Jane Roberts - The Commercial Appeal -

Teachers certified through Teach for America Memphis, Teach for America Nashville and Lipscomb University in Nashville are more likely to get strong classroom results than teachers who’ve been in the classroom for years, according to a state report released today.

The annual report, produced by the Tennessee Higher Education Tennessee Higher Education Commission, shows which of the state’s teacher training programs tend to produce highly effective teachers. It also shows those with a history of the opposite.

Nine teacher training programs, including Tennessee State University, University of Tennessee-Martin, Middle Tennessee State and the Memphis Teacher Residency were cited for failing to compete with the quality of new teachers from other programs.

Recent education graduates from the University of Memphis compare poorly against teacher veterans in overall elementary student test scores and show significant weakness in reading test scores.

— Jane Roberts: (901) 529-2512