TEA was well represented at both the State Board of Education Workshop on July 30, 2009 and the State Board of Education Meeting on July 31, 2009. Members of the TEA State Board of Education Contact Committee in attendance included Chairperson and Board of Directors Member, Barbara Gray (Shelby County), Dorcél Benson (Metro-Nashville), Rachel Brown (Franklin County), Quinn Kersey (Hawkins County), John Thomas (Hardin County), and Sharon Vandagriff (Hamilton County). Staff members in attendance included Susan Dalton, Nicki Fields, Terrance Gibson, and Carol Schmoock.

 
The workshop and meeting agendas are available at www.state.tn.us./sbe. Official minutes of the July meeting will be posted after approval at the November 6, 2009 SBE Meeting. All TEA members are urged to sign up for SBE updates at http://info.tnanytime.org/sbe/.

 
TEA members should contact the IPD Division for additional information about agenda items. All members are encouraged to directly contact their SBE representative and TEA SBE Contact Committee Member. (http://www.teateachers.org/cms/State+Board+of+Education+Contact+Committee/605.html)

 
The following report and action items are of particular interest to TEA members:

• March 22-April 23rd is the TCAP testing window for 2010. This extends the original window and allows local flexibility in working around previously negotiated spring breaks. Members should verify local dates with their testing coordinators as they may have changed. (http://www.state.tn.us/education/assessment/test_schedule.shtml)
• Members interested in seeing the TN PRAXIS Passing Rate Summary Report for 2007-08 disaggregated by ethnic subgroups and by colleges and universities should contact the IPD Division. The report is available in hard copy only.
• Beginning in Spring 2010, teachers holding a secondary endorsement(s) may add additional secondary endorsements by obtaining passing scores on all required PRAXIS exams for the content area. Interested secondary educators may take PRAXIS exams beginning in November 2009 to prepare for this change in SBE rule. (http://tennessee.gov/sbe/2009Julypdfs/IV%20K%20Additional%20Endorsements.pdf)
• TN is one of eight states participating in the College and Career-Ready Policy Institute funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Targets, trajectories, and benchmarks have been established which will be reported annually in the performance report. These goals and indicators plot the expectations concerning high school graduation rates, improvements in the numbers of students who meet all ACT benchmarks, and increases in rates of post-secondary enrollments. Members are encouraged to review the report and discuss the needed resources with SBE members. (http://tennessee.gov/sbe/2009Julypdfs/IIIATennessee%20College%20and%20Career%20Ready%20Goals%20and%20Indicators.pdf)