Elements and Examples of High-Quality Teacher Residencies

• In Event: Disrupting Systemic Inequities: Why Teacher Residency Stipends Matter (and Are More Feasible Than You Think)

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective
Recruitment and retention challenges are once again leading to teacher shortages across the nation. As a consequence, in schools serving the most vulnerable populations, students face a revolving door of teachers over the course of their school careers. Many of these teachers are underprepared for the fields they teach (authors, 2017).

Turnover is exacerbated in districts that meet shortages by hiring teachers who have not completed adequate preparation: the odds of a beginning teacher leaving the classroom are three times as high for those who have little coursework or student teaching as it is for those who have had a complete preparation. Similarly, teachers who are left to sink or swim on their own leave teaching at much higher rates than those who receive supportive mentoring in their first few years on the job.

Improving the quality of preparation and early career mentoring is one strategy to support the retention of effective teachers and stop the leaky bucket phenomenon of teacher turnover (authors, 2017). The teacher residency model holds much promise to address the issues of recruitment and retention in high needs districts and in shortage subject areas, as well as creating systemic change and a building of the teaching profession, especially in the most challenging districts.

As teacher residencies have gained more interest and funding in recent years, we see a growing number of teacher preparation programs adopting “residency” models. However, many programs that identify themselves as residencies, in fact, do not have all the elements of residencies that make the residency model successful. This undermines the quality and goals of the teacher residency model. It is vital that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers understand what those elements are and how they contribute to the successful preparation of teacher residents for a strong, sustainable teacher workforce.

Methods and Data
This paper presents the landscape of the growing body of literature on teacher residencies. Journal articles, research studies, reports, artifacts and commentaries were analyzed to uncover what has been learned about teacher residencies since the first modern program began operating in 2001. Initial research is promising as to the impact residencies can have on increasing the diversity of the teaching force, improving retention of new teachers, and promoting gains in student learning, if they are designed with core elements.

Findings
These core defining elements include: the careful recruitment and selection of residents and mentor teachers within a context of a strong partnership between a district and university, a tightly integrated curriculum based in a year-long clinical placement in classrooms and schools that model strong practice, adequate financial assistance for candidates, and mentoring supports as candidates take on classrooms and move into their second and third years of teaching.

Significance
This paper brings together what is known about teacher residencies—their design, implementation, impact, along with specific examples of successful residencies. It is an important contribution to scholarship on teacher preparation and helps to inform both practice and policy.

Author

• Maria E. Hyler, Learning Policy Institute