Lipscomb University College of Education among top Tennessee teacher prep programs in state report card for 12th straight year
Lipscomb’s teacher prep program among the most diverse and effective programs in Tennessee.
Kim Chaudoin |
For the 12th consecutive year, Lipscomb University has been recognized as one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in Tennessee as it earned high marks on the 2023 Teacher Preparation Report Card released by the Tennessee State Board of Education.
The report card was released this week 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.
State data on the effectiveness of new Tennessee teachers once again indicates Lipscomb’s College of Education is one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in the state. Lipscomb’s teacher preparation program earned “exceeds expectations” in two of four categories and two “meets expectations” ratings in the four scored performance categories on the report. Lipscomb’s data indicates that its student cohorts are among the most diverse in the state and the teachers it prepares are among the most effective in classrooms in Tennessee.
“The data show that Lipscomb’s College of Education is consistently one of the top programs for preparing teachers to be successful in the classroom. Our mission is to prepare educators at the highest level to make a positive impact on their students, and it is always satisfying and rewarding to have a measurement of how we are doing to meet that goal,” said Leslie Cowell, dean of the college. “It also reflects that our students are among the most racially and ethnically diverse in the state, which is extremely satisfying as this is a strategic goal for our program as we seek to help diversity Tennessee’s teaching workforce. This is a very important way we can make a positive impact on our community and serve education by equipping and preparing teachers with the tools and strategies they need to succeed.”
Report card scores are based on data compiled about an institution’s completers from the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic cycles who are teaching in public schools systems in Tennessee. For the first time since prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s Report Card rates educator preparation providers (EPPs) on the effectiveness of their teachers in the classroom. 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. The 2023 Report Card contains four scored domains, along with two additional categories, satisfaction and provider impact, for which no scores were assigned by the state this year:
- candidate assessment, which evaluates Lipscomb’s performance in preparing candidates to pass the pedagogical and content-area assessments to obtain a Tennessee teaching license;
- candidate profile, which evaluates an EPP’s ability to recruit a strong, diverse cohort of candidates and prepare them to teach in the content area of greatest need. Lipscomb exceeded expectations in this metric;
- employment, which evaluates Lipscomb’s performance in preparing educators to begin and remain teaching in Tennessee public schools; and
- provider impact, which measures the effectiveness of a provider’s cohort members in Tennessee public school classrooms. This is the first time this data has been included in the report since the Covid-19 pandemic. Lipscomb exceeded expectations in this metric.
In the report, Lipscomb’s data reflected that its cohorts are among the most racially and ethnically diverse in the state. The report shows that 22.8% of Lipscomb’s students have a racially or ethnically diverse background exceeding the state average of 16.2%. It also indicated that 55.8% of Lipscomb cohort members are filling high-need subject area staffing needs, which far exceeds the state average of 29.5%. In the provider impact domain, Lipscomb exceeded state averages in five of the six categories including classroom observation scores, Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) student growth scores and level of overall effectiveness. Lipscomb’s College of Education teacher licensure candidate pass rate data indicates a 95.7% pedagogical assessment pass rate and an 89.3% content assessment pass rate. Lipscomb also posted a Praxis leader licensure pass rate of 99.5% for 2022. In the employment domain, Lipscomb also received high marks with 86.6% of its education graduates finding a job in a Tennessee public school within a year of graduation with 94.6% of those remaining in their teaching positions, which exceeds the state average.
Each domain consists of two to six metrics, and the report includes three years of provider data. The 2023 teacher prep report included 543 Lipscomb completers, data showing Lipscomb to be the largest teacher preparation program among all private universities in the state and the fifth largest overall. Find complete Lipscomb report card data here.
The goal of the 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. The 2023 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 partnerships 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. The 2023 Teacher Preparation Report Card can be found online at teacherprepreportcard.tn.gov.
Lipscomb University’s College of Education offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in a variety of academic programs. It is consistently recognized as one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in Tennessee and in the nation. In June 2023, the National Council on Teacher Quality ranked the College of Education among the top in the nation for preparing future teachers in the science of reading. In fall 2021, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) announced that Lipscomb University is one of 26 providers from 17 states and the United Arab Emirates to be recognized for quality and excellence as recipients of the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement. In 2019, the College of Education was also awarded a $2.49 million grant from the Kern Family Foundation to develop an innovative leadership development program for principals focused on character, academic excellence and business acumen in the rising generation of leaders. Since 2013, the National Council for Teacher Quality has consistently ranked Lipscomb’s College of Education programs among the top 25 in the nation, ranking them as high as No. 1 nationally in 2014.