It's a Rap

Residency programs are like delicious, homemade chocolate cakes. They use the best ingredients and require much more time to plan, prepare and bake as compared to traditional teacher preparation programs. Research is clear, residencies reward the profession with well-prepared, confident, classroom-ready teachers. And, like cake, residencies offer the foundational layers on which to build high quality Apprenticeship programs (which offer the icing, so to speak). Layering an Apprenticeship onto a residency provides distinct advantages over residencies alone.

Comparing residencies with Apprenticeships, the base ingredients are identical in all aspects save one: the icing. 

Both programs require: 

1. enrollment in IHE Educator Preparation Programs with NYSED-approved Registered Residency Programs;
2. a one year or longer extended clinical experience under the watchful eye of both an accomplished School-Based Teacher Educator and University-Based Teacher Educator; and 
3. strong P-20 collaboration around curriculum alignment, assessment, supervision, and support.

So what more to add? How does the icing of Apprenticeship programs add to residencies?

Before tasting, it’s important to understand that residencies can operate on their own, without Apprenticeships, much like eating cake without icing. Yet Apprenticeships, as the icing, can’t take shape without the solid cake of residencies holding them up. 

Registered Apprenticeship Programs add value to residencies as they require employment wages to the candidate, a little more time with a minimum of 1200 hours on-the-job, and must be registered with the NYS Department of Labor–all of which enrich the clinical experience. 

Since residencies work so well, why make the effort to register a teacher Apprentice program? 

Well, like icing, the Apprenticeship offers an enhanced experience for both the district and candidate with:

1. supplemental DOL grants called Apprenticeship Expansion Grants (this year’s grant allows program sponsors access to $15,000 per Apprentice for tuition assistance, Apprentice wage offsets, and other supports);
2. automatic tuition assistance for State University candidates;
3. an expanded teacher candidate pipeline thanks to wage requirements and tuition support that reduces student debt, removing barriers to attract a more diverse pool; and
4. modest startup money from the HUB to districts/BOCES, unions affiliates, and IHEs.

Cake is good, yet icing makes it marvelously complete. Registering an Apprenticeship program opens opportunities for funding, removes barriers, improves preparedness, increases retention, and builds educator diversity which all serve to enhance the foundational residency program.

It’s time to dig in.

There just aren’t enough teachers to fill classrooms, and that’s a huge problem for schools and communities. With the stark realities of supply and demand, the temptation to act fast and take shortcuts when hiring staff is palpable, particularly when competing with neighboring districts facing similar situations.

Yet, investing in something as important as student learning requires a thoughtful, measured response.  As we learned in childhood from the Tortoise and the Hare, slow and steady wins the race. Long-term success just can’t be rushed.  It is attained with a thoughtful, steady strategy rather than with panicked speed. When considering how best to approach the current teacher crisis, we must ask ourselves:

• What is driving this predicament? and
• What needs to be done to reverse course?

These are not easy questions, and NY schools are not alone in grappling with them. In some cases, like the speedy hare, states have opted to quickly reduce, or even eliminate, certification requirements needed for individuals to enter classrooms. While such shortcuts may serve to rapidly recruit and hire individuals, ill-preparedness usually leads to fast burns and attrition. The resulting “churn” burdens the system, hurting students and the school community.  These types of quick solutions also pose long-term risks to districts in school culture, student success, and community support. So how do we break or prevent this cycle?

Another hard question.  By being the tortoise and investing in the long game, we plan and work to access, develop, and retain strong talent. We pay candidates while they learn their craft working alongside an experienced educator.  Educators know from best practices that learning made real by experience is the most impactful. A paid Apprenticeship model has been a successful mainstay for the  workforce development community for centuries, so let’s combine, follow and implement these best practices across systems with future educators. Let’s adopt a slower, yet steady response that leverages learning through lived experience. In other words, let’s slow down and take the time to invest in a long-range, high-quality solution to the teacher workforce crisis through Apprenticeships.