Affordances and Complexities of Third/Hybrid Spaces in Teacher Residency Programs

• In Event: Answerability, Urgency, and Joy: Revitalizing and Reinvigorating Teacher Education Through Residency

Abstract

Objectives: Understanding residency programs as partnerships operating in third or hybrid spaces, this research explores perspectives on the impact of a university-based, district-focused teacher residency program and a week-long summer institute designed to bring together stakeholders from the university, P-12 district, and community. Questions guiding this research include: 1) How do various stakeholders perceive the challenges, affordances, and impact of a university-district teacher residency program? 2) How does the summer institute influence participants’ perspectives with respect to partnership and collaboration?; and 3) How do various stakeholders perceive the impact of the summer institute on the overall university-district partnership?

Conceptual Framework: This paper explores a university-district residency program and the complexities of partnership when working in hybrid or third spaces. Informed by the principles of collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves & O’Connor, 2018), the residency program design and its signature week-long summer institute aim to bring together and array of stakeholders--residents, mentor teachers, school & district leaders, community partners, and university faculty-to create a shared language, program, and narrative that more fully develops throughout the residency year. The third (Beck, 2018; Klein, Taylor, Onore, Strom, & Abrams, 2013; Norton-Meier & Drake, 2010) or hybrid (Zeichner, 2010) institute space pushes against siloed approaches and toward more integrated, cohesive teacher preparation that intentionally attends to the local context.

Methods & Data:
Data for this paper is drawn from a larger longitudinal case study of one teacher residency program in the northeastern US. The paper includes analysis of four years of program effectiveness survey data from residents (n=70), mentor teachers, university faculty and school leaders as well as focus group data from residents and mentor teachers. Document analysis was conducted on four years of collaborative meeting agendas and notes from partnership meetings. Data was analyzed using a grounded approach (Charmaz, 2009) and a recursive open coding structure (Saldaña, 2016)

Results:
Findings suggest that residents and mentor teachers find tremendous value in the opportunity to build relationships and begin collaboration with one another prior to the beginning of each school year. Data over the four years of implementation suggests that utility and alignment with needs and district priorities, with respect to both the summer institute and university coursework, has improved over time. The challenges of collaboration include initial partnership work that did not include key district personnel and aligned responses to critical incidents occurring in either university or school spaces.

Significance: As more universities and districts partner in designing and sustaining teacher residency pathways, this research seeks to illuminate elements that enable productive collaborations between institutions to improve teacher readiness and quality. The Teacher Residency Summer Institute as a third or hybrid space that is a manifestation of the university-district partnership, is a promising practice for teacher preparation. It provides sustained time for mentor-resident pairs, as well as school leaders and university faculty to coalesce around program mission, vision, goals, and practices is essential to fostering the relationships that will allow for deep collaboration and instructional innovation.

Authors

• Amanda Winkelsas, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Elizabeth Campion, Buffalo Public Schools