A Study On The Teacher Career Ladder System Of Elementary And Secondary School Teachers In Tennessee

Since its invention in1960s, the teacher career ladder has evolved into an importantmechanism in the management of primary and secondary school teachers in the USA, serving as awidely adopted incentive plan. Most of the states have implemented this ladder plan. The state ofTennessee implemented it in1984and made the first state-wide teacher career ladder plan in thewhole country. After years of implementation, the plan has perfected its regulations and hasachieved great influence power and notable success. The thesis elaborates the teacher career ladderplan of the state of Tennessee systematically, with the aim to shed a light on the on-going reform ofassessing professional titles of primary and secondary schools in China.The thesis has six chapters. Serving as the introduction, the first chapter not only clarifies thereason for choosing this topic and the significances and targets of this study, it also reviews theexisting studies on Tennessee’s teacher career ladder plan, defines the core concepts as well asintroduces the process and methods involved in the author’s research. The second chapter is theintroduction of the general background when Tennessee implemented its ladder plan. It firstanalyzes the historical reasons for the rise of teacher career ladder system in the USA from themacro angle, and then by turning to the micro angle, it expounds the Tennessee’s general situation.The third chapter also has two parts. From a longitudinal point, it introduces the current state ofTennessee’s teacher career ladder system, including its ladders, evaluation system and salary levels.From a horizontal point, it compares Tennessee’s system to that in the states of Missouri and NorthCarolina. The fourth chapter goes a step further and analyzes the rationality and theory bases ofTennessee’s system and also tries to clear out its value orientation. The fifth part studies the effectsof Tennessee’s system, finding out its positive influence and its problems as well. The last chapter,relating the previous studies to China’s on-going reform on recessing the professional titles ofprimary and secondary schools’ teachers, tries to put up with several suggestions on the basis ofdiscussing the developmental trends of Tennessee’s system and hopes to reach lessons to drawfrom.