As Tennessee education leaders are moving forward with major changes to teacher licensure requirements, state legislators emphasized the need for these measures to be paired with strong accountability measures and targeted support to ensure teacher quality.¶
Those were among the comments at Wednesday morning’s session of the Advisory Committee on Innovations in K-12 Education. The committee is holding hearings to study multiple education topics with the goal of providing recommendations for the General Assembly to consider next year.¶
Assistant Commissioner of Human Capital at the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Brooke Amos provided lawmakers with a presentation that highlighted progress licensure changes have made to expand Tennessee’s educator pipeline but cautioned that challenges remain.¶
“After recent years of unprecedented educator vacancies and response strategies, early signs suggest progress, though shortages remain in persistent high-need content and geographic areas,” Amos said. “The influx of educators new to the profession entering through emergency credentials highlights a need for targeted, high-quality professional development and mentoring.”¶
Legislative Changes Streamline Licensure¶
Lawmakers have passed several measures in recent years to reduce barriers for those seeking to become teachers, including legislation enacted this summer to create a Limited Occupational Teaching License (LOTL), clarifying emergency credential requirements, and allowing teachers with postsecondary licenses to add endorsements.¶
The Tennessee General Assembly has also passed legislation to authorize the Commissioner of Education to issue temporary teaching permits for individuals teaching physical education and core subjects. These changes were part of a broader strategy to quickly fill classrooms while creating pathways for teachers to move into full professional licensure tracks.¶
TDOE says that Tennessee has also maintained some of the fastest and most affordable licensure processes in the nation, eliminating fees for obtaining a license and reducing processing times from six weeks to four business days.¶
Pipeline Shows Growth, But Gaps Persist¶
TDOE says the impact of these changes is evident in the data. In 2024, Tennessee processed more than 38 thousand licensure transactions, including 6,022 emergency credentials — nearly double the number of initial licenses issued.¶
Nearly 29 percent of early-career teachers entered from other fields, and educator preparation program graduates are now outpacing retirements by a ratio of 1.75 to 1. The number of schools offering “Teaching as a Profession” courses more than doubled between 2015 and 2023, signaling interest among high school students.¶
Despite these gains, vacancy rates vary across the state, with a high of 3.45 percent in the southwest region compared to just 0.67 percent in the east.¶
Recent Strategy in Place to Reduce Barriers to Future Teachers¶
Tennessee launched a five-year pilot initiative, the Tennessee Future Teacher Scholarship, in 2023 to help limit barriers to future teachers. The program offers loan forgiveness for students pursuing initial teacher licensure. The program is designed to address educator staffing challenges by incentivizing service in high-need schools and subjects. To qualify, applicants must be enrolled at least half-time in a state-approved educator preparation program, be at least a junior, maintain the GPA required by the program, and sign a service agreement committing to teach in a targeted setting, either in a critical shortage subject or in a distressed or at-risk county. Students may receive up to $3,500 annually through the scholarship until they graduate, become ineligible, or three years pass from their enrollment in the program.¶
edTPA Removal Stresses Need for Simultaneous Added Accountability¶
One of the most significant policy changes is the State Board’s decision to eliminate the edTPA performance-based assessment for teacher candidates by July 1, 2026. The move followed widespread concerns from educator preparation programs that the assessment created unnecessary barriers without aligning with classroom realities.¶
SBE said Survey feedback from the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) highlighted that both edTPA and Praxis content exams were major pain points for teacher candidates. [SA1] Some respondents noted that “the expectations of this evaluative system don’t match the expectations and requirements of the classrooms where they are working,” while others reported instances where qualified preservice teachers failed due to assessment misalignment.¶
Senator Bo Watson (R-Gallatin) said while he supports this barrier being removed, he said he duly sees changes made to give teachers added accountability as just as integral.¶
“I fully support the State Board dropped the requirement for edTPA,” said Senator Watson. “This has been an issue when it comes to preparing teachers for several years. In my estimation, it’s been an unnecessary impediment to teacher preparation. Equally though, I support that we have added supports to teachers, such as additional observations, and those types of things.”¶
To offset the removal of edTPA, the State Board approved changes to strengthen clinical practice requirements, including additional observation standards for candidates during preparation programs.¶
“If we’re going to move certain requirements away, then we have to make sure we weigh the consequences of doing so,” said Michael Durlein, Deputy Executive Policy and Research Director for the State Board. “We don’t have a lot of accountabilities when it comes to out-of-state licenses, and about 50 percent of our teachers, last time I looked, come from out of state.”¶
Next Steps: Balancing Flexibility and Quality¶
The State Board outlined several next steps, including working with TDOE to implement revised clinical practices, reviewing candidate content assessment policies, and continuing engagement with the legislature.¶
Officials say these measures will help ensure that Tennessee’s efforts to expand the pipeline through reduced barriers do not come at the cost of classroom readiness.¶
“The teacher pipeline is moving in the right direction,” Amos said. “Now we must ensure those entering the profession have the mentoring and development needed to stay and succeed.”¶
