Governor takes TNReady listening tour to Hamilton County

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) – On Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam made a stop for a meeting at Soddy-Daisy High School.

This was his second stop on a tour to meet with educators across the state.

This tour comes after the last school year, when many school districts across the state had issues with TNReady tests.

So much so that the state decided not to let the assessments count.

“There were numerous times where we would get one document on how to administer a test and then at the last minute get corrections based on what forms the student might have,” Cleveland City Schools Director of Student Information Systems Michael Kahrs said.

Kahrs was one of the several local educators selected to voice concerns and give feedback to the Governor and Education Commissioner Candice McQueen.

He said his biggest concern about the exams is communication.

“It’s the thing that I brought up and the state said that they are addressing that that there will be more communication down to the districts, school and teacher level with maybe videos and step by step instructions to get us all on the same page,” Kahrs said.

“We’re federally required to have a year end assessment and then we want to. We invest billions of dollars in education and teachers want to know how well are they doing. What are their students learning. So we’re here to make certain we get it right,” Gov. Haslam said.

The Governor said he wants to leave a roadmap for the next administration and fix as many problems as he can before next year.

That’s when a new Governor will take office.

“The new governor will be either Karl Dean or Bill Lee. Both of them are people that are committed to having great public education in the state and they both understand how important it is to get it right and we’ve talked to both of them, told them what we’re doing here and they’re welcoming that process because they want as much of a running start as they can have,” Gov. Haslam said.

The feedback from six meetings will be compiled into a report that will then go to the Governor in late September.

They’re looking to have a request for proposals for a new testing vendor in the fall.

Questar is the vendor for one more year.

Gov. Haslam’s first stop was in Knox County.

He said the difference between that meeting and the one in Hamilton County was that more educators in Knox County were advocating paper and pencil as a solution.