$3.6 Million Grant from NYS Labor Department Supports Monroe County Teacher Residents

A $3.6 million grant from the New York State Department of Labor’s (NYSDOL) Empire State Teacher Residency Program launches a new county-wide collaboration tailored to strengthening teaching in Monroe County schools.

The Monroe Regional Teacher Residency Consortium (MRTRC) says that the NYSDOL grant will support the training of 120 aspiring PreK-12 teachers who enroll in 15-month master’s degree and initial teacher certification programs at the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education and Nazareth University’s School of Education over the next two years. Through a combination of education and residency experiences, the teacher candidates will work toward becoming well-prepared, licensed local educators.

“Presently, almost every certification area is identified as high-need in New York State,” says Chair of Teaching and Curriculum and Director of Teacher Residency Programming at the Warner School, Kevin Meuwissen. “This funding enables us to work with school districts to address shortages by strengthening professional and financial support for those who aim to serve others by becoming great teachers. Research shows us that well-prepared resident teachers better understand the conditions and demands of the profession, establish stronger connections to the students and communities they serve, and become more effective, more persistent teachers over time than those with limited clinical experiences.”

The MRTRC is a paid teacher residency program designed to prepare skilled teachers in high-need certification areas for careers in Rochester-area schools while giving them hands-on classroom teaching experience, mentorship, and employment initiated by a new partnership with Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES, Monroe One BOCES, and select districts.

“We are excited to be a part of the Empire State Teacher Residency Program,” says Ty Zinkiewich, superintendent of Spencerport Central School District, one of the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES districts participating in the teacher residency program. “Our district has always embraced innovation, and forward-thinking programs like this are welcome as we navigate the unique challenges of teacher recruitment and retention.”

Residents are compensated for their clinical work, receiving a $15,000 stipend toward graduate school tuition and a minimum salary of $20,000 for living expenses throughout the program. Modeled after medical residencies, this program involves a year-long, co-teaching partnership that prepares residents to teach effectively. Residents work alongside experienced teacher mentors, strengthening their practices and connections to the school communities in which they are learning to teach. Concurrently, residents complete a master’s degree program with initial NYS teaching certification in 15 months.

Key goals of the residency partnership are to reduce financial barriers to entry and facilitate employment after program completion.

A similar partnership among the Warner School, Nazareth University, and the Rochester City School District brought the first-of-its-kind urban teacher residency – the ongoing ROC Urban Teaching Fellows program – to Rochester in 2022.

“This partnership allows us to provide a strong model of mentorship and support for teacher candidates,” says Shanna Jamanis, associate dean of Nazareth’s School of Education. “In collaboration with our district partners, we are able to match candidates to specific shortage areas in districts while working closely with mentors, candidates, and college faculty to develop changemaking educators who are creative, resilient, and passionate about supporting students and their families.”

Anticipating a demand for 180,000 new teachers in the next decade, NYS officials envision this grant as a crucial factor in addressing the impending teacher shortage.

The program hopes to fill workforce gaps already existing in certain areas of the education system. Shortage areas in NYS schools include teaching students with disabilities, mathematics, science, English language arts, social studies, world languages, and teaching English to speakers of other languages.

Upon successfully completing the program, residents will have opportunities to fill vacancies in their district or other participating districts in the county consortium. Participating in the MRTRC is based on a competitive application process.

Aspiring teachers must apply to either the Warner School’s or Nazareth’s graduate teacher preparation program first and then to a complementary selection process for the residency program. Preparations and recruitment activities for the Consortium are currently in progress, with information sessions scheduled throughout November.

Individuals aspiring to pursue a teaching career can attend an upcoming virtual information session on Tue., Nov. 14, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. or Wed., Nov. 15, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Additional information about the Monroe Regional Teacher Residency Consortium is available at: https://www.warner.rochester.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships/teacher-residency/monroe-regional.