platform, which your students used last year and will
continue to use this year, is just a secure browser that can be downloaded onto a number of different
types of devices, and we’ve been willing to work with your teams to ensure that your schools’
connectivity is sufficient to take the exam. We can state with confidence that any device you own that is
approved for online testing in 2018-19 will also be approved for online testing in 2019-20. To suggest
that an investment in technology is limited to online testing shows a misunderstanding of the increasing
role of technology in education and undervalues the great work many of your teachers have done to
enhance their teaching through technology.

Please feel free to reach out directly to me to share further feedback and insight. Again, I hope you will
choose to come to the table and partner with us to help us make sure 2018-19 is a success.

Thanks,
Candice