The program will recruit academically talented, diverse individuals from under-represented groups – for example, returning Peace Corps volunteers, veterans from the Armed Forces, and mid-career changers—and transform them into exemplary, highly qualified teachers who can capably meet the needs of children and youth in high-need, urban school districts such as New York City.

The TC program blends university-based teacher preparation with deep engagement in schools  said A. Lin Goodwin, TC’s Associate Dean for Teacher Education and School-Based Support, who is principal investigator on the grant and will direct the program. “Students will be placed full-time in  classrooms, but – unlike alternative certification programs -- not as the teacher of record. They will be apprentices, working alongside an experienced teacher for a year.”

In a program similar to a medical residency, teaching residents will work with an experienced and exemplary practitioner and mentor who will provide ongoing instruction, feedback, and guidance. At the same time, in a blending of practice and theory, residents will engage in graduate coursework, professional study and education activities that are closely connected to classroom practice, school professional learning communities, district curriculum and learning standards, and students’ needs.

Residents will receive a substantial scholarship to TC, plus a $22,500 annual stipend and health insurance. After completing the program and attaining certification, they will be required to teach for at least three more years in a high-need school—preferably in New York City. During their first two years of service, they will be assigned an Induction Mentor to further guide and assist their development, ensure the success, and increase the retention of new teachers in high-need schools.

The first year of the funding cycle, beginning immediately, will go to planning, hiring and developing curriculum, Goodwin said. The goal is to place 20 residents beginning next September, 40 the following year, and 60 for each of the final two years of funding.

Teachers College is one of 28 colleges and universities receiving a total of $43 million through a federal program, Teacher Quality Partnership grants. Announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Education, the grants are aimed at reforming traditional teacher preparation and teacher residency programs. Through an additional $100 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, a second round of TQP grants will be announced in early 2010, the DOE said.

Other features of the TC program include:

• Collaboration with partners including NYC public schools and educators, school leaders, TC’s teacher education and Arts and Sciences faculty, and community-based organizations;
• innovative curricula that will prepare teaching residents to address the complex needs of students in high-need schools;
• professional development of teachers and leaders in partnership schools whose principals will have gone through TC’s prestigious Cahn Fellowship leadership program for New York City public school principals.

Published Friday, Oct. 2, 2009