Lipscomb receives additional Grow Your Own grant from Tennessee Department of Education
Kim Chaudoin |
Lipscomb University’s College of Education, one of the top teacher preparation programs in the nation, has received new Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) TDOE funding through the University of Tennessee-Knoxville's Grow Your Own Center. These funds will be used as a continued investment in Lipscomb’s innovative educator preparation pathways through a component of Tennessee’s Grow Your Own initiative, the Tennessee Teacher Apprenticeship.
The new TDOE sub-grants are providing resources for the College of Education as an expansion of a master’s and certification teacher apprenticeship program launched in August. The program is a collaboration with TDOE and the U.S. Department of Labor to remove financial barriers for those who have undergraduate degrees but are seeking teacher licensure. It will also provide resources for other programming that builds on existing Grow Your Own partnerships.
Leslie Cowell
“We are delighted to collaborate with the state and our partner districts in these efforts,” said Leslie Cowell, dean of Lipscomb’s College of Education. “These funds will help make the teaching field accessible, drawing more to our field. We appreciate the Tennessee Department of Education and their commitment to address the teacher shortage for our schools and families.”
Lipscomb’s apprenticeship program is the first in Tennessee, and one of the first of its kind in the nation, to create a pipeline of teachers to fill workforce needs across the state. The university established its first degreed teacher candidate apprenticeship program with the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) this fall.
The apprenticeship component provides access to federal funding that removes additional financial barriers and provides support for teacher candidates, such as the cost of books, transportation, childcare and other costs that could interrupt their progress toward licensure, giving teaching candidates in the program the opportunity to earn their degree for free.
The Tennessee Grow Your Own Center recently expanded opportunities for approved apprenticeships, offering Education Preparation Providers (EPPs) such as Lipscomb, the opportunity to apply for subgrants to bring more individuals into the educator profession. These subgrants will ensure, as EPPs receive TDOE-approval to offer new apprenticeship programs for districts and educators, they have the means to deliver high-quality instruction and flexible offerings – regardless of location, district partnership and program size.
Vanessa Garcia
“Lipscomb University is deeply appreciative of the state’s commitment to the educator pipeline,” said Vanessa Garcia, senior program director of Grow Your Own and assistant professor in Lipscomb’s College of Education. “Our programs offer tremendous training and experiences for our teachers across multiple Tennessee districts, and the opportunity for additional funding will bring us closer to true sustainability and scale.”
These subgrants demonstrate the state’s commitment to continue to invest in high-quality, no-cost opportunities for Tennesseans to earn a degree and teacher’s license for free, while getting paid to do so.
“Tennessee educators work hard to advance students’ academic outcomes and ensure future readiness, inspiring for growth and achievement every day,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “Building off the proven success of our earlier Grow Your Own Teacher Apprenticeship models, Tennessee is pointing the way to more effectively staff our nation's schools. We look forward to sustainable expansion through Tennessee’s strategic efforts to address teacher shortages with high-quality programs.”
The Tennessee Grow Your Own Center was established in May 2022 with $20 million in funding from the department, to create sustainable statewide support for teacher apprenticeship programs in Tennessee. The Grow Your Own Center is a service of the University of Tennessee System, but the center provides connections between learners and coursework providers from a multitude of Tennessee colleges and universities.
Tennessee was the first state in the country to sponsor teacher occupation apprenticeship programs between school districts and Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs), and Tennessee’s Teacher Apprenticeship models aligns leading practices in teacher preparation and development with the rigors of the nationally registered apprenticeship process. As a part of the department’s Best for All strategic plan, the Grow Your Own initiative aims to set a new path for the educator profession and for Tennessee to be the top state in which to become and remain a teacher and leader.
Lipscomb has developed a number of Grow Your Own partnerships over the last few years. This spring, university officials announced the Leading and Innovating for Future Teachers (LIFT) program through which Lipscomb will provide full tuition and fees for a cohort of 10 Metro Nashville Public Schools students every year to enter the teacher preparation program beginning in Fall 2023, which means a total of 40 students will receive full tuition through the program during any given school year once the program is fully populated in four years. The mission of LIFT Off to Lipscomb is to recruit and retain teachers in the areas most needed by MNPS. Through this partnership, aspiring teachers would be recruited from local high schools, prepared to be ready the first day they enter their own classrooms as teachers and return to MNPS schools. This includes early teaching contracts, personalized degree programs, experience with high-quality faculty, content and field experiences.
In addition, this fall, Lipscomb offered a new Christian Schools Partnership, designed to fill teacher shortages and preparation gaps in K-12 Christian schools. Lipscomb University developed this unique program to create a pipeline of teacher candidates for faith-based schools and to better prepare those who are already teaching in these schools.
In 2021, the university was awarded $1 million in Tennessee Department of Education GYO grants to provide 10 cohorts of teacher assistants, totaling 210 individuals from MNPS, Clarksville-Montgomery County School District and the Hamilton County and Williamson County school districts the opportunity to enroll in Lipscomb’s teacher preparation programs. In addition, Lipscomb’s College of Education is partnering with the Nashville Teacher Residency on another GYO grant to prepare teachers for their ELL endorsement. In October 2020, Lipscomb received $200,000 in TDOE grants to expand its existing GYO partnership with Tennessee’s Clarksville-Montgomery County School District, which began in 2019. In addition, Lipscomb, funded by a private grant, launched the Pionero Scholars Program in 2015 to bridge the culture gap between students and teachers by recruiting MNPS students who want to go into the teaching field and who reflect the diversity of Nashville to create a pipeline of students returning to teach in their home communities.
About Lipscomb University’s College of Education
Lipscomb University’s College of Education is consistently recognized as one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in Tennessee and in the nation by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). Last fall, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) announced that Lipscomb University is one of 26 providers from 17 states and the United Arab Emirates to be recognized for quality and excellence as recipients of the 2021 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement. Lipscomb once again earned high marks on the Tennessee Teacher Preparation Report Card released earlier this year. This marked the 10th year that state data on the effectiveness of new Tennessee teachers indicates it is one of the most effective teacher preparation programs in the state. In 2019, the College of Education was also awarded a $2.49 million grant from the Kern Family Foundation to develop an innovative leadership development program for principals focused on character, academic excellence and business acumen in the rising generation of leaders. Since 2013, the National Council for Teacher Quality has consistently ranked Lipscomb’s College of Education programs among the top 25 in the nation, ranking them as high as No. 1 nationally in 2014.