Teacher residency programs: Not a surefire route to higher student achievement
There is a great deal of focus on improving teacher education, but it is still not clear how best to do that. One program that has earned attention is the Boston Teacher Residency Program, which duplicates a medical residency in its approach. Aspiring teachers go through a yearlong apprenticeship under a mentor teacher and also earn a master’s degree.
A new study of the residency program shows the proverbial mixed results: Math teachers in the program were less effective initially than their peers, but eventually were more effective. The English/language arts teachers were no more effective than novice teachers who did not go through the program. The residency program improved the diversity of the teaching corps, and its graduates had less turnover.
Asked to design the ideal teacher training approach, many people would cite facets of the Boston program. Yet, even the director calls these study results “disappointing.” What is the ideal way to train effective teachers and — the big question — how should we determine effectiveness over time?
According to Education Week: (Read the full article as there are a lot of qualifiers to this study.)
Math teachers trained through the Boston Teacher Residency program are, on average, initially less effective at raising student scores in that subject than other novice teachers. But within five years, their instruction in that subject improves rapidly enough to surpass the effectiveness of their colleagues, a new study concludes. For English/language arts, the residency-trained teachers were no more effective at improving student achievement than other new teachers.
The Boston program did, however, succeed in drawing a more ethnically diverse group of teachers to the profession than is typical; its candidates were more likely to teach the hard-to-fill subjects of math and science, and they were also much more likely than other new teachers to stay in the classroom for at least five years.
Over the long run, the study suggests, the program should have a modest positive impact on student achievement in Boston when longer retention rates are balanced against teachers’ initial weak performance.
Officials at the Boston Plan for Excellence, the nonprofit organization that oversees the residency and that commissioned the study, vowed to use the results to improve their programming.
“I was disappointed,” Jesse Solomon, its executive director, said of the mixed findings. “In my mind, there’s no way we should be doing worse in those first years. We’ll do what we have got do to make sure that first-year result goes away.”
The study’s sample for the effectiveness calculations, performed using a value-added method, was relatively small, but the findings were consistent when examined through several lenses.
“We think this provides reliable evidence on the effectiveness of BTR graduates to date,” said Martin R. West, an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and one of four scholars who conducted the study. “The question is whether we can generalize based on those results to BTR graduates who will later have four to five years of experience, much less to graduates of other residency programs and other settings.”
The study, published this week as a working paper by the Cambridge, Mass.-based National Bureau of Economic Research, is the first independent, empirical study of the teacher-residency approach to training.
The Boston Teacher Residency, begun in 2003, was one of the first examples. It has attracted philanthropic support, spawned similar programs in other universities and school districts, and influenced federal teacher-quality policymaking. Residency programs have also been highlighted as promising models by the National Education Association and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Preparation, among others.
The data show that 80 percent of residency teachers stayed through year three, compared with 63 percent of their colleagues, and that 75 percent stayed to year five, compared with 51 percent of new, nonresidents.
Across several different model specifications, the residency teachers performed less well, on average, in their first year on the job than other new teachers, to a degree that the paper characterizes as equivalent to about two months of learning.
“The difference there is not trivial in magnitude. It’s larger than most of the findings in the literature comparing teachers entering through different preparation programs,” Mr. West said.
But by year five, the residents were outperforming other teachers with the same level of experience by nearly the same degree. What’s more, they had improved rapidly enough to best veteran teachers with more than six years of experience.
The study found no differences between the groups of teachers in English/language arts. In general, reading scores seem to be less responsive to differences in instructional quality, as measured by value-added, than math scores.
For Mr. Solomon, the findings show that many of the programs’ goals have been met, but the program has more work to do on the most important one—improved learning outcomes. In its early years, the program had focused on recruitment and retention efforts, but over time has made producing effective teachers a priority, he said.
“We just felt like, look, we can study and measure retention and principal satisfaction ‘till the cows come home, but you want to know how kids are doing,” Mr. Solomon said.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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76 comments Add your comment
Raymond
December 17th, 2011
10:14 pm
The best teacher development is to participate in a professional learning community. Many leading educational researchers say that the best way to improve schools and to educate teachers is the PLC. Researchers like: Linda Darling-Hammond (America’s leading researcher on teacher development) Doug Reeves (Standards), Mike Shmaker (Results), Rick Stiggens (Assessment), Richard and Rebecca DuFour (PLCs), and others. The evidence is there. Why do we waste time, energy, and money trying to re-invent the wheel. We should go with what has been proven to work!
BC
December 17th, 2011
10:21 pm
To fix education you have to fix society first. Our problems are one in the same!
deblegs
December 17th, 2011
10:22 pm
Speaking of private vs. public schools —recently a child who attended a local private school and continued to disturb classes and destroy school property. Surprise, he was dismissed from the school. A few days later he enrolled in our public school system and continues to make “bad choices”. (politically correct term) The teacher had a fairly orderly class, but now she has this disfuctional child added to her already overloaded job. The paper work for him alone would boggle the normal person, because she must prove he has a behavior problem. It will probably take until the end of the school term and by then there is no guarantee his parents will agree to suggested interventions. What about the other 23 children in this second grade class?
ScienceTeacher671
December 17th, 2011
10:28 pm
It seems to me that just increasing retention rates will, in the long run, increase student achievement, since more experienced teachers are generally more effective.
irisheyes
December 17th, 2011
10:35 pm
@Dan, I always love those anecdotal stories like yours. First of all, if your niece is grading papers and recording grades, the teacher is breaking the law. Have your niece’s parents discussed this with the principal of the school? Have they talked to anyone in the central office? Have they talked to other parents of students in this math class? Secondly, just because a teacher sends home a paper with a typo, it doesn’t make them an idiot. There are the occasional slip-ups. In my case, it usually happens when I’m multi-tasking by trying to type up homework for students, respond to a parent e-mail, get to the bottom of the pile on my desk, sharpen pencils, get everything ready for the morning, and try to finish it all so I can get home to feed the baby and make supper for everyone. Mistakes happen.
(BTW, before anyone jumps on me, I know that multi-tasking is not applicable only to teachers. I’m just trying to provide an example of my afternoons.)
The Children Can't Read
December 17th, 2011
11:04 pm
How can you ask a child to rate a teacher when the child can’t read? Most of my counties high school students read on the elementary level when assessed. Reading Comprehension is a definite no! Reading Fluency is a no! So what will they do? They will rate the teacher just like they do all other tests, if they don’t know the answer just choose B and D! This mess is a joke. SMH
B. Killebrew
December 17th, 2011
11:29 pm
@North Georgia Teacher–well said!
InEd
December 18th, 2011
8:20 am
So, when I read the article and tried to get to the source by clicking on the hyperlink “study,” it requires enrollment and $5 to download a copy of the article. I will wait until UGA has access to the recently published article to read how the study was conducted.
My sense is that the sensational headlines of BTR being ineffective require investigation beyond the initial report by the four authors. I would want to test the level of competency of the beginning teachers’ group, maybe they were weak to start with, as well as whether the model was implemented with fidelity.
Perhaps the full study could be made available through the AJC as it states that a journalist may download the study for free
Another Math Teacher
December 18th, 2011
9:47 am
N. GA Teacher:
“Most teachers WERE the brightest kids in their classes!”
That is complete fiction. Not in America, at least.
Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
12:09 pm
The obvious is missing here.
Teachers had a residency but were not performing better than those (or not very much better) than those who weren’t mentored by veteran teacher….
but no one has pointed out the obvious — the variable in the QUALITY of the veteran teacher under whose leadership the new teacher is learning.
My kid’s teacher can’t speak English well. She uses very poor grammar and she was born and raised right here in Georgia and graduated from college, right here an GA. She wouldn’t know a singular verb if it kissed her in the mouth.
Yet, my child’s teacher performed her student teaching under the leadership and guidance of a so-called “Master Teacher” who also uses poor grammar, albeit, not as much as her student teacher.
I shudder when I hear the words out of my child’s mouth. I constantly, gently correct him and I am frightened that his teacher obviously has more verbal interaction with my child (8 or more hours per day) than I do — because my child is asleep — as my child should be — during 10 hours a day at my home.
In order for a residency to be effective, the teachers who are providing the guidance must be very good teachers. Garbage out — garbage learned. More and more garbage.
@Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
12:32 pm
School Hours 7:00-2:30 = 7 hours and 30 minutes for 5 out of 7 days
40 hours a week in school out of 168 hours per week.
You are whining again! Stop putting your parental responsibilities on someone else. The language of your children are your fault alone, thus, the garbage is in your house (which isn’t at all surprising considering your grammar is awful). You really need another blog name.
@Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
12:39 pm
“She uses very poor grammar and she was born and raised right here in Georgia and graduated from college, right here an GA.”
The mistakes in this loosly defined sentence are appalling. Furthermore, you have the audacity to belittle your child’s teacher regarding her grammar and blame her for your child’s language skills. You constantly embarrass yourself on this blog.
FYI
December 18th, 2011
12:41 pm
@ Good Mother. But your child will pass onto another grade next year, with a different teacher. A child’s home environment has a great deal more to do with his or her language formation than a teacher, never mind the hours involved. Your child has had you as a (presumably) correct-speaking parent for all of the years before this one, and you are reinforcing the correct form of English now.
The form of English you mention (typical subject-verb disagreement) sounds very like African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or “black English.” Unless you and the community in which you live also speak this way, there’s very little chance that your child will grow up speaking AAVE.
@Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
12:43 pm
I could easily find errors in virtually every sentence and paragraph you have written on this blog. Hypocrites!
Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
1:10 pm
Examples:
He HAVE instead of H HAS
Your pencil GO here instead of your pencil GOES here
If your child NEED to use the microwave instead of If your child NEEDS to use the microwave
Very simple grammar
Elementary level
Pitiful
Just pathetic.
Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
1:13 pm
OH, and my child “axes” me a question.
I never “axe” a question. I “ASK” a question.
Does Batman wear a MAXE? Well, no. He wears a MASK.
Do we stay on TAX? Well, no, we stay on TASK.
Subject and verbs disagree all over the place.
I also never say “booty.”
I refer to my child’s derriere as my child’s “buttocks” or “bottom.”
My children don’t use these words because I do; they use them because they hear them from their “TEACHER!’
FYI
December 18th, 2011
1:21 pm
@ Good Mother, 1:13 pm. All classic examples of AAVE. If your children are still using these words when you talk differently and tell them not to speak that way, then you must live in a community where AAVE is mostly spoken. A child is NOT going to start speaking it if no-one at home or in the community does.
If you chose to live in such a community, that’s what you should expect. Peer influence means a lot to a child…as he or she gets older, very possibly more than the home.
And why haven’t you complained to your principal yet??
@Good Mother
December 18th, 2011
7:35 pm
I can only imagine the errors in your articulation and pronunciation considering your grammar.
To FYI from Good Mother
December 19th, 2011
10:29 am
I do live in a diverse community but it is mostly non-AA. My children also go to a school that is mostly non-AA.
The poor grammar and influence they receive is from — their teacher.
Yes, I have complained to the principal; I complained formally in writing. I received no results.
I have accumulated all the written notes and emails from the teacher. I do plan to take furthere action. I will escalate this absurd predicament all the way up the chain until it is resolved.
My child’s education is too important to waste.
About AAVE from Good Mother
December 19th, 2011
11:05 am
AAVE, also known as “African American Vernacular…” is a poor excuse for ignorance and apathy.
Michelle O’bama is an African American whose ancestors were slaves. She does not use poor grammar. Her subjects and verbs agree. She speaks English properly and so do my African American friends and neighbors; some of whom did not graduate from college nor did they attend college. Yet, they speak English properly.
One person on this blog suggested the poor grammar influence was my choice because I chose to live in a community with African Americans.
Well, that bucket doesn’t hold any water. My AA neighbors and friends and the AA parents in my child’s school all speak English properly. The only AA in my child’s community who doesn’t speak properly is my child’s teacher. She is with him eight hours per day and that is the reason he comes home using poor grammar and the reason he mispronounces words.
Now, here is another thought. I once lived in an area where some poor whites lived. They often used the “double-negative” as in “I don’t have none” instead of “I don’t have any.” Never were they provided the lame excuse of it is “AAVE” as in “Appalachian American Vernacular…” They were simply labeled (correctly) as “uneducated.”
UNeducated.
My child’s teacher is UNeducated. There is no excuse for a teacher in APS to model and use poor grammar in her speach nor in her writing.
Don't Feed the Good Mother Troll
December 19th, 2011
11:44 am
Good Mother is a troll who has posted on this blog many times over the last few months, always stirring up animosity where he/she can….here, an obvious attack on African Americans in APS. In an earlier post in a blog on bullying, his/her one child was a girl tormented in the playground while APS teachers talked on their cellphones; here he/she has children, and the one suffering is evidently male.
Here, he/she comments on the terrible APS teacher her child has. In an earlier blog, “DeKalb board members to voters: Thanks for SPLOST vote,” Good Mother wrote on Nov. 23, 1:46 pm: “We’ve had this tax for fifteen years, I think. There have been ZERO improvements to my child’s school. They just continue to park another beat up trailer out back to “accomodate” [sic] the students. I don’t trust them with my tax money.”
He/she seems to be seeking anonymous validation as well. There is very often the long sob-story about his/her early hardships. In an earlier blog here on hazing, he/she related how some days she would miss high school cheer-leading because her father had beat her black and blue. Give me a break!!
@Don't feed Good Mother
December 19th, 2011
11:55 am
Animosity?
Hardly.
If the truth hurts, then learn to speak English….properly.
irisheyes
December 19th, 2011
12:55 pm
I think what the study showed is that giving teachers a chance to gradually move into teaching, rather than tossing them in without a life jacket, does help their quality as well as their retention. I’d be curious to see what the teachers themselves felt about their first year. Did they feel they were trying too many different teaching methods. Often, first year teachers will just teach right out of the teacher’s manual. While it’s not the most exciting way to present a lesson, it does ensure that all of the content is covered. Once you feel you have a good idea of the scope of the curriculum, then you are more willing to branch out into new ways of teaching it. But, if you try to create all of your own lessons all of the time, some important parts may be inadvertently overlooked. In addition, since these teachers are also getting a masters degree, were they attending classes outside of school? A first year teacher will often spend a huge amount of time planning and preparing, and if they are in a masters program, they don’t have that time. I still think that it showed that this program does produce more effective teachers, just not as quickly as the director had hoped. There’s promise there, and I hope they don’t toss it aside because it’s not perfect.
@Good mother
December 19th, 2011
8:23 pm
You have a sob story for every topic on this blog.
Dr. Monica Henson
December 20th, 2011
9:16 pm
Interesting concept, and interesting results. I have long advocated that we need a medical model in educating and training new teachers, but not necessarily in the BTR fashion. What I like about the medical model, and was able to implement for a year in one progressive school where I worked in Connecticut, is the concept of rounds being led by an experienced physician who accompanies a group of resident doctors. They examine patients, observe surgeries, etc., discussing as a group after each encounter, with questions and prompts from the lead doctor.
When I was in charge of new teacher induction, I used to bring in subs once a month in the high school where I worked. I scheduled classroom visits with willing veterans who were accomplished, highly skilled teachers. I would take a group of first-year teachers to visit those classrooms with me for a portion of the block period. After the first half of the period, we would go to an empty room to debrief. It was much more effective for them to be in a group and to have me there to answer questions than it would have been for them to be given release time to go on their own and visit classrooms alone.
After school, the veterans would come and sit in on a sort of panel discussion with the new teachers and me. I honestly believe the veterans got just as much, if not more out of these days than the first-year teachers did.
Ole Guy
December 22nd, 2011
11:29 pm
WHY…WHY…do we continually insist on placing focus for pisspoor academic performance strictly on teachers? WHEN…WHEN…is the educational elite going to start DEMANDING performance/REAL performance from the students? Do we need a teacher corps, which comes into the classrooms of Georgia, better versed in “language of mathematics”? Absidamnlutely! But let’s not overlook the sad reality that far too many kids cannot “visualize”, much less perform basic arithmetical manipulations. These functions do not require the mentorship of a rocket scientist; they simply call for (can anyone hear the drumbeat?) A RETURN TO THE OLE WAYS OF TEACHING…drill and repitition and drill and repitition. Unfortunately, the teacher base, itself, is merely a product of the currently crappy methodology in imparting the basic building blocks of “math sense”. FORBID all students from touching anything which even smells of technology…calculators, computers, Ipads, Epads, Opads, etc UNTILL they have demonstrated a FIRM grasp of the basics…until they have actually had the experience of THINKING with absolutely no artificial assistance.
The approaches, and the answers to these seemingly insurmountable issues are already in place. All you people have to do is “throw these kids into the deep end of the educational pool”…MAKE EM SWEAT. Stop trying to make everything fun, in the misguided notion that this will somehow make the learning process more appealing,
Incidentially, this idiotic teacher residency program is already in place…it’s called THE STUDENT TEACHING phase of teacher education.
This proposal for a “residency program” typifies the approach to educational woes. There is no real money; no “flag waving” and political grandstanding in simply holding kids’ butts to the fires of academic performance. No educrat is about to publish a disertation on “shoving kids’ noses into the books”…and THAT is, essentially, where the answer lies.