Arkansas · State Evaluation Guide
Arkansas TESS Teacher Evaluation: Complete Rubric and Guide
This guide covers all 4 TESS domains, 22 rubric components, and the four-year evaluation cycle. Everything here is pulled directly from official DESE documents so you can walk into observations with confidence.
Overview
What Is TESS?
The Teacher Excellence and Support System, known as TESS, is Arkansas’s required framework for evaluating and supporting public school teachers. It’s established under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-17-2801 et seq. and governed by the ADE Rules Governing Educator Performance, effective July 1, 2024. TESS applies to all licensed teachers in Arkansas public school districts and public charter schools.
TESS serves two connected purposes: assessing teacher performance across defined domains, and driving targeted professional development. It’s not a one-time compliance check. The system is built around an ongoing cycle of observation, feedback, professional growth planning, and summative evaluation. Each part informs the next.
Arkansas administers TESS through the ADE Educator Effectiveness System, or ADE EES. This is the state’s electronic platform where evaluators conduct observations, record evidence, assign performance ratings, and communicate directly with teachers. All educational entities using TESS are required to conduct summative evaluations through this platform.
4 Domains
Planning & Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities
22 Components
Each domain contains specific rubric components evaluated at four performance levels
4-Year Summative Cycle
Teachers receive a full summative evaluation at least once every four years
Evaluation Cycle
How TESS Evaluations Work in Arkansas
Arkansas requires at least one summative TESS evaluation every four years. That’s the minimum built into state rules. Districts can evaluate teachers more frequently at their discretion, but the four-year cycle is the baseline.
What happens in a summative year
In a summative year, the teacher receives an overall performance rating based on evidence collected across all four domains. Evaluators draw on direct observation, indirect observation, teacher-submitted artifacts, and student growth data. It’s the year that results in a formal rating and, if the teacher earns Effective or Highly Effective, eligibility for merit incentives.
What the years between summatives are for
In formative years, there’s no overall rating and no high-stakes review. Instead, the teacher and evaluator work together on a professional growth plan tied to areas identified in the last summative. The goal is steady improvement, not periodic judgment.
Extra support during the first three years
Arkansas treats teachers with fewer than three years of classroom experience as novice teachers. Each of those first three years includes mentoring support, coordinated regionally through the Arkansas Department of Education. It’s one of the more concrete commitments in the state’s rules to helping new teachers actually stick around.
Performance Levels
The TESS 4-Level Rating Scale
TESS applies a four-level performance rating to each domain component and to the teacher’s overall summative evaluation. These ratings also determine eligibility for the Arkansas Merit Teacher Incentive Fund.
Unsatisfactory
The teacher does not demonstrate the concepts outlined in the state-approved evaluation framework.
Progressing
The teacher attempts to implement the framework elements, but implementation is sporadic, intermittent, or not completely successful.
Effective
The teacher fully demonstrates the effective practices outlined in the state-approved evaluation framework.
Highly Effective
The teacher has demonstrated beyond the effective concepts outlined in the state-approved evaluation framework.
Education Walkthrough + TESS
How Education Walkthrough Works with TESS
Getting TESS observations right comes down to consistency, specificity, and follow-through. Here’s how Education Walkthrough is set up for that.
Observation forms built around all 22 TESS components
Build observation forms that map directly to TESS’s four domains and 22 components. Rate teachers at Unsatisfactory, Progressing, Effective, or Highly Effective at the component level, in real time, during the walkthrough.
Evidence attached to the right component, on any device
Conduct walkthroughs from a tablet, phone, or laptop. Notes, photos, and artifacts attach directly to the relevant TESS component so nothing gets lost in a general folder after the observation is done.
Feedback tied to specific TESS domains, shared the same day​
Share observation notes immediately after a walkthrough. Feedback connected to a specific TESS component rather than a general impression gives teachers something concrete to work with. Vague summaries don’t.
Four years of evidence organized before the summative conference
When summative time comes, all the evidence is already there. Documentation collected across formative and summative years is organized, date-stamped, and ready to pull into the summative report, rather than assembled at the last minute.
Professional growth plans connected to observation findings
Track each teacher’s professional growth plan goals alongside their observation data. When formative year support ties back to what was identified in the last summative, growth planning becomes part of how you work, not a separate activity.
Patterns across every classroom in the building
See observation data across all classrooms at a glance. Identify which TESS domains show up most often in lower ratings across the school or district. Direct professional development toward where the evidence says it’s actually needed.
FAQ's
Common Questions About TESS in Arkansas
What is TESS in Arkansas?
TESS is Arkansas’s Teacher Excellence and Support System. It’s the statewide framework that governs how public school teachers are evaluated and supported, covering everything from classroom observation criteria to professional growth planning. TESS is administered by the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education under the ADE Educator Performance Rules, which took effect July 1, 2024.
What are the four domains in the TESS rubric?
The TESS Classroom Teacher Rubric is organized around four domains: Planning and Preparation (Domain 1), The Classroom Environment (Domain 2), Instruction (Domain 3), and Professional Responsibilities (Domain 4). Each domain breaks into specific components. Together, the four domains cover 22 individual performance components.
How often are Arkansas teachers evaluated under TESS?
At least once every four years. That’s the minimum required by state rules, and districts can evaluate more frequently if they choose. In the years between full summative evaluations, called formative years, teachers focus on professional growth plans. No overall performance rating is assigned in formative years.
What is ADE Educator Effectiveness and how does it relate to TESS?
ADE Educator Effectiveness, also called ADE EES, is the Arkansas Department of Education’s platform for conducting TESS evaluations. Every educational entity using TESS is required by state rules to use ADE EES to assign performance ratings and document communication between teachers and evaluators. When people search “ADE educator effectiveness,” they’re looking at the platform that delivers TESS. They’re the same system.
What support do novice teachers receive under TESS?
Teachers with fewer than three years of classroom teaching experience are considered novice teachers in Arkansas. They receive mentoring support for each of those first three years, coordinated regionally through the Arkansas Department of Education. The intent is to support retention and help new teachers build solid professional habits early.
Can Arkansas teachers earn bonuses based on TESS ratings?
Yes. Teachers rated Effective or Highly Effective on a state-approved evaluation system are eligible for annual bonuses of up to $10,000 through the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program, subject to available funding.
What evidence is used in a TESS summative evaluation?
A TESS summative evaluation must draw on more than one type of evidence. Acceptable types include direct observation (evaluator present in person or via technology), indirect observation (reviewing systems resulting from the teacher’s work), teacher-submitted artifacts, and student growth data. The process must also include an opportunity for both the teacher and the evaluator to present and discuss evidence.
Which Arkansas teachers are evaluated under TESS?
TESS applies to all licensed teachers employed by Arkansas public school districts and public charter schools. That includes teachers of record, collaborating professionals, distance learning teachers, virtual charter school teachers, and teachers at state-operated schools like the Arkansas School for the Blind and the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Aspiring teacher permit holders are included as well.
What happens if a teacher is placed in Intensive Support under TESS?
If a teacher’s performance ratings fall below expectations, an evaluator may place them in Intensive Support. The evaluator and teacher work together to set clear goals aligned to the professional growth plan and the evaluation framework. Intensive Support status cannot last more than two consecutive semesters, unless the teacher has made substantial progress and both parties agree in writing to extend it.
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