Fewer people are finishing teaching programs in Tennessee, which could worsen a shortage

A new state report finds that fewer educators are graduating from in-state teaching programs — a decline that’s persisted for years.

Tennessee is home to 43 teacher preparation providers. During the 2019-2020 school year, a little over 3,000 people earned a state teaching degree. Five years earlier, the number was closer to 3,700.

That’s what the State Board of Education found in its annual report reviewing the quality of teacher prep programs. Dr. Amy Owen, the board’s deputy executive director of research and policy, says the findings give a sense of how many new educators are in Tennessee but not the entire picture.

“The number of people completing a Tennessee ed prep provider is a really important metric, but it’s not the only way we get teachers in Tennessee,” Dr. Owen says. “It may be that we’re having fewer educators completing in-state programs, but perhaps we have more people coming from out of state.”

Though the number of teachers earning a degree in Tennessee is down, Owen says there have been some areas of improvement. She notes there’s been strategic effort to see more educators earn endorsements in high-demand areas, such as special education, English as a second-language and high school math and science. She adds that a growing percentage of future educators are people of color.

Still, that general decline in program completion reflects a yearslong national trend. The issues of low pay and poor working conditions have only gotten worse during the pandemic.

Right now, the Tennessee Department of Education says the state has about 2,200 vacancies, but some believe that number is much higher.

Another recent survey conducted by the Professional Educators of Tennessee found that out of 619 educators, more than a fifth aren’t planning to stay in the classroom.

Education officials have been working to recruit and retain teachers.

In 2019, the state education department launched the “Grow Your Own” program, which included tuition incentives and compensation for prospective teachers.

This year, Gov. Bill Lee is pledging to invest $125 million for raises. A new state bill could cover tuition for students of color who want to go into teaching through the Minority Teaching Fellows Program.

Correction: An earlier version of this story omitted the words “not only” from a quote by Dr. Amy Owen. The correct quote appears above.