Teacher Residency Research Articles

Dedicated to disruption: A thank you note to abolitionist-oriented teacher residency faculty and staff

Dedicated to disruption: A thank you note to abolitionist-oriented teacher residency faculty and staff

‘It’s like Central Park’: conceptualising teacher residencies as a democratic hub

ABSTRACT In this conceptual paper, we offer a framework to examine how residency programmes can critically reflect upon their existence and presence as a democratic hub. As a model of teacher preparation that blends theory and university coursework with practice, residency programmes are designed to prepare and diversify the teacher workforce for a context-specific setting that calls upon universities to partner closely with local districts. We see the need for a reflective conceptualisation of residencies to offer a tool for considering how and why residencies are created. In conceptualising teacher residency programmes as democratic hubs rather than institutional programmes, we draw on the metaphor of Central Park in New York City to discuss the permeability of boundaries and accessibility to all. We centre our framework on three pillars: a) decentralising knowledge; b) historicising knowledge; and c) co-creating knowledge. This study has implications for addressing a central and longstanding problem in teacher education: the disconnect between academic coursework and fieldwork or the lack of collaboration between schools and universities often referred to as the theory-practice divide. We offer this tool to conceptualise teachers’ residencies so that teacher education can be designed to matter in practice, not only in institutions but for the public good.

STEM Cooperating Teachers’ Professional Growth: The Positive Impacts of a Year-Long Clinical Residency Collaboration

Teacher residency programs integrate coursework with clinical practice in a year-long residency in which pre-service teachers work under the guidance of a cooperating teacher who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentoring. The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons for serving as a cooperating teacher and investigate how clinical residency pre-service teachers promote growth in the professional practice of cooperating teachers as teachers and teacher leaders. In this longitudinal qualitative study, we gathered data through semi-structured interviews and responses to survey questions over a five-year period. Ten STEM cooperating teachers (six female and four male) with 7 to 18 years of full-time teaching experience in biology, chemistry, or mathematics participated. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview transcripts and survey responses. The primary motivation for serving as a cooperating teacher was the desire to share experiences and support new teachers. Cooperating teachers described the following benefits: increased self-reflection and continuing reflective practice; meaningful collaboration with pre-service teachers; learned new teaching strategies to enrich their own teaching practice; improved communication skills; and the impetus to become teacher leaders. These findings support that clinical residency teaching programs are beneficial for STEM cooperating teachers and promote their professional growth.

A Connective Tissue: University Supervisors/Coaches within a Teacher Residency

ABSTRACT This critical ethnographic project explores the role of university supervisors and coaches (USCs) working with pre-service educators within a teacher residency in a Southeastern U.S. city. The project explores the research questions: how do university supervisors and coaches within a teacher residency support pre-service teachers in navigating the university, district/placement school, and classroom? Similarly, how did a USC sense-making space help USCs in thinking through how to support their pre-service educators? Critical ethnographic methods including participant observations, interviews, and document analysis were utilized. The USC sense-making space operated as a third-space where the USCs worked together in ways that went beyond the either-or (university or school knowledge) to draw direct connections between theory and practice, and the different institutions. The pre-service educators noted how the professional development sessions, one-on-one coaching, personal and professional de-briefs, and more general support aided in navigating the first year of residency programming. Similarly, monthly professional development sessions supported pre-service educators in connecting theory to practice. However, working within/across institutions came with complexities as there were issues with navigating power relations across the various relationships. The USCs operated as a connective tissue for pre-service educators maneuvering the multiple intersecting institutions.

Changes in observed and self-reported emotion-focused teaching: Coaching in the context of an early childhood alternative licensure program

Preschool teachers’ emotion-focused teaching (modeling of, responding to, and instructing about emotions) is associated with children’s observed and teacher-reported expression and regulation skills, as well as their engagement with peers and learning tasks. The present study reports findings from an alternative licensure program in which teachers receive coaching during a residency on how to support children’s social and emotional development through emotion-focused teaching. Using baseline and post- observed and self-reported emotion-focused teaching from two cohorts of teacher residents (N = 65), we examined the extent to which emotion-focused teaching changed as a function of the number of coaching feedback sessions each teacher received as well as coaching modality, duration, and topical focus. Findings indicated that teachers improved in their observed and self-reported emotion-focused teaching, but characteristics of the feedback sessions were not individually associated with these improvements. Impact statementEarly educators play a significant role in promoting children’s emotional competence, especially in early childhood. Unfortunately, teachers receive little training on how to do so except through delivering curricula. This study assesses a new licensure program for early educators that uses flexible, individualized coaching to promote emotion-focused teaching. Participating preschool teachers significantly improved their emotion-focused teaching and were highly satisfied with the program overall. These findings can inform decisions by policy-makers and higher-education administrators as they seek to address critical shortages in skilled, emotionally attuned educators to meet the needs of young children.

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.

Exploring Whether and How Teacher Residencies Offer a Different Kind of Preparation

The past two decades have seen the rise of the residency model, another nontraditional pathway to certification that offers an intensive, practice-based, context-specific preparation designed to address shortages in hard-to-staff districts. Although advocates call the model innovative, research examining residencies at scale warrants skepticism around whether they truly offer a distinctive preparation. Surveying all programs across Tennessee about their adoption of features that characterize the model, we find that residencies offer a unique pathway to teaching in some expected ways though not all. Specifically, residencies reported longer clinical placements, more financial support for residents, and higher rates of mentor training, though they mostly did not report unique practices of candidate recruitment, district partnership, mentor selection, or curricular design. Moreover, we see that the distinctiveness of the model is in decline, with evidence of its dilution among newer residencies and the spread of its features among traditional programs.

Three approaches to school-university partnerships among teacher residencies: can HBCUs lead the way to an equity-centric model?

PurposeSchool-university partnerships (SUPs) probe a range of P12 challenges and interests, with teacher residencies being chief among them. Because historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have impressive track records (Hill-Jackson, 2017) and knowhow (Marchitello & Trinidad, 2019; Petchauer & Mawhinney, 2017) in preparing teacher candidates to work effectively in diverse schools, this paper seeks deeper understandings of the types of SUPs for teacher residency collaborations employed by traditional versus HBCU programs.Design/methodology/approachThis article draws upon the self-study as a methodology to review a SUP for a teacher residency at an HBCU in the southwestern United States to illustrate an equity-centric model.FindingsLeveraging an equity and third space perspective, three separate approaches to the SUPs are unpacked to establish the outline for this proposal: ceremonial, conventional and communal teacher residency approaches.Originality/valueA novel typology of three distinct approaches to SUPs for teacher residencies is outlined to establish the extent to which equity is foregrounded among teacher residencies.

Leveraging PDS teacher preparation grants: a majority–minority research university’s approach to increasing the diverse teacher pipeline

PurposeA primary goal of the Collaboration and Resources for Encouraging and Supporting Transformations in Education (CREST-Ed) program was to increase the number of highly qualified, minoritized teachers committed to teaching in minority-serving, high-need school districts. This study's purpose was to evaluate the CREST-Ed program's impact on teacher residency outcomes using multiple sources of program evaluation data collected during the five-year grant.Design/methodology/approachThis study of a federal Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant at Georgia State University (GSU), a minority-serving institution (MSI) and research university, shows teacher residency programs can improve the diverse teacher pipeline. The grant, CREST-Ed, provided professional development schools (PDS) support for four urban and 23 rural school districts through partnerships with GSU, Albany State University (ASU) and Columbus State University (CSU).FindingsThe study findings suggest that teacher preparation grants can be leveraged to recruit traditionally minoritized teachers of color to increase the diverse teacher pipeline and strengthen PDS partnerships.Originality/valueBoth urban and rural PDSs could benefit from teacher residency programs like the CREST-Ed model that catered to the unique needs of each school and partnership district.

The Four-Capital Theory as Framework for Teacher Retention and Attrition

There has been a strong interest in teacher retention and attrition which has been studied extensively over the past twenty or more years. While some researchers have attributed teacher attrition to low teacher salaries, poor working conditions, lack of administrative support and resources, other research focuses on the “emotional” aspect of the profession where educators continue to stay because of their love for teaching, for their students, and how they imagine possibilities for their students’ futures. A more comprehensive theory of retention and attrition is Mason and Matas’ (2015) four capital framework which consists of human capital, social capital, structural capital, and positive psychological capital. In our research with teacher residents in a preparation program, we used interviews, survey, and focus group to obtain data, and found strong prevalence of the four capitals as competing and intersecting phenomenon aiding in understanding the varied and complex factors that contribute to teacher retention or attrition. Additionally, we found that one or more of these four capitals may significantly impact teacher retention or attrition more than others, at any given time and one type of capital may help to overcome limitations in another. Therefore, we found this to be a worthwhile framework to incorporate in teacher preparation.

Freedom Dreaming: An Abolitionist Teacher Residency

Schools are sites of unfreedom. As such we engage in freedom dreaming and co-constituting of non-negotiables of an abolitionist teacher residency (ATR). This conceptual article asks: what non-negotiables are necessary when centering abolition in residency work? Our dream guides illustrate the need to draw on radical imaginations, freedom dreaming, abolitionism, and abolitionist education to dismantle caustic systems. An ATR must: (a) attune to their geo-socio-historical and political situatedness, (b) be democratic/participatory in nature, (c) commit to an onto-epistemological orientation rooted in critical theories and abolition, and (d) emphasize learning as liberation. We invite others into this “abolitionist turn” within residencies.

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.

Building Sustainable Funding for Teacher Residency Programs

Schools across the U.S. are facing substantial challenges filling positions ( Bleiberg & Kraft, 2022 ) and are considering solutions to address potential teacher shortages. As of 2022, almost half of the States in the U.S. create or support teacher residency programs (TRPs) through statute or regulation ( Education Commission of the States, 2022 ). TRPs are a structured, alternative mode of entry into the education profession that combines coursework in education with extensive on-the-job training, modeled after medical residencies ( Guha et al. 2016 ; Silva et al. 2014 ). To fulfill its promise, TRPs need to be organized and funded to offer living stipends to attract high-quality candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences while providing them with intensive preparation. In this commentary article, we discuss “4 Rs” of sustainable funding: Reallocation, Reduction, Reinvestment, and Realignment. The literature suggests that most of the needed resources are already in the system, but they need to be realigned and reapplied. This transition can occur through cooperation and collaboration among state policymakers, EPPs, and local school districts.

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.