Tennessee education commissioner Candice McQueen has announced the reconvening of a special task force on student testing and assessment.
The state for the past few years has struggled with problems with testing vendors and growing concern among parents and others that students are overtested.
McQueen started the task force after taking office in 2015 to get feedback from educators, parents and stakeholders and has made it an annual practice. Past recommendations from the task force have included shortening some state tests and eliminating the SAT-10, Explore and Plan exams, among other suggestions.
“This task force has been critical in our work to improve the testing experience for students while providing better information to teachers and parents,” McQueen said in a news release Monday. “As in the past, I am confident that this group will continue to provide meaningful, actionable recommendations for improving both district and state assessment programs.”
Many new participants will join the third annual assessment task force. Here is a list of task force members, with an asterisk beside the names of new participants:
Candice McQueen, Tennessee Commissioner of Education
Sara Morrison, Executive Director, State Board of Education
Dolores Gresham, Chairman, Senate Education Committee
John Forgety, Chairman, House Education Instruction and Programs Committee
Harry Brooks, Chairman, House Education Administration and Planning Committee
Mark White, Chairman, House Education Administration and Planning Subcommittee*
Wayne Blair, President, Tennessee School Board Association*
Barbara Gray, President, Tennessee Education Association
Dale Lynch, Executive Director, Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents*
Sharon Roberts, Chief Strategy Officer, State Collaborative on Reforming Education*
Audrey Shores, Chief Operating Officer, Professional Educators of Tennessee
Gini Pupo-Walker, Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition and Senior Director of Education Policy & Programs, Conexión Américas*
Lisa Wiltshire, Policy Director, Tennesseans for Quality Early Education*
Shawn Kimble, Director of Schools, Lauderdale County School System*
Mike Winstead, Director of Schools, Maryville City Schools
Jennifer Cothron, Assessment Supervisor, Wilson County Schools*
Trey Duke, Coordinator for Federal Programs and RTI2, Rutherford County Schools*
Michael Hubbard, Director of Performance Excellence, Kingsport City Schools*
LaToya Pugh, iZone Science Instructional Support Manager, Shelby County Schools*
Bill Harlin, Principal, Nolensville High School, Williamson County Schools
Laura Charbonnet, Assistant Principal, Collierville High School, Collierville Schools*
Tim Childers, Assistant Principal, L&N STEM Academy, Knox County Schools*
Kevin Cline, Assistant Principal, Jefferson County High School, Jefferson County Schools*
Kim Herring, Teacher, Cumberland County High School, Cumberland County School District*
Jolinea Pegues, Special Education Teacher, Southwind High School, Shelby County Schools*
Stacey Travis, Teacher, Maryville High School, Maryville City Schools*
Josh Rutherford, Teacher, Houston County High School, Houston County School District*
Cicely Woodard, 2017-18 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, West End Middle Prep, Metro Nashville Public Schools*
Virginia Babb, Parent, Knox County Parent-Teacher Association
Jennifer Frazier, Parent, Hamblen County Department of Education*
Student members will also be invited to join based on the topics for specific meetings.
Yep. Another task force will solve this problem. If you get enough people involved then no one can be held responsible for the fiasco that the testing process has become.