Building Political Will Through Intentional, Inclusive Discussion Processes

• In Event: Within Reach: A State Transformation Toward Universal, Paid, Sustainable Teacher Residencies in New Mexico

Abstract

Objectives: This session will shed light on the processes and discussions that occurred in the state that led to strong bipartisan support for funding teacher residencies as a major investment for the state’s commitment to educational improvements that would promote equity for historically underserved students, including Indigenous, Hispanic/Latinx, low income, and special education students. The context for the initial overhaul of the teacher residency bill, House Bill 13, will surface the wide-ranging discussions across key players, different sets of evidence, and cost modeling for sustainability that helped provide the initial one-year funding commitment. Next, activities over the course of the next year and a half, including legislative breakfasts, video campaigns, and including legislators in updates about residencies and federal funding proposals helped solidify the funding.
Framework: Kingdon’s (2010) analysis of policymaking and the importance of both windows of opportunity and existing proposals that align with those opportunities is part of the theoretical foundation of the early shifts in New Mexico, as there was a budget surplus, and some groups had been building a vision for legislative funding for residencies for a few years. That alone, however, was not enough to result in funding; there was a concerted effort to also reframe the policy problem itself so that the vision for funding might be received more positively than prior discussions had been able to achieve.
Modes of inquiry/Evidence: This portion of the symposium relies on a case study approach informed by key player narratives and historic document analysis. Evidence includes formal interviews, notes from policy planning meetings, and reflective insights from policy leaders.
Warrants: Three lessons have emerged as important to New Mexico’s successful development of political will to fund residencies: 1) Create strong feedback loops for positive narratives about teacher residency implementation; 2) Build shared messages across the field’s preparation programs, including a commitment to rigorous evaluation of impacts; and 3) Center residents’ voices so that the lived realities and concrete impact of the state’s investment are visible.
Significance: The only part of the teacher preparation ecosystem that does not have any existing stable funding streams is funding for teacher candidates during clinical practice. For that reason, new investments in residency funding will be necessary if states want to adopt this promising practice more broadly. Given the range of competing policy interests that states face, ensuring residency funding will require intentional commitments to build and stabilize widespread political for these investments.

Author

• Michael Weinberg, Thornburg Foundation