UT, Knox County Schools partner to give future special education teachers free tuition

A new partnership between the University of Tennessee and Knox County Schools will place aspiring teachers in Knox County Schools, the Department of Education.

Knox County Schools, the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee Department of Education announced March 2 they will work together on this new initiative, called Grow Your Own. The first phase will launch in fall 2020, with 10-15 UT master's students who will work in Knox County Schools as a paraprofessional, which includes roles like teacher's assistants.

Students will be able to attend UT-Knoxville tuition-free as part of the Grow Your Own program.

Those students, who will be called Aspiring Teacher Cohorts, will receive a salary, healthcare and years toward retirement from KCS during that year. After those students complete their internships and graduate, Knox County will offer them positions and signing bonuses for the 2021-2022 school year. 

The first cohort will be for special education teachers, a role Knox County has struggled to fill. This program is designed to help eliminate barriers for student teachers who cannot accept unpaid teaching positions, said Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn.

Separately, the Department of Education announced a $1 million statewide investment for current teachers, which will give them a special education endorsement. Teachers will be able to get the endorsement tuition-free. 

Better preparing new teachers for the classroom

"All students deserve a highly-effective teacher in their classrooms, and this new Grow Your Own partnership will help ensure Knoxville has a strong local pipeline of future educators," Schwinn said. 

The Knoxville Grow Your Own program is the third to be implemented in the state. Austin Peay University and Lipscomb University also have similar programs. 

The interest in the program at Austin Peay indicated this program was wanted, Schwinn said. Through the program, the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System will be able to fill all their teacher vacancies.

While the first cohort of students will focus on teachers with a special education endorsement, Schwinn said the goal is to grow it into other areas as well. 

“This program supports the teacher pipeline problem we see in parts of the state,” Ellen McIntyre, dean of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville said. “But more than that, we are assured that the new teachers will be well prepared. Knox County Schools and UT Knoxville have designed an outstanding program to meet this need.”

Special education investment 

Additionally, the Department of Education announced that $1 million will be made available for teachers to get their special education endorsement at no cost to them. Knox County Schools has been struggling to fill special education positions in recent years.

Last year, KCS approved a recruitment and retention plan, which gives new special education teachers a $7,000 stipend paid out over three years. Last year, Knox County Schools needed to fill 98 special education positions for the current school year, Superintendent Bob Thomas said. 

"Our students deserve a highly effective teacher in the classroom...this is going to help us achieve these goals," Thomas said.

A main goal of the program is removing barriers for those who want to become teachers. By placing them in a program where they are paid and guaranteed a job with a signing bonus after graduation, it opens the door for more people from rural or low-income areas to pursue teaching, Schwinn said. 

"We think this allows for greater equity for those students who come from low-income backgrounds and also for students who come from non-traditional backgrounds," Schwinn said.

"We’re excited about the idea that people and different students in different places are able to become teachers and not carry that worry and that debt with them, they’re just focused on becoming an excellent teacher."