NCTR offers tailored consulting to teacher residencies to meet the unique needs and desired outcomes of programs. Much like our Residency Design Academy (RDA) and NCTR Network consulting services, tailored consulting is aligned to NCTR’s Levers for Equitable Teacher Residencies. Tailored consulting is available separately or in conjunction with a RDA or NCTR Network consulting service.

Previous tailored consulting engagements have helped programs address challenges with expert insight and support and have resulted in an increased understanding and improved implementation in many of the areas listed below:

Collaboration

• Collaboration opportunities through one-on-one consulting sessions, invitations to webinars, and other group learning experiences, residency program site visits, customized resources, interactive tools, and/or in-person meeting facilitation

Partnership

• Strengthening equity-driven partnerships among university, district, and/or nonprofits
• Building and implementing a sustainable financial model for the teacher residency program

Resident Recruitment and Selection

• Recruiting and selecting teachers of color
• Developing a review process to examine bias in the recruitment process

Residency Year Experience

• Creating coherent resident learning experience through the integration of the clinical experience and course curriculum
• Conducting equity and alignment audits of course curricula

Graduate Support

• Analyzing graduate retention and performance data to inform continuous improvement
• Designing induction programs that support program graduates

Mentor Recruitment, Selection, and Support

• Implementing strategies for recruiting and selecting mentor teachers
• Developing mentor and resident matching systems
• Supporting the design of coherent mentor professional development

Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Programs

• Guiding the application submission toward becoming a teacher registered apprenticeship program
• Supporting the adjustment, reframing, or updating a program design may need
• Provide options for extended federal support and funding

We also offer tailored consulting support for two of our most-needed services:

Research and Evaluation

NCTR’s Research and Evaluation (R&E) team collects and shares data throughout the academic year to support Network members’ development of a data-informed culture. The data are analyzed and shared to demonstrate NCTR’s impact as well as the impact of Network members. To that end, NCTR’s staff and consultants are available to:

• Conduct evaluations of teacher residency programs to answer a variety of research questions and add to the growing body of research on the teacher residency-based preparation of teachers. They are intended to provide additional data to help teacher residency programs improve their quality and impact. They can also include policy recommendations to guide the support and scale of teacher residencies in school districts and states.

Policy and Advocacy

NCTR offers policy and advocacy support to state policymakers as well as teacher residency programs looking to develop an advocacy plan for members of Congress and their state legislators. To this end, NCTR’s staff and consultants are available to:

• Convene educator preparation programs to facilitate collective problem solving, idea sharing, and collaboration to improve the impact of clinically rich teacher preparation programs and teacher residencies.
• Support the development of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and scoring rubrics for grant competitions that fund teacher residency programs or elements thereof.
• Develop state policy recommendations, example legislation, or regulatory language based on research to develop or expand a state policy landscape that supports teacher residency programs.
• Facilitate state policy collaboratives or networks.
• Conduct policy landscapes to develop policy recommendations.