The report card provides a look into statewide Educator Preparation Programs including admissions, completions and exits.
Alabama State Department of Education officials say the report card will help improve outcomes for candidates, teachers and students alike.
Click here to view the report card.
“It’s going to be an evolving project, and it will continue to grow so that we will have everything necessary to help our [Educator Preparation Programs] produce better teachers,” Alethea Hampton, educator preparation administrator for the Alabama State Department of Education, said.
Alabama has 24 Educator Preparation Programs, which are all accredited, according to the report card.
From 2023-24, 5,422 candidates were admitted to Alabama Educator Preparation Programs with 272 known exits without completion and 1,686 program completions.
From the most recent data available, 2024-25, 5,111 candidates were admitted to Educator Preparation Programs with 48 known exits without completion and 56 completions.
The University of West Alabama had the most Educator Preparation Program admits with 1,601 candidates, followed by Jacksonville State University with 665 candidates, then the University of Alabama with 529 candidates.
Auburn University at Montgomery had 14 candidates exit the program without competition, followed by Alabama A&M University and Troy University with six.
Auburn University and the University of West Alabama had the most candidates complete their Educator Preparation Program with 13, followed by Troy University with nine completions.
Some Educator Preparation Programs did not collect exit data.
The Alabama State Department of Education also surveyed candidates to understand program attrition rates. One of the most common reasons was not being able to pass the Praxis exams.
The report card also revealed a shortage of 548 elementary education teachers across all Alabama districts, followed by 415 unfilled positions for collaborative special education teachers across all grades and a shortage of 256 early childhood education teachers.
“We need to understand why are they leaving education in the first place. Because if we can understand the why, then we can begin to work on those things that are causing individuals to depart the profession before even becoming certified,” Hampton said.
The report card also includes comments from universities explaining what initiatives they’ve put in place that positively impact teacher recruitment and retention.
Some examples include Alabama A&M University providing minority teacher scholarships to remove financial barriers for students and Faulkner University using 240 tutoring and study companions to assist candidates preparing for Praxis exams.
“Hopefully one day in the future, we will be able to pair this with some impact data so we can see how are these teachers performing, and what impact are they having on student learning in the K-12 environment,” Hampton said.
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