As students head back to school, we’re considering how Texas can bring the best teachers into its classrooms. Residency programs can help, like the new partnership between Dallas ISD and the University of North Texas at Dallas.
Last month, the university announced a program that pairs five senior education students with mentors to spend the entire school year teaching in Dallas ISD classrooms and gaining hands-on experience.
Recent discussions about the high number of uncertified teachers in Texas schools underscore the need to provide better opportunities for future teachers to learn the basics before heading into the classroom on their own. Residency programs seem like a sensible approach. These initiatives are not new, but more districts can benefit from partnerships with local colleges and universities.
According to UNT, teachers who participate in the UNT program will receive $30,000 annually with full pay. Dallas ISD officials say they fund this program with special revenue earmarked for supporting new teachers. It is currently a pilot program, but they hope to have it reviewed and approved by the state, the release said.
The Texas Teacher Vacancy Task Force, created to provide insights on how the state can address the ongoing teacher shortage, said in a report last year that intensive teacher training through residency programs could lead to a system in which there are no more first-year teachers without teaching experience. The task force called on the state to create and fund a residency curriculum.
About 20 to 30 percent of new teachers leave the profession within the first five years, according to a 2016 study, with turnover rates even higher in impoverished districts. Residency programs can improve retention, with 70 to 80 percent of teachers staying in the same district for the same period of time, the study found.
Student success depends in no small part on the quality of teachers. Texas should expand the pool of new teachers who have teaching experience and are likely to stay in the profession longer to improve children’s outcomes, no matter where they live. That just sounds like a smart investment.
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