Exploring Whether and How Teacher Residencies Offer a Different Kind of Preparation

Abstract

The past two decades have seen the rise of the residency model, another nontraditional pathway to certification that offers an intensive, practice-based, context-specific preparation designed to address shortages in hard-to-staff districts. Although advocates call the model innovative, research examining residencies at scale warrants skepticism around whether they truly offer a distinctive preparation. In this paper, we survey all programs across Tennessee about their adoption of features that characterize the model.

Key Findings

1. Residencies reported longer clinical placements, more financial support for residents, and higher rates of mentor training, though they mostly did not report unique practices of candidate recruitment, district partnership, mentor selection, or curricular design.
2. Moreover, we see that the distinctiveness of the model is in decline, with evidence of its dilution among newer residencies and the spread of its features among traditional programs.

Suggested Citation