The Role of Teacher Residencies in Teacher Workforce Systems

• In Event: Reconfiguring University-District Roles in Teacher Preparation: Residency Partnerships and Equitable Workforce Pathways

Abstract

Introduction:

In this presentation, we highlight how residency programs operate within state teacher workforce systems, yet outside the boundaries of prevalent factory-model conceptions of schooling. We theorize that, rather than creating an “either/or” (Dewey, 1938) relationship with existing educator preparation programs (EPPs), residencies are creating a “third space” (Zeichner, 2010) that transcends divides between theory and practice and between EPPs and K12 schools.

Methods:

This presentation draws on existing literature on teacher residencies and findings from two recent multi-case studies. In the multi-case studies, we examined the operations of effective teacher residencies in two states to understand the program features that contribute to their success:
• In California, we documented the details of program infrastructure; recruitment strategies; resident, mentor teacher, and graduate supports; partnership; leadership; and financial sustainability.
• In Texas, we highlighted included common goals across partnerships, practice-based models, scaffolded clinical experiences, shared governance structures and data-driven improvement processes, and expansive faculty roles.

Data collection for case studies included interviews with program administrators, faculty, teacher candidates, program alumni, mentor/cooperating teachers, principals, and district administrators, as well as EPP, local education agency (LEA), and state-level document analysis.

Defining Residencies:

Teacher residencies are a clinically intensive teacher preparation model being adopted to address educator workforce challenges. A growing research base suggests this model can deliver positive outcomes, including greater teacher effectiveness and retention (Saunders et al., forthcoming) and increased racial and ethnic diversity among residency graduates versus teachers from other pathways (National Center for Teacher Residencies, 2023; U.S. Department of Education, 2023). While residency program features vary, common features include strong EPP-LEA partnerships, practice-based programming, a full year of preservice clinical training under a mentor teacher. Variations on the model include paid and unpaid placements, undergraduate and graduate programs, and differing emphases on candidate recruitment and clinical practice placements. Other variations include service commitments after graduation and additional responsibilities during preparation (Saunders et al., forthcoming; Guha et al., 2016).

Residencies: Disrupting Teacher Workforce Systems:

We focus on the roles residency models play in constructing and disrupting teacher workforce systems. Factory model assumptions are present throughout education systems at multiple levels, from research and teacher preparation, to the organization of districts and schools, to the pedagogical practices in classrooms (Saunders et al., forthcoming; Darling-Hammond et al., 2023; Greeno, 1998; Putnam & Borko, 2000; Tyack & Cuban, 1995). In the interaction between educator preparation and educator practice, these assumptions create systems that are divided, dualistic, directional, and decontextualized: Theory and practice are separately delineated and set against one another; knowledge flows from higher education downward; and pedagogical skills and knowledge can be learned anywhere and applied anywhere.

This presentation explores how residencies deviate from the traditional, factory model approach to teacher preparation by de-siloing the work of EPPs and LEAs. Specifically, we describe how shared responsibility in program governance, funding, and staffing reduce divides and oppositional definitions; how flows of knowledge, information, and authority are bidirectional rather than unidirectional in residency partnerships; and how residencies train teachers in and for particular schools, contexts, and communities.

Authors

• Steven Wojcikiewicz, Learning Policy Institute

• Victoria Wang, Learning Policy Institute

• Julie Fitz, Learning Policy Institute

• Wesley Wei, Learning Policy Institute

• Cathy Yun, Learning Policy Institute

• Kimberlee Ralph, Learning Policy Institute

• Jennifer A. Bland, Learning Policy Institute