District News
Seattle Education Association joins as fourth partner in Seattle Teacher Residency program
The Alliance for Education, Seattle Public Schools, and the University of Washington College of Education on Oct. 24 announced the addition of the Seattle Education Association as the fourth partner in launching the Seattle Teacher Residency.
“Expanding to a quartet of anchor partners as we prepare to launch this exciting initiative makes perfect sense and is a wonderful development,” said Sara Morris, President & CEO of the Alliance for Education, the community sponsor of the project. “The Alliance, the district, and the university welcome the leadership and membership of SEA as foundational to this effort.”
Urban teacher residency programs, pioneered over the last decade in Boston, Chicago, Denver and elsewhere, apply the medical residency model to teacher preparation. By blending classroom apprenticeship with aligned, graduate-level course work and an intensive resident/mentor partnership, residencies aim to accelerate student achievement through the training, support and retention of excellent teachers. The four anchor partners are engaged in planning and design work during the 2012-2013 academic year. The first cohort of 25 residents, matched with 25 mentors, will begin graduate coursework over the summer of 2013 and will start in SPS classrooms in September 2013.
Jonathan Knapp, president of the Seattle Education Association, said, "Educators' voice is essential to all initiatives to build and strengthen the teaching profession. SEA is proud to participate in this groundbreaking work to redefine the concept of rigor in teacher preparation. We are confident that, together, we can build an Urban Teacher Residency program in Seattle that will reshape expectations about teacher preparation.”
José Banda, Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, said, “This partnership speaks to the power of collaboration in public education. A thoughtful, rigorous teacher pipeline initiative, informed by multiple stakeholders, will bring meaningful benefit to students across the district.”
Tom Stritikus, Dean of the College of Education at the University of Washington, said, “The University of Washington is leading the way in revitalizing teacher preparation, and the residency model gives us a strong platform to accelerate this work.”
In August, Dr. Marisa Bier was hired as the residency’s founding Program Director. “The mission of this project is to accelerate student achievement,” she said. “It’s tremendously exciting for Seattle to join the residency movement, and to do so in leading fashion with a uniquely strong, 4-partner anchor team provides a supportive foundation for achieving our collective goals of preparing and supporting high quality teachers in and for Seattle.”
Urban Teacher Residency United, (http://www.utrunited.org/ ), based in Chicago, is the national network of the highest-performing residency programs. UTRU Executive Director Anissa Listak said, “This is the first time we’ve seen a residency launch with this set of players at the table. It bodes very well for the success and efficacy of the initiative.”
For more information, contact Marisa Bier – marisa@alliance4ed.org .
About the Seattle Teacher Residency The mission of the Seattle Teacher Residency is to accelerate student achievement through the preparation, support and retention of a diverse group of exceptional teachers in Seattle Public Schools. The initiative is a joint partnership between the Alliance for Education, the Seattle Education Association, Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington’s College of Education. The first cohort will begin in September 2013. The STR website will be launched in the near future.