Released December 2020 — The brief highlights research conducted by Glass Frog that examines the value-add of hosting a resident on the effectiveness of the host teacher’s performance. The study uses data from three residency programs and their respective school district partners. Among host teachers using the mentor model advocated by NCTR, hosting a resident in the classroom is positively associated with a higher teacher effectiveness score (TES) for the host teacher.
Researchers from Glass Frog selected three residency programs based on their residency program model’s scale and design. Two of the residencies are NCTR partner programs and employ a mentor residency model. For these two NCTR partner programs, the study found evidence that hosting a resident in the classroom is positively associated with higher TESes. Since students’ academic performance in a teacher’s classroom is one of the significant factors contributing to calculating a teacher’s effectiveness score, a higher TES suggests that hosting a resident in a classroom may be positively associated with improved student outcomes. Researchers further examined whether more experienced and more effective teachers were better equipped to support residents, finding positive evidence for one NCTR partner program.
Specifically, in this one NCTR partner program, host teachers with higher baseline TESes demonstrated more significant gains in the year they hosted a resident than host teachers with lower baseline TESes. The researchers did not find this effect on teachers from the other two programs. Thus, there is evidence that suggests hosting a resident in NCTR residency programs improves teacher effectiveness. There is emerging evidence that recruiting more effective mentors increases teacher effectiveness throughout the residency year.