Above: Incorporating technology into instruction to support student learning is a part of the paid residency and other programs in the College of Education at Georgia Southern University.
Naomi is in her first year of teaching 1st grade in an elementary school. She’s also in her final year of her undergraduate teacher-education program. In a recent conversation we had with her, she reflected on her students’ motivation and engagement, her interactions with parents and other teachers, and her own learning and development. As a paid resident teacher, Naomi enjoys this unique role as both educator and student. Like most of our paid residents at Georgia Southern University (where we are teacher educators), Naomi will continue to teach at the school where she’s completing her residency, one with historically high teacher turnover rates.
Naomi is in her first year of teaching 1st grade in an elementary school. She’s also in her final year of her undergraduate teacher-education program. In a recent conversation we had with her, she reflected on her students’ motivation and engagement, her interactions with parents and other teachers, and her own learning and development. As a paid resident teacher, Naomi enjoys this unique role as both educator and student. Like most of our paid residents at Georgia Southern University (where we are teacher educators), Naomi will continue to teach at the school where she’s completing her residency, one with historically high teacher turnover rates.
Georgia Southern’s residency program pairs two paid residents in a school with a mentor teacher in that school whose full-time role is to guide, coach, co-teach, observe, and support them. This partnership enables these preservice teachers to learn the craft and the school’s culture. During their year-long residency, residents also receive support from their university supervisor, as well as employee benefits (such as health care and a retirement plan) through the district.
A paid residency option helps address the financial burdens of earning a degree in education (Prepared to Teach, 2023). Residents earn approximately $20,000 for the school year; the school systems cover the cost of the stipend, essentially paying for two teachers but getting three, as the two residents split a teacher salary and the mentor teacher is paid a full salary. Moreover, it develops teachers who are capable and confident in their first solo year of teaching and who tend to remain in the schools where they completed their residency (Valente et al., 2022).
Credit: Photo by Jonathan Chick
A Georgia Southern student uses manipulatives to help his student understand math concepts.
Preparing for a Paid Residency
Teacher candidates in our undergraduate elementary, middle grades, and secondary programs can apply for a paid residency in one of three participating partner districts. (Because of state and local requirements, the residency is not an option for candidates in special education because of their practicum requirements across grade bands.) We review the curriculum and progression of classroom experiences in our university programs to position candidates for success as residents. College faculty have rescheduled methods courses, expanded offerings for evening and online courses, and worked with colleagues across the campus to identify relevant course substitutions based on residents’ teaching schedules.
The Application Process
Before applying, a candidate consults with their advisor and program faculty about their degree progress and the courses they still need to take. A candidate then submits their transcript, references, and an application. Applicants are interviewed by members of the college, as well as by staff at the school in which they wish to teach. Selected candidates then spend a day at the target school.
This experience often serves as a reality check. For example, in 2021, one candidate withdrew from the process after visiting a school and realizing the enormity of the role of a paid resident.
If a candidate is accepted for a paid residency, they become an employee of the district. Teachers interested in taking on roles as mentors apply through the district and engage in a similar application process, with interviews at both the school and university levels.
The paid residency model develops teachers who are more capable and confident in their first solo year of teaching.
The Importance of Alignment
The structure of our paid residency poses challenges for middle grades and secondary teacher candidates, given their licensure and content-learning requirements. In Georgia, middle-grades candidates seek certification for grades 4–8 in two content areas (for example, English language arts, math, science, or social studies); a classroom practicum is required in each of those areas. Secondary candidates seek certification for grades 6–12 in one content area, with one classroom practicum also required. These disciplinary areas necessitate careful alignment of the candidate’s teaching assignment and the selection of their mentor.
The first year of this initiative (2020–21) highlighted some of the challenges of aligning paid residents, mentors, content areas, and grade levels. In one school, one resident taught 8th grade social studies, and the other taught 7th grade math. Their mentor had previous experience teaching multiple grades at the middle school level; however, the mentor’s expertise was in English language arts. These differences in grade levels and content areas were a barrier to collaboration. To remedy this, in the third year of the program, we paired a resident who taught 8th grade math with a resident who taught 8th grade science. Their mentor was a former science teacher. Both residents taught the same grade, taught a STEM content area, and had the same teaching schedule. These factors facilitated greater collaboration and discussion among the residents and their mentor.
Credit: Photo by Jonathan Chick
A Georgia Southern graduate stands proudly with her students.
The Role of the Mentor
One crucial piece of this success is the work of the mentor teacher. Our model is a residency triad; the mentor’s entire professional role is to support the two paid residents, spending half a day in each teacher’s classroom five days a week throughout the school year. For example, in one residency triad, a teacher shifted from teaching 2nd grade to mentoring two paid residents who each taught 2nd grade. This mentor brought her knowledge of the curriculum and school context to her new role.
The mentor co-plans and co-teaches with each resident and supports them in such areas as planning, instruction, assessment, record-keeping, and parent involvement. In addition to the mentor teacher, who supports residents most directly and extensively, each paid resident has a university supervisor, a faculty member in the college who observes the residents teach, reviews lesson plans and other assignments, and meets with each resident and their mentor.
According to noted educator Lee S. Shulman (2004), “Classroom teaching is perhaps the most complex, most challenging, and most demanding, subtle, nuanced, and frightening activity that our species has ever invented” (p. 504). So it’s not surprising that many first-year residents feel overwhelmed. On top of their classroom teaching work, residents have the additional responsibility of completing their university coursework and additional assignments related to their classroom instruction.
Mentors ease the workload by helping with many nonteaching tasks that first-year teachers find overwhelming, such as developing lesson plans, setting up grade books, creating seating charts, administering assessments, identifying curricular resources, and navigating the multitiered systems of support (MTSS) processes. As the year progresses, residents take on more responsibilities, with this scaffolded approach enhancing their competence and confidence.
The mentor also supports residents with the invisible and emotional aspects of teaching (Kariou et al., 2021). The invisible labor includes coordinating testing, making copies, and grading papers, whereas the emotional labor relates to feelings of being overwhelmed, balancing coursework with teaching responsibilities, and fulfilling all classroom and school responsibilities.
Walking Residents Through Assessments
A recent experience that one of our 2023–24 residents had with districtwide assessments illustrates the power of giving residents extra support in this area. Deidre, the resident teacher, taught all subjects in a 2nd grade class. Her mentor teacher modeled how to administer the beginning-of-the-year assessments and showed her how to organize small groups to differentiate instruction based on the results of the assessments. In language arts, Deidre and her mentor collaboratively identified strategies to support each group based on the students’ reading level and focus skills. In addition to helping Deidre create engaging skill-based activities for small groups (such as using magnetic letters to practice spelling patterns, creating word chains, and rereading for fluency development), the mentor helped her develop a system to keep each group’s materials organized and easily within reach to maximize instructional time. Over the next several weeks, Deidre worked with her mentor to develop and implement small-group instruction in both literacy and math blocks.
After administering the middle-of-the-year assessments on her own in November and reviewing the results, Deidre was excited that the majority of her students showed growth. She felt confident about her abilities to use assessment results to differentiate instruction.
Credit: Photo by Jonathan Chick
A Georgia Southern student shows her student his improvement on the district’s literacy assessment.
Year One—and Beyond
We have worked with 29 paid residents through this program at seven high-needs schools. All 29 residents are still teaching, and most of those are still at the school where they were placed as a resident. They tend to excel in three areas in their first solo year of teaching: they demonstrate enhanced confidence; they’re knowledgeable about school-based policies and procedures; and they have experience collaborating with parents, administrators, and other teachers. They’re also committed to working with students in high-needs schools.
Although this program may seem small, it’s rapidly expanding. In 2020, we had four residents in one school district. In 2023, we had 16 in three systems. Some of the most vocal proponents of this innovative program are the building principals. They have told us that residents begin their first solo year of teaching well prepared, and as one principal noted, they’re “knowledgeable about how to engage with the broader school community.”
Helping Teachers Grow
Naomi hopes that experiences and memories from this year will have a lasting effect on her 1st grade students. When asked about her goals, she said she wants to strengthen relationships with students and expand her own comfort with the curriculum. Although initially started as a way to address the financial challenges of becoming an educator, the paid residency model has been shown to produce highly qualified educators who remain as contributing members of their school communities.
Reflect & Discuss
➛ How might a paid residency model like the one described enhance teacher retention in your school?
➛ How could your school adapt elements of GSU’s residency program to better align with your specific community’s needs and challenges?
