Licensure Reciprocity: Tennessee

Analysis of Tennessee's policies

Tennessee does not support licensure reciprocity for certified teachers from other states.

Regrettably, Tennessee grants a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher who "completes a teacher preparation program in a reciprocal state and holds a full license from that state" or "holds a valid license from a reciprocal state and provides verification of appropriate experience," which is three years.

Teachers with valid out-of-state certificates are eligible for Tennessee's standard license. Applicants must have one year of teaching experience. Transcripts are also required for all out-of-state teachers; however, it is not clear whether the state analyzes transcripts to determine whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route or whether additional coursework will be required.

Tennessee is also a participant in the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement; however, the latest iteration of this agreement no longer purports to be a reciprocity agreement among states and thus is no longer included in this analysis.

Citation

Rules of the State Board of Education, Chapter 0520-02-04 Earning a License by Attending a College/University Outside TN www.tennessee.gov/education/lic/out.shtml

Recommendations for Tennessee

To uphold standards, require that teachers coming from other states meet testing requirements.
Tennessee takes considerable risk by granting a waiver for its licensing tests to any out-of-state teacher who has three years of experience or a full license through a traditional route. The state should not waive any of its teacher tests unless an applicant can provide evidence of a passing score under its own standards. The negative impact on student learning stemming from a teacher's inadequate subject-matter knowledge is not mitigated by the teacher's having experience or an out-of-state license.

Accord the same license to out-of-state alternate route teachers as would be accorded to traditionally prepared teachers.
Regardless of whether a teacher was prepared through a traditional or alternate route, all certified out-of-state teachers should receive equal treatment. Tennessee should consider discontinuing its requirement for the submission of transcripts. Transcript analysis is likely to result in additional coursework requirements, even for traditionally prepared teachers; alternate route teachers, on the other hand, may have to virtually begin anew, repeating some, most or all of a teacher preparation program in Tennessee.

State response to our analysis

Tennessee recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.