Tennessee EPPs seeking accreditation through the
CAEP standards must adopt the minimum criteria
for academic achievement, which is a cohort
average GPA of 3.0 or higher. CAEP standards also
require EPPs to establish and monitor attributes and
dispositions, beyond academic ability, that candidates
must demonstrate for admission to and retention in
their programs.
Disposition Data in Practice
Teach for America (TFA) is a national
teacher corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in
under-resourced urban and rural public
schools. TFA selectively recruits from
an applicant pool of highly successful
college graduates from around the
country and uses a screening process
Disposition data can provide additional information
on the skills that a teacher candidate possesses
that may not be captured with a test score. CAEP
accreditation standards require institutions to use
disposition assessments to evaluate students, and
several EPPs already use disposition data to assess
candidates while they are enrolled in a program.
However, the use of disposition data to admit students
into educator preparation programs is still in its early
stages in Tennessee. Some schools such as Lipscomb
University and Union University interview prospective
students as part of the admissions process. The TDOE
is exploring a statewide disposition assessment that
institutions could use to admit students as well as
evaluate them once they are enrolled in a program.
that focuses on academic success. Candidate dispositions are also evaluated
through group interviews and sample
lessons. These dispositions can include
a belief in all students, ability to learn,
leadership potential, or qualities of
professi