MARTIN, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee at Martin’s Educator Preparation Program
maintained a category-two ranking in the 2016-17 state report card. The annual EPP report card,
issued this week by the Tennessee State Board of Education, measures the effectiveness of teacher-education programs.
The Teacher Preparation Report Card covers three domains: candidate profile, employment
satisfaction and provider impact. Providers are awarded a performance category score from one to four based on the providers’ ability to successfully prepare Tennessee educators, with four being the highest score. The current report reflects teacher data from 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 completers.
UT Martin EPP scores show improvement in each of the three domains scored in the current
report. “Based on data in recent years, a variety of modifications have been applied to our program,”
said Cindy West, UT Martin College of Education, Health, and Behavioral Sciences dean. “We
anticipate these actions will provide a positive impact on future report cards.”
Additional changes made since the last report include: hiring a full-time assessment
coordinator to track detailed candidate, completer and program data to use for data-informed decision making; increased efforts to recruit students from diverse backgrounds; and also increased efforts to recruit students interested in teaching high-need areas such as math, science and special education.
The report showed the largest score declines for UT Martin in provider impact or teacher
effectiveness. “This is not the outcome we had hoped for,” said Dr. Keith Carver, UT Martin
chancellor. “Our teacher-education program made quality-enhancement changes based on the last report card, and the data largely show improvement. But, we accept this report and will continue to look for ways to improve our teacher-education program.”
UT Martin earned its best total score of four in the employment domain, which measures
placement and retention. The candidate profile domain included score increases for ACT scores,
high-demand endorsements and racial diversity, but the total score remained as category one. The university will continue to offer mentoring support for teacher-education completers in the field who may have received low Tennessee Value Added Assessment System or TVAAS scores.
The complete report card for all Educator Preparation Programs is available at the Tennessee
State Board of Education website at http://teacherprepreportcard.tn.gov.