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Since the beginning of the federal Race To The Top grant competition, Value-Added Measurement (VAM) has captured the attention of the American public through high-profile media representations of the tool and the controversy that surrounds it. In this paper, we build upon investigations of constructions of VAM in the media and present a discourse analysis of the policymaking process within the meetings of Tennessee's Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee (TEAC), a 15-member panel appointed by the Tennessee governor to develop a new teacher evaluation policy under Race to the Top. The data included audio recordings of public meetings from March, 2010 through the end of the committee's work in April, 2011. As we analyzed the talk of the TEAC, we oriented to the particular version of VAM worked up within these conversations in relation to a descriptive metaphor in which VAM is compared to a "sentinel of trust." We present examples to illustrate three patterns in the construction of VAM as the sentinel of trust within teacher evaluation: (1) VAM alone defines effectiveness; (2) VAM is the only objective option; and (3) concerns about VAM are minimized. We discuss the implications of this way of thinking and talking about VAM and contrast it with other possibilities, including those constructed by teachers, researchers, and the media.

The lack of opportunities for youth to engage in meaningful academic practices such as reading, writing, and speaking feeds the school-prison nexus. But budget cuts, teacher layoffs, and program depletions make providing a rigorous, well-rounded, 21st century education increasingly difficult. Yet is still possible to do, especially in a collaborative environment that includes K-12 schools, universities, and social service agencies. The University-Assisted Community School after-school program--the result of a partnership between Pond Gap Elementary School and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville--is a prime example.

It has become increasingly popular to say that individual teachers are the single most important factor affecting student achievement. This is hastily followed by pointing out the need to weed out "the ineffectives." Now this rallying cry is being used by educational consulting firms that position themselves as "partners in reform" to sell remedial, one-size-fits-all programs for professional development (PD). These canned PD programs contribute to a vicious cycle in which teachers appear to be failing and in perpetual need of more remediation. One example is from Tennessee, which has a multimillion-dollar contract with one of these firms--Battelle for Kids (BFK), a "national, not-for-profit organization that provides strategic counsel and innovative solutions for today's educational improvement challenges." BFK has contracts in a dozen states and several countries, so BFK's contract with Tennessee is an example of a much larger--and growing--problem with canned PD. As the authors warn against BFK's "solutions," they suggest that now is the time to rethink teacher PD. Systems of inequity in K-12 schools do not start and end with the school day. They are sustained by approaches that position teachers as failing, deficient, and in need of remediation, instead of as willing and capable of collaborating, investigating, and problem-solving. If students deserve a liberating pedagogy that empowers them to think independently and creatively, so do teachers. (Contains 5 notes.)