Urban Teacher Residency Models and Institutes of Higher Education: Implications for Teacher Preparation.

Abstract

The Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), in partnership with the Aspen Institute and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE),1 has been investigating the urban teacher residency (UTR) — an innovative response to the longstanding challenges of how to recruit, prepare, and retain bright and capable teachers for high-needs urban schools. Chicago’s Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) and the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) Program are two of the nation’s most promising UTRs. In some respects UTRs represent a “third way” — addressing the weaknesses as well as incorporating the best of both traditional and alternative approaches to teacher education and certification. In brief, UTRs recruit teaching talent aggressively, with the supply and demand needs of local districts in mind. They also insist on extensive preparation, whereby recruits are paid a stipend while learning to teach in a full-year residency, under the watchful eye of expert K-12 teachers. Because the Residents are not fully responsible for teaching children, they have more quality time to take relevant pedagogical coursework “wrapped around” their intense student teaching experience. While both AUSL and BTR are relatively new programs, early studies on their graduates’ effectiveness and their high retention rates of 90 to 95 percent suggest these models hold great promise for preparing and supporting teachers in high-needs urban schools.