Franklin: Teacher residency model works and needs more state funding
AUSTIN, Texas - Educate Texas wants to see more state funding for teacher residency programs, similar to the one set up by UT-Rio Grande Valley and Harlingen CISD.
In an exclusive audio interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, Ryan Franklin spoke in-depth about the topic. Franklin is senior director for policy and advocacy at Educate Texas.
“With regard to the retention for teachers, we really think it's important to invest in educator preparation. We saw, statewide, that almost 30 percent of the newly hired teachers last school year entered the classroom with no certification or preparation whatsoever,” Franklin said.
“I think most people were surprised to hear that. The state has very flexible policies and when we allow people in the classroom who are underprepared that ends up creating a revolving door of vacancies.
“So we think by investing in stronger preparation models, like teacher residencies, that this will create a better prepared workforce of teachers who are more likely to stay in the classroom longer and who won't be moving on and jumping out to the next thing.”
Franklin said Educate Texas has seen some positive results from teacher residency programs around the state in a variety of places.
“There's really encouraging work going on in partnerships between UTRGV and Harlingen CISD. We think these models should include state investment to put them on the fast track and get more candidates trained in these high quality preparation routes.”
Asked if education policy makers should be paying attention to what is happening in the Valley, Franklin said:
“We do. We think that the Valley is often a place where we see lots of educational innovation and we're seeing it with these teacher residency programs and these strong partnerships where those who are preparing teachers and those who are hiring future teachers are working together to get a well prepared workforce where those candidates have hands on experience, and they're ready to hit the ground running as a teacher on day one.
“So, we've seen good evidence and good indications of what this can look like in the Valley and we think it's time for the state to learn from those models and help expand and grow those so that we have every student in the state able to benefit from a well-prepared teacher.”
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