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What's new at NCTR?

This is the last E-Blast of 2018. On behalf of the entire NCTR team, thank you for your partnership this past year. We will return to your inboxes Jan. 9. Until then, Happy Holidays!
 



NCTR CEO and founder Anissa Listak writes that 2018 was a year of incredible growth and opportunity for NCTR and the residency movement. Read her end-of-year letter here.

Resources

The Illinois State Board of Education has released two requests for applications for $1 million in grants to expand teacher residencies. The board has made $250,000 available through the Teacher Leader Problems of Practice Grant, which will support districts in addressing local challenges to developing and retaining teacher leaders. The Teacher Residency Planning Grant makes $750,000 available for districts serving high rates of low-income students or students of color, and districts that have experienced chronic teacher shortages. The grant will support partnerships between institutions of higher education and high-need school districts to plan full-year teacher residencies.

Applications for the Teacher Residency Planning Grant are due by 4 p.m. on Feb. 15. Applications for the Teacher Leader Problems of Practice Grant are due by 4 p.m. on March 1. You can access the applications here.

Partner update

Congratulations to three NCTR partner programs for their expansion grant awards from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing:

  • Kern Urban Teacher Residency and California State University, Bakersfield, $300,000 for STEM and multi-subject bilingual teachers
  • Salinas Union High School District and CSU, Monterey Bay, $120,000 for STEM and special education teachers
  • San Francisco Unified School District, the University of San Francisco, and Stanford University, $400,000 for STEM and bilingual teachers
Featured News

Mentors matter for student teachers – and their future students

Researchers with the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington recently examined the impact mentor teachers have on their student teachers. They examined nine years of data, focusing on what happened when teachers-in-training were paired with highly effective, average, or very ineffective mentors.

In “Effective Like Me? Does Having a More Productive Mentor Improve the Productivity of Mentees?” the researchers found that, in math, student teachers who had worked with a highly effective mentor saw their students post academic gains in math similar to those taught by average third-year teacher. There were also gains for students in English language arts, but not enough to be statistically significant.

Conversely, the researchers concluded that student teachers who had worked alongside “very ineffective” mentors took “a full six years before (they) even hit average.”

The researchers defined “effective” based on a value added measure that compares how much or how little progress each teacher’s students made on standardized tests when compared to expectations for similar students.

This research provides important data on the significance of selecting and supporting effective mentors, and pairing preservice teachers with those teacher educators for their clinical experience.  A central part of the residency model, mentor and teacher educator selection, support, and development are core components of NCTR’s Standards for Effective Teacher Residencies.  
In the News
Why is this happening with Chris Hayes: School Segregation in 2018
NBC News
In this episode of Hayes’ podcast, New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones explains why classrooms remain segregated today and how, if at all, the education system can truly desegregate.
Teaching Corps Doesn’t Reflect Increasingly Diverse Student Body
Seattle Times
Last school year, nearly a quarter of Washington state’s school districts employed no teachers of color.
11 Charts That Changed the Way We Think About Schools in 2018
The 74
From SIG’s surprising success to how free lunches are linked to lower disciplinary problems, here are 11 education graphics and charts that challenge the conventional wisdom.
 
            
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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