The State Board of Education, in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education and Tennessee Higher Education Commission, on Thursday launched a newly-redesigned Teacher Preparation Report Card showing how Tennessee colleges and universities that offer education programs and other teacher preparation providers are training new teachers for success in Tennessee’s classrooms.
“Tennessee is the fastest improving state in the nation for student achievement.
But to hold this trajectory, we must continue to ensure high expectations for students, schools, and teachers, including how we train and prepare our newest teachers,” said Dr. Sara Heyburn Morrison, the executive director of the State Board of Education. “This redesigned Report Card offers important, user-friendly information about how we are preparing teachers for classroom success.”
The 2016 Teacher Preparation Report Card is a tool for use by local school districts, Tennessee’s many teacher preparation providers, and aspiring teachers. It includes multiple measures to offer an overall picture of a college, university, or preparation provider’s success in meeting Tennessee’s goals for instructing effective teachers.
The report card provides focused information about the effectiveness of graduates and is designed to promote continuous improvement of preparation programs and highlight the importance of strong partnership with school districts. To that end, the report card also provides transparency and metrics to show progress toward meeting key state needs, including a teacher workforce that better reflects the student population and addresses high-demand subject areas.
"We know that having a high-quality teacher is the biggest in-school factor for a child's academic success—and we also know we need to continuously strengthen how we recruit, train, and support great educators," said Dr. Candice McQueen, Tennessee's commissioner of education. "This revamped report card will help to strengthen the educator pipeline and better equip our school districts to partner with educator preparation providers so all of our teachers are ready on day one."
"Ensuring every K-12 student is in a classroom with a high-quality teacher directly impacts college readiness and our ability to achieve the Drive to 55," said THEC Executive Director Mike Krause. "We look forward to working with our higher education partners to take action on the opportunities this data presents."
Senate Education Committee Chairman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville), House Education Administration and Planning Chairman Harry Brooks (R-Knoxville) and House Education Instruction and Program Committee Chairman John Forgety (R-Athens) praised the revamped report card.
“The newly redesigned report card provides a transparent look at the effectiveness of Tennessee’s educator preparation providers,” said Chairman Gresham. “Not only is it a much more user-friendly tool for prospective teachers, school districts and other education stakeholders, it promotes continuous improvement and innovation of our teacher preparation programs.”
“As a tool, it provides more detailed and clear information that promote strong partnerships between local school districts and the preparation providers to make sure that the providers are meeting the needs of the districts,” added Chairman Brooks. “This includes high-needs districts. I congratulate all of those who were involved in this effort.”
“Research shows that teachers have the most impact of any in-school factor on student achievement,” Chairman Forgety added. “That is why our teacher preparation programs are vital to our efforts to improve student achievement in Tennessee. I appreciate all the work that has gone into these revisions and believe it will make a difference in improving education in Tennessee.”
For the first time, the Teacher Preparation Report Card has an interactive interface for users to access the data easily. The redesigned report card can be found online at: TeacherPrepReportCard.tn.gov.
Since 2009, Tennessee has provided data on the effectiveness of colleges, universities, and educator preparation providers.