Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1470295
Teacher residency programs develop strong relationships, centered on equity By Julian Peeples Educators of Tomorrow PREPARING THE veryone knows it takes a village to raise a child," says Esther Jaramillo-Woo, director of clinical education for the San Francisco Urban Teacher Residency program. "It also takes a village to raise a new teacher." As California continues to struggle with a dire teacher shortage, many districts are looking to teacher residency programs to build the edu- cator pipeline and provide new educators with extensive support systems, centering the train- ing in equity so they become the teachers their students need. Last July, Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $350 million in grant funding over the next ve years to expand and create teacher res- idency programs statewide to help ll shortages in areas like special education, kindergarten and computer science. While student teaching program placements often begin after the school year starts and end four months later, teacher residency programs provide aspiring educators with intensive support and preparation for a full school year in one classroom with the same students and mentor educator. e result is rst-year educators who have already spent a year as part of a school community, ready to hit the ground running with an extended support network so they never feel alone. "Teacher residency programs are such a wonderful way of bringing teachers into our profession," says Juliet Wahleithner, assistant director of teacher educa- tion at Fresno State University's Kremen School of Education and Human Development. According to the California Teacher Residency Lab, a program of the CDE Foundation, quality teacher residencies can prepare eective teachers who stay in the profession, helping to reduce high rates of teacher turnover that impact California's highest-need schools. Residencies also provide nancially feasible pathways for candidates and are more likely to recruit educators of color than other paths into teaching, according to the Learn- ing Policy Institute. "We are very intentional about recruiting residents of color, so they reect our students' cultural and linguistical diversity," Jaramillo-Woo says. Th e S an Franci sc o Urb an Teach er Re si d enc y P rogram (SFUTR) is a collaboration between San Francisco Unified Emma Nalchajian and her resident teacher Duncan Wanless. 20 cta.org Feature Esther Jaramillo-Woo