Boston Teacher Residency Participants Outperform Peers After Several Years

Education Week (12/16, Sawchuk) reports that according to a new 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." The study showed that the program also drew "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." The piece notes that the NEA has called such residency programs "promising models" for teacher training.