2/17/25
Tennessee Tech University is once again the top producer of teachers in the state of Tennessee, according to the Tennessee State Board of Education’s 2025 Educator Preparation Report Card.
State figures released Friday, February 14th show that Tech’s College of Education & Human Sciences totaled 780 teacher candidates in its three-year cohort, besting runner-ups University of Tennessee-Martin at 768, Middle Tennessee State University at 764 and University of Tennessee-Knoxville at 608.
Within Tech’s College of Education & Human Sciences, the Department of Curriculum & Instruction – the college’s largest department – is specifically dedicated to teacher education and is supported by nearly 40 faculty and staff.
The 2025 Educator Preparation Report Card points to Tech’s pivotal role in addressing state and national teacher shortages.
The National Center for Education Statistics announced that, as of last fall, the average public school reported having six teaching vacancies and “the majority of the country’s public K–12 schools experienced difficulty hiring fully certified teachers.”
For the 2025-2026 academic year, the state of Tennessee has specifically reported teacher shortages in the fields of mathematics, world languages, early childhood education, special education and English as a second language.
At Tech, teacher candidates are supported through the College of Education & Human Science’s dedicated student success center and testing center, the Office of Teacher Education and its Jeffers Learning Resource Center – a newly-remodeled space where students can do everything from use laser engravers, sewing machines and 3D printers to create materials for their classes, to even immersing themselves in classroom settings through virtual reality technology.
Learn more about Tech’s College of Education & Human Sciences at www.tntech.edu/education/.
