Tennessee Department of Education reviews TNCompass rules for partial‑year exemptions, growth and achievement measure selections

Amy Floyd, director of data district support for the educator effectiveness team at the Tennessee Department of Education, advised charter and local education agency staff during a departmental webinar on procedures for marking partial‑year exemptions in TNCompass, selecting 2024–25 growth and achievement measures, and updating LEA contact information.

Floyd said these steps ensure educators who do not meet the 120‑day threshold or who shift roles during the school year are recorded properly so they do not receive a level of effectiveness (LOE) for that year. "There is a box at the top in the evaluation box that says set PY. You simply click that," Floyd said, describing the simplest method to mark an educator as a partial‑year exemption in TNCompass.

Why this matters: correct PYE marking and timely measure selection affect whether educators receive a formal LOE and ensure district submissions align with state reporting and evaluation calculations. The department also set an internal timeline for charter and district staff to upload selections ahead of end‑of‑year processing.

Floyd summarized eligible reasons to mark an educator as PYE: contracts under 120 days of work in the school year; extended leave resulting in fewer than 120 days of instruction; transfers into or out of a school when the individual will not reach 120 days at the new location; and transfers to a different role (for example, a teacher who becomes an assistant principal and therefore falls under a different rubric). She said marking PYE causes the evaluation to be closed for that year and the educator will not receive an LOE for that year.

Districts can mark PYE either directly from an educator's individual TNCompass record (recommended for a small number of cases) or in bulk by using the import wizard. Floyd demonstrated the individual‑record method and described the PYE banner that appears once saved. For administrative edits to correct a mistaken PYE from 2023–24, Floyd said districts must upload documentation (for example, on letterhead) explaining the reason for the change and perform the administrative edit in TNCompass.

On growth and achievement measure selections, Floyd told attendees to download the "Growth and Achievement Selections" report from TNCompass (Excel format), review columns N through W for missing IDs or names, and ensure every non‑PYE educator has a growth measure selection. She recommended using a school‑level TVS composite as the default for most teachers, with a custom feeder option used only in limited cases (for example, a K–2 school within a charter that relies on a grades‑3–5 feeder for value‑added scores). Floyd emphasized that if a school generates a composite it must use its own composite and not another school’s.

Floyd reviewed achievement measure types that can be used in TNCompass, including state assessments, TVAAS/TVS composites, graduation rate, ACT, SAT, early postsecondary opportunities, industry certifications (for CTE concentrators), individual student growth portfolios, and individual universal reading screener scores such as AIMSweb. She said: "Achievement measure selections should align as closely as possible to what the teacher teaches," and recommended documenting specifics (grade level, whether the measure is at the classroom, grade or school level, the exact report or test administration used, and the calculation formula) to avoid confusion at year end.

Floyd explained the import process: generate the template from the import wizard for the 2024–25 year, copy the TNCompass IDs and measure names (filtering by type), paste into the spreadsheet template, validate and upload. She warned that validation errors typically stem from missing or incorrect IDs and urged staff to save templates and correct errors before final upload.

On composite calculations, Floyd said the vendor SAS performs recalculations and applies weighting based on available assessments; composites are not simple averages across subjects. "It's not just an average," she said. Floyd recommended consulting TVAAS/SAS materials if districts need technical details on composite computation.

The team asked charters to update LEA contacts via Administration → LEA settings → Contacts in TNCompass, replacing names, emails or phone numbers as needed and clicking Save. Floyd reminded participants that roster verification will open in the coming months and to watch for that process. She also reminded districts to upload observation scores and averages at the end of the year.

On timing, Floyd said the team prefers growth and achievement measures and related uploads to be in TNCompass by March 31, though items may still be accepted afterward. "I would like for them to be in by March 31," she said, while acknowledging that late‑arriving assessments (for example, some universal reading screener administrations) might require later uploads.

Attendees asked procedural clarifications during the question‑and‑answer portion: whether to remove staff who have quit (Floyd said to leave them on the staffing for the year and mark them PYE), how transfers between districts are handled (the receiving district staffs the employee and would likely mark PYE for that year if applicable), and what documentation is required to correct a PYE (an administrative edit with an uploaded explanation on letterhead). Floyd also pointed administrators to the team's website resources, including the Growth Measure Selection guidance worksheet, import instructions, and the TNCompass evaluation data management guide, and supplied team contact emails for follow‑up questions.

Resources and contacts: Floyd directed listeners to the educator effectiveness team website for worksheets and step‑by‑step import instructions and provided team email addresses for portfolio, roster verification and other questions. She closed the session by inviting follow‑up emails for any outstanding issues.