NASHVILLE - About 50 percent of Tennessee's 65,000 teachers will retire or leave the profession in the next decade, and state education officials are urging teacher preparation programs and school districts to work together to better prepare new teachers for those jobs.
"It will not be enough to just fill these positions with whoever we have available," Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen told an audience at the Music City Center convention complex Wednesday.
Many of Tennessee's teachers are trained in the state, McQueen said, and school districts and teacher preparation programs need to do a better job of working together to ensure they are prepared to effectively teach all students. Decades of research shows that teachers are the most important in-school factor for boosting students' academic growth.
The Tennessee Department of Education held an event for leaders of teacher preparation programs and school districts Wednesday to highlight the need to strengthen the new teacher pipeline by working in partnership, and released a report on the topic.
Saunya Goss, principal at Battle Academy in Hamilton County, told those gathered that working alongside the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's School of Education helps ensure that the new teachers she will hire in the coming years are ready.
"Every child needs and deserves a high-quality teacher, regardless if they are in an urban, rural or suburban school," Goss said. And, she said, being a part of teacher preparation and communicating what needs her school and students have ensures that will happen.
The state selected Hamilton County Schools and UTC's School of Education last year to participate in a pilot program that helps both groups develop a strategic partnership and strengthen how teachers are trained and supported during their first years in the classroom. The state hopes more groups will launch similar partnerships.
Renee Murley, director of UTC's School of Education, said she cannot prepare excellent teachers without the collaboration of the school district. Both groups need to be transparent with data, engage in candid conversations and share decision-making power, she said.
In recent years, the state has made significant policy shifts around teacher preparation and now is providing unprecedented amounts of data about teachers and student academic growth to school districts and the institutions training the teachers, hoping it will influence decisions. State data shows there are large discrepancies in how well new teachers from different programs perform, and that when new teachers receive support from their school districts they report feeling "more prepared" for the job, according to the report.
UTC's School of Education has struggled for years to prepare teachers to be effective in the classroom. Murley was hired to lead the school in June, and she is working with her team to make significant changes to its program.
Hamilton County Schools also has almost three times the number of least-effective teachers than the state average and twice as many least-effective teachers as Knox, Metro Nashville and Shelby County Schools. Nearly 30 percent of teachers in Hamilton County are considered least effective by state measures, and many of those teachers are in the district's predominately poor and minority schools, according to data from the 2014-2015 school year, the most recent available that includes students' academic growth scores.
Hamilton County Schools officials say the system is working to better support, retain and recruit teachers. This summer the district is providing intensive professional development for 20 new teachers, and it plans to provide the district's other new teachers with some additional support.
UTC's School of Education and Hamilton County Schools are working together to extend the amount of time future teachers spend training in an actual classroom from a couple of months to an entire year, in an effort to better prepare them.
McQueen announced Wednesday that the state plans to offer at least $300,000 in grants to teacher preparation programs and school districts that want to try innovative approaches to help new teachers be successful and increase diversity. The state also plans to use federal Title II money to support teacher residency programs that districts and teacher preparation programs want to launch.
Teacher preparation programs can apply for grants that will boost diversity in a program, get more people into hard-to-fill jobs, or better prepare literacy teachers.
Murley says she's excited for the opportunity and thinks UTC will submit a proposal.
Grants also are available for school districts that have plans to increase the diversity of their teaching ranks.
John King, president and CEO of the Education Trust and the former U.S. secretary of education, applauded the state for working to boost the number of teachers of color in the classroom.
"It's important for all kids to see diversity among educators," he said.
King said Tennessee is one of the states leading the nation in work to improve teacher preparation, highlighting the report and the amount of data provided to teacher preparation programs and school districts. He encouraged the state to take action on the data when necessary, especially if teacher preparation programs are chronically underperforming.
"That willingness to take action on the data can be the most politically difficult, but can be the most important," he said.
Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at krainwater@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @kendi_and.