High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) embedded with EL strategies support access to grade-level content, but their use alone does not constitute evidence of implementation of the Tennessee English Language Development (ELD) Standards. Content teachers with English Learners in the classroom are required to use the Tennessee ELD standards in lesson plans. Teachers should include language objectives in lesson prep, in addition to the ELD and content standards. 

The District has transitioned to LanguageLine Solutions for on-demand interpretation and translation services. LanguageLine Solutions interpreters are available in more than 240 languages and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to communicate with our multilingual families. Please follow these instructions to access LanguageLine:   

To access a phone interpreter, please follow these steps:   

Dial: 1-866-874-3972  

Provide: Client ID 666137    

Press: 1 for Spanish – 2 for All Other Languages; If 2, indicate Language  

Provide: School Location Code   

As you wrap up scheduling for the upcoming school year, please ensure ESL teachers are included in conversations with administrators and counselors to support appropriate placement and services for multilingual learners. Their input, along with ESL course codes and placement guidance, is essential to ensuring students are positioned for academic and linguistic success. If you have questions or would like to schedule additional training, please contact your ESL Advisor.    

Now that ELPA21 scores have been delivered, invitations will be sent out soon for ELPA21 Data Meetings. We will be discussing ELPA21 test scores and the growth ESL students have made. 

First- and second-year ESL teachers are invited to participate in ESL 101 Summer Kick Off on July 16. Topics will include ESL basics, compliance mandates, and basic instructional strategies. Please reach out to us if you have any new ESL teachers so that we can invite them directly. Please email Steven Kuhn at kuhns@scsk12.org or Stacy Tanner at tanners@scsk12.org.  

All required Student Growth Portfolio submissions for eligible teachers were due in TNPortfolio on May 8. The submission window is now closed. Portfolio scores will be available in the TeachAll platform on July 6. The overall portfolio score is determined by averaging the four evidence collection growth scores and converting that average to a scaled level from 1-5. 

A portfolio will be assigned an Incomplete (I) and the teacher’s LOE (Level of Overall Effectiveness) score will NOT generate for the 2025-26 school year if any of the four collections were not 100% complete by the deadline. These educators will also be assigned to the Novice track in PLZ for SY26-27 and will receive 4 observations. 

If you have questions regarding Student Growth Portfolios, please contact Floresha Smith, District Portfolio Lead.

The DEADLINE to complete ALL Central Office NIE End-Of-Year Conferences is June 12.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:   

• The Goal Setting Conference AND Mid-Year Conference should be completed in its entirety BEFORE completing the End-of-Year Conference in PLZ.
• The Mid-Year Conference is NOT required for NIE Partial plans and will not appear as a container to complete.

Questions? Please reach out to eps@scsk12.org.

ALL TEM containers will be archived Friday, May 29, by 5 p.m.  Once these plans are archived, no further edits or additions can be made.  

Please review Power Bi to review your location's completion status.

• Evaluation KPI Dashboard SY2025-2026  

Be reminded, if any components are left incomplete, the educator will not receive an LOE and will be placed on the track with the maximum number of observations (4) for the 2026-27 school year. 

If the overall green check is missing from any of the Observations or Professionalism container, please reach out to Employee Performance & Support via email, EPS@scsk12.org, or phone (901) 416-2475.

MSCS School Leaders,

As we wrap up an incredible school year, we want to provide a transparent update regarding the review, authorization, and processing timeline for Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) stipends.

First, we want to extend a huge thank you to all the principals who successfully submitted their required ILT Leads documentation right on time for the May 8th deadline. Having your completed frameworks in place has been instrumental in moving this massive workstream forward.

To help manage expectations across your teams, please review the current status and next steps for these disbursements:

• Rigorous Review Process: We are currently in the middle of the formal review and authorization stage for all district ILT stipend submissions. Due to the high volume and the precise verification required to ensure audit readiness, this standard evaluation takes a thorough window of time to fully clear, rather than a quick two-week turnaround.
• Next Steps for Payroll: Once our leadership development team completes this essential verification stage, we will immediately advance the approved submissions to the payroll department for final processing.
• Disbursement Window: ILT Lead members can comfortably expect these stipend disbursements to hit checks this summer.

Thank you so much for your patience, your exceptional leadership, and your continued partnership as we work diligently to ensure all of our dedicated educators are taken care of.

Shining a light on your leadership,

Dr. Daniel L. Jack