On Wednesday, May 30, ERS in cooperation with the Louisiana Department of Education, the University of Lousiana at Monroe, Northwestern State University, and West Carroll and Catahoula Parishes, presented preliminary work on teacher residencies in rural school systems. The work demonstrates how school systems can reorganize their resources to provide innovative sheltered roles and increased professional learning opportunities to their new and novice teachers, especially those who are not yet certified instructors.
The tools below represent the work ERS recently completed to support a cohort of school systems in implementing their teacher residency programs. They are meant to allow school and district leaders to explore different approaches to providing shelter and development to new teachers, see how other schools have implemented these programs, and model strategies to make this program cost-neutral in your own system.
A teacher residency is a period of pre-service training where teacher candidates have sheltered, simplified roles and ample practice-based development opportunities. This allows them to a period of preparation that aims to increase their effectiveness before they become teachers of record, and, by setting them up to be effective in their roles, increases the likelihood of their retention.
Our Residency Design Workbook includes three potential approaches to designing a residency and helps you explore how a teacher candidate might experience each model.
Ready to start planning? Download our Residency Design Planning Tool and User's Manual to help you decide what shelter and development opportunities you should give your candidates and what shifts you can make in your school design to ensure your strategy is cost-neutral.
ASCD's InService blog New Teachers: An Asset in the Quest to Increase Student Achievement?