Multimodal Literacy and Creative Computing Badges in a Teacher Quality Partnership Residency Program

Introducing micro-credentialing into Lehman College's teacher residency program provides candidates with opportunities not afforded in Master's courses of study. Through the micro-credential offerings, residents learn to integrate literacy strategies and computational thinking across subject areas and grade levels. This chapter explores how micro-credentials validate non-credit “course” structures by linking content knowledge with pedagogy and theory with practice. The design and execution of both the micro-credentials described in the chapter make explicit connection between competencies and student learning.

Sensemaking of University and District Stakeholders in Implementing a Teacher Residency Policy in Louisiana

A growing body of research has identified teacher residency’s potentials for improving and sustaining preservice teacher learning through a stronger district–university partnership. Drawing on sensemaking perspectives on education policy implementation, this qualitative case study examines how a variety of university and district stakeholders make sense of and implement a state-mandated teacher residency in Louisiana. Findings reveal that stakeholders are primarily making sense of the residency in isolation, leading to incoherent understandings and varied implementation practices. Opportunities to improve stakeholders’ collective sensemaking and collaborative implementation and to optimize the benefits and potentials of teacher residency partnerships are discussed. This study has implications for teacher education policy implementation and continuous inquiry into the complexities of teacher preparation.

Examining Project-Based Learning Successes and Challenges of Mathematics Preservice Teachers in a Teacher Residency Program: Learning by Doing

This phenomenological study describes how secondary mathematics preservice teachers (PSTs) in a teacher residency program designed and implemented project-based learning (PBL) units. The Six A’s, a framework used to evaluate the rigor and relevance of PBL units, helped capture the research question: What are the successes and challenges PSTs experience as they implement PBL units for the first time? This qualitative study illustrates how PSTs engaged students in relevant learning, wrestled with sustaining the rigor, and included the community to be partners in the projects. Findings indicate that high-quality implementation of PBL instruction requires involving the community, facilitating mathematical learning, and transforming the learning environment. PSTs recognized that a PBL approach requires a shift from traditional teaching practices and reconceptualizing both what it means for teachers to teach mathematics and for students to learn mathematics. This study contributes to the scarce body of knowledge on how teacher residency programs can utilize PBL as an instructional model to prepare PSTs for PBL environments.

Teacher Residency as Alternative Pathway to Licensure

Teacher residencies have been an ongoing discussion in the educator preparation world for nearly a decade. This paper describes a promising practice in program design at a university that offers alternative pathways to licensure to meet the demands of school districts, especially in economically disadvantaged communities in one region of the United States. The one-year residency model was developed to address the teacher shortage in a state with growing teacher attrition. Aligned with recent legislation that created a residency license, a traditional educator preparation program examined its strengths and incorporated the most critical needs for novice teacher success to offer a one-year teacher residency as an alternative pathway. The residency model was co-constructed with school district personnel and teacher education faculty to focus on the most critical dimensions of teaching that include planning, instruction, and assessment. After one year, the feedback from school district personnel included high favor for readiness to teach. Residency candidates reported increased self-efficacy. The residency program has implications for future research and potential replication at other institutions of higher education.

Theory-Practice Divides and the Persistent Challenges of Embedding Tools for Social Justice in a STEM Urban Teacher Residency Program

This study examined how the concept of social justice was operationalized in the university coursework of students enrolled in an urban teacher residency program that aims to diversify the teaching corps and prepare secondary STEM teachers for urban classroom environments. Based on analysis of 39 syllabi and interviews with nine faculty members, we found that challenges in embedding social justice theory with STEM content knowledge were attributable to the lack of a shared definition among program faculty, and external pressures imposed by state teacher credentialing requirements. We conclude with recommendations for practice by suggesting ways that rigorous STEM content knowledge can be combined with locally and historically contextualized social critique and tools for change in order to support teachers in enacting justice-oriented practice in communities.