Microcredentials: Teacher learning transformed

Walls and Skae are highly accomplished teachers who have led in a variety of formal and informal ways, such as designing a program to provide new teacher support and coaching peers to teach college- and career-ready standards. But a great deal of their learning and leadership is neither recognized nor rewarded.

Both teach in Tennessee — a state that has invested in a wide array of teaching reforms, including training for standards-based instruction, as well as implementing more rigorous teacher evaluations. The state has been rightfully recognized for making some of the greatest gains of late in math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). But Tennessee students’ reading scores on NAEP have stagnated, and substantial achievement gaps remain. Although 90% of the state’s teachers report they have “changed” their teaching, fewer than 40% say they have “adequate time to collaborate or adequate access to instructional resources and expertise” (Tennessee Department of Education, 2015, p. 15).