Journal of Teacher Education

When teachers of color professionalize their teaching, they encounter tensions between their personal and professional identities, causing dissonances. This study examined 36 teaching residents of color and their professional identity development in one northeastern urban teacher residency (UTR) program in the United States. We used narrative research to explore how participants constructed themselves as teachers in their stories. We analyzed program archival data through the lens of perezhivanie, a mental model that individuals establish to resolve dissonances. Narrative analyses of admissions essays, interviews, journals, and autobiographies revealed that participants’ personal histories inform their equity pedagogy. Specifically, participants constructed their own professional identities in the UTR program via cultural filters shaped by their life experiences being historically minoritized, particularly to (a) develop their teacher-selves to construct practical knowledge and (b) transform their personal-selves to foster equity pedagogy. The implications for supporting the professional identity development of teachers of color are discussed.

There is a chronic, persistent shortage of fully licensed special educators. Teacher residencies in special education offer a path to address this shortage, and Special Education Classroom Assistants, (SECAs), are a unique subset to recruit into residencies. SECAs bring their own prior experiences and knowledge into the residency classroom. The purpose of this paper is to examine SECAs’ funds of knowledge, how they connect this knowledge to their self-identity and how they use these as they develop teacher identity. This study utilized two focus groups, with a total of 14 participating SECA residents. Focus group data were collected and analyzed to better understand the developing identities of SECAs. Based on the findings from focus groups, we identified three themes and subthemes, related to their funds of knowledge and self-identity. We discuss implications and future research related to teacher residencies, special education teacher residencies, and teacher preparation.

Recent research finds that a longer clinical experience may be one of the most substantial distinguishing features of teacher residency programs. We need to understand much more about how these field experiences are designed, paced, and scaffolded to contribute to teacher learning and identity development and to center equity. Drawing from case study data embedded in a large comparative study of innovative teacher preparation programs, including observations, document analysis, and interviews, this paper explores how a science teacher residency program expanded fieldwork experiences to include three different settings for teacher learning. It explores how those three fieldwork experiences are paced, how they cohere around a theory of change, and the ways they gradually build content knowledge and learning experiences. Together, experiences in these three “fields” contribute to teachers’ deeper learning of science practices and science content and foster an identity as an equity-oriented teacher of science.

Teaching residencies offer opportunities for sustained support within schools as a liminal space for novice teachers, and school-based mentor teachers significantly impact residency outcomes. Mentoring improves when mentors have clear expectations for their role and support for meeting those expectations. This mixed-method case study investigates the effects of a model for mentor training, its impact on residents’ learning, and the perceptions of mentors and residents regarding support provided. Quantitative findings showed a statistically significant difference in growth for residents whose mentors were trained in the Gradual Increase of Responsibility mentoring model compared with those who were not. Qualitative analysis offers support for differentiated use of the mentoring moves of modeling, recommending, questioning, affirming, and praising (with this sequence expressing de-escalating levels of support). Findings suggest that when mentoring varies based on residents’ differing and changing skill levels, teaching improves. Centering dialogue in mentor/resident interactions supports change and growth.

This study examines the influence of personality-based matching in mentor-mentee pairings within a teacher residency program. Using the Big Five Personality traits, we investigated whether personality similarity and perceived similarity within mentor teacher (MT) and teacher resident (TR) dyads are associated with satisfaction in the mentoring partnership. Findings indicate that perceived similarity significantly enhances satisfaction, and when MT-TR pairs share at least one dominant Big Five personality trait, satisfaction with the match further increases. In addition, TRs report higher satisfaction when paired with MTs whose dominant personality trait is agreeableness, characterized by interpersonal warmth and collaboration. These results underscore the importance of considering personality traits in formal matching processes, providing actionable insights for residency program administrators. Intentional personality-based pairings may enhance the quality of mentoring relationships, fostering greater collaboration, communication, and support, contributing to improved mentoring outcomes and teacher development.

As teacher residencies have expanded over the last 20 years, so has research on these innovative programs. But there is currently limited research on how residencies approach teacher–student relationship development and no research from the perspectives of the K–12 students residents serve. This article features interviews with 118 K–8 students in classrooms with residents who were intentionally prepared by an Urban Teacher Residency (UTR) that centralizes relationship development. Findings suggest that students experience academic and social benefits because of the resident, including more one-on-one support, responsive and motivating relationships, a positive classroom environment, and improved learning experience. Implications support the argument for the residency year, responsive and relational teaching, and the need to include students as a core stakeholder teacher education research.

Professional learning (PL) is universally lauded as essential to enhancing teaching quality and retention for aspiring teachers, yet it is a difficult balancing act for program and P12 school leaders trying to administer the many intricate components of a teacher residency program while implementing meaningful PL for residents. Grounded in complexity theory, this mixed methods case study examines PL experiences among residents (N = 36) across four cohorts within the Teacher Education Residency Consortium (TERC) program in the southwestern United States. Three themes related to balance emerged from the quantitative and qualitative findings: (a) an appropriate quantity of PL experiences, (b) an adequate measure of PL programmatic support, and (c) residents’ ability to hone time management skills to succeed in all their competing responsibilities during a yearlong residency. The implications are conceived as five coherent policy and practice conditions for residency implementers aiding the PL journey of aspiring teachers.