Pathways Alliance to Release Seminal Report Defining Teacher Residency Programs
The Pathways Alliance, a coalition of education organizations dedicated to supporting and implementing diverse and inclusive educator preparation pipelines, announces the release of their latest report, “Towards a National Definition of Teacher Residencies.” Based on input from teacher residency programs and other education leaders from across the country, this groundbreaking first-of-its-kind report offers a condensed yet thorough definition to guide policies that can support high-quality residencies to attract, prepare, and retain a robust and diverse teaching workforce. The report was written by the Pathways Alliance Teacher Residency Working Group, co-chaired by the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) and Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College. The working group participants included state education departments, educator preparation programs, and national nonprofit organizations. In addition, more than 40 organizations gave feedback and reviewed the report and definition.
“It was wonderful working with colleagues from the nation for the last six months on this much-needed document. Input from states, districts, professional groups, and different kinds of preparation programs helped us achieve our two main goals: advancing a definition that centers on important features of high-quality residencies and ensuring the definition would be relevant and useful for a wide range of local realities and preparation pathways,” said Karen DeMoss, Executive Director, Prepared To Teach at Bank Street College.
The Pathways Alliance focuses on creating consensus on a national-level definition for practitioners and policymakers to provide a framework for local stakeholders to bring the best of evidence-based practices to aiding residency program development, address ongoing teacher shortages and bring together decades of research on enhancing stability and support in the teaching profession.
“I’m grateful to the working group and our colleagues in the field who shared their time and expertise to help define teacher residencies. This shared definition will help bring clarity to the field on the use of the term ‘teacher residency,'” said Jill Pitner, Chief Growth Officer at NCTR. “Our hope is that the paper supports local stakeholder discussions about residency design and improvement, as well as provides local, state, and federal leaders a condensed yet thorough definition to guide policies that can support high-quality residencies to attract, prepare, and retain a strong, diverse teaching workforce.”
To launch this report, the Pathways Alliance will hold a webinar on Thursday, August 11th, 1 pm- 2 pm EST. Register Here
For more information, visit the Pathways Alliance website and read the report.
The Pathways Alliance is an uncommon coalition of leading education organizations dedicated to supporting and implementing diverse and inclusive educator preparation pipelines, including teacher residency programs. Learn more at https://www.thepathwaysalliance.org.
Tags: diversity, inclusion, shortage, teacher quality
