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
Consulting
Program directors or other lead staff will receive one-on-one coaching provided by a dedicated NCTR coach, with the goal of sharing thought partnership, elevating promising practices, addressing contextual challenges, and interpreting and analyzing data. Coaching is centered on self-selected program impact goals, with coaches providing support and resources to support achieving those goals.
Network Director Pods
Network Director Pods comprise 5-8 fellow program directors and are designed to deepen connections, share successful ideas, and collaboratively solve dilemmas.
Site Visit
The annual Site Visit is designed to provide access to a peer Network teacher residency that has been selected to illustrate a common challenge and foster learning and dialogue about potential solutions relevant for all participants.
Symposium
Annually, program leaders, educators, and advocates who work with the residency programs in the NCTR Network come together for a multi-day convening to share ideas, successes, and to learn from one another in a professional learning community. During the convening, Network partners engage in hands-on working sessions to build knowledge and skills on a particular theme or topic area of critical importance. Experts from multiple areas share the latest research and promising teacher preparation practices.
Evaluation Suite
NCTR collects:
- Annual data as an ongoing record of program growth. NCTR provides access to visualization and analytics from survey data, including comparisons to Network averages, which can be used to show programs’ collective and individual impact.
- Annual surveys of programs’ stakeholders, including mentors, residents, principals, and graduates, then collects the data, presents visualizations, and supports goal-setting related to program effectiveness and resident preparedness.
- NCTR’s policy and advocacy team engages lawmakers, foundations, and other education policymakers with a focus on advocacy efforts to sustain and scale the teacher residency model.
Community Learning Experiences
Virtual professional working groups are facilitated by NCTR staff with the goal of deepening and sustaining the complex work of all residency staff. These groups will incorporate both webinar and workshop designs, focused on application of knowledge from working group experiences.
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.
