Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-108 (2026)

• (a)
  • (1) Complete jurisdiction over the issuance and administration of licenses for supervisors, principals and public school teachers for kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12), including teachers in preschools operated under the authority of chapter 6, part 1 of this title, shall be vested in the state board of education.
  • (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a)(1), the state board of education shall not deny instructional leader licensure based solely on the applicant completing a leadership preparation program located outside of this state.
  • (3) Professional licenses issued by the state board of education must be valid for a period of no less than eight (8) years. This subdivision (a)(3) does not prohibit the state board from establishing professional development requirements that must be met by an educator who holds a professional license during the licensure period as a condition of the educator retaining the educator's license for the licensure period.

• (b) The licenses shall be uniform for all the school systems in the state.

• (c) The state board of education is authorized, empowered and directed to set up rules and regulations governing the issuance of licenses for supervisors, principals and public school teachers. These rules and regulations shall prescribe standards controlling the issuance and renewal of all licenses and permits; provided, that:
  • (1) If a license is issued, it shall not be to an applicant who has less than four (4) years of general or technical and professional training beyond the twelfth grade;
  • (2) No increase in the minimum requirements for licenses shall become effective until at least one (1) year after promulgation of the increase by the state board of education;
  • (3) Active or retired military personnel who seek to serve as junior reserve officers' training corps (JROTC) instructors shall be licensed to teach JROTC and military science in grades nine through twelve (9-12) based on documented military JROTC certification issued upon successful completion of all JROTC preparation requirements specific to the person's branch of military service. JROTC instructors so licensed shall not be licensed to teach courses other than JROTC and military science, and LEAs shall not employ persons licensed only as JROTC instructors to teach courses other than JROTC or military science. Such restrictions to licensure, however, shall not impinge the granting of state-approved equivalency credits received through a JROTC or military science course;
  • (4) A supervisor's, principal's or teacher's license shall not be nonrenewed or revoked by the department of education based on student growth data as represented by the Tennessee value-added assessment system (TVAAS), developed pursuant to chapter 1, part 6 of this title, or some other comparable measure of student growth, if no such TVAAS data is available; and
  • (5) Notwithstanding any other law, a public school teacher shall not be required to take an assessment to advance or renew a license if:
    • (A) At the time of application for an initial license, the public school teacher possessed an active professional license in a state that has a reciprocal agreement with the state board of education pursuant to § 49-5-109;
    • (B) At the time of application for advancement or renewal of a license, the public school teacher is employed to serve or teach courses in the individual's area of endorsement in a public school in this state; and
    • (C) The public school teacher earned an overall performance effectiveness level of "above expectations" or "significantly above expectations" as provided in the evaluation guidelines adopted by the state board of education pursuant to § 49-1-302 in each of the first two (2) years immediately following the issuance of the individual's initial license. If the public school teacher did not receive an overall performance effectiveness level during one (1) or both of the two (2) years immediately following the issuance of the individual's initial license, then the individual may choose to use the individual's most recent overall performance effectiveness level that is available to demonstrate an overall performance effectiveness level of "above expectations" or "significantly above expectations" for purposes of this subdivision (c)(5)(C), or the public school teacher may request that the director of schools or the director of the public charter school submit a recommendation to the department of education on the public school teacher's effectiveness. If a director of schools or the director of a public charter school submits a recommendation to the department attesting to the effectiveness of a public school teacher, then the commissioner shall consider the requirements of this subdivision (c)(5)(C) met, and shall not require the public school teacher to take an assessment to advance or renew a license.
  • (6)
    • (A) When issuing a license to teach in the public schools to an individual who possesses an active teaching license in another state, the state board of education shall issue a teaching license that is equivalent to the teaching license that the individual possesses in the other state, if that state has a reciprocal agreement with the state board of education pursuant to § 49-5-109.
    • (B) If an individual applies for a supervisor's, assistant principal's, or principal's license, and the individual possesses an active supervisor's, assistant principal's, or principal's license in another state that has entered into a reciprocal agreement with the state board pursuant to § 49-5-109, then the department of education shall issue the individual a supervisor's, assistant principal's, or principal's license that is equivalent to the license that the individual possesses in the other state; provided, that the individual served as a supervisor, assistant principal, or principal in the other state for no less than one (1) school year.
    • (C) When issuing a supervisor's, assistant principal's, principal's, or public school teacher's license to an individual who is a military spouse and who possesses an active supervisor's, assistant principal's, principal's, or public school teacher's license in another state, the department of education shall issue a supervisor's, assistant principal's, principal's, or public school teacher's license that is equivalent to the license that the individual possesses in the other state upon the department's receipt of documentation from the individual evidencing the individual's active military dependent status.
    • (D) The department of education shall submit a report on the effectiveness of supervisors, assistant principals, principals, and public school teachers who obtained a Tennessee educator license through an out-of-state pathway compared with the effectiveness of other supervisors, assistant principals, principals, and public school teachers licensed in this state to the education committee of the senate and the education instruction committee of the house of representatives by July 31, 2022, and by July 31 each year thereafter. The annual report required under this subdivision (c)(6)(D) must be posted on the department's website.
  • (7) Notwithstanding any other law, a public school teacher is not required to take an assessment to reactivate a license from this state that has expired if at the time of application to reactivate the license, the public school teacher possesses an active professional license in a state that has a reciprocal agreement with the state board of education pursuant to § 49-5-109.

• (d)
  • (1) The state board of education has the authority to promulgate rules and regulations prescribing minimum standards for licenses and certificates differing from the requirements prescribed in this chapter.
  • (2) [Deleted by 2023 amendment.]
  • (3)
    • (A) The state board of education shall approve a process for an LEA, or for two (2) or more LEAs working together, to establish an LEA teacher training program for the purpose of recommending eligible educators for endorsements. An educator must possess an active Tennessee professional teaching license and must be employed by an LEA participating in the program to be eligible to participate in a program established under this subdivision (d)(3).
    • (B) The state board shall establish the minimum requirements for LEA teacher training programs; provided, that the minimum requirements must allow eligible educators to add endorsement areas to the educator's license.
    • (C) LEA teacher training programs established under this subdivision (d)(3) must provide documentation to the department of education certifying that the eligible educator has met the requirements established by the state board for the endorsement before the endorsement is added to the eligible educator's license.
    • (D) The state board shall not require an eligible educator seeking an endorsement through an LEA teacher training program to enroll in a teacher preparation program in order to receive the endorsement. This subdivision (d)(3) does not prohibit an LEA teacher training program from partnering with a teacher preparation program approved by the state board.
    • (E) To ensure the quality of an educator that receives an endorsement under this subdivision (d)(3), the state board shall require the eligible educator to take an assessment pursuant to the state board's rules and policies.
    • (F) The department of education shall create a process for the review of LEA teacher training programs established under this subdivision (d)(3) pursuant to the state board's rules and policies.

• (e) Institutions with authorized teacher training programs shall ensure that persons seeking licensure in this state receive appropriate instruction in the teaching of reading.

• (f)
  • (1) The state board of education, with the assistance of the department of education and the Tennessee higher education commission, shall develop a report card or assessment on the effectiveness of teacher training programs. The state board of education shall annually evaluate performance of each institution of higher education providing an approved program of teacher training and other state board approved teacher training programs. The assessment shall focus on the performance of each institution's graduates and shall include, but not be limited to, the following areas:
    • (A) Placement and retention rates;
    • (B) Performance on PRAXIS examinations or other tests used to identify teacher preparedness; and
    • (C) Teacher effect data created pursuant to § 49-1-606.
  • (2) Each teacher training institution and each LEA shall report all data as requested by the state board of education that the board needs to make the evaluation. The report card or assessment shall be issued no later than February 15 of each year.

• (g) Each teacher training program shall provide instruction on effective strategies for virtual instruction to candidates seeking a license to teach or a license to serve as an instructional leader. The department of education shall review teacher training programs to ensure compliance with this subsection (g) during the course of the regularly scheduled review cycle established in the state board of education's rules.

Amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1005,s 3, eff. 7/1/2024.

Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 93, s 1, eff. 3/31/2023.

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 936, s 2, eff. 7/1/2022.

Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 692, s 1, eff. 3/28/2022.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 571, s 1, eff. 7/1/2022.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 125, s 1, eff. 7/1/2021.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 493, s 50, eff. 5/25/2021.

Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 125, s 2, eff. 4/13/2021.

Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 248, s 35, eff. 5/2/2019.

Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 744, s 4, eff. 1/1/2019.

Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 573, s 1, eff. 7/1/2018.

Amended by 2017 Tenn. Acts, ch. 27, s 1, eff. 7/1/2017.

Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 233, s 1, eff. 7/1/2015.

Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 746, s 2, eff. 7/1/2015.

Acts 1951, ch. 58, §§ 1, 2, 7 (Williams, §§ 2365.5, 2365.6, 2365.11); modified; Acts 1959, ch. 121, § 1; 1967, ch. 255, § 1; 1974, ch. 654, §§ 56-59; 1975, ch. 64, § 1; 1978, ch. 675, § 2; 1981, ch. 172, § 2; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 49-1235 -- 49-1237; Acts 1985, ch. 233, § 1; 1987, ch. 308, § 19; 1990, ch. 948, § 14; 1993, ch. 32, §§ 38-40; 1999, ch. 476, § 3; 2005, ch. 299, § 1; 2006, ch. 655, § 1; 2007 , ch. 376, § 9; 2012 , ch. 519, § 5.