Develop high-retention pathways — Grow Your Own programs and teacher residencies — to build and diversify local teacher supply¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 4 studies (3 qualitative, 1 design), q2 · 0 of 4 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The report describes GYO programs that "recruit local community members into teaching, including high school students, paraprofessionals, after-school program staff, and others," often using state funding for tuition reimbursement as classified staff earn credentials. Teacher residencies are "1-year intensive apprenticeships modeled on medical residency programs" in which residents apprentice with an expert teacher for a full academic year, then receive 2 years of mentoring and typically a stipend and tuition assistance in exchange for a 3- to 4-year teaching commitment in a high-need subject and location. District leaders noted both approaches were important for recruiting more teachers of color.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• State funding such as the Classified School Employee Credentialing Program for tuition reimbursement; district–university partnerships for residencies

Constraints¶

• Well-established programs are needed to anticipate new-teacher supply; at least one district was still working to launch a new residency program

Target Learners¶

• Classified school employees, substitutes, paraprofessionals, and local community members becoming teachers

Target Learning Goals¶

• Full teaching credentials; retention in high-need subjects and schools; a more diverse teacher workforce

Claims¶

• Alder residency graduates show higher 3-year same-LEA retention than teachers prepared through other pathways in the same LEAs [+W]
• CSUB residency participants are more racially diverse than California's general teacher population and better reflect the diversity of CSUB's student body than other credentialing pathways [+W]
• University of Houston residency completers retain in teaching at rates above state averages (93% after year one; 3- and 5-year retention 10 and 7 points above state averages for the 2019 cohort) [+W]
• All six studied high-certification districts partner with at least one teacher residency program and at least one Grow Your Own program [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Grow-your-own teacher training programs targeting community members facing certification and career-change barriers
• Build high-retention, supportive pathways into teaching for candidates of color
• Establish high-retention preparation pathways—residencies, Grow Your Own models, service scholarships, and mentoring/induction—to stem turnover in high-need subjects and schools
• Grow-your-own and recruitment initiatives: alternative programs, Minority Serving Institutions, high-school pipeline programs, and district human-capital efforts to diversify the teacher workforce.
• Offer targeted service scholarships, loan forgiveness, and 1-year postbaccalaureate residency programs to rapidly expand the supply of well-prepared teachers in shortage fields and locations
• Deploy service scholarships, loan forgiveness, and teacher residencies to staff high-need fields and schools
• State and federal policy recommendations: recruit and prepare more candidates, retain new teachers through early-career mentoring, and improve working conditions
• Build an after-school/out-of-school-time pipeline into teaching to diversify the teacher workforce
• Recruit classified school employees into teacher credentialing with braided funds plus individualized financial and non-financial supports
• Build a diverse teacher pipeline through Grow Your Own grants, teacher academies, scholarships, MSI investment, and residency pathways
• Diversify the educator workforce through Grow Your Own programs, scholarships, and retention supports
• Build diverse school leader pipelines through HBCU/HSI preparation partnerships, transparent diversity data, equitable hiring supports, affinity networks, and Grow Your Own teacher pathways
• Form partnerships with community organizations, higher education, and CTE programs to expand emergency staffing and build the talent pipeline
• Retain teachers of color through leadership pipelines, multi-year induction and mentoring, and culturally responsive school climates
• Districts respond to shortages with teacher preparation and pathway strategies, especially partnerships coordinating student teaching and residency placements
• Use Teacher Residency Grant Program funds, braided with other sources, to recruit and retain a diverse teaching workforce
• Fund Grow Your Own programs to recruit more candidates of color than traditional educator preparation programs attract
• District investment of LCFF funds in residency stipends written into Local Control and Accountability Plans as a workforce development strategy
• Recruit residency candidates locally from the communities they will teach in, with LEA partners participating in admissions
• Deploy a portfolio of research-based strategies — service scholarships, residencies, Grow Your Own programs, mentoring and induction, and compensation reform — to strengthen the teacher pipeline
• Program-leader recommendations for strengthening teacher apprenticeship experiences

Examples¶

• California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program — state funding for tuition reimbursement of classified staff becoming teachers

Key Sources¶

• Carver-Thomas, D., Burns, D., Leung, M., & Ondrasek, N. (2022). Teacher shortages during the pandemic: How California districts are responding. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/899.809