Education Week - November 23, 2022 - 11

HBCUs to Scale Up Teacher Residency Programs
By Madeline Will
Teacher residencies-in which a
candidate undergoes a yearlong, paid
classroom apprenticeship with ongoing
mentoring-have proven to be an
effective way to bring more teachers
of color into the profession, and get
them to stay longer.
Yet many minority-serving institutions
don't have these programs in
place, despite being key players in preparing
teachers of color. The National
Center for Teacher Residencies is one
group working to change that.
The center recently received a
$1.9 million, three-year federal grant
to provide technical and logistical
support to develop and scale up 14
teacher residency programs, 10 of
which are at historically Black colleges
and universities. The universities are
in varying phases of this work-some
are still considering the idea, some are
ready to launch a program within the
next year, and others have programs
in place already.
The grant is part of a $60 million
investment from the U.S. Department
of Education to address teacher
shortages and support the educator
workforce. Enrollment in teacherpreparation
programs has declined
significantly over the past decade,
and experts have raised serious
concerns about the strength of the
teacher pipeline.
In particular, teachers of color are
perennially in high demand, as they
make up just 20 percent of the workforce
despite educating a student
body that's more than half students
of color.
Teacher residency programs can
reduce the barriers into the profession
for candidates of color, since the
residents are paid for their studentteaching,
and many residency programs
also subsidize tuition and fees.
Residents also receive frequent support
and coaching, and advocates say
the model produces teachers who feel
confident and ready on day one.
" This pathway really creates a lot of
racially and culturally diverse teachers, "
said Anthony Graham, the provost
and vice chancellor for academic
affairs at Winston-Salem State University,
a historically Black institution
in North Carolina. " It makes sense for
an HBCU to support and launch and
execute a teacher residency model,
given all the benefits. "
Yet the cost to run a residency
model is substantial, he said. It can
cost around $50,000 a year per
resident if they're paid a stipend of
around $35,000, he said.
" Historically Black universities
don't have those types of resources, "
Graham said.
Minority-serving institutions have
been chronically underfunded by
state legislatures for decades, and
they serve students from families who
often aren't able to pay full tuition. A
2021 analysis by Brookings Institution
using federal data found that HBCUs
spend just two-thirds the amount that
colleges in general spend per student.
" Sustainability is the challenge, "
Graham said. " Once the [grant] dollars
subside, how do we keep the operation
moving? "
Community partnerships can lead
to long-term success
With the federal grant, the National
Center for Teacher Residencies will
help Winston-Salem State build a new
residency program that should be running
within a year.
Already, Winston-Salem State has
partnered with the Winston-Salem/
Forsyth County school district that
will train the residents-and pay part
of their salaries-to offset the cost for
the university. In return, the residents
must commit to teaching there for at
least three years after graduation.
The residency program, which will
be at the master's degree level, will
focus on training teachers in elementary
education, special education, and
science, technology, engineering, and
math to meet the district's needs.
Graham said he hopes that once
the program is running, its success
will spur future investment from the
state legislature and local businesses.
After all, he said, keeping high-quality
teachers in the area is a boon to economic
development.
That's why it's critical for teacher
residency models to be developed in
partnership with school districts, so
they're mutually beneficial for the
K-12 sector, the college or university,
and the teacher candidates themselves,
said Cassandra Herring, the
president and chief executive officer
of the Branch Alliance for Educator
Diversity, which supports educatorpreparation
programs at minorityserving
institutions.
Otherwise, " this is not a situation
where if we build it, they will come, "
she said.
Herring said some residency models
struggle to find enough residents
because the stipend isn't high enough
to alleviate the need for a part-time
job or because the program isn't flexible
enough to accommodate residents'
life circumstances.
For example, some residencies are
built to service a single school, and potential
residents might not live close
by or have reliable transportation
to get there. Other residents might
struggle balancing teaching with their
college coursework and classes.
" Those considerations are hugely
important in designing a really strong
residency program, " Herring said.
" Our concern-what keeps us up at
night-is that we're building quality
preparation models that can be sustained,
that can persist. "
Growing the model
To help with the sustainability question,
the federal grant will also go toward
growing five existing teacher
residencies that are in NCTR's network,
including one at Delaware State
University, a historically Black university
in Dover.
Delaware State's residency model
started in 2020, with just two students
placed at one school. This year, the program
has expanded to nine students
spread across four school districts.
Ultimately, the goal is for Delaware
State to have a residency track within
its undergraduate teacher-preparation
program, so that students can choose
between the traditional semesterlong
student teaching experience or
the yearlong residency, said Crystal
Timmons, the director of the office of
clinical and field experiences. Delaware
State typically graduates about
40 teachers from that program a year,
and Timmons estimates that about
half would choose the residency
model.
Each student receives a $25,000
stipend for their yearlong residency,
which is funded by the state. But part
of the goal with the federal grant is exploring
other ways to fund and maintain
the program aside from relying
on state funding, Timmons said.
" We know at some point, the
money, for whatever reason, might
not be available, " Timmons said.
" What does it mean [then] if that's
the only avenue of funding? "
Timmons said Delaware State officials
are also considering tweaking
their residency model to help address
teacher shortages in local schools
sooner. For instance, residents could
take summer courses and graduate a
semester earlier so they can go out in
the field sooner.
" We're just trying to find some outof-the
box ways that we wouldn't normally
do in a traditional program, but
the times are not traditional, " Timmons
said.
Tabitha Grossman, the chief external
relations officer at the NCTR, who
oversees state and federal policy work,
said the federal grant will also help
residency programs bring in new candidates
of color, including Latino and
Indigenous prospective educators.
" We have never wanted to arrogantly
assume that what works for
a Black teacher works for a Latino
teacher, " Grossman said, adding that
Teacher Residencies By The Numbers
* An estimated 100 teacher residency programs in the nation
* 46 teacher residency programs in the National Council for
Teacher Residencies' network
* 57 percent of teacher residents in the NCTR network identify
as a person of color
* 38 percent of mentors in the NCTR network identify as a
person of color
* 89 percent of teachers who graduated from a residency
program in the NCTR network stay in the teaching field for
at least three years
this work will let them try new strategies
to see which ones work for other
populations.
Supporting teacher candidates
financially and socially
Paying teacher candidates for their
work in classrooms is a hallmark of
the residency model that sets it apart
from traditional teacher-preparation
programs. Because of the workload of
student teaching, candidates are often
encouraged to not work an additional
job, but some-especially those from
marginalized backgrounds- " just
don't have a choice, " Timmons said.
" They're at the school from 8 to 3:30,
and some are going to jobs from 4:30 to
9, " she said. " It's very draining, and it's
also very noticeable for a lot of them in
their work just because they don't have
the time they need to put into it. "
But when they're receiving a salary
for their time teaching, candidates
can spend less time working elsewhere,
she said.
Another part of the " secret sauce "
of residency programs is the coaching,
Graham said.
At Winston-Salem State, coaches help
the residents with the technical parts of
the job-lesson-planning, classroom
management, and pedagogy. But they
also help the residents navigate social,
cultural, and political barriers that may
come up, especially for teachers of
color who work in predominately white
schools and communities.
Graham said the coaches will work
with the residents to proactively
anticipate-and learn how to manage-different
scenarios teachers of
color often encounter in schools, including
racial microaggressions from
colleagues, biased assignments from
administrators, or blatant racism.
Those interactions contribute to
teachers of color leaving the profession
at higher rates than their white
peers, so having a foundation of support
from the start is important, Graham
said.
In general, teacher residencies have
a heavy emphasis on culturally sustaining
practices, Grossman said.
" This emphasis really changes the
entire experience for candidates of
color, particularly when the macro
world is sending very different signals,
[like] telling you what you can and
can't teach, " she said. Political pressures
and restrictions on how teachers
talk about race in the classroom have
left many educators of color weary and
considering the exit door, experts say.
Teachers of color may " experience
the same racism in school as outside
of it, " Grossman said. " Residencies
focus on calling that out, acknowledging
it, and helping residents deal
with it. "
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