Urban Teachers Program Expands to Dallas-Fort Worth
The Urban
Teachers teacher certification program
will launch a new initiative in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, similar to
programs
already in place in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore dating back to 2010.
The
program's goal is to act as an alternative to
traditional teacher training programs by offering more opportunities
for
real-life classroom experience and mentoring.
The
Urban Teachers program started with 19 teachers-in-training in
Washington, D.C.
in 2010 and now has 217 participants teaching across the district. The
District of Columbia Public Schools will further expand the program next year,
according
to representatives. Eventually, the district wants all of its new teachers hired through the residency program.
The
program is similar to the medical school model in which candidates work
their
way through a four-year program with a 14-month residency in urban
schools
before becoming a lead classroom teacher and graduate coursework
followed by
three years of coaching and mentoring.
More
than 100 aspiring teachers will start the program in the fall in Dallas
Independent School District and local charter schools.
According
to Todd Williams, founding executive director of The
Commit! Partnership, a
coalition of organizations working to raise student achievement in
Dallas
County, the Dallas-Fort Worth area will need to see more than 5,700
educators
in the pipeline over the next several years.
"There
are many factors in education that we can't control," Williams said,
"but we
can and should guarantee that all our teachers have the experience,
skills and
support to equip every student to succeed. The new partnership with
Urban
Teachers will help us do just that."
Urban
Teachers CEO Jennifer Green said her organization is eager to get
started in
Dallas.
"This
school year, Urban Teachers will impact more than 15,000 students
across
Baltimore and DC, and we know that's not enough," Green said.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.