Teacher Residency Program Research Articles

The “Who” of Teacher Residencies: Preservice Teachers’ Motivations for Selecting a Teacher Residency Program

ABSTRACT Across the nation, schools and districts are looking for effective and sustainable teacher recruitment and retention strategies. This study examines a teacher residency program throughout four high-needs districts of a year-long teacher residency program. Using three types of data, we collate residents’ responses and present individual case studies regarding their motivations for joining the residency program and the philosophy and attributes they bring with them into the profession. Findings illuminate the types of individuals who choose to enter the profession through this alternative pathway and their motivation for entering the career field.

She is “just an intern”: transnational Chinese language teachers’ emotion labor with mentors in a teacher residency program

Abstract This paper investigates the emotion labor experienced by transnational world language teachers (TWLTs), with a focus on Chinese language teacher candidates in a US dual immersion school residency program. Despite existing research on emotion labor in language teaching, the experiences of Chinese TWLTs have been underexplored. Through an analysis of mentorship and co-teaching, our findings reveal that much of the emotion labor among our participants stems from hierarchical mentorship structures influenced by Confucian ideologies. This hierarchical system constrains pedagogical autonomy, hindering TWLTs from fully embodying their transnational teacher identities. Consequently, the lack of power negotiation exacerbates the issue, leading to internalization of emotion labor and reduced teaching agency. We conclude by offering recommendations for future research on TWLTs’ emotions and advocating for a renewed emphasis on their mentoring experiences during teacher preparation programs.

Toward teacher residency program implementation: navigating the complexities

PurposeResearch in this field is becoming increasingly clear that a teacher residency program (TRP) has a strong potential for developing effective teachers in a teacher preparation context. There are specific features of a TRP that yield results in the development of teachers. However, there are often barriers to full implementation of a TRP that schools and university partnerships must consider and resolve. The purpose of this article is to disseminate the lessons we have learned and processes we have developed in navigating the barriers and complexities of shifting toward a TRP.Design/methodology/approachThe university faculty members with a dual role as Professional Development School (PDS) liaisons examine, reflect on, and present their multiyear process of moving from an undergraduate traditional teacher preparation model to a teacher residency model.FindingsIn response to the barriers of funding, defining roles and responsibilities, and changes in leadership, we developed an undergraduate residency blueprint to navigate these challenges productively. One of the goals of this document is to provide clarity for all stakeholders as well as be a transparent solution for leadership transitions. The blueprint serves as a guide for the details of residency program design.Originality/valueIn movement toward a TRP, there are often barriers to full implementation that schools and university partnerships must consider and resolve. This article provides a model for partnerships seeking to navigate teacher residency work.

The benefits of being a mentor teacher in a teacher residency program

PurposeThis instrumental case study (Stake, 1995) explores the benefits experienced by mentor teachers who mentored resident teachers in a year-long residency program.Design/methodology/approachThe study was grounded by the Benefits of Being a Mentor conceptual framework, as defined by Ragins and Scandura (1999). The participating mentor teachers engaged in semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The data were analyzed through inductive and deductive data analysis techniques.FindingsUsing inductive and deductive data analysis techniques, three themes emerged on the benefits of being a mentor teacher: (1) extra support in the classroom, (2) professional learning and growth opportunities, and (3) investing in the future of education. The teachers’ perceived benefits were related to the connectedness of their personal and professional growth, the growth of the resident teachers and their students’ learning.Originality/valueMentor teachers play a vital role in teacher residency programs, as they are the primary influence on their resident teachers’ pedagogical praxis. In a residency program, mentor teachers support resident teachers’ sustained teaching experience by hosting them for one full academic year in their classrooms; therefore, exploring the benefits they receive from serving in this role is essential.

Teacher Candidates’ Conceptions and Practices of Computational Thinking for Equity

This study documents novice science and math teachers’ developing pedagogical approaches to integrating computational thinking (CT) and data into their courses to support educational equity and social justice. The 10 novice teacher candidates (TCs) studied were part of an urban teacher residency program that empowered them with an asset-based pedagogy we describe as “CT for Equity.” Drawing on coursework and interviews as data, we asked three questions: What are teachers’ conceptions of CT? What are their CT instructional practices? And how did their students respond to those practices? To explore conceptions of CT, we used Kafai et al.’s (2020) articulation of three frames of CT – cognitive, situated, and critical approaches – and found that the TCs’ conceptions do not narrowly fit into one of the three frames, but rather they mix and match components of the perspectives to support a range of student outcomes, from transferable skills to preparing youth to explore social justice issues. We also identified a small but powerful set of core practices that the teachers used to support learning outcomes, including integrating data on locally and socially relevant issues. We present group-level trends and three classroom stories, or profiles of practice, to illustrate the generative ways TCs blended priorities from the three frames in instruction. The diversity in the TCs’ conceptions and practices deepens understandings of asset-based pedagogies in CT by shining light on the rich and varied ways that math and science teachers meet the needs of their minoritized students.

Compelling cases: The complexities of a paraprofessional becoming a teacher

Teachers are leaving the classroom at greater rates while traditional teacher pathways are not yielding enough teacher candidates. These factors create a need for teachers that is especially evident in rural communities. Paraprofessionals (e.g., teaching assistants, instructional aides, paraeducators) who provide classroom support are uniquely positioned to fill these vacancies. In this paper, we examine the experiences of paraprofessionals prior to applying to a teacher residency program. Based upon the experiences shared by the participants, intrapersonal characteristics needed to become a teacher were highlighted, and policy requirements identified, surfacing challenges paraprofessionals encounter impacting their desire to become a teacher.

Learning to co-teach: understanding the co- in a mentored co-teaching activity

PurposeCo-teaching is a foundational mentoring model used in teacher residency programs in urban classrooms throughout the United States of America. Beyond the basic understanding of co-teaching in categorizing classroom models, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to investigate the dialectical tensions manifested in mentored co-teaching activities through the lens of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT).Design/methodology/approachDesigned as a qualitative case study of 17 pairs of teaching-residents and mentor-teachers, the authors used thematic analysis to scrutinize archival interview data in an urban teacher residency program located in the largest megalopolis of the USA Northeast. The authors used CHAT-based concept coding to analyze the interview narratives from participants across different secondary school placements as they reflected on their co-teaching philosophy and the relationships they built.FindingsThe authors found that for teaching-residents and mentor-teachers to co-develop as co-teachers, they jointly must learn to resolve the dialectical tensions of unbalanced classroom ownership vs added co-working responsibilities, breaking from routine so that a partnership can grow. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the prefix co- should be understood as (1) shifts in thinking that transcend the status quo and (2) the orchestration of human capital to change norms.Originality/valueThis new understanding of the prefix co- allows teacher education programs to better mediate the dialectical tensions experienced by co-teachers in a mentored co-teaching activity, from individual teacher learning (e.g. a pair/dyad comprising one teaching-resident and one mentor-teacher) to collective co-learning across activity systems (e.g. partnership-based teacher education).

Exploring a Teacher Residency as a Recruitment and Retention Strategy for High-Need Districts

Effective recruitment and retention strategies of teachers remain elusive for school districts. This study examines the pilot implementation of a year-long teacher residency program throughout four high-needs districts. This program embeds eight residents in these schools and provides various teacher preparation supports to support these beginning professionals to sustain within the classroom. We interview district administrators about their recruitment and retention efforts, and then document how the teacher residents experienced these structures throughout their residency year. Findings have implications for improving this innovative and increasingly implemented teacher pipeline structure towards raising the quality and diversifying the workforce.

From I Don’t Know to Let me Show You: A Pre-Service Teacher’s Toolkit

Abstract 
 The underpinning of our yearlong teacher residency program is an extensive support network (AVID®, Sanford, Salary/Benefits) that ensures pre-service teachers complete residencies poised to begin their first year of teaching with the experience, and confidence, of second year teachers. Helping to meet the demand for high-quality PreK – 12th grade educators career pathways include traditional four-year and accelerated three-year students. We further embed a yearlong mentoring plan that supports teacher residents at the classroom, district, and university levels. In fall 2023, we will add a rural residency program providing 100% online coursework for students up to 300 miles from campus.

Lessons From an Urban Teacher Residency Partnership

Facing teacher shortages, urban teacher frustration, and a lack of BIPOC representation in the teacher workforce, two urban institutions, a school district, and a university partnered to design, develop and implement a year-long clinical teacher residency program. Throughout the pilot and one subsequent year, data was collected through observation and open-ended questionnaires as three resident-mentor pairs engaged with students in two of the district’s elementary schools. The Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) development model (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and Moir’s (1990) Phases of First-Year Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Teaching were used to inform program design and examine the success of program implementation. While the program did not meet the goal of increasing BIPOC representation, teachers skilled in urban education successfully entered the workforce. Valuable lessons were learned about designing residency programs that foster a sense of belonging and optimize mentor and resident development. The authors conclude clinical teacher residency shows promise as an avenue for providing novice and experienced teachers responsive support as they engage with the complex process of teacher development.

Teacher residency: Growing and diversifying the profession

Violet Jiménez Sims, Kerry Lord, Marlene Megos, and Ushawnda Mitchell describe a new approach to addressing the gap between the racial diversity of teachers and students in U.S. public schools. The Connecticut Teacher Residency program (CT-TRP) is a grow-your-own approach to teacher training, certification, and retention that combines an academic program with a residency model while centering cultural competency. The program breaks down common barriers to the teaching profession by covering the cost of tuition, paying a living wage to candidates during their one-year residency, and helping them prepare for certification exams.

Universal Design for Learning in a Teacher Residency: Re]Framing Tensions through Collaborative Self-Study

ABSTRACT Over the past two decades, interest and support for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has prompted many teacher education programs in the United States to incorporate it into preservice curricula. Developed by CAST, an educational nonprofit, the UDL framework aims to support the design of inclusive educational environments by minimizing barriers to learning, and building on student variability as a starting point for instructional and curricular design. Despite UDL’s recent growth at multiple levels of education, there remains a dearth of research examining practitioners’ experiences working with the framework. The purpose of this self-study is to analyze tensions that emerged as we, a team of five teacher educators, attempted to apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in our own practice in a rural teacher residency (TRRE) program. We analyze our incorporation of UDL, the tensions we experienced, the factors contributing to those tensions, and the ways we responded to them. The two main tensions were: (a) balancing UDL’s strategies with its necessary shift in mindset, and (b) grappling with UDL’s concept of barriers alongside the necessary cognitive dissonance of the learning process. We conclude by offering implications for research and practice as we continue to navigate these tensions and incorporate UDL into our practice.

Coaching in teacher residency programs: a strategy for professional learning and development for in-service teachers

PurposeTeacher residency programs (TRPs) offer an alternative to traditional models of teacher preparation with the aim of developing teachers to work and stay in hard-to-staff schools. Research on these extended field placement programs is limited and typically examines program outcomes or the experiences and development of the pre-service teachers, or residents. This study focuses on a relatively unexamined area of TRPs to explore how providing mentoring and coaching supports the professional development of the in-service TRP coaches.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a qualitative case study design. Fourteen coaches in an urban teacher residency program were interviewed over a three-year period. Using a semi-structured protocol, participants’ experiences and the influence of program participation were explored.FindingsFindings revealed that coaches experienced professional growth in their instructional practices and deepened or renewed their commitment to teaching. Program components such as evidence-based observational tools and protocols encouraged reflective practice and (re)evaluation of teaching that contributed to beliefs about improved practice.Practical implicationsIn-service teachers experience development in their pedagogical practices and may feel a renewed sense of professional engagement through serving as a coach for a pre-service teacher. Additionally, hard-to-staff schools that partner with TRPs to recruit and develop new teachers may find an added benefit in retaining a greater number of veteran teachers who participate as coaches in residency pre-service education programs.Originality/valueMuch of the teacher residency literature explores the outcomes and experiences of pre-service teacher residents and has little focus on how these programs may benefit TRP coaches. Coaches have an essential role in the implementation and influence of residency programs on pre-service teachers, yet little is understood about how the act of coaching impacts the in-service teacher coach. This article suggests that coaches experience meaningful professional benefits of participation in TRPs and has implications for effective residency program design.

Using Improvement Science to Implement and Evaluate a Teacher Residency Program in Rural School Districts

As teacher preparation paths change and rural areas have opportunities to engage qualified community members in the teaching profession, a flagship university co-developed a teacher residency program with two school districts located in rural communities. Through this partnership, the Networked Improvement Community focused on root causes of recruitment and retention challenges in the rural school districts. Using an improvement science approach, a 14-month residency model was developed to recruit qualified community members to transition to the teaching profession, with a focus on mirroring the diversity of the local community. This study focuses on the development of the residency model and the recruitment of teacher residents for the initial cohort of this alternative teacher preparation program.

Growing Critical Bilingual Literacies in a Bilingual Teacher Residency Program

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study seeks to understand teacher residents’ journeys as they develop culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies and grow a translanguaging stance in a bilingual teacher residency program in California, U.S. This study is situated within university coursework that prepares teacher residents to support their future students’ dynamic language use through a teaching practice anchored in translanguaging theory and pedagogy. I examine how teacher residents negotiate the creation of translanguaging spaces in their clinical placements in a dual language bilingual classroom to support and nourish children’s bilingual identities and language practices. I also analyze the challenges and opportunities that teacher residents experience in their dual language bilingual education student-teaching placements as they engage in the theories and pedagogies in their university coursework and grow their critical bilingual literacies.

Examining Project-Based Learning Successes and Challenges of Mathematics Preservice Teachers in a Teacher Residency Program: Learning by Doing

This phenomenological study describes how secondary mathematics preservice teachers (PSTs) in a teacher residency program designed and implemented project-based learning (PBL) units. The Six A’s, a framework used to evaluate the rigor and relevance of PBL units, helped capture the research question: What are the successes and challenges PSTs experience as they implement PBL units for the first time? This qualitative study illustrates how PSTs engaged students in relevant learning, wrestled with sustaining the rigor, and included the community to be partners in the projects. Findings indicate that high-quality implementation of PBL instruction requires involving the community, facilitating mathematical learning, and transforming the learning environment. PSTs recognized that a PBL approach requires a shift from traditional teaching practices and reconceptualizing both what it means for teachers to teach mathematics and for students to learn mathematics. This study contributes to the scarce body of knowledge on how teacher residency programs can utilize PBL as an instructional model to prepare PSTs for PBL environments.

Extending DisCrit: a case of universal design for learning and equity in a rural teacher residency

ABSTRACT The Rural Teacher Residency (RTR) program prepares teachers to work in ‘high need’ rural schools in the northeastern United States, and specifically works to establish a counter-narrative to the commonly-held deficit lens applied to these schools and communities. Framed by theory and research on DisCrit and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), we share our experiences as rural teacher educators using UDL to help preservice teachers disrupt assumptions about rurality, socioeconomics, race, ability, gender identity, and privilege. We explain how our gradual incorporation of the tenets of DisCrit improved our ability to support pre-service teachers’ examination of structural inequities in school practices, including but not limited to norms of race, ability, and rurality. We conclude by offering our ongoing planning in RTR as a model for how teacher educators interested in working with DisCrit can expand its use as a transformative and liberatory framework that includes, but also extends beyond race and ability.

What Makes Teacher Preparation Legitimate? An Analysis of Teacher Residency Websites

ABSTRACT As teacher residency programs are housed in universities, charter networks, nonprofit organizations, school districts, and museums, they form a model ripe for analysis. In this study, we conduct a content analysis of a random sample of 20 teacher residency program websites, focusing on each program’s stated purpose, structures, and attributes. Drawing on institutional theory, we analyze the claims of legitimacy made by residency programs. Findings suggest that the 20 residency programs sampled for the study exhibit structural similarities to each other, yet they make different types of legitimacy claims. Key features of residency programs include explicit district and school partners, concurrent graduate coursework, and yearlong clinical experience. However, claims to legitimacy tend to be based on a variety of reasonings and potential values, including legitimacy by innovation, legitimacy by association, and legitimacy by data. We identify organizations and institutions that may influence the residency model, and we offer implications for the teacher residency model and the field of teacher preparation.

Analyzing Barriers, Innovating Pedagogy: Applying Universal Design for Learning in a Teacher Residency

Over the last two decades, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has emerged as a pedagogical framework for inclusive teaching and learning. UDL builds on learner variability as a starting point for instructional and curricular design, and aims to minimize barriers in the learning environment. In addition to its widespread use in K12 settings and its endorsement in federal education policy, UDL has also gained momentum in teacher education research and practice. Although a number of scholars have explored the use of UDL in preservice teacher education curricula, there are limited descriptions of how teacher educators apply concepts of UDL in their own pedagogy and practice. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of applying UDL as a pedagogical innovation in a teacher residency (preparation) program. We share examples of how turning the lens on our own practice as teacher educators has allowed us to redesign multiple aspects of our curriculum, instructional practice, and program at large. We conclude by highlighting the iterative nature of UDL application, and by making recommendations for future research and inquiry on UDL in teacher education.

Theory-Practice Divides and the Persistent Challenges of Embedding Tools for Social Justice in a STEM Urban Teacher Residency Program

This study examined how the concept of social justice was operationalized in the university coursework of students enrolled in an urban teacher residency program that aims to diversify the teaching corps and prepare secondary STEM teachers for urban classroom environments. Based on analysis of 39 syllabi and interviews with nine faculty members, we found that challenges in embedding social justice theory with STEM content knowledge were attributable to the lack of a shared definition among program faculty, and external pressures imposed by state teacher credentialing requirements. We conclude with recommendations for practice by suggesting ways that rigorous STEM content knowledge can be combined with locally and historically contextualized social critique and tools for change in order to support teachers in enacting justice-oriented practice in communities.