Oakland Teacher Residency

Mills College, Oakland CA

Investigators

Abstract

Building on the success of the exemplary teacher education program at Mills College, the primary investigators' experience with Teacher Residency Programs at a national level, the new and talented Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) mathematics and science district leaders, the exemplary urban-focused STEM teacher professional development offerings of the Lawrence Hall of Science, and the talents of the faculty in Division of Natural Sciences, Mills College plans to develop a program adapted to the unique context and needs of Oakland, California, which is experiencing a shortage of high quality mathematics and science teachers in middle and high schools. The grant period focuses on the design of a program and an implementation plan to admit (over a five year period) to the Oakland Teacher Residency Program (OTR) 150 teachers who will obtain their high school or middle school certification. It is also expected that a cadre of at least 15 current teachers of STEM subjects will become highly qualified Master Teachers. The partners (Mills College Division of Natural Science, Lawrence Hall of Science and OUSD) are strengthening their collaborative infrastructure and plan professional development for the Mentor Teachers and new Master?s degree program to sustain the program. The OTR curriculum and professional development programs are being designed to closely align with the particular needs of the participating schools, the District as a whole, the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards. An innovative dual focus on STEM content and classroom support ensures that OTR participants are being prepared for the specific needs of the students in a high-needs urban school district, thus providing a model program for similar university-school district partnerships. It is the intention to have in place a curriculum for a 12-month Master's program, specifically tailored to the issues involved in STEM teaching in an urban, high-needs school district and a rubric for selecting target schools, recruiting materials for Teaching Fellows and Master Teachers, a professional development curriculum for the Master Teachers, a plan for mentoring and support for Teaching Fellows, a data collection and evaluation plan, and a research and publication plan. These model materials are to be disseminated so that other university-school district partnerships may use them to implement a program similar to OTR, thereby providing a much broader impact.