Strengthening the Foundation: Identifying and Implementing Supports to Enhance a University Sponsored Teacher Residency Program with a Focus on High Needs Context

Abstract

This Educational Leadership Portfolio (ELP) focuses on identifying, implementing, and collecting data on the structures of a new residency program at the University of Delaware. This portfolio is unique because I did not make improvements to a program that was already in place. Rather, this ELP documents some of the work I participated in which led to the structure of a new program. As it progressed, I identified the strengths and weaknesses of this program so that I could create policies to make improvements.

The first improvement goal of this ELP was to create the University of Delaware’s Teacher Residency (UDTR) program structure to prepare teacher candidates to teach in high needs schools and continue their careers in their residency district. The structure of UDTR consists of nine pillars. Residents provided feedback on this structure to determine its effectiveness.

The second goal was to increase opportunities for collaboration and peer support by providing a community that allowed residents to learn new content and strategies and provide support, coaching, and encouragement. This improvement goal involved my facilitation of bi-weekly professional learning communities (PLCs) with the residents, to address knowledge gaps among the cohort.

The third and final goal was to develop a better understanding of the perceptions of the residents to make improvements to the program. To determine resident perceptions and identify areas of improvement, residents were given feedback forms, attended focus groups, and were observed, so that I could pinpoint which structures of the program needed improvement. The results were used to create new policies, supports, and processes for UDTR.

The final part of this ELP makes recommendations to continue strengthening UDTR, for instance, identifying a school district to work with to create a hub school for residencies. This hub school would become a residency professional development school, which would then accept a cohort of residents, train them, hire them, and continue to provide support for them through the first years of teaching. Those residents would then mentor new groups of residents and the cycle would continue.