How a Residency Partnership Increased Applicants by 5000% 

By Karen DeMoss

In one year, Virginia Commonwealth University’s RTR Teacher Residency increased their applicant pool in one school division (Virginia’s name for districts) by 5000% — from an average of six applicants in previous years to over 300. What made the difference? In 2023, VCU and Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) advertised a groundbreaking new residency offering: A $43,000 salary, plus comprehensive benefits. 

“It’s not that people don’t want to go into education—It’s that they don’t want to go into debt,” Kim McKnight, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Teacher Leadership and Executive Director of RTR at VCU said. “It was really encouraging to see such a big increase in applicants.” 

Prepared to Teach: How New Mexico is Building Its Path 

By Karen DeMoss

This two-day convening on May 30-31, 2024 in Albuquerque, NM, will explore concrete, synergistic actions based on the Prepared to Teach model to produce positive, mutually reinforcing transformations in the teacher preparation ecosystem. 

Day 1 of this convening will review New Mexico’s robust, supportive public and policy environment for teacher preparation transformation. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore key approaches for shifting public narratives about teacher preparation and education, using new and existing data to build political will for residency funding, and framing policies that support ecosystem shifts. 

Prepared To Teach Releases ‘3 Rs’ Reports on Sustainably Funded Teacher Preparation

By Karen DeMoss and Gretchen Mills

Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

AACTE members have been working to strengthen clinical practice for years, with examples from all across the country—many highlighted in EdPrepMatters each month—of how partnerships between universities and P-12 districts can build great foundations for those aspiring to enter teaching.  A dilemma exists for many programs, though, when they increase clinical practice requirements: Candidates—particularly those from under-represented backgrounds[1]—can face financial barriers if clinical placements don’t offer funding to help them fully engage their learning.  As Prepared To Teach shared last month through the release of a survey on teacher candidates’ financial burdens, many individuals must either work excessive hours outside of their placements and coursework, or they resort to taking out huge burdens of debt. [2]

With over five years of work with universities, districts, and schools across the country, Prepared To Teach has developed a framework for thinking about how the field might make strong teacher preparation more affordable.  Our “3 Rs” of Sustainably Funded Teacher Preparation—Reduction, Reallocation, and (Re)Investment—can help local partnerships bring high quality preparation programs within reach for more aspiring teachers.

New Report Details Financial Challenges for Teacher Candidates

By Karen DeMoss and Gretchen Mills

Every institution knows that affordability is an important factor in attracting candidates into teacher preparation programs. During the 2019-20 school year, Prepared To Teach at Bank Street College conducted a survey of more than 1,200 aspiring teachers at 12 institutions across seven states to understand their financial situations. Our first report on the survey findings, #MoreLearningLessDebt: Voices of Aspiring Teachers on Why Money Matters, unpacks the financial anxiety felt by so many aspiring teachers and makes recommendations to alleviate that anxiety through research, practice, and policy.