Policy recommendations for sustaining and expanding teacher residencies¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 design), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Drawing on TCLAS implementation findings, the report recommends: continuing to require key features (full-year co-teaching placements, shared governance, specified educator roles); facilitating expansion by developing new EPP partners and allowing longer implementation timelines; building pipelines for mentor teachers and residency faculty; creating multidistrict residency consortia linked to Education Service Center technical assistance; offering matching grants and funding-braiding support for sustainability; and targeting support for rural and high-poverty districts where strategic staffing is insufficient.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• State guidance and coordination; district–EPP partnership capacity

Constraints¶

• Recommendations are focused on the Texas context, though the report states they can inform other states

Target Learners¶

• Teacher residents, mentor teachers, and residency faculty in K–12 partnerships

Target Learning Goals¶

• Sustainable, scaled teacher residency pipelines addressing shortages

Claims¶

• Placing a full cohort of 25 residents as co-teachers in one high-need elementary school coincided with schoolwide achievement gains in ELA and mathematics within one year. [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Form partnerships with community organizations, higher education, and CTE programs to expand emergency staffing and build the talent pipeline
• Reallocate existing district roles and budget lines—substitute teaching, paraeducator positions, and extended-day staffing—to fund and pay residents
• Sustain and expand residency pathways through maintained state grant funding, financial aid, apprenticeship structures, and technical assistance
• State policy levers for sustaining yearlong, stipended clinical preparation: require or incentivize full-year stipended clinical experience, fund partnerships, and reduce testing fees
• Sustain and expand California's teacher workforce investments: continued GSTG funding, residency sustainability, NBCT uptake studies, and better program data
• Five state policy actions to sustain and scale teacher residencies

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Wojcikiewicz, S. K., Ralph, K., Snyder, J., Bland, J. A., & Wechsler, M. E. (2025). Teacher residencies in Texas: Supporting successful implementation. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/630.675