Tennessee School Improvement Planning Process

Since 1995, Tennessee schools have been involved in school improvement planning through the Tennessee School Improvement Planning Process (TSIPP). The purpose has been to assist educators in using data to prioritize performance targets for each school to determine a focus or clarity of purpose for improving student performance.

With the accountability demands of No Child Left Behind and other federal and state mandates, each school's plan serves as the accountability document for measuring adequate yearly progress (AYP).  Areas of strengths and needs at the school level assist school personnel in designing strategies to increase student performance for all students. With the adoption of the new state accountability law, it is extremely important that the TSIPP be utilized as a tool for meeting individual student needs and for documenting expenditures of new BEP 2.0 funds.

Therefore, the Department of Education, in consultation with practitioners, has updated the existing TSIPP process to meet federal, regional, and state requirements in one process, one plan and to more directly align the school planning process with the State’s new Tennessee Comprehensive Systemwide Planning Process (TCSPP).  The revision has brought the collection of and collaboration around data together with the disaggregation, analysis, synthesis of data and target goals into one component.  Secondly, there is a focus on reviewing the school’s effectiveness in the areas of curriculum, instruction, use of assessment and organizational practices with a linkage to the action steps to support addressing target goals.  Due to the continuing partnership with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), Tennessee schools may use the one planning process for both school approval and accreditation purposes.

This past year, all high schools, middle schools and unit schools, with the exception of high priority schools, submitted a complete TSIPP for state review to their Field Service Center Office. 

For the 2007-08 school improvement planning cycle, all elementary schools, with the exception of high priority schools, will be required to submit a complete, fully developed TSIPP to their Field Service Center by May 15, 2008.  High priority schools will submit a complete, fully developed TSIPP to their respective Field Service Center by November 1, 2007.

We are committed to involving you in this process, and your comments and input are important. The TSIPP should be continuously reviewed and refined so that it addresses our mission to “help teachers teach and children learn.”

Sincerely,

Connie J. Smith, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Office of Innovation, Improvement, and Accountability