Sustain paid residencies through strategic staffing that reallocates resident instructional support roles¶

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

Description¶

The report describes strategic staffing as reconfiguring educator positions so that residents take on instructional support responsibilities such as substitute teaching or tutoring; the money saved when residents fill these roles is reallocated toward resident stipends. This was the intended mechanism for sustaining paid residencies after TCLAS funding ended, supported by technical assistance that trained regional Education Service Center staff to build statewide capacity.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• District adoption of a strategic staffing model to free up sustainable residency funding
• Technical assistance for districts adopting staffing models

Constraints¶

• In smaller and more rural districts, funding freed by strategic staffing was insufficient to continue stipends at the $20,000 TCLAS level

Target Learners¶

• Teacher residents and the districts employing them

Target Learning Goals¶

• Sustaining paid, clinically intensive teacher preparation pipelines

Claims¶

• Strategic staffing freed insufficient funds to sustain $20,000 stipends in some smaller and rural districts [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Reallocate existing district roles and budget lines—substitute teaching, paraeducator positions, and extended-day staffing—to fund and pay residents
• Strategic staffing models that redirect district instructional-support funds to subsidize paid residency stipends
• Employ residency residents as the second adult in TK classrooms using assistant teacher or paraprofessional budget lines

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