Overview:
This groundbreaking program is poised to help transform how we recruit and train teachers fro teacher residency programs.
Enhanced Standard Certificate for Teacher Residents
Once again, Texas is on the cutting edge of teacher recruitment and retention. On Friday, April 12, 2024, the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) led the country by becoming the first state to distinguish teachers prepared by vetted teacher residency programs. Those residents will bestow the distinction of an Enhanced Standard Certificate, designating the successful completion of a high-quality, yearlong teacher residency program. The purpose of this distinction is to create awareness for school administrators who are working to staff their campuses.
The ultimate desire is that they focus on hiring teachers who have successfully grappled with the complexities of the profession, engaging in rigorous coursework, classroom experiences, effective mentorship, and certification test preparation. The goal is to recognize the unique experiences of those who successfully complete effective teacher residencies and the clear delineation that separates them from prospective teachers who have not participated in a comparable experience.
Stakeholder Testimonies
Teachers, education preparation program leaders, and other educational stakeholders flocked to Austin, Texas, to inform the SBEC of the unique traits residency teachers possess. They spoke about the exclusive opportunities residencies provided prospective teachers who had not been a part of past teacher preparation models. Speakers informed the board of the impact of the newly designed residency experience and its tremendous effect on teacher quality and retention. Teacher residents earn a moderate salary, while honing their teacher talents, alongside an effective mentor teacher, as they receive and implement feedback, plan and deliver effective and engaging lessons and practice a plethora of essential skills, that are true indicators of teacher success.
SBEC member Josue Tamarez, a State of Texas Master Teacher who served as the Chairperson for the Teacher Vacancy Task Force, which made the recommendations necessary to move the Texas educational system forward after COVID, was instrumental in ensuring the Enhanced Standard Certificate became a reality. He believed the recognition was necessary because of the authentic narratives from teachers and campus administrators who shared that there were resounding differences between teachers prepared through a residency and those not. Building and sustaining high-quality teacher residencies is important to Tamarez because of his learning experiences as an immigrant from Colombia.
He is committed to ensuring students of color in disinvested communities do not continue to experience ineffective teachers and high teacher turnover. He knows, all too well, the unfavorable and lingering impact those factors have on student achievement. In his reasoning for supporting the certificate, he said, “I am convinced that focusing on high quality teacher preparation, and acknowledging the value of residency models, benefits all our Texas students, especially the ones in our low-income communities.”
Texas Teacher Apprenticeships and Residencies
As one of the first of ten states to introduce the teacher apprenticeship, since the state of Tennessee entered into the unprecedented space in 2022, Texas has proven that it is committed to engaging in trailblazing measures to attract, cultivate, and retain effective teachers in the state. In 2022, Dallas College, the largest community college system in the State of Texas, took on the monumental feat of registering the state’s first teacher apprenticeship through the United States Department of Labor. The college’s School of Education team led the new venture by collaborating with internal and external workforce development and educational stakeholders to secure the funding necessary to support rigorous, high-quality, yearlong teacher residencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis, tremendously increasing the number of teachers of color to meet the dire needs of school systems across the area.
Impacts of COVID on Teaching
As the country continues to contend with the detrimental impact on education after the COVID-19 Pandemic, school systems, and stakeholders have had to become increasingly creative in their approaches to strategic staffing. It has become very challenging to staff schools and, more importantly, identify, train, and retain effective teachers who want to make the classroom their ‘forever home.’ As state educational officials analyze their efforts and consider the next steps, they must consider what Texas has done to make its residency completers stand out in school systems.
Call to Action
In every other respected profession, tangible milestones can be achieved as prospective candidates approach licensure. This has not been true for those who have chosen the teacher pathway in the past. Now that Texas has created a system to begin the incremental recognition system for prospective teachers and distinguish them from those who don’t engage in a high-quality yearlong residency, the goal is for other states to follow the lead.
The hope is that educational stakeholders across the country will acknowledge the incomparable value of practicing key teaching skills under the tutelage of an effective mentor teacher. Decision-makers must have a deep understanding of the impact of teacher residencies on teacher efficacy and retention compared to teachers who do not engage in a rigorous residency experience. Now that we have the data to support the undeniable force that teacher residencies have become, we must implore leaders to identify opportunities to support the residency infrastructure through designations and, eventually, increase teacher residency pay.
Only one question remains. Which state is next?