NCTR Network
We are comprised of partners who operate teacher residency programs committed to disrupting historic educational inequities by advancing the teacher residency movement.
Individually, teacher residency programs have tremendous impact in their community. Collectively, as a Network, they demonstrate the power of the teacher residency model as the standard for teacher preparation nationwide.
What is a teacher residency program?
NCTR in Action
Today there is strong evidence that teacher residency programs are having an impact on student achievement and teacher retention, improving outcomes for children in hard-to-staff and high-need schools.
What is the NCTR Network?
NCTR brings together Network partners to collaborate and exchange best practices to continuously improve their programs and influence teacher preparation nationally. Partners engage in professional development, working groups, coaching sessions and other programming opportunities that support preparation and retention of teachers of color serving students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
In addition, NCTR offers Network partners technical, advocacy, and support services.
Network Programming
NCTR Network partners receive in-person and virtual programming, including data-based learning opportunities. This programming is meant to help meet your goals for improvement, to center equity in residency design and implementation, and to advance the field toward effective preparation.
Network programming is designed to:
- Strengthen the teacher residency movement through advocacy and policy support for long-term sustainability.
- Infuse the Network with innovations informed by both the policy landscape and promising practices from the field.
- Embolden Network partners to be critical friends within a professional learning community that prioritizes knowledge creation, acquisition, and sharing.
- Strengthen teacher preparation outcomes by promoting ongoing evaluation and the meaningful use of program impact and implementation data.
Network Program Offerings
1-on-1 Coaching and Small Group Pods
Network Program Directors meet monthly in pods with a small number of fellow program directors to deepen connections, share successful ideas, and collaboratively solve dilemmas. Pods are co-constructed with NCTR Network staff, based on input from program directors and a range of criteria, including size, geography, age of the program, identified needs, and residency design.
In addition to the monthly pod meeting, Individual program directors receive one-on-one coaching provided by a dedicated NCTR coach every other month.
Triangles are available to Program Directors on demand, can occur anytime during the year, and are initiated by one program who poses a specific problem of practice while the other program shares past experience, expertise and resources.
Working Groups
Working Groups are monthly, virtual professional learning communities facilitated by NCTR staff with the goal of deepening and sustaining the complex and varied work of all residency staff members, including recruiters, clinical supervisors, and course instructors. Working Groups simultaneously build knowledge and community, as individuals who share similar roles develop resources that reflect the tasks, responsibilities, and dilemmas generated by its group members.
Promising Practice Webinars
Webinars are virtual, take place monthly, and showcase leading experts in the field as well as promising practices from Network peers. The content will always center on culturally sustaining residency practices and will include a variety of specific topics including, among others, partnering for equity, strategic mentor recruitment, and induction years support.
In-Person Events
Assuming travel restrictions continue to be lifted, NCTR looks forward to bringing Network programs together for in-person learning opportunities, including the Annual Symposium.
Annual Data Collection
Annual data collection is an ongoing record of program evolution. NCTR provides access to visualization and analytics from survey data, including comparisons to Network averages, which can be used to show the collective and individual impact of residency programs.
Mid- and End-Year Data Analysis and Recommendations
Twice annually (mid-year and end-year), NCTR administers surveys to programs’ residents, mentors and principals to help programs assess the effectiveness of their program implementation and perceptions of resident preparedness.
Policy and Advocacy Strategic Support
NCTR’s policy and advocacy team engages lawmakers, foundations, and other policy makers in education throughout the year with a focus on advocacy efforts to sustain and scale the teacher residency model. When key opportunities arise, NCTR Network partners are invited by NCTR to take advantage of context-specific policy recommendations.
Join the NCTR Network
Find out how you can become a NCTR Network partner and connect with our community of diverse and effective teacher residencies nationwide.
Explore NCTR Services
We help build and sustain teacher residencies for educators of color in partnership with school districts and IHEs.
