COE Graduates Rank Top-3 in Latest Tennessee Survey

News Release

FOR RELEASE

December 19, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA) has reported that University of Memphis graduates rank in the top 3 in the latest Tennessee Educator Survey (TES).

Graduates from the Department of Instruction & Curriculum Leadership (ICL) ranked in the top 3 with 80% of K-2 English and Language Arts (ELA) teachers who strongly agreed/agreed that the program’s coursework and content prepared them for their current role.

“It is wonderful to know that our graduates who are K-2 English and Language Arts teachers believe that we prepared them to effectively teach their students,” said Dr. Sandra Cooley Nichols, chair of the Department of Instruction & Curriculum Leadership. “Preparing high quality teachers is our goal.”

TERA also noted that 95% of UofM’s early career K-2 teachers said their clinical experience and coaching/mentorship prepared them for their current roles. This wasn’t a top 3 ranking due to three other programs scoring 100%, yet TERA acknowledged this is still a “very high percentage.” Dr. Nichelle Robinson is the Director of the Office of Teacher Education & Clinical Practice (TEP), which is over the clinical experience aspect.

She said, “(TEP) is pleased that 95% of our graduates feel that their clinical experience prepared them for the classroom. We work hard to ensure that they have a positive and impactful student teaching experience with the best mentor teachers in our partner districts.”

According to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), TES is “the most important annual survey used to understand the experience of educators across Tennessee.” A total of 37,056 Tennessee teachers responded to this year’s TES, roughly half of the total teacher population, and around a quarter of those teachers (9,830) are in ELA.

The Department of Instruction & Curriculum Leadership is under the College of Education at the UofM. More information on this year’s TES can be found here.