Dive Brief:
- Kevin Huffman, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam's education commissioner for the past three years, has announced he will step down from his position with plans to become a private consultant.
- Huffman has been a polarizing character during his time at the helm of the city's schools. Topics such as teacher evaluations, teacher licensing, Common Core and charter schools were all heavily debated.
- While there has been a positive increase in student test scores since he's been in charge, there has also been vocal pushback against his leadership. According to The Tennessean, "More than 50 superintendents had already publicly questioned his leadership, several teachers unions expressed "no confidence" even after the accolades; and most recently a group of 15 Republicans last summer called for his resignation.
Dive Insight:
Huffman, who is a former Teach for America corps member and the ex-husband of Michelle Rhee, claims the call for his resignation had no bearing on his decision to depart from the position. "I've known in this job that if you're going to do the hard work, you're going to get criticized," he said in his resignation letter. "I've never been naive about that, and I've never made any of my decisions based on criticism or push-back from people."
Tennessee has a very ebb and flow relationship with many school reform initiatives, such as the Common Core. For example, a report released by the Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation, and Development in September found that the number of teachers who believe the Common Core State Standards would improve student learning dropped by 21% from the 2013-2014 school year. The survey also found that 56% of the 27,000 Tennessee teachers who responded to the survey wanted to see the state opt out of Common Core.