This book outlines a model for a teacher residency and how to establish a yearlong residency within an educator preparation program. It describes the four-year experiences of stakeholders at Tarleton State University but can be used as a step-by-step guide, in whole or in part, to transforming teacher preparation at any university. After a brief description of the “traditional” clinical model and why a university may look to make a change, the book offers a roadmap for the entire process of moving to a residency model. The chapters provide detailed explanations of how to build mutually beneficial partnerships with school districts, utilize co-teaching models, and create revised roles for cooperating teachers, teacher-residents, university and district leaders, and site coordinators. Contributing authors also cover change processes (successes and failures), funding models, scaling, sustainability, data collection, and evidence of effectiveness. Based on Tarleton’s recognition as one of the fastest-scaling residency programs and most complete transformations to date, the tools presented offer any teacher prep program the opportunity to make the leap to a residency model. This resource is also ideal for school district leaders seeking guidance on building or enhancing existing partnerships with universities, and for in-service teachers interested in discovering new co-teaching models.

“A significant contribution to understanding the interaction among teachers, students, the environment, and the content of learning” (Herbert Kohl, education advocate and author). What is at work in the mind of a five-year-old explaining the game of tag to a new friend? What is going on in the head of a thirty-five-year-old parent showing a first-grader how to button a coat? And what exactly is happening in the brain of a sixty-five-year-old professor discussing statistics with a room full of graduate students? While research about the nature and science of learning abounds, shockingly few insights into how and why humans teach have emerged—until now. Countering the dated yet widely held presumption that teaching is simply the transfer of knowledge from one person to another, The Teaching Brain weaves together scientific research and real-life examples to show that teaching is a dynamic interaction and an evolutionary cognitive skill that develops from birth to adulthood. With engaging, accessible prose, Harvard researcher Vanessa Rodriguez reveals what it actually takes to become an expert teacher. At a time when all sides of the teaching debate tirelessly seek to define good teaching—or even how to build a better teacher—The Teaching Brain upends the misguided premises for how we measure the success of teachers. “A thoughtful analysis of current educational paradigms . . . Rodriguez’s case for altering pedagogy to match the fluctuating dynamic forces in the classroom is both convincing and steeped in common sense.” —Publishers Weekly

In Fall 2009 and Spring 2010, 30 teaching residency programs received funding through one of 28 Teacher Quality partnership grants awarded to establish or expand residency programs. These programs follow a model of teacher preparation in which prospective teachers complete graduate-level coursework alongside a year-long fieldwork experience in the district in which the prospective teacher will be hired. This report provides descriptive information regarding the 30 residency programs. For a purposefully-selected subset of 12 of the programs, in-depth information is provided regarding program participants and the retention rates of teachers once hired by the district. The residency programs provided a fieldwork experience with a mentor teacher, along with integrated coursework. On average, residents reported being fully in charge of instruction for 21 days during the first half of the residence and 37 days during the second half. The programs included the equivalent of 10 courses, on average. The programs somewhat broadened the pool of people entering the teaching profession in the participating districts. For example, novice teachers from the residency programs were more likely than teachers from other programs to report having worked in a full-time job other than teaching (72 percent versus 63 percent). However, novice residency program teachers and teachers from other preparation programs had similar demographic characteristics. Novice teachers from residency programs had similar retention rates to other novice teachers. Approximately 90 percent of teachers from both groups reported staying in the same district from spring 2012 to fall 2012; about 5 percent of teachers were no longer teaching. [For the full report, see ED548234.].

In Fall 2009 and Spring 2010, 30 teaching residency programs received funding through one of 28 Teacher Quality partnership grants awarded to establish or expand residency programs. These programs follow a model of teacher preparation in which prospective teachers complete graduate-level coursework alongside a year-long fieldwork experience in the district in which the prospective teacher will be hired. This report provides descriptive information regarding the 30 residency programs. For a purposefully-selected subset of 12 of the programs, in-depth information is provided regarding program participants and the retention rates of teachers once hired by the district. The residency programs provided a fieldwork experience with a mentor teacher, along with integrated coursework. On average, residents reported being fully in charge of instruction for 21 days during the first half of the residence and 37 days during the second half. The programs included the equivalent of 10 courses, on average. The programs somewhat broadened the pool of people entering the teaching profession in the participating districts. For example, novice teachers from the residency programs were more likely than teachers from other programs to report having worked in a full-time job other than teaching (72 percent versus 63 percent). However, novice residency program teachers and teachers from other preparation programs had similar demographic characteristics. Novice teachers from residency programs had similar retention rates to other novice teachers. Approximately 90 percent of teachers from both groups reported staying in the same district from spring 2012 to fall 2012; about 5 percent of teachers were no longer teaching. Additional information on teaching residency programs, their participants, and novice teachers is appended. [For the Executive Summary, see ED548235.].

Why are preservice teachers often told by veteran teachers to "forget what you learned" in teacher preparation programs? Why is there a gap between pedagogical practices employed at schools and those taught at colleges and universities? And why, after evidence from countless studies, are there still so few teachers of color working in our rapidly diversifying schools? These questions are addressed in this book, which describes a reconceptualized teacher preparation program based on a teacher residency model. This model is grounded in three core beliefs: first, that teacher quality is a shared responsibility between universities and school districts; second, that all students have a right to high-quality teachers who are as racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse as the students they teach; and third, that for education to be transformative, future educators must have the right balance of theoretical knowledge and practical experiences grounded in specific contexts. Through a combination of rich description and qualitative and quantitative program data, the authors make the case that university programs focused on the communities they serve can ensure more effective, learner-ready teachers who remain in the profession longer. By providing a detailed blueprint for program development, the contents of this book will be of value and interest to educational leaders, policy makers, and researchers.

This book collates the practitioner stories of university-school partnerships for the renewal of educator preparation (US PREP) teacher preparation programs across the nation, documenting the programs’ efforts to enact scaled transformative practices within their institutions. Examples include the way in which educators engage multiple stakeholders in program improvement, transform the clinical preparation of teacher candidates, develop measures of program success, and create the conditions for transformative change. Each chapter highlights the efforts of one or more of US PREP’s 32 university-based teacher preparation coalition programs. Together, the chapters offer insight into how a national coalition can effectively support transformation at the local level while creating opportunities for multilayered collaboration within and across institutions. Contributors include teacher educators and educational leaders, and topics of chapters include using data for program decision-making; applying a change management model; establishing governance over school-university partnerships; developing a vision of teaching shared between universities and school districts; promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; and improving teacher and teacher educator professional development. Chapters also present solutions for some of the most prominent challenges in teacher education program improvement, including faculty engagement, stakeholder collaboration, university policy alignment, and state and national accreditation. Designed as a textbook, this book provides a series of guiding questions after each chapter to promote further reflection and discussion. Ideal for teacher educators, educational leaders, school practitioners, and graduate students of education, this book offers insider information that can help these stakeholders to better facilitate collaboration and participation in the improvement, scale, and sustainability of clinically rich and culturally diverse teacher preparation.

The San Francisco Teacher Residency case is one of seven that form the basis for the arguments and analyses presented in Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning. Each case outlines the context, vision, and practices guiding a particular program’s enactment, and includes sample curricula, assessment and feedback forms, and the program details that have contributed to its success. The cases are valuable reading for educators involved in developing teacher candidates who are self-directed, collaborative, social justice–focused, and prepared to meet the needs of today’s students and a changing society.