The TEACH/Here Urban Teacher Residency program is offered through a partnership between the University of Tennessee, the Public Education Foundation, Hamilton County Schools (HCS), and Knox County Schools (KCS), with the goal of improving the learning and life outcomes of students by recruiting, preparing and supporting exceptional and effective mathematics and science teachers to teach in the districts' high-need schools through an alternative pathway. The program is providing 36 Teaching Fellows (in two cohorts) with course work and a focused yearlong residency program in two Learning Academy Schools in the partner districts. The program recruits outstanding college graduates who want to become teachers and have an academic background or work experience in a STEM field. As Teaching Fellows, the future teachers are paired with an outstanding mathematics or science teacher in a classroom for a full year, watching, learning, and experiencing how to be effective teachers. These pairs are further guided and supported by school-based master teachers. One day each week, the teaching fellows take classes to prepare them to assume responsibility for the classroom. The mentors and master teachers are provided professional development uniquely designed for them by the partners. At the end of the year, each teaching fellow earns a master's degree and a teaching license and is well-prepared to teach math or science in a high-need school, with ongoing coaching provided by the master teachers and mentors.
The approaches used by TEACH/Here to recruit, develop and retain mathematics and science teachers for hard-to-staff schools represent a collaborative effort that incorporates university teacher educators as well as content area faculty, two school systems, and an educational foundation that provides an outsider perspective and helpful critique. The harnessing of this strong partnership of groups to work collaboratively to offer a transformative program of teacher preparation is also expected to lead to development of a long-term capacity and commitment to teaching excellence in the partner districts. Information about the efficacy of the TEACH/Here Urban Teacher Residency programs is being disseminated statewide and beyond, so that the models can become a resource to others seeking to implement effective alternative teacher preparation programs for mathematics and science educators who are capable of succeeding in hard-to-staff schools.
