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NCTR partner programs from around the country visited the Seattle Teacher Residency last week to learn about creating a residency year curriculum, effective candidate recruitment, and mentor selection, among many other topics. 

What's new at NCTR?

This week, NCTR staff are meeting in Chicago to plan for the coming year and to continue to deepen our work and knowledge around diversity, equity and inclusion, which is one of our organizational core values.

Partner update

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau authored an op-ed explaining the district’s new policies and procedures for identifying “highly capable” students for accelerated services. Currently, only 1.6 percent of Seattle’s identified “highly capable” students are African American, and less than 1 percent are Native American. The new rules are aimed at diversifying those programs. “I accepted the superintendent position because of the progressive talk about racial equity in our school district and across our city,” Superintendent Juneau wrote in the op-ed. “However, at every turn, I find that in Seattle, we struggle to live those championed values. I am unwilling to accept this.” Superintendent Juneau will be a keynote speaker at NCTR”s spring Symposium.

Work with us

NCTR is seeking to hire a Manager of Research and Data to support the collection, analysis, and reporting of data in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the teacher residency model and advance the residency movement. The full job description as well as details on how to apply, can be found on our website.
Featured News

Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teaching Effectiveness

New research on teacher preparation has found that student teachers who experienced more learning opportunities through observation, practice and feedback were more effective with their students as teachers of record. In particular, the research found that “Practice” was the only type of learning opportunity “that showed a statistically significant relationship to teaching effectiveness in both ELA and math.”

The report noted that teachers who learned to create “a productive learning environment through Practice” were “more like second-year teachers in terms of their effectiveness.”

The research report, Teacher Preparation Experiences and Early Teaching Effectiveness, was published in September by the U.S. Department of Education. The study surveyed new teachers about their preparation experiences, and examined the relationship between those experiences and their effectiveness as teachers via student test scores. The sample consisted of 3,294 teachers in grades 4 through 6 who were working in 242 districts in 18 states. These were primarily large, urban districts, located in the South, with high levels of students in poverty and high proportions of minority students and English learners.

Key findings include:
  • “Practice” was the only type of learning opportunity that showed a statistically significant relationship to teaching effectiveness in both ELA and math
  • Teachers reported that they received preparation experiences most frequently through “Coursework,” and least frequently through “Feedback,” meaning that most teachers in training are not receiving enough clinical teaching experiences
  • When it came to learning how to create a “productive learning environment” doing so through “Observation, “Practice,” and “Feedback” yielded statistically significant associations with ELA teaching effectiveness. 
The authors noted that preparation experiences that came only through Coursework were not significantly related to effectiveness in either math or ELA. “These analyses suggest that there might be promise in preparation programs emphasizing ... more hands-on methods,” the report states. “This finding is not causal and more rigorous research is needed to reinforce it.”
In the News
Teacher Residency and Federal Dollars: One Approach to Solving the Rural Teacher Shortage
The 74
NCTR partner programs are cited in this story about how California is leveraging federal grant funding to employ the residency model in addressing teacher shortages in rural parts of the state.
Math Looks The Same In The Brains Of Boys And Girls, Study Finds
NPR
A new study finds the brains of boys and girls “are indistinguishable” when engaged in math exercises, debunking the notion that STEM fields skew male because boys are inherently better at math.
Progressives, Hispanics are not 'Latinx'
USATODAY
In this opinion piece, “millennials who view Latinx as liberating have it backwards. ‘Changing our language is the opposite of empowering.’ ”
           
Please note that the articles and events in the NCTR E-Blast do not reflect the opinions of our organization, but rather represent information that we believe will be relevant to you and your programs.

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