Addressing District Needs Through the San Francisco Teacher Residency Program

• In Event: 14.031 - What Do We Know About the Promise of Teacher Residencies for Quality Educator Preparation?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share the design, implementation and outcomes data from one urban teacher residency program.

In 2010, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) partnered with the University of San Francisco (USF), Stanford University, and United Educators of San Francisco to create the San Francisco Teacher Residency (SFTR). Residents complete a year-long apprenticeship teaching alongside an expert teacher in a high-needs school, while taking courses at night that are tightly integrated with their clinical placement. Residents come together once a week for additional coursework taught by SFTR and San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) leaders on topics particularly relevant to district teachers, including implementing restorative justice practices, developing trauma-informed classrooms, and understanding the SFUSD common core curriculum.

As part of the SFTR program, residents also participate in “clinical instructional rounds,” modeled on medical “rounds,” in which they visit classrooms in other schools to observe expert instructional practices, and then debrief with their supervisors. Upon successful completion of the program, residents are guaranteed a job teaching and receive two years of additional intensive induction support from SFTR.

Findings of early analysis of the effectiveness of SFTR are promising. Graduates of SFTR were compared to non-graduates of similar experience working in SFUSD. SFTR graduates show remarkably high retention rates. After five years, 80 percent of SFTR graduates are still teaching in SFUSD, compared with 38 percent of other beginning teachers hired by SFUSD and 20 percent of Teach for America corps members placed in SFUSD. Of all SFTR graduates over the past five years (including first-, second-, third-, and fourth-year teachers), 97 percent are still teaching, with 89 percent still teaching in SFUSD. SFTR grads are helping to diversify the SFUSD teacher workforce. 66 percent of SFTR grads are teachers of color, compared with 49 percent of SFUSD teachers as a whole. SFUSD principals say SFTR graduates are more effective than other new teachers. One hundred percent of surveyed principals agree that SFTR graduates are more effective than other new teachers from both university-based and alternative route programs. Students taught by SFTR graduates have high levels of confidence in their teachers’ competence. On the YouthTruth Student Survey administered to more than 1,700 middle and high school students taught by SFTR graduates, students were especially confident in their teachers’ ability to engage, develop personal relationships, and employ academic rigor, high expectations, and strong instructional methods with them. High school students also rated their teachers as having strong expertise in creating a positive classroom culture.

This paper is significant in that it provides an overview of the values, design and implementation of one urban teacher residency program. As the residency model gains popularity, it is important to scrutinize those in operation to inform the field of key design features and implementation opportunities and obstacles. Additionally, the analysis of comparative outcome data between program graduates and other new teachers in the same context provides evidence to policy makers and funders on the validity and success of the program.

Author

• Peter W. Williamson, Stanford University