Seattle Teacher Residency: Lessons Learned From Recruitment and Admissions

• In Event: Lessons Learned From Urban Teacher Residencies

Abstract

This poster session will focus on the launch of the Seattle Teacher Residency, a new urban teacher residency program in partnership between Seattle Public Schools, the University of Washington College of Education, the Seattle Education Association (teachers union), and the Alliance for Education (local education fund). Specifically, we will address the recruitment, selection, and admissions process for admitting our first cohort of residents and lessons learned.

Design of the program began in summer 2012 for a summer 2013 start and so recruitment primarily relied on word of mouth and local recruiting efforts through various members of the launch team and website information. Individuals from the four partners as well as community members were involved in program development in various ways and played an integral part in communicating details about the program to the community at large. In addition, our consulting partner, Urban Teacher Residency United (UTRU), shared program details with other network partners at a national level. Interested candidates completed a prospect form available on our website and were kept informed about the application process and details on selection. Once applications were selected, a comprehensive file review was completed and applicants were invited to Selection Day, a full day of interviews and performance tasks. Applicants were engaged in an intense day of activities that addressed all of the challenges and complexities of teaching in a Seattle high needs elementary school.

The day was comprised of a number of activities:
1. individual interview – 7 questions to gauge commitment to SPS and high needs elementary schools
2. teaching demonstration (10 min segment of a literacy lesson) in small group followed by group discussion amongst candidates reflecting on their teaching
3. video analysis – view 4 minute clip of math instruction and reflect on understanding of math concept, how it was taught, and how children were engaged
4. reading of The School to Prison Pipeline and reflection questions on the reasons for the issues and how to address it
5. analysis of student writing in 4th grade science with regards to scientific thinking and conventions of writing
6. write letter of introduction to parents

Activities spanned across several content areas and addressed important connections teachers need to make to address inequities for students. A total of 35 people from schools, district central office, and the university participated on the interview team. Review of completed interview files was conducted by a team of 10, and candidates were selected for admission.

Our session will focus on successes and challenges, as well as data collected through the process. While there were several successes, including the rigor of selection and diversity of our applicant pool, several next steps are planned for admittance of cohort 2, including more recruiting efforts to continue diversifying the pool of applicants. In addition, while Selection Day was well planned and organized, logistics were challenging and necessary revisions were clear. Rubrics for file review will be revised to better calibrate across activities and reviewers.

Authors

• Marisa Bier, University of Washington

• Elham Kazemi, University of Washington