The proportion of Tennessee graduates who enter teaching in Tennessee has varied from year to year. At private institutions, the yield rates are 36 percent and 35 percent respectively. The yield rates for minority graduates, both male and female, are higher than for non-minorities. Currently, data for tracking Tennessee graduates who are hired in adjacent states do not exist, but anecdotal evidence suggests that Tennessee graduates are highly regarded and aggressively recruited and hired by other states. The supply of new graduates in Tennessee is very regional .
Graduates tend to be hired in districts in close proximity to their home college or university.
The extent to which school systems have met the student teacher ratios mandated by the EIA varies by school system. Most systems are making steady progress in meeting the ratios. Subject areas of concern include special education, foreign languages, English as a Second Language, mathematics, and science. In order to meet enrollment projections and sustain the mandated student to teacher ratios , Tennessee will have to increase the number of its new graduates who are hired in Tennessee, reduce attrition in new and late career educators, and draw more deeply on its reserve pool. In Tennessee , prepared by the Southern Regional Education Board and Data and Decision Analysis, Inc., April 2000, and from a presentation on the findings by SREB staff.