For the third year in a row, UT is rated top among Tennessee institutions for preparing teachers to work in the state, according to the 2019 Teacher Preparation Report Card.
UT is one of only nine teacher preparation programs to land in the state’s top overall performance category. Since 2015, UT’s College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences has prepared close to 600 teachers who collectively teach an estimated 40,000 Tennessee PreK–12 students annually.
“Our success is the result of our graduates, school partners, mentoring teachers, and faculty, who collectively subscribe to our high educational expectations,” said Ellen McIntyre, dean of the college. “While we are satisfied with these results, we intend to do even better. In light of recent data on state literacy outcomes, we will be recommitting to preparing the best possible reading teachers. We also will examine all educator preparation programs to ensure our graduates are ready their very first day on the job.”
According to the 2019 report card, UT stands out in several categories:
- Tennessee public schools employ 78.7 percent of UT’s teaching graduates in their first year, and 94.3 percent of these teachers continue in the public school system the following year.
- Eighty-five percent of teachers prepared by UT continue to teach in Tennessee public schools for at least three years.
- Nearly 30 percent of UT’s education graduates—more than the state average—receive endorsements in high-demand subject areas such as math and science, special education, world language, and English as an additional language.
- In the classroom, 94.2 percent of teacher graduates received ratings of level 3 (at expectations) to 5 (significantly above expectations) on the teacher Level of Effectiveness scale, which measures teacher performance through components that include classroom observation scores and growth shown by students on standardized tests.
- Over 97 percent of teacher and leadership candidates from UT passed all required content area examinations for licensure (edTPA and praxis subject assessments).
In addition to the state’s ratings, UT sends an annual survey to principals across the state. In 2019, 99 percent of responding principals said they were satisfied or very satisfied with UT’s teacher preparation program and said they would feel comfortable hiring future graduates.
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CONTACT:
Jules Morris (865-974-8916, julesmo@utk.edu)