Urban Teacher Residencies United

In 2007, BTR joined with the Academy for Urban School Leadership in Chicago and the Boettcher Teachers Program in Denver to build a national coalition in support of urban teacher residency programs. The Urban Teachers Residencies United is the first effort to build a relatively new field by sharing and documenting effective practices from the three programs, collectively seeking policy and funding support, and promoting the growth of similar models in other communities.

How it works

In its first year, UTRU convened staff from the three urban residency programs to build a common agenda and to begin to share effective practices. Already, UTRU has achieved references to teacher residency programs in key federal legislation, has begun to document core practices in the three anchor programs, and has begun offering support to three new sites that are in the planning stages of creating their own residency programs.

Why it matters

In the few short years since their creation, Boston Teacher Residency and similar urban teacher preparation programs have generated significant attention. Many communities look to these programs for lessons about how to address their own teacher capacity issues, even as BTR and its counterparts continue to grow and refine their efforts. The site-based approach to teacher education has tremendous potential to address the human capacity gaps of urban school districts across the country — but the work is hard and requires smart program design and thoughtful resource strategies. The Urban Teacher Residencies Institute is positioned to build knowledge in the field about what it takes to do this work right at the same time that it promotes policies and conditions that will allow for the spread of effective models.

Contact: Anissa Listak, UTRU Executive Director