Lipscomb once again at the head of the class on 2016 Tennessee Teacher Preparation Report Card

Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 | 12/15/2016

Lipscomb University has once again been recognized as one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in the state as it earned top scores on the 2016 Teacher Preparation Report Card released today by the Tennessee State Board of Education.

This year’s report marks the sixth consecutive year that state data on the effectiveness of new Tennessee teachers indicates Lipscomb’s College of Education is one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in the state.

The report card was released in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of how Tennessee colleges and universities that offer education programs and other teacher preparation providers are training new teachers for success in Tennessee’s classrooms. The Lipscomb University College of Education’s teacher preparation program received the highest score in the state on the report. The Teach for America-Nashville program, which has a longstanding partnership with Lipscomb’s College of Education, received the second-highest score on the report card.

“We are thrilled with the overwhelming success of the teachers we prepare,” said Deborah Boyd, dean of Lipscomb’s College of Education, which has an enrollment of nearly 800 students this fall. “Our goal is to prepare our new teachers to be ready to make a positive impact on their first day in the classroom. This report card is a one measure of whether or not we are successful in achieving that goal. It also gives us actionable feedback as we look to continually improve our program. It not only validates what we are doing, but also gives us data to discover opportunities for improvement.”

Report card scores are based on data compiled about an institution’s completers from the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic cycles.  The Teacher Preparation Report Card captures the abilities of Tennessee preparation providers to train new teachers for success in Tennessee’s classrooms and provides an overall picture of how well each provider is able to prepare effective teachers and meet state goals.

Tennessee has produced a Teacher Preparation Report Card since 2009, although the 2016 Report Card marks a significant redesign. The 2016 Report Card contains three scored domains:

• candidate profile, which evaluates the provider’s ability to recruit a strong, diverse cohort of candidates and prepare them to teach in the content area of greatest need;
• employment, which evaluates a provider’s performance in preparing educators to begin and remain teaching in Tennessee public schools; and
• provider impact, which reports on the effectiveness of a provider’s completers in Tennessee public school classrooms.

Each domain is comprised of two to four metrics, and the report includes two years of provider data. The 2016 report included 469 Lipscomb completers, data showing Lipscomb to be the largest teacher preparation program among all private universities in the state and the fourth largest overall.

“We are particularly proud of our provider impact score of nearly 98 percent because it indicates how well the students of our students are doing,” said Boyd. “That’s really the most important measure — are the teachers we are training effective in the classroom and are their students successful in the classroom.”

Boyd said she is also pleased with the success of the Teach for America-Nashville program.

“I think the data reflects the strength of the partnership TFA has with the college and the quality of its outcomes. That partnership continues to mature as together we work to train this state’s future teachers in a way that will benefit students the most,” she said. 

The goal of the redesigned Teacher Preparation Report Card is to create a user-friendly tool that provides focused information about providers, the effectiveness of graduates and promotes stakeholder conversations about continuous improvement.

“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 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 Candice McQueen, Tennessee's commissioner of education and former dean of Lipscomb’s College 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."

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.