Resources & Tools: Prepared To Teach

Transforming the Teacher Development Trajectory

Teacher preparation should serve as an on-ramp for aspiring teachers, not a hurdle to be jumped en route to the classroom. Residencies based on deep partnerships create supportive structures that give candidates the resources they need to be successful while deepening the culture of teaching and learning for all of the educators involved in the preparation process.

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Our Quality Principles for Teacher Preparation

Teacher preparation quality frameworks share many features, even as aspects of how to define and measure quality remain contested. For Prepared To Teach, we conceptualize quality around four non-negotiable tenets that should be present in addition to commonly accepted quality principles, such as continuous improvement and alignment with standards.

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A Working Definition of Teacher Residencies

Prepared To Teach has built a working definition of residencies that highlights key features of strong residencies from research and practice from across the country. It offers a framework for thinking about program curriculum, structural principles, and co-design approaches to meet local needs.

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Roles for Candidates in Classrooms

This animated PowerPoint presentation shows different models for integrating aspiring teachers into the classroom to help with instruction while furthering their own learning. With more than a dozen examples, it’s a helpful starting point for partnerships seeking to shift towards a more cohesive P-20 education system.

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Forming and Sustaining an Advisory Group

This slide deck outlines the basics of forming an effective advisory group to develop a strong residency partnership. By developing trust and collaborating on shared, mutually beneficial work, advisory groups can support both short-term and long-term partnership goals. The presentation includes supplementary notes on many slides.

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Using ESSER Funds to Support Teacher Residencies

Residencies are eligible for federal ESSER dollars. This document offers the research base and a logic model that districts can use to plan their use of ESSER dollars to support residencies. Long-term, using ESSER funding to establish residencies that address areas with high teacher turnover will result in financial sustainability for residencies. In all cases, well-designed residencies will improve instruction and educational outcomes for students.

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The ESSA Opportunity for Residencies

Residencies are eligible for all state and local funding because they fulfill the needs of P-12 students in meaningful ways—teacher residents lower student/teacher ratios, provide valuable small-group instruction, and support high-needs groups of students. In addition, federal dollars where they exist can support residencies. Prepared To Teach clarified guidance from the DOE to identify how federal funding can be applied to residency pathways. This brief document gives guidance on how districts can use these opportunities to integrate a pipeline of quality teachers and support school improvement initiatives.

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Roles for Candidates in Classrooms

This animated PowerPoint presentation shows different models for integrating aspiring teachers into the classroom to help with instruction while furthering their own learning. With more than a dozen examples, it’s a helpful starting point for partnerships seeking to shift towards a more cohesive P-20 education system.

View PowerPoint (ppt)

Substitute Teaching Models

Residents can be integrated into substitute teaching roles in a number of different ways. This table from Simple Shifts: Paying Aspiring Teachers With Existing Resources describes various models for resident substitute teaching along with considerations and benefits for partnerships.

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Integrating Residencies into Substitute Teaching

This one-page document illustrates the possibilities and benefits of having residents take on substitute teaching roles in a district. Dollars previously allocated to substitute teaching can be redirected toward candidate stipends while substitute teaching needs are largely met by the cohort of residents.

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Exploring District Investments in Residencies

This one-page document illustrates ways school districts can adjust existing funding streams to support teacher candidates during their residency year. Examples of include substitute teaching days for residents, professional development opportunities, and co-teaching alongside mentor teachers.

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Using ESSER Funds to Support Teacher Residencies

Residencies are eligible for federal ESSER dollars. This document offers the research base and a logic model that districts can use to plan their use of ESSER dollars to support residencies. Long-term, using ESSER funding to establish residencies that address areas with high teacher turnover will result in financial sustainability for residencies. In all cases, well-designed residencies will improve instruction and educational outcomes for students.

View Document

The ESSA Opportunity for Residencies

Residencies are eligible for all state and local funding because they fulfill the needs of P-12 students in meaningful ways—teacher residents lower student/teacher ratios, provide valuable small-group instruction, and support high-needs groups of students. In addition, federal dollars where they exist can support residencies. Prepared To Teach clarified guidance from the DOE to identify how federal funding can be applied to residency pathways. This brief document gives guidance on how districts can use these opportunities to integrate a pipeline of quality teachers and support school improvement initiatives.

View Document

View Guide

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Cost Savings for Long-Term Sustainability

Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new teachers is a major expense for districts across the country. Filling a vacancy in an urban school costs about $20,000—and most districts hire tens, if not hundreds, of new teachers each year. Often, those vacancies are caused by early-career teachers who leave after a year or two. Since residency-trained teachers stay in their positions longer, districts can reduce spending on turnover by hiring from a pipeline of residents. Over time, savings on recruitment and hiring costs can help sustain the residency program and create a self-renewing investment in teachers.

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There’s no one perfect way to design the financial aid portion of a preparation program’s website, but there are lots of great examples of effectively designed sites. Below are links to and descriptions of strong website features.

• Arizona State University (ASU): ASU’s financial aid page is separated into three digestible categories: “Money you don’t pay back,” “Money you pay back,” and “Money you earn.” Opportunities under each category feature a brief description and a link to more information for easy scanning and access.
• Michigan State University (MSU): MSU has a “Cost and Aid” section on their website that is graphically appealing and accessible. The page starts with average tuition costs and a cost calculator and then features three categories for financing education: “Need-Based Aid,” “Merit-Based Scholarships,” and “Student Employment.” The site includes a searchable database of MSU scholarships for students and provides links to scholarship search websites for external scholarships.
• Teachers College, Columbia University (TC): TC offers a robust set of information on how to apply, different types of aid, and resources. The “Types of Aid” section is particularly well-organized and separates aid into specific categories, differentiating between several types of loans, types of work study, and types of scholarships.
• University of Florida (UF): UF has a dedicated site for financial aid information and services. They feature a section on “The Process” to help students navigate finding aid, their own scholarship search engine for both internal and external scholarships, and many other features, such as cost calculators and financial wellness resources.
• University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS): UCCS’s “Cost and Financial Aid” section has prominent graphics and begins with a message about their commitment to keeping tuition affordable for students. The page also includes sections for calculating degree costs and for finding financial aid opportunities and scholarships. Their database of internal scholarships provides brief descriptions of each scholarship and is searchable by keywords and other filters.

Supporting Candidates’ Financial Needs

This document takes the affordability lessons found in our report, The Affordability Imperative: Creating Equitable Access to Quality Teacher Preparation, and offers preparation program leaders a set of guiding questions to help them find more ways to reduce the financial burdens of their aspiring teachers.

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Program Cost Tool

For a comprehensive look at a program budget, this Excel-based tool will estimate five years of costs and potential savings to assist in your immediate and long-term planning. Administrators or program leaders might find this especially helpful for considering shifts in teacher preparation programming.

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Creating Mutually Beneficial Partnerships

Two people living in different apartments pay separate rent and invest in separate furnishings. But when they move into a shared apartment, rent and furnishings become mutual responsibilities and benefits—each person sees a decrease in monthly rent, and they also have access to some extra resources, like a TV or stereo. Those benefits might come with some compromises or extra responsibilities, but each person sees long-term savings in return. Districts and preparation programs can take a similar approach to partnerships for residencies. When relationships are based in mutual trust and shared goals, all parties benefit.

Introduction to Creating a Strong, Inclusive Advisory Group

Designing a residency requires attention to both long-term and short-term planning processes, all of which should be overseen by an inclusive group of stakeholders. By working together, advisory boards can develop expectations for the program and quality placement sites for residents. This video shares Prepared To Teach’s perspective on creating a strong, inclusive advisory board to guide your work.

Forming and Sustaining an Advisory Group

This slide deck outlines the basics of forming an effective advisory group to develop a strong residency partnership. By developing trust and collaborating on shared, mutually beneficial work, advisory groups can support both short-term and long-term partnership goals. The presentation includes supplementary notes on many slides.

View PowerPoint (ppt)

Preparation Program and District Partnership Agreement Considerations

This document outlines key considerations to keep in mind when building a residency partnership. Articulating agreements can help clarify the responsibilities of each party—programs and schools or districts—as well as foster a shared understanding of the mutual goals and responsibilities the partnership wishes to embrace. Agreements can remain informal or can form the basis for a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). See a sample MOU below.

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Sample Residency Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

This residency partnership sample MOU can be edited and adapted in ways that best fit local partnerships’ needs and goals. The MOU includes collaborative goals and shared responsibilities, followed by specific program and district responsibilities.

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Resident Expectations and Agreements

This document outlines expectations that residency programs might want to make explicit for those who will be enrolling in the residency. Many of these considerations also would be included in formal agreements between individual residents and preparation partnerships, for example when residents must agree to serve as teachers in a district in exchange for receiving funding during the program. A sample agreement that incorporates these considerations is available below.

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Sample Formal Resident Agreement

This sample Resident Commitment Agreement is a skeleton for partnerships to use and edit in ways that best fit their needs. This formal contract model not only embeds expectations for the residency but also sets out terms for residents’ receipt of financial supports during the residency, such as agreements to take positions in a district once they have completed the program.

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