The Future of Education: Innovations in Teacher Residencies

The Future of Education: Innovations in Teacher Residencies In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need for innovative approaches to teacher preparation. Teacher vacancies plague many communities across the nation and traditional educator preparation programs cannot recruit the diverse candidates needed to meet the demand and mirror the our student population. For those that do enroll and complete traditional programs, many do not make it past their second year of teaching. With practicums ranging from 100 hours to a full year, the hands on experience varies and is most often unpaid. Beginning teachers often feel woefully unprepared for the challenges they face in the classroom and face an uphill battle with the increasing demands put on classroom teachers. These factors have led to the emergence of teacher residencies as a promising solution for attracting and recruiting a robust pool of teacher candidates. Teacher residencies are immersive, teacher training programs that provide aspiring educators with hands-on experience in real classrooms under the direction of an experienced teacher called a mentor. Residency programs typically involve a partnership between a university or education provider and a school district, where residents can develop their skills and competencies as they work towards becoming certified. Residencies are typically a full year and provide a pathway towards a full-time certified position in the school district.

Teacher residency programs have been shown to attract a population of future teachers more representative of the school community. They often work to reduce the barriers to teacher certification by providing a living wage or stipend for the residency experience, offer discounted tuition and provide additional support for residents. Supports may include additional resources for studying for certification exams, housing stipends, childcare, affinity groups or emergency funds for candidates.

A key benefit of teacher residencies is the opportunity for residents to apply theory to practice in a supportive and collaborative environment. In the residency, mentors can reflect on their decision making and planning and model high leverage strategies. Residents can practice their new learning from both the mentor and their courses and receive feedback to support short cycles of improvement. Feedback conversations happen often and just in time so that residents can know what is working well and what practices need improvement. By working closely with experienced educators, residents gain valuable insights and practical strategies that can be immediately applied in their classroom.

Residency curriculum tends to be more responsive and progressive than in traditional programs and often reflects current research and best practices, the latest standards and alignment with district curriculum. Many residencies have an emphasis on current curricular trends and research based practices that provide aspiring educators the most relevant strategies to meet the needs of their students. All of these factors are specific to ensuring that the teaching workforce becomes more reflective of the student population. This commitment to building a steady and robust pool of educators is critical to shifting the experience of our children in public schools across the nation. Furthermore, teacher residencies offer opportunities to embrace a collaborative data-driven decision making model that brings together education providers with the school district and other stakeholders to monitor candidates progress towards become a certified educator. Both entities can collect, share and analyze the data on student performance, so that they can support the residents' growth, identify areas of improvement and tailor their instruction accordingly. Collecting and analyzing student and program data is a regular and required exercise for teacher residency programs for accreditation, state reporting and grant reporting. Having a culture and system to collect and report in real time eases the burden of all involved and contributes to providing just in time celebration and support to teacher candidates. As the saying goes, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. To meet the demand of our public schools, we must consider innovative approaches to train future educators in addition to the typical four-year educator prep programs. It is important to attract a robust and qualified pool of educators, and to do so, we must create accessible and attractive pathways that assist candidates in navigating the complex systems of teacher credentialing.

The future of education lies in innovative approaches such as teacher residencies that will attract a broader pool of teacher candidates. Once these educators enter the classroom, a whole different set of challenges abound, but that is a topic for another time.