Annual Educator Preparation Report Card Shows Ten Educator Preparation Providers Exceeding Expectations

NASHVILLE, TN – Today, the State Board of Education released its eighth annual Educator Preparation Report Card, a tool that evaluates educator preparation providers (EPPs) in Tennessee. For the first time since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Report Card rates EPPs on the effectiveness of their teachers in the classroom. These classroom outcomes, along with performance in other key areas such as employment and retention of teachers in Tennessee public schools, contribute to each EPP’s overall performance rating on the Report Card. Out of 38 EPPs that received overall ratings, ten received the highest possible rating of “Exceeds Expectations.” 

Established in state law, the Educator Preparation Report Card is an annual report designed to track metrics across Tennessee’s public, private, and alternative EPPs. By assessing EPPs’ performance in teacher effectiveness, employment outcomes, recruitment of diverse candidates, and pass rates on licensure examinations, the State Board’s Report Card aims to ensure every Tennessee student is taught by a well-prepared educator.

“Since a redesign in 2016, Tennessee’s Educator Preparation Report Card has served as a transparent reporting model for other states,” said Dr. Sara Morrison, Executive Director of the State Board of Education. “This year’s Report Card rates EPPs on the performance of their teachers in the classroom as well as several other factors. We are thrilled to see so many EPPs exceeding expectations, including public, private, and alternative providers.”

Key Outcomes

• Ten EPPs earned the highest possible overall rating on the Report Card, “Exceeds Expectations.”
• Nearly 30 percent of teacher candidates earned endorsements in high-demand areas such as special education, English as a second language (ESL), secondary science, and secondary math.
• 16.2 percent of teacher candidates have racially or ethnically diverse backgrounds. 
• 25 percent of newly trained teachers in tested subjects exceeded expectations in student growth, an impressive achievement for early-career teachers.
• 2,785 teachers completed a Tennessee educator preparation program or enrolled in a job-embedded program during the 2021-22 school year, compared to just over 3,000 in 2020-21. This decline is due in part to a change in how the State Board reports teacher candidates from EPPs that operate both in-state and out-of-state programs.

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Certain metrics in the Report Card, such as performance on licensure examinations and measures of teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom, are mandated in state law. Other metrics, such as candidate diversity and the percentage of candidates earning endorsements in high-demand fields, are included on the Report Card as key priorities highlighted by the State Board. 

“We are excited to bring teacher evaluation data back to the Report Card for the first time since the pandemic,” said Erika Leicht, director of research for the State Board of Education and the Educator Preparation Report Card project manager. “We hope this year's Report Card will showcase high-performing educator preparation providers and guide other states that seek to develop their own educator preparation reporting systems.”

To view the Educator Preparation Report Card, visit http://teacherprepreportcard.tn.gov. Additional information and archives of previous editions of the Report Card are available on the State Board of Education website at http://www.tn.gov/sbe. 
 

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