To fulfill a mandate of the Tennessee State Legislature, the extent to which the Tennessee Career Ladder System (CLS) is valid for making inferences about the professional competence of teachers was investigated. Evidence of the extent to which the content of the evaluation procedures reflects sound theory, empirical findings, and best practices, and statistical indicators of the extent to which procedures contribute to accurate scores and inferences were examined. Chapter 1 of this paper is an introduction. Chapters 2 through 5 provide support for content validity as it pertains to CLS instruments and procedures. Chapter 6 describes statistical indicators supporting the validity of inferences drawn from the CLS. Conclusions are presented in Chapter 7. Responses from 1,990 teachers in the CLS were used to obtain teacher feedback about the CLS observation instrument and procedures. Results suggest that technically sound and professionally recognized procedures were used to identify domains and competencies assessed by the CLS instruments. Instrument content and evaluator selection processes were judged appropriate, as were evaluator training, rater reliability, and program implementation. Overall, the CLS staff appears to have done a stellar job. Ten tables present study data. Seven appendixes provide information about the CLS system, national education goals, the validity studies, and the instruments used. Thirty-seven references are included. (SLD)