Transforming Clinical Faculty Roles to Mentor, Coach, and Support Teacher Residents

• In Event: Transforming Latinx Teacher Preparation: Key Design Elements of a Fully Scaled HSI Teacher Residency Program

Abstract

With the rise of residency programs in teacher preparation to address the ever-growing pressure to produce high-quality teachers that impact student learning (Putman & Drew, 2021), numerous studies have focused on individual components of the residency model. One key component is the role of mentorship. Mentorship during the clinical experience is widely recognized as instrumental to teacher candidate development (Garza et al., 2014; Goodwin et al., 2016; Kolman et al., 2016). While much is known about mentorship by school-based teacher educators, less is known about the role of university-based teacher educators during the clinical experience. This paper will highlight the role of clinical faculty Site Coordinators in a fully-scaled residency program at a large, public HSI. In particular, we will examine the site coordinator role as an early career mentor (Guha et al., 2017) along with the support mechanisms provided by the site coordinator. The site coordinator conducts all performance assessments, and walkthroughs using a state aligned rubric, provides ongoing feedback and coaching to teacher residents, participates in both the selection and training of mentor teachers, facilitates quarterly governance meetings with partner school districts and teaches courses in the college of education. We will discuss how each of these roles play an important part in teacher preparation. The site coordinator role and the mechanisms of support is a practice that leverages data to inform continuous improvement efforts in order to support teacher residents in the most holistic way possible.

In this emerging literature on residencies and their support mechanisms, few studies have focused on the clinical faculty/site coordinator’s role in year-long residencies and the impact that they have on teacher preparation. This paper will address the question: What is the impact of the site coordinator role and support mechanisms on pre-service and in-service teachers at an HSI on the US-Mexico border?

The design of this residency model involved the successful practices that include those laid out by Beers (2018) on important mechanisms of a successful residency program.

Data sources for this mixed methods study include teacher candidate exit surveys from 2022-2024, interviews with first year teachers prepared by the residency, and survey of beginning teachers. The items specific to the site coordinator role found in exit surveys and interviews include the amount of support provided by site coordinators during residency year.

Data collected found that support from the site coordinator plays a crucial role in residents’ year-long experience. 87% of residents expressed the importance of effective feedback from site coordinators, as well as 69% attributed their successes as a beginning teacher to the support from their site coordinator. New teachers also identified their site coordinators as one of the reasons they were able to deal with the stress from their first year. These findings contribute to the strengthening of the preparation of pre-service teachers during residency and the importance of mentorship through the site coordinator. Site coordinators use these findings underscore for continuous improvement to develop teaching and learning experiences during residency and first year of teaching.

Authors

• Jessica Pussman, University of Texas - El Paso

• Marco Delgado, University of Texas - El Paso