As school systems nationwide continue to wrestle with teacher shortages, Knox County Schools is benefiting from a partnership with UT that is helping to keep its teacher pipeline full.

When the 2024–25 academic year began, the district had just six vacant teaching positions across 92 schools. That’s a remarkable change from the 80 to 100 open positions that had been typical in recent years.

Tayla Thomas (’23) and Ashley Waycaster (’24) are two new KCS teachers who have benefited from a program in UT’s College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences that places university students in local classrooms for a yearlong comprehensive training experience.

Thomas knew she wanted to be a math teacher since seventh grade when her teacher asked her to show her work on the board and explain it to the class. After graduating from high school, the Memphis native enrolled at UT with plans to teach high school algebra, but VolsTeach—an undergraduate pathway program that offers students a range of field-based experiences—opened her eyes to other possibilities.

Tayla Thomas teaches a sixth grade math class at Gresham Middle School. Photo by Steven Bridges/University of Tennessee.

“I’ve always been confident in my ability to teach, but as a math major and a minority student I was always in class with students who didn’t look like me, and I felt a kind of imposter syndrome,” Thomas says. “VolsTeach really prepared me mentally. The different placements they put us in, getting us to think outside the box—all those experiences built me up as a teacher to know how to deal with different kids, situations, and circumstances.”

VolsTeach provides ongoing school-based teacher preparation experiences for students working toward bachelor’s degrees in education, math, and science. By giving students opportunities to work with experienced mentors in school settings, the program expands UT’s capacity to prepare highly qualified educators and help them get licensed to teach in-demand STEM subjects.

After gaining experience in a variety of classrooms through VolsTeach, Thomas discovered she loved teaching sixth graders and changed her major to middle grades math education. “It’s the perfect age,” she says. “They’re maturing and finding themselves, but they also still have that elementary mindset of playfulness and enthusiasm.”

Tayla Thomas

While completing her internship experience at Gresham Middle School in Knoxville and preparing to graduate in December 2023, a sixth-grade math teacher left Gresham unexpectedly, and Thomas had the opportunity to fill the vacancy. “I graduated on a Friday, and the next Monday I was teaching in my own classroom,” she recalls.

VolsTeach is just one UT program helping to expand opportunities for aspiring teachers. Others include Grow Your Own, an apprenticeship program that helps teaching assistants work toward becoming fully licensed professional teachers while keeping their jobs, and UT-PLAYS, (Personalized Learning At Your Speed), a flexible online program providing prospective and current educators with a cost-effective way to earn initial licensure and additional math and special education endorsements.

David Cihak, associate dean of professional educator programs and director of the Bailey Graduate School of Education, says expanded scholarship opportunities through programs like VolsTeach have made it easier than ever for aspiring teachers at UT to get the training they need to become high-quality professional educators.

The college’s education program ranking and growth uniquely position UT to alleviate teacher shortages in Knox County and beyond. Each year the Tennessee State Board of Education issues an Educator Preparation Report Card for all teacher prep programs in the state. In 2024, UT received the highest possible rating for teacher and leader preparation. Since 2020 the number of CEHHS students in the teacher pipeline has nearly doubled, from about 550 to more than 1,040.

The UT pipeline has been invaluable in bringing teaching vacancies in Knox County down from the double digits, according to Alex Moseman, KCS executive director of talent acquisition. “It’s incredibly powerful for the district to have a partner like UT with leaders who take that land-grant responsibility to the taxpayers of Tennessee seriously,” Moseman says. “It’s a transformational impact for KCS students, and it helps us as a school district move beyond thinking about teacher shortages. Now we can have robust conversations about what best practice looks like, and that informs the preparation that students receive through UT.”

Ashley Waycaster

For biology major Ashley Waycaster, that preparation has enabled her to combine three of her great loves—science, teaching, and her hometown of Knoxville.

Waycaster entered UT with aspirations of becoming a medical examiner. Eventually she realized she wanted more day-to-day variety than lab work would provide, so she began to consider other options. “I’ve always been interested in leadership, and helping guide others is one of my passions, so I looked into teaching,” she says.

When she learned about the VolsTeach for Appalachia scholarship program, Waycaster saw an opportunity to bridge science and teaching. The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to alleviate the region’s persistent shortage of science and math teachers by providing scholarship support in exchange for a two-year commitment to teach in a high-needs district.

Waycaster applied and was accepted into the program, changing her minor to secondary education. “The guidance of my mentors and VolsTeach for Appalachia made my transition from science into education a lot easier than I thought it would be,” she says.

In fall 2024, while Waycaster was completing her internship semester at Knoxville’s Cedar Bluff Middle School, a seventh-grade science teacher decided to retire early. Encouraged by her mentor teacher, Waycaster applied for the position and was hired. KCS’s flexible onboarding process and close relationship with CEHHS helped Waycaster start teaching ahead of her graduation this month.

“I’m still earning credit from UT for my internship, but at the same time I’m earning a paycheck from KCS as a full-time teacher,” she says.

Cihak explains, “It’s a real partnership decision between the school and us. It allows somebody to become a teacher of record immediately although they haven’t yet completed their bachelor’s degree. If they’re progressing through the education preparation program and they’ve demonstrated content knowledge, we and the Tennessee Board of Education can issue a clinical endorsement for them to be hired and start teaching right away.”

Because KCS is considered a high-needs district, Waycaster can fulfill her commitment to VolsTeach for Appalachia while achieving her goal of staying in her hometown.

“I love Knoxville, and all my family is here,” she says. “I’ll graduate from college completely debt free because of this scholarship, and I can stay here and contribute by doing what I love—teaching.”

For Thomas, the opportunity she found at KCS has been the perfect way to launch her career and set her sights on future plans, which include pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees and becoming a school administrator.

“The connection between UT and Knox County has been great, and that experience made me decide to stay. So now,” she says with a smile, “I’m dreaming big.”

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Additional reporting by Cara Smith (’24)