March 2023

Investing in new teachers: Early lessons from the Partnership for LA Schools’ teacher residency program

Two years ago, in collaboration with the Alder Graduate School of Education, the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools launched a teacher residency program to train new teachers. The program is specifically intended to invest in new teachers of color teaching in high-need schools, and it combines immersive, hands-on practice in the classroom with educational theory and research. Teacher residents in our program are assigned to Partnership schools and paired with a mentor teacher from whom they will learn throughout the year.

We recently published a brief that captures some of our early lessons from this program based on the perspectives and experiences of the participants. We are sharing these learnings because we believe they are relevant for many of the broader challenges around teacher staffing in California. Last year, the highest-need schools in Los Angeles had twice as many unfilled vacancies as the lowest-need schools. Teacher residency programs like ours are a promising strategy to address these challenges, especially for teachers of color and high-need schools, where outstanding teaching is needed most.

This brief is brought to you by The Len Hill Civil Rights Project at the Partnership for LA Schools — working to advance policy to ensure that all students access their civil right to a high-quality education.

View our video and hear from teacher residents.