Section 49-6-3707 - Minimum qualifications required for independent school turnaround experts - List of qualified experts - Contract with independent school turnaround expert - Program to incentivize experts and schools to meet priority school exit criteria(a) The department shall establish the minimum qualifications required for independent school turnaround experts and provide LEAs with a list of at least two (2) qualified independent school turnaround experts. The list of qualified experts must be procured competitively and in compliance with all state laws and rules regarding the procurement of goods and services by state agencies. In establishing the minimum qualifications required for independent school turnaround experts, the department shall ensure that each qualified independent school turnaround expert:(1) Has a credible track record of improving student academic achievement in public schools with various demographic characteristics, as evidenced by statewide assessment results;(2) Has experience designing, implementing, and evaluating data-driven instructional systems in public schools;(3) Has experience coaching public-school administrators and teachers on designing and implementing data-driven school turnaround plans;(4) Has experience collaborating with the various education entities that govern public schools;(5) Has experience delivering high-quality professional development and coaching in instructional effectiveness to public school administrators and teachers; and(6) Is willing to travel to a school in need of intervention regardless of the school's location.(b) The local board of education for a school in need of intervention shall select and contract with an independent school turnaround expert identified on the list of qualified independent school turnaround experts provided by the department to: (1) Collect and analyze data on the achievement, personnel, culture, curriculum, assessments, instructional practices, governance, leadership, finances, and policies of a school assigned to the school turnaround group;(2) Recommend changes compliant with state and federal law to the school's culture, curriculum, assessments, instructional practices, governance, finances, policies, or other areas based on data collected under subdivision (b)(1);(3) Develop and implement, in partnership with the school turnaround committee, a school turnaround plan that meets the criteria described in § 49-6-3707(c);(4) Monitor the effectiveness of a school turnaround plan through various means of evaluation, including, but not limited to, on-site visits, observations, surveys, analysis of student achievement data, and interviews;(5) Provide ongoing implementation support and project management for a school turnaround plan;(6) Provide high-quality professional development and coaching personalized for the staff of a school assigned to the school turnaround group that is designed to build the: (A) Leadership capacity of the school principal;(B) Instructional capacity of the school staff; and(C) Collaborative practices of teacher and leadership teams;(7) Provide job-embedded professional learning and coaching for all instructional staff on an ongoing basis; and(8) Provide a principal of a school assigned to the school turnaround group job-embedded professional learning and coaching at least twice per month during the school year that focuses on strategies to improve the performance of the school.(c) The contract payments to the independent school turnaround expert required in § 49-6-3706(c) must be structured as follows: (1) An independent school turnaround expert receives the initial fifty percent (50%) of the payment due for all services provided under the contract on a prorated basis over the term of the contract; and(2) The local board of education shall not render the remaining fifty percent (50%) of the payment due to the independent school turnaround expert for all services provided under the contract until the end of the school turnaround pilot program, but such payment is only rendered if the school in need of intervention served by the independent school turnaround expert meets the priority school exit criteria by the end of the 2024-2025 school year.(d) Subject to available funds, the department may develop a program to incentivize independent school turnaround experts, and the schools in need of intervention to which they are providing services, to meet the priority school exit criteria prior to the 2024-2025 school year.(e) Notwithstanding subsection (c), the independent school turnaround expert under contract with a school in need of intervention that exits the pilot program pursuant to § 49-6-3705(b)(2) must be compensated for all services provided to the LEA under the contract through the date on which the local board of education notifies the commissioner of education and the independent school turnaround expert under contract with the board pursuant to subsection (b), in writing, that the school is exiting the pilot program. The independent school turnaround expert shall not demand payment for any services provided to the exiting school in need of intervention after such date.Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 863,s 4, eff. 5/1/2024. Acts 2021 , ch. 578, § 1.