Affordable Access: An Imperative for the Field

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

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective
The U.S. stands alone among developed nations in allowing individuals with as little as a week of training to teach; traditional student teaching also represents less preparation than most countries require. Strong educational systems have financially-supported year-long teacher preparation “residencies” where theory and practice are both essential and mutually reinforcing.

Increasingly, preparation programs are providing residencies. When residents get financial support, programs strengthen the diversity of the teaching force, increase retention, address hiring needs in hard-to-staff areas, and improve students’ outcomes. But only a tiny portion of teacher candidates are fortunate enough to be paid residents. Most undergraduate residencies require full-year placements without pay; most graduate programs cannot recruit candidates who can work for free as residents. Since few programs have funding for candidates, graduate-level residencies are relatively rare because of the costs to candidates. To grow high-quality residency programs, the nation will need to understand and address candidates’ financial burdens. This paper reports on a national survey that sheds light on this issue.

Methods and Data
Fourteen teacher preparation programs across the nation, representing large and small, public and private, and urban, rural and suburban institutions, participated in a national survey of teacher candidates’ financial burdens. Response rates for most institutions were in the 40%-50% range, with a total of 1,100 respondents. The survey, which included items from other validated surveys and identified specific features of individual respondents’ programs, asked about financial anxiety, living expenses, income sources, and debt.

Findings
The financial situation of aspiring teachers is bleak, as early analyses show. Almost 80% indicate that they experience financial anxiety frequently during their programs. Of those who work, a quarter have full-time jobs on top of fieldwork and coursework. And more than ¾ report that they would not be able to deal with an unexpected expense above $250. The financial burdens that candidates face create both a moral obligation and an opportunity to restructure pre-service teacher preparation, using resource reallocation, re-investment, and cost reduction, the “three R’s” of affordable preparation, so that candidates can access quality preparation opportunities.

Significance
Historically in the U.S., costs for teacher preparation have fallen on candidates. Without financial incentives for strong preparation programs, fast-track programs attract candidates because they offer full salaries and benefits, often including paid masters’ degrees and preferential treatment in tenure timetables. With traditional unpaid clinical practice, candidates often have to take out loans or take on night and weekend work. Outside jobs mean they can’t fully engage their learning opportunities, diminishing the impact of clinical placements. Lengthening clinical requirements without financial supports can mean fewer and less diverse candidates in a program. Large, uncertain fundraising needs prohibit providers from committing to universal stipends. Without expressly addressing these economic considerations, the nation will not be able to dramatically improve pre-service preparation. By reframing the teacher quality issue as one of candidates’ financial burdens allows a different set of policy options to become relevant, options that can strengthen teacher preparation for a civil democracy.

Author

• Karen DeMoss, Bank Street College of Education