The Department of Education posted a great piece today detailing how schools across Tennessee are using the state’s teacher prep program report card, established in 2007, to help improve their teacher training programs.  This includes both traditional and alternative certification programs.  Here are some specific examples of how the report card is being used:

Lipscomb: Lipscomb’s overall effectiveness had previously been recognized on Tennessee’s 2012 Report Card on the Effectiveness of Teacher Training Programs. But that year’s numbers also revealed a weakness: recent graduates of the private institution were, on average, less effective than those of other programs in teaching social studies to grades four through eight.

MTR: The 2011 report card said the [Memphis Teacher] Residency’s graduates (an alternative certification program) were underperforming relative to other programs, based on student growth on State standardized exams. Scott said the Residency made changes to its model, and the 2013 report card showed improvement.

Union: Another of the highest-performing schools this year, Union University in Jackson, also made changes in response to report card data. The 2010 report card “showed Union University was doing what the State thought was a mediocre job of preparing teachers,” said Executive Dean Thomas Rosebrough. “We knew better in terms of anecdotes from superintendents, principals and parents,” he said. “But we decided we needed to get with the program in Tennessee as well as across the nation. We wanted our State report card to truly reflect our emphasis on both the art and the science of teaching.”

The entire piece is worth a read as it does a great job of detailing this important Tennessee initiative to improve our teacher training programs.  Check it out on the Department of Ed website.