Chapter 2: High-Retention and Culturally Responsive Preparation
Chapter Summary
New teachers who receive thorough and high-quality preparation before entering the classroom are more likely to continue teaching. They are also better able to improve student learning and engagement across a range of subject areas. Research points to key features of high-quality preparation, including opportunities to observe experienced teachers, receive regular feedback, participate in intensive clinical practice in a classroom, and take courses in topics such as teaching methods, learning theory, child development, and student assessment.
This type of comprehensive training is typical in teacher residencies, which provide aspiring teachers the opportunity to work alongside an experienced mentor teacher for a year while they take coursework , and other high-quality professional certification programs, including Grow Your Own (GYO) programs. These types of preparation programs also represent culturally responsive pathways to teaching. Not only are they effective at recruiting more BIPOC teachers to the profession (including community members), the programs highlighted in this Playbook also prepare individuals to teach in racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse communities.
Over the past several decades, researchers have learned a great deal about how people learn and develop. This recent research points to the need for significant transformations in school design and teaching practice to ensure students experience secure relationships, productive environments, skillful teaching, and personalized supports that enable their healthy development.[45] These supports and practices benefit all students and are particularly important for students who have experienced trauma and racism and who have been marginalized because of their family’s income level, language, or other differences. A growing body of research also demonstrates that all students benefit from having diverse and culturally responsive teachers who can support their social and emotional well-being and bring distinctive knowledge, experiences, and role modeling to schools.[46]
Teachers’ qualifications, experience, and actions directly impact students’ opportunities to learn, their well-being, and their academic outcomes.[47] Further, access to certified teachers is especially valuable in mathematics and science, as these courses often serve as gateways to higher education and well-paying professions.[48] To prepare students to participate fully in our economy and democracy, teachers need to be well prepared for the classroom.
Receiving robust, comprehensive preparation before they enter the classroom makes new teachers more likely to stay in their role and increases their ability to improve student learning and engagement across a range of subject areas. Research points to key features of effective preparation, including opportunities to observe successful teachers; receive regular feedback; participate in intensive clinical practice in a classroom; and take courses in teaching methods, learning theory, child development, and student assessment. This type of comprehensive training is typical in teacher residency programs and other high-quality professional certification programs. Additional efforts across teacher preparation have also included integrating culturally responsive practices within coursework and field experiences to ensure all future teachers can nurture culturally responsive and affirming learning and working environments.
As noted in the previous chapter, the high cost of teacher preparation and heightened concerns about student loan debt have prompted many aspiring teachers, particularly people of color and individuals with limited income, to enter the profession through alternative certification routes. Many of these alternative routes offer beginning teachers just a few weeks of training before becoming the “teacher of record” in a classroom. In 2014–15, more than 1 in 5 candidates of color enrolled in an alternative certification program, compared with about 1 in 10 White candidates.[49] In these programs, participants teach during the day while undertaking their coursework at night or on weekends. Research finds that teachers with the least preparation are 2 to 3 times more likely to leave their schools than teachers who entered the profession having received comprehensive preparation, including student teaching and courses in teaching methods.[50]
In addition to broadening the types of pathways available to future teachers, some states have begun reviewing different licensure and certification assessment requirements and exploring how they might provide multiple pathways for future teachers to demonstrate competence when it comes to basic skills (reading, writing, and mathematics) and content knowledge. Traditionally, states have relied on standardized multiple-choice and written response licensure exams to make final determinations on whether an individual can enter a teacher preparation program or can earn initial licensure. Research has shown that many of these exams constrict the teacher pipeline and are poor predictors of later teaching effectiveness. [51] The potential negative implications of licensure exams contrast with teacher performance assessments, which measure what candidates do in the classroom and have been found to predict teacher effectiveness. Several states, including Rhode Island, are exploring policies that allow individuals to meet basic skills requirements through multiple measures. California and other states are considering allowing teacher candidates to use college courses, or a combination of courses and tests, to demonstrate they are competent to teach a subject.
High teacher turnover, or churn, undermines student achievement and consumes valuable staff time and resources. Research suggests that the cost of replacing a single teacher can range from $9,000 for rural districts to more than $20,000 for large urban districts. While high turnover rates are a challenge across the profession, they are particularly concerning for teachers of color, who leave the profession at higher-than-average rates.[52] These departures are in large part because teachers of color are overrepresented in schools serving more students of color, which are often under-resourced and have high turnover rates for all teachers.
These higher turnover rates weaken efforts to create a more diverse teaching profession and deny students access to teachers who represent our country’s rich racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity. Teachers of color act as role models for all students and often serve as “cultural brokers” for students of diverse backgrounds, supporting insights on race issues, issues of racism, and discrimination.[53] Recruiting teachers of color through preservice preparation pathways—rather than through substandard credentials and permits associated with higher turnover rates—can help build a pipeline of teachers of color prepared to teach for the long term.
Fortunately, there are preparation strategies that provide robust, culturally responsive preparation without requiring aspiring teachers to take on considerable amounts of debt—a significant hurdle for many aspiring teachers of color and those from low-income families. This chapter will focus on two pathways: teacher residencies and Grow Your Own (GYO) programs. These innovative pathways have been shown to provide teachers with the robust preparation that supports retention while also attracting a broader, more diverse pool of candidates, including local community members. The vast majority of future teachers will continue to be prepared through university-based, traditional preparation programs. However, features and designs of high-quality teacher residencies and GYO programs explored throughout this chapter are helping spur improvement across preparation in general and could likely shape preparation in the future for all teachers.
This chapter’s examples rely on a range of funding sources at the federal, state, and local levels to jump-start and sustain program growth. In a number of instances, federal and state grant programs have provided initial seed funding and, in some cases, have been used to scale existing programs. Programs have also leveraged federal or state scholarships and loan reimbursements to offset tuition costs. Key sources of funding have included:
The federal TEACH Grant, which provides up to $4,000 annually in scholarships to undergraduates and graduate students who commit to teaching for at least 4 years in a subject area facing persistent shortages and in a school serving a high percentage of students from low-income families;
Direct federal funds, such as Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) Grants (under Title II of the Higher Education Act), National Professional Development Grants (under Title III of the Every Student Succeeds Act), and Indian Education Professional Development Grants;
AmeriCorps funding, which offers living stipends as well as an educational award to offset tuition;
Statewide competitive grant programs; and
Local and national philanthropic support.
Beyond these external funding sources, preparation programs and their district partners are also looking at ways to tap existing funding sources to ensure sustainable funding for residencies and GYO programs. (See “Prepared To Teach: Sustainable Residency Funding Models and Networks.”) These efforts at establishing financial sustainability have included reallocating funds from existing programs or multiple district budget lines and establishing incentives and programmatic supports for teacher candidates that align with other district needs, such as filling substitute teaching positions. Another promising strategy for reallocating existing resources is to integrate professional learning programs for practicing teachers with the preparation of new teachers. Despite these efforts, one of the prevailing challenges to increasing access to these high-retention pathways is ensuring their long-term financial sustainability, which is critical to providing quality preparation and financial support for all candidates.
Prepared To Teach: Sustainable Residency Funding Models and Networks
State, federal, and philanthropic investments have been crucial in establishing residencies. Unfortunately, funding generally has supported small pilot or specialty programs, which often close when funding ends. Quality preparation pathways need systemic and sustainable funding. Bank Street Graduate School of Education’s Prepared To Teach exists to address that challenge.
Residencies often struggle with two different sustainability streams. The first is ensuring they can maintain and grow their high-quality program designs. Strong partnerships that include dedicated staff responsible for connecting preparation programs with districts and schools are crucial, but most systems—in higher education or pre-k–12—do not currently fund such roles. Staff members who are doing the additional work involved in residency preparation also need supports—including time, professional learning opportunities, and recognition of their efforts—as part of pay and promotion systems.
Residencies that are designed as stand-alone projects or pilots have higher operating costs compared to those that are designed as part of an existing teacher preparation program. The latter type of funding stream allows for braiding and redistributing human and financial resources within and across organizations. Prepared To Teach works with partnerships to redesign existing teacher preparation programs and initiatives into residencies at the cost of about $100,000 per partnership (or about $7,000 per candidate). This method of braiding and redistributing human and financial resources ensures that the programs are sustainable.
The second sustainability challenge for residencies is affordability. In our current system, most aspiring teachers do not have the means to support themselves while completing unpaid student teaching placements, much less full-year residencies, so they work nights and weekends or take out extra student loans while learning to teach. Providing stipends ensures that everyone has equitable access to quality preparation pathways. Prepared To Teach has developed a set of approaches that help partnerships design sustainable, affordable residencies, referred to as the “3R’s” of sustainable funding: reduce, reallocate, and (re)invest. To create layered, long-term funding streams, partnerships identify ways to reduce costs, reallocate current staffing and funding, and (re)invest public funds saved through increased efficiency. For example:
Through its work on curriculum alignment, the College of Staten Island in New York found that longer clinical placements and integrated assessment and experiential learning components of the residency allowed them to reduce required coursework by 12 credits, saving candidates $9,100.
Ferndale Public Schools in Washington state has reallocated school-level funding for substitute paraprofessionals to support a cohort of 21 teacher residents from Western Washington University. The program allows residents to serve as paraprofessional substitutes and assessment administrators, providing income for aspiring teachers. The district also integrates residents into its professional development offerings and supplies laptops.
In New Mexico, teacher turnover was so high and residency-prepared candidates so valued that Albuquerque Public Schools found $500,000 to (re)invest from personnel savings resulting from unfilled positions into resident supports for participants in their University of New Mexico residency partnership.
The Prepared To Teach network supports and studies the growth of such models, and partner sites are part of a growing alliance to encourage strategic local, state, and federal investments in teacher residencies.
Teacher Residencies
What Is a High-Quality Teacher Residency?
Not all teacher residencies are created equal; their quality and structures vary, as do the supports offered to candidates. High-quality teacher residency programs share several common characteristics, including:
strong partnerships between school districts and local education agencies, universities, and sometimes other entities, like unions or community-based organizations, which provide a range of supports in implementing the model;
tightly integrated coursework about teaching and learning coupled with a full year of teaching under the wing of an experienced mentor teacher;
targeted recruitment, including a focus on racially and linguistically diverse teacher candidates;
recruitment of candidates for specific district hiring needs, often in shortage areas;
financial support, often in exchange for the resident’s commitment to teaching in the district for a minimum number of years;
placement of cohorts of residents in “teaching schools” that model evidence-based practices with diverse learners; and
ongoing mentoring and support for residency graduates after they begin teaching, often for an additional 2 years following program completion.
Similar to medical residencies, teacher residency programs provide aspiring teachers with the opportunity to earn a salary while they work alongside an expert educator for a year and take courses that lead to a teaching credential—and, often, a master’s degree. Traditionally, teacher preparation has included a culminating unpaid student teaching experience that lasts between 12 and 16 weeks. With teacher residencies, in exchange for a salary or financial incentive, participants commit to teaching in the same district after their high-quality residency ends.
Because they are designed collaboratively with partner districts, teacher residencies are built from the ground up to address local needs and priorities. Locally tailored solutions include preparing teachers in specific shortage areas (such as math, science, or special education) and providing opportunities for residents to learn about and build relationships with the broader community. Residencies are also effective at attracting more racially diverse candidates into the profession. For example, one study found that in 2016–17, 41% of teacher residents identified as people of color,[54] compared to 28% candidates of color in traditional programs nationwide in the same year.[55]
Teachers who complete residencies are also more likely to stay in their jobs, providing students with the consistency shown to boost learning. For example, approximately 80% of the San Francisco Teacher Residency program participants are still teaching in the San Francisco Unified School District after 4 years, compared to only 38% of other new hires over that same period.[56]
Graduate Residency Models
Boston Teacher Residency
Prior to the launch of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), Boston Public Schools (BPS) experienced high turnover among newly hired teachers. In 2003, 53% of the district’s new teachers left the district within 3 years. Estimates suggested the district was spending $3 million each year to replace these teachers and yet continued to see severe shortages across several high-need subject areas, including math, science, special education, and English as a Second Language. To address these persistent staffing challenges, in 2003 BPS, in partnership with Boston Plan for Excellence, launched a full-year teacher residency, which provides participants a living stipend and health insurance in return for a 3-year service commitment to teaching in the district.
The residency begins with a 2-month intensive summer institute that prepares residents to serve as part of a teacher team from the first day of the new school year. Over the residency year, candidates assume increasing responsibility in the classroom and work closely with their teacher team to make instructional decisions based on students’ learning needs and curricular goals and objectives. By placing residents in these collaborative teacher teams, the program ensures increased learning for students and rigorous preparation for candidates.
The National Center for Teacher Residencies
The National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) is a network of 33 partner teacher residencies across 21 states that adhere to a rigorous set of standards. In 2019–20, partners graduated over 1,000 teacher residents. For the 2020–21 school year, 4,300 graduates from NCTR partner programs served primarily as teachers of record in Title I schools.
The BTR program—like many other residencies—provides graduates with substantial support beyond program completion. This support includes 2 years of direct support (or induction) following the completion of the residency. BTR induction coaches visit BTR teachers’ classrooms, provide feedback on lessons, and offer support in navigating classroom or school challenges. As BTR founder Jesse Solomon noted in a 2009 study, “New teachers are not ‘done’ on graduation day.”[57]
Research points to the substantial impact the program has had on the composition of teachers in the district, where more than 86% of students are students of color. Forty-nine percent of BTR graduates are teachers of color, and 35% are Black or Latinx. According to one study, graduates are more likely than other novice teachers to teach math and science.[58] The same study found that graduates were initially comparable to other novice teachers in raising students’ English language arts and math scores. By the fourth year of teaching, however, BTR graduates’ effectiveness surpassed new and veteran math teachers.
“Dollars once spent on teacher replacement now are reallocated toward resources for teacher recruitment and development in high-need areas.”
In its first 9 years, BTR prepared more than 400 teachers, with 87% of graduates remaining in teaching at that time. Further, according to a Harvard Business School case study, after 7 years in operation, BTR’s high retention rates supported shifts in Boston Public Schools’ budgetary priorities: “Dollars once spent on teacher replacement now are reallocated toward resources for teacher recruitment and development in high-need areas.” Extending its influence beyond the city of Boston, BTR was also a founding member of the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR), an organization dedicated to developing, launching, and supporting teacher residency programs throughout the country.
Montclair Newark Urban Teacher Residency
Many teacher residencies also take steps to support culturally responsive and sustaining teaching practices among their candidates. One example of such a program is the Montclair Newark Urban Teacher Residency, launched in 2009 with a federal Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Montclair State University has a long-standing relationship and commitment to Newark Public Schools, the largest school district in New Jersey, which serves a population that comprises more than 92% students of color.
According to course documentation referenced in a recent case study, Montclair’s core program standards explicitly focus on residents developing culturally responsive teaching practices, including planning “instruction based upon knowledge of subject matter, students, families, [and] communities. Further, candidates learn to consider issues of class, gender, race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, age, and special needs in designing instruction.”[59]
Developing residents’ knowledge of and appreciation for the district’s diverse student population is a core aspect of Montclair’s commitment to equity and social justice. This knowledge is critical for program graduates to help make teaching and curriculum relevant to their students’ lives. This is accomplished in multiple ways. Many courses have learning opportunities that challenge teacher candidates’ perceptions of students and families, especially in underserved and marginalized communities. In addition, courses require teacher candidates to spend time in the local community to get to know students outside of the school environment and understand students’ neighborhoods. For example, the program piloted a requirement that students complete a summer field placement at a community organization.
San Francisco Teacher Residency
100% of respondents said SFTR graduates were more effective than other new teachers in general, those who graduated from other university-based programs, and those prepared by alternative certification programs.
The San Francisco Teacher Residency (SFTR) was created through a partnership between the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD); the University of San Francisco (USF); the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP); and the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), the union for SFUSD teachers and paraprofessionals. Collaboration and the engagement of multiple stakeholders are built into the program’s structure, with the school district’s local context and priorities a central part of the preparation that residents receive. Residents learn about the history of schooling in San Francisco and are taken on tours of the city to better connect with their students’ neighborhoods and communities. The program also hosts parent panels featuring parents from schools where the residents do their clinical work.
The heart of SFTR’s model is a yearlong teaching residency in which residents work alongside an experienced cooperating teacher 5 days a week for at least 25 hours. The residency lasts for the entire academic year, beginning with classroom setup before the school year starts and continuing to graduation day. Whether completed at USF or Stanford, the coursework and clinical experience lead to a California preliminary multiple subject or single subject credential and a master’s degree. In exchange for a commitment to teaching for at least 3 years in SFUSD, residents receive a 50% tuition remission at USF or significant scholarship support and loan forgiveness at Stanford.[60]
Between 2010–11 and 2015–16, SFTR prepared 135 teachers to work in high-need subjects in San Francisco schools with higher-than-average teacher turnover.[61] Notably, teachers prepared by SFTR are staying in the classroom. Data from SFUSD’s human resources department show that, after 5 years, 79% of SFTR graduates are still teaching in the district, compared with 38% of other beginning teachers. Since the program’s inception, 95% of SFTR graduates are still teaching, and 79% are teaching within SFUSD.[62]
Integral to the mission of SFTR is the recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Between 2010 and 2015, 66% of residents were teachers of color, compared with 53% of SFUSD teachers as a whole.[63] This diversity carries over into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields: 81% of all SFTR math and science graduates are women and/or people of color, groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM.
And the preparation and support SFTR graduates receive is paying off in the classroom. As one program graduate stated, “[SFTR] is a strenuous, self-reflective program that truly brings equity into the work of teaching.” Among the principals surveyed by the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) at the end of the 2014–15 school year, 100% of respondents said SFTR graduates were more effective than other new teachers in general, those who graduated from other university-based programs, and those prepared by alternative certification programs.[64]
Undergraduate Teacher Residency Models
Given the success of graduate-level teacher residency programs, states and institutions are exploring ways to incorporate the yearlong residency experience into undergraduate teacher preparation programs. While these programs offer increased time working in the classroom and the chance to get to know a school and classroom for an entire school year, they rarely include substantial financial incentives or stipends to candidates. One of the examples highlighted below awards residents a modest stipend and guarantees a teaching assignment upon program completion. While these models are still quite new, programs from the University of South Dakota and the University of South Florida highlight the different ways institutions are working to combine more intensive clinical practice and mentoring with integrated content and coursework throughout the undergraduate preparation experience.
University of South Dakota Teacher Residency
With support from the Bush Foundation, the University of South Dakota created the University of South Dakota Teacher Residency (USDTR), a 4-year undergraduate program that includes a 1-year teaching residency. Initiated in 2009, the program specifically prepares participants to teach in rural schools and represents a unique partnership between a college of education and rural school districts. The program’s core values center on a need to prepare effective teachers who can serve all students in diverse cultural contexts through cultural responsiveness, differentiation, and the use of instructional technology.
USDTR relies on residency instructors to bridge the gap between the university and the district. Residency instructors are veteran k–12 teachers employed as clinical faculty and are responsible for teaching much of the coursework during the residency year. Also, residency instructors build relationships with candidates, mentor teachers, and partner schools as they observe candidates in the field, further expanding their influence and building their leadership skills beyond their classroom. In fall 2016, USDTR placed more than 100 residents across 22 districts and had prepared more than 400 candidates since its inception.
Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program at the University of South Florida
Through the integration of coursework and classroom experience, the Urban Teacher Residency Partnership Program (UTRPP) at the University of South Florida (USF) gives residents 2,000+ hours of mentoring from experienced teachers. The residency is a subset of a larger undergraduate elementary education program and enrolls a cohort of 20 to 25 students each year. Those accepted into the cohort agree to enroll in the 2-year program from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, essentially committing to a full-time teacher’s schedule for the duration of the residency.
The product of a deep collaboration between USF and Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), the program consists of integrated coursework and clinical practice, including a yearlong residency during participants’ senior year. The integrated coursework emphasizes inclusive practices and culturally relevant content through a “series of guiding questions concerning sociocultural context and culturally responsive classrooms” explored throughout the program. Residents work in partner schools where 90% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and 90% are students of color. Residents receive a $3,200 scholarship each year for the 2 years and are guaranteed a teaching position in HCPS upon completing the program.
Since 2013, the program has graduated 64 residents, 62 of whom still teach full-time. Of those 62 still teaching, 46 are teaching in HCPS, including 41 in schools serving a majority of students from low-income families; 20 are employed in one of the six UTRPP partner schools in HCPS.
State Policy to Support Teacher Residencies
States have recently enacted a range of policies and programs to support the growth of residency models. While it is too soon to assess their impact, these initiatives demonstrate a commitment in many states to help ramp up the development of residency experiences for a greater number of future teachers. These efforts have been funded through a variety of local, state, federal, and philanthropic sources—often employed in combination—as some of the examples highlighted below demonstrate.
The California Teacher Residency Lab
To support the development and implementation of the state-supported residencies, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, and the Silver Giving Foundation have launched the California Teacher Residency Lab. The lab provides technical assistance to new and existing teacher residency programs and has created systems to share knowledge and build expertise. It also provides dedicated time for the partnering district and preparation program to work on program design and implementation.
California Teacher Residency Grant Program
In response to severe teacher shortages, the California legislature invested $75 million in its 2018–19 budget to fund teacher residency programs in special education, bilingual education, and STEM, areas of perennial shortages. The program provides grant funding of $20,000 per teacher candidate, with an equal amount matched by sponsoring local education agencies (LEAs) and their institutions of higher education (IHE) partners.
The program is funding more than 3,500 new California teachers over the next several years who will work in sponsoring districts for at least 4 years following their residency. To be eligible for the grants, districts must apply in partnership with a state-approved teacher preparation program and may include additional partners. The state also included capacity-building grants to partnerships to support the development of the residencies. To date, 38 residency programs have received funding through the program. Taken together, residencies funded through the grant program enrolled 309 residents in 2019–20, including 142 in special education, 100 in STEM, and 67 in bilingual certification. Of the 309 residents, 67% identified as a person of color.[65]
Initial research from the first year of implementation highlights progress in recruiting candidates to serve in high-need shortage areas and with recruiting candidates of color. Further, a recent report from the Learning Policy Institute and Bank Street Graduate School of Education’s Prepared To Teach program highlights progress across residencies to develop and refine sustainable funding strategies to support long-term implementation.
Delaware Yearlong Residency Partnership Grant
To support the growth of residencies across the state and increase the racial diversity of its teacher workforce, Delaware has begun issuing partnership grants to local districts that provide stipends to teacher candidates who train through a yearlong residency and commit to teaching for at least 3 years in partnering school districts. The grants are meant to build strong partnerships between districts and approved preparation programs. The program prioritizes candidates who reflect the communities in which they will teach and who are from underrepresented populations in the teaching profession.
In the first year of the grant program, the Delaware Department of Education awarded approximately $1 million for the 2019–20 school year. Awards for selected school districts range from $20,000 to $300,000 annually. Currently, the grants may be awarded to a single district or split among multiple districts. Under the program, resident stipends must be at least $25,000 for residents in schools with high teacher turnover rates and $20,000 for residents seeking certification in subject areas facing persistent shortages in the state (math, science, languages, special education, and English as a Second Language). The amount of funding for residents not meeting the above criteria is unclear and appears dependent on available funds. From July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, the program will likely distribute an additional $1 million for districts and charters to partner with Delaware educator preparation programs to implement residencies.[66]
Mississippi Teacher Residency
As the nation’s first state-run teacher residency program, the Mississippi Teacher Residency is a partnership between the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR). In addition to managing the $4.1 million 4-year grant provided by the Kellogg Foundation, MDE provides residents with additional professional learning opportunities, covers the costs of these professional learning opportunities and licensing exams, and supports residents in the teacher credentialing process. According to MDE’s website, the program explicitly seeks to expand and diversify the teacher workforce “so that all students have teachers who are well-prepared, appropriately licensed, and can serve as role models.”
The program is structured as an undergraduate program open to candidates who hold an associate degree or have completed close to 2 years of credit toward a degree program. Participants must complete a 2-year undergraduate elementary or special education credential program while working alongside an experienced teacher mentor. The program can enroll up to 35 candidates each school year, with a stated goal of recruiting for high-need subject areas and fields and increasing the racial diversity of the state’s teacher workforce. Four school districts in the state participate in the program, as do Delta State University, Mississippi State University, and William Carey University School of Education.
Through the Kellogg Foundation’s contributions, residents receive a full scholarship and housing allowance throughout the residency. The state is also working on designing and implementing a 2-year mentoring and support program to maximize program graduates’ retention rate. While the program is already underway, future sustainability may rely on the outcomes of program evaluations and the ability to demonstrate the program’s long-term impact. In 2020, more than 300 individuals applied for the residency; 76% of residents in the 2020 cohort identify as people of color, which far outpaces the 27% teachers of color in the state’s wider teacher workforce.
New Mexico Teacher Residency Act
In March 2020, New Mexico’s legislature passed HB92 to expand teacher residencies across the state. The legislation established a grant program that outlines several evidence-based elements of a teacher residency program. The program includes a yearlong clinical experience working alongside an expert mentor and a year of continued support (mentoring, professional development, and networking opportunities) following the end of the residency.
The legislation provides a stipend of no less than $20,000 per year for teacher residents with a service commitment of 3 years following completion of the program in the sponsoring district. Grants are awarded to higher education institutions or tribal colleges that already have an approved teacher preparation program and form a partnership with one or more school districts or charter schools. Programs awarded funding must be designed to diversify the state’s teacher workforce and fill high-need teaching positions. The state established a fund for the program and provided an initial appropriation of $2 million for fiscal year 2020.
Pennsylvania Innovative Teacher and Principal Residency Grant Programs
To improve educator recruitment, preparation, and retention and increase the educator workforce’s diversity, Pennsylvania launched a $2 million competitive grant program in 2018 meant to seed teacher and principal residencies across the state. The program is designed to support both undergraduate and postgraduate residency programs and provides one-time implementation or expansion grants of up to $750,000 and planning grants of up to $75,000. The state has continued to expand funding for the program, with an additional $1.75 million allocated in 2019 and $2.1 million in 2020.
To be eligible for funding, educator preparation programs must apply in partnership with LEAs that serve higher-than-average proportions of students of color or students from low-income families or face chronic teacher shortages in special education, STEM subjects, or other state-identified or local shortage areas. This focus creates opportunities for new and strengthened partnerships across the state. Programs must provide a full year of clinical residency, as well as financial support that either eliminates or significantly reduces the financial burden for candidates. Federal Title II, Part A dollars fund the program.
Grow Your Own Teacher Preparation Programs
Source: Grow Your Own Illinois, 2021.
Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher preparation programs recruit community members, such as career changers, paraprofessionals, after-school program staff, and others currently working in schools, to become teachers in their local schools. Participants receive support, such as financial aid, coaching, assistance in navigating credential requirements, counseling, and programmatic support, as they complete their bachelor’s degree and earn their teaching credential.
One of the first GYO programs grew out of a community organizing effort in Chicago Public Schools that eventually became Grow Your Own Illinois. The term Grow Your Own has become synonymous with a range of programs, including teacher residencies or high school teacher academies. In the following section, however, we focus less on the type of program and more on the key elements that can help support recruitment and preparation of individuals connected to schools and local communities. These are highlighted in “State Policies to Support Grow Your Own Programs.”
In early studies, these programs have shown positive results in recruiting and retaining diverse teachers in schools with high teacher turnover, in part by leveraging participants’ existing connections to the community and, in some cases, their experience working in the district. For example, a report from the Urban Institute found that graduates from the Pathways to Teaching Careers Program, a national GYO program with local chapters, remained in teaching longer than the typical beginning teacher and taught in urban and rural schools serving large numbers of students of color and students from low-income families at a very high rate (86%).
For rural districts in particular, which often struggle with teacher shortages, GYO programs provide a local and potentially stable source of teachers in the long term.
Despite promising results in the areas of teacher recruitment and retention and the known and expected additional benefits of preparing community members to serve as teachers, GYO programs have not been studied as extensively as other preparation programs. Further research is warranted to better understand the opportunities, impact, and key practices of GYO programs, something policymakers should incorporate into future program funding and planning. Many state programs—like the recent GYO Teachers Act in New Mexico or Massachusetts’s Paraprofessional Teacher Preparation Grant Program—are quite new and should be monitored in order to better understand the impact of this model.
GYO programs come in all shapes and sizes, as described in the examples that follow. Common variants include paraprofessional teacher training programs and 2+2 programs, which allow candidates to begin teacher preparation at a community college, with clear course articulation agreements in place to enable them to complete teacher preparation and credentialing requirements at a partnering 4-year institution. Another notable variation is an applied baccalaureate program—such as the Bachelor of Applied Science in Elementary or Early Childhood Education at Highline College—which allows students to earn a teaching credential and bachelor’s degree from a community college so that candidates do not have to transfer to a 4-year institution of higher education.
The range of potential programs also indicates the ability to design programs to align more closely with a state or district’s intended workforce goals. Other types of preparation programs designed to prepare individuals who already possess a bachelor’s degree are a better fit for those seeking to remedy more immediate shortages and fill pressing vacancies. Alternatively, programs that seek to build a workforce that reflects the local student population and is deeply connected to the community may choose to take a longer view, opting for additional flexibility in entry requirements and recruiting individuals who may need to acquire an associate degree as they progress on their pathway into the profession. Further, these efforts do not have to be an either-or approach. States like California have sought to establish rigorous residency programs alongside investments in paraprofessional GYO programs as part of a comprehensive and sustainable workforce strategy.
State Policies to Support Grow Your Own Programs
A number of features are key to leveraging the potential of GYO programs to support high-retention pathways into the profession and increase the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the teacher workforce. The following principles articulate these features and draw from New America’s Grow Your Own Programs for Bilingual Educators: Essential Policies and Practices and recent proposed federal legislation.
Beyond allocating funding to help seed these programs, states can ensure access to high-retention GYO programs by requiring that programs:
design structured pathways for candidates to advance toward required teaching credentials and certification at various stages of their careers;
provide paid work-based experience under the guidance of a trained mentor teacher that aligns with educator preparation coursework;
incorporate coursework and learning experiences that build knowledge of curriculum development and assessment; learning and child development; students’ social, emotional, and academic development; culturally responsive practices; and collaboration with families and colleagues;
recruit linguistically and culturally diverse candidates who are both reflective of and responsive to the needs of the local community;
provide wraparound supports for candidates through the recruitment, preparation, and induction years (e.g., cohort structure, scholarships, licensure test preparation, assistance navigating college admissions process, etc.); and
support strong collaboration and coordination across school districts, educator preparation providers, and community organizations.
California’s Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program
The California School Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program (funded 1995–2011) provides an example of the impact GYO programs can have on growing and retaining a diverse teacher workforce: Between 1995 and 2011, 65% of the program’s participants were people of color and bilingual. Data reported to the state legislature indicate that the program produced more than 2,200 fully credentialed California teachers over the same period.[67] By the 13th year of program operation, 92% of the individuals who had earned their teaching credentials through the program were still serving in California schools.[68] Although funding for the program was cut during the Great Recession, the state revived the program in 2016, investing $45 million in the renamed California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program.
The revived program trains 2,260 classified staff members to become teachers and provides them $4,000 per year for up to 5 years to subsidize their teacher training costs (tuition, fees, books, and examination costs). Notably, more than half of new program participants are candidates of color. Since the program was restarted in 2016, 770 participants have earned a teaching credential, more than half in special education. Demand for the program is high, with local districts submitting applications for more than 8,000 slots—well above the 2,260 the state funds.
Oregon Educator Advancement Council’s Grow Your Own/Teacher Pathway Partnership Grants
Oregon is distributing $6.8 million in grant funding to support 27 statewide GYO efforts. The funding is available to support a range of partnerships focused on building sustainable pathways into the profession for future teachers of color and expanding access to culturally responsive and sustaining coursework and professional development.
The initiative is guided by the Educator Advancement Council (EAC), which is spearheading the state’s broader push to diversify the workforce and reflects an effort to redefine GYO teacher pathways within the state toward an explicit focus on retaining teachers from diverse populations. A key lever of the program’s push for increasing the racial diversity of the teacher workforce is available funding that existing teacher pathways programs can use “to eliminate institutional barriers to recruiting a more diverse population of teacher candidates.” Another important aspect is the weaving of new culturally responsive practices into teacher preparation programs—including Tribal History/Shared History curriculum and standards in Senate Bill 13 (highlighted in Chapter 3) and recent ethnic studies standards—thereby helping shape teacher practice across both preparation and the classroom.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and Support for the Teacher Workforce
Tennessee has leveraged funding provided to the state through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocations to expand its competitive GYO grant program. Participating programs will train teachers for special education or English learner development. Graduates will also receive an additional credential, such as in elementary education. The $2 million in funding will provide for 20 grants of $100,000 each and will entirely cover tuition, textbooks, and fees for all selected participants. The funds will allow candidates to engage in paid paraprofessional roles during their preparation and experience strong clinical training alongside their credential coursework. Preparation programs can offer a multiyear residency while participants earn their bachelor’s degree or a 1-year residency for advanced-level programs. This will likely expand opportunities for individuals to enter these programs, regardless of their postsecondary attainment.
Texas Grow Your Own Grant Program
In 2018, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) created the Grow Your Own Grant Program to improve teacher diversity and address teacher shortages, particularly in small and rural districts. The GYO program awards competitive grants to programs that offer one of three identified pathways into the teaching profession. The pathways include: (1) high-school-level education and training courses; (2) partnerships that transition paraeducators, aides, and substitute teachers into teaching; and (3) teacher residencies. The program intends to provide funding for LEAs and Education Service Centers (ESCs) to develop GYO programs that comprehensively recruit high school students, community members, and other school staff. To this end, the state requires that LEAs first establish a high school academy before they can access funding for the other pathways. Funding for Pathway 2 provides participants with stipends and/or tuition reimbursements to attain a bachelor’s degree and their teaching credential. Pathway 3 also provides stipends for students during their clinical training to reduce the financial burden associated with preparation and gives districts access to additional instructional staff they would not otherwise be able to afford.
The program’s fourth cycle (2021–23) has allocated $1.25 million for the stipends of high school education and training course teachers, implementation of education and training programs throughout the LEA, and stipends and/or tuition reimbursement for candidates. The 2019–21 cycle funded certification for more than 150 paraeducators, residencies for 100 teacher candidates, and expanded education programs for 52 high school students. The program is also notable for requiring aspiring grantees to demonstrate the ability to sustain their program beyond the grant and coordinate multiple, existing resources at various levels to ensure programs are financially supported.
Washington State Pathways for Paraeducators
Washington has established a number of supports for GYO preparation programs. The state’s Pipeline for Paraeducators Conditional Loan Scholarship Program provides classified instructional staff who have at least 1 year of classroom experience with financial support (up to $4,000 in exchange for a 2-year teaching service commitment, or 1 year if teaching in a shortage area) to pursue their Associate of Arts degree to qualify for, enroll in, and complete an alternative route program.
In addition, the state’s Alternative Route Block Grant helps expand GYO programs by providing funding for alternative route preparation programs and conditional loan scholarships for candidates. In 2017, $1.8 million in block grant funds were awarded to nine GYO programs. One grant recipient, Highline Public Schools, has created a pipeline program to support paraprofessional staff who are bilingual to become certificated teachers with an elementary education endorsement before serving as a teacher of record. Participants receive $8,000 per year for 2 years in a conditional loan scholarship while earning their B.A. and teaching credential. The loan is then repaid with 2 years of certificated teaching service in Washington. Additional programs and policies from Washington are cited throughout the Playbook, including in Chapters 1 and 5, and highlight the state’s progress in supporting a well-prepared and racially diverse teacher workforce.
Source: Clemson University Call Me MISTER, 2021.
Call Me MISTER, South Carolina
The Call Me MISTER program was founded in 2000 to increase the pool of highly effective Black educators in South Carolina’s public schools to serve their communities as mentors and role models. Less than two percent of public school teachers in the U.S. are Black men, and less than one percent of South Carolina’s public elementary school teachers are Black men. The program began at Clemson University in partnership with three private, Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) with the goal of supporting diverse students in teacher preparation programs. Since its inception, the program has grown to include 20 colleges and universities and nine national partner schools.
The program provides a full set of supports to participants, including academic and financial supports, social and cultural support, and professional development opportunities. In return, a program graduate must teach in a public school in South Carolina 1 year for every year for which they receive a scholarship from the program. Since 2004, the program has supported 221 fully credentialed Black men who have gone through teacher education programs and earned an early childhood, elementary, middle, or special education degree and a certificate to teach at the elementary level. Among the graduates since 2004, 95% are still in the classroom. The other 5% are either principals, assistant principals, or working in education in some capacity. Furthermore, 90% of the program graduates are still in South Carolina, and the program continues to expand its alumni network.
2+2 Programs and Teacher Preparation Course Articulation Agreements
Teacher preparation programs can also increase recruitment efforts by partnering with community colleges to create degree-articulation agreements. For rural communities, which often do not have a nearby 4-year university, local community colleges can support the teacher pipeline through innovative programs that leverage these articulation agreements.
Hinds Community College and Delta State University 2+2 Program
The 2+2 program is a partnership between Hinds Community College (HCC) and Delta State University that offers junior- and senior-level courses for a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. Students attending college in Central Mississippi and wishing to complete their elementary education degree can take classes at a designated Hinds campus through traditional classroom, videoconferencing, and online options. Because of the large number of students of color enrolled in community colleges—between 50% and 70% in the United States, by some estimates[69] such partnerships can attract more candidates of color to the teaching profession.
Stone Child College
Stone Child College (SCC) is a tribal community college of the Chippewa Cree Tribe in Montana. The college offers associate degrees in early childhood education and elementary education. These degrees simultaneously prepare candidates for employment as paraprofessionals and for transfer to a 4-year education program. The college’s associate degree program stresses the importance of preserving the Chippewa Cree language, culture, and history. Through a 2007 articulation agreement with Montana State University-Northern (MSU-Northern), SCC’s education courses are accepted at MSU-Northern.
Source: Leeward Community College Teacher Preparation, 2021.
Leeward Community College
In Oahu, HI, low-income communities across the island have faced ongoing shortages of qualified educators. Historically, schools with high turnover have relied on importing teachers from the continental United States to fill positions. Responding to the challenge of finding a sustainable solution to staffing needs, Leeward Community College established 2+2 teacher preparation partnerships with local partner institutions of higher education to grow their own teachers from within their communities where shortages are most acute. As the community college partner, Leeward prepares candidates during their first 2 years of schooling.
Established in 2006, Leeward’s intensive Associate in Arts in Teaching (AAT) offers candidates—predominantly from underrepresented communities, and Native Hawaiian communities in particular—the option to become paraeducators or continue to a 4-year university to earn a credential. Numerous field experiences, practical case studies, and multilayered supports are hallmarks of the program. These include peer mentors for struggling students, dedicated counselors committed to each student’s success, and multiple submissions of case study work to ensure students understand content deeply. Leeward has seen ballooning enrollment over the past decade—from 24 to 500 students—in a period when teacher preparation enrollment is declining nationally. The program’s annual funding has grown from $10,000 to $2.64 million generated through private and federal grants.
In 2018, Leeward expanded its efforts to support Native Hawaiians entering the teaching profession through a partnership with Ka Lama Education Academy and Nānākuli Elementary School. The Nānākuli Educational Assistant (EA) to Teacher Pilot Program is specifically designed to address the chronic shortage of special education teachers across Hawaii. It provides participating educational assistants with an accelerated, site-based bachelor’s degree in k–12 special education.