Dive Brief:
- The St. Louis Public Schools is partnering with the St. Louis Teacher Residency, a nonprofit organization, to place new teachers in hard-to-staff schools and hopefully provide them the training and experience to stay there, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Participants in teacher residencies spend much more time in the classroom gaining firsthand experience compared to those in traditional teacher education programs. As a result, they are more prepared for the realities of teaching in urban schools.
- The residency wants at least half of the candidates it recruits to be teachers of color, and leaders are also targeting career switchers who already have college degrees but still need a teaching certificate. The participants commit to working in a school for three years, and they receive a stipend to participate and then start paying back the costs of the program when they have a full-time job, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
The piece cites a Learning Policy Institute study that found 80% to 95% of teacher residency graduates are still in their districts the third year after they complete a program, compared to 40% to 75% for those who entered teaching with a residency.
The report also highlighted some key elements of successful residency programs, such as being mentored by an expert teacher and placing candidates in “teaching schools” in which teachers and administrators “model good practices with diverse learners” so novice teachers learn how to incorporate those practices into their own teaching.
"Building Effective Teacher Residencies," an earlier report from Urban Teacher Residency United, noted that schools with a culture of collaboration in which teachers are expected to examine student data together are also good environments for residencies. Ideally, the author wrote, residents will learn from teachers across the school, not just their mentors.