Why Residencies?

US PREP Residencies

Hear from Residents Themselves

Graduates from four different US PREP Coalition universities speak out about the positive impact of yearlong, paid residencies and high-quality preparation on them and their students.

These graduates, each from scaled and sustained residencies atTexas Tech University, University of Houston, University of Texas El Paso, and University of Texas Permian Basin, reflect in this video series on how paid residency has transformed their trajectories and those of their students as a result of a more robust, rigorous, and quality teacher preparation experience.

Watch and share the testimonials of these amazing educators as further proof of the positive impact and power of paid, yearlong, residencies and the US PREP transformed model.

Why Yearlong Teacher Residencies?

Fast-Track Pathways are Not Working

Fast Track Pathways create a dependency on novice teachers, result in poorly prepared teachers, and perpetuate inequities for Pk-12 students and communities.*¹

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¹ Bank Street College of Education. (2021, April). The Residency Revolution: Funding High-Quality Teacher Preparation.

Jessica Cardichon et al., “Inequitable Opportunity to Learn: Student Access to Certified and Experienced Teachers” (Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute, 2020).

Marder, M., Reyes, P., Marshall, J., Alexander, C., Martinez, C. R., & Maloch, B. (2022). Texas educator preparation pathways study: Developing and sustaining the Texas educator workforce (p. 10). University of Texas at Austin College of Education.

Residencies Decrease Need for Novice Teachers and Save Money

In a study focused on Texas Teacher Prep - Educational Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC) found that if beginning teachers who completed a traditional or alternative entry program had the same retention rates as those who completed a yearlong residency, Texas would have needed 8,000 fewer ‘first-year teachers’ over this four-year period. An investment in the residency model would save Texas’ schools over $40 million in hiring and induction costs each year.²

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² Learning Policy Institute (2017). What’s the Cost of Teacher Turnover. Retrieved from: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/the-cost-of-teacher-turnover

Residencies Increase Retention of PK-12 Teachers

Those who completed a yearlong residency were 7 percentage points more likely than teachers prepared in a traditional preparation program (92.2% vs 85.0%) and nearly 11 percentage points more likely than teachers prepared in an alternative certification program (92.2% vs 81.5%) to return for a 3rd year of teaching in Texas public schools.³

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³ US PREP National Center & Educational Policy Initiative at Carolina. Houston Community of Practice Data, June 2022. Visualizations produced with Texas Education Agency 2018-2020 Employment, Certification, and TAPR data

Residencies Produce Significantly Better Outcomes for PK-12 Students

A study of Texas Tech’s Transformed Model showed that PK-12 students taught by residents exhibited stronger math performance and stronger reading scores (a statistically significant difference) compared to teachers prepared in other pathways.⁴

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⁴ Gottlieb, J. J., & Kirksey, J. (2022). Innovations in University-Based Teacher Preparation: Comparing the ‘Grow Your Own’ Alternative to the Traditional Program at Texas Tech. Lubbock, TX: The Center for Innovative Research in Change, Leadership, and Education.

Kailey
Tate

"I was really nervous about [classroom management] going into my residency, but I had so much support that when I went into the classroom this year I didn’t feel like a first year teacher, I felt like a veteran."

Holly McCandless

"The support that I was provided in the teacher residency program is going to be a big tool in helping keep teachers in the profession because they will be prepared, they will be competent, and they will know what they are doing."

Bella

Yeargo

"Getting the stipend was a really big deal for me… If I didn’t have the [paid residency] I don’t know how I would have made it through paying rent, paying all my bills."

Baohan

Phi

"Having this paid teacher residency [and] the experience that I have had; I’m very confident that I’m able to make a difference within my future classroom."