FAQs: About Launching Residency Programs

Q:What is the RRP?

The Residency for Residencies Program, or RRP, is a two-year program of comprehensive guidance and support for school districts, not-for-profit organizations and universities launching Residency-based teacher preparation programs. The RRP combines an intensive series of learning institutes along with site-based, individualized consulting services. The RRP provides training and support to emerging Residency programs in their design year and in the first year of program operation, leveraging the learning from all network partners.

Q:What do RRP 1 and RRP 2 entail?

Year 1: During the initial institute series, sites come together to learn about the structure and content of quality Residency programs. Particular attention is paid to what makes Urban Teacher Residencies (UTRs) qualitatively and quantitatively different from other forms of teacher preparation. UTRU integrates the reflections and insights as well as the actual curricula and program documents of its network partners into the RRP curriculum. In this way, RRP participants benefit from years of collective wisdom and knowledge about how to develop a high-quality program.

Institutes provide a variety of structures for learning about and creating a high-quality UTR. Through a series of presentations, panels, roundtables, break-out groups and site visits, participants learn about key elements and dilemmas of program design from UTRU staff and staff from the existing Residencies. Teams are given time to synthesize and apply what they’ve learned through discussing, drafting and revising specific work products designed to support program implementation. Cohort members also have structured time to update one another and brainstorm together about recent developments and challenges in the planning of their Residency programs.

Institutes are held for two to four days every six to eight weeks throughout the school year. The location of the institutes rotates between the cities of existing Residency programs so that program participants can observe programs in action and learn from their particular areas of expertise. In the weeks between sessions, teams receive intensive, individualized consulting tailored to their needs. Additionally, teams submit drafts of their work products for review and feedback from UTRU staff and consultants with expertise in the specific content area of the assignment.

Year 2: In this second year, UTRU offers RRP participants an additional three institutes that focus on program scaling, placement, teacher professional development, evaluation and assessment. During this implementation year, participants will work more intensively with their cohort, delving deeply into areas of challenge while receiving ongoing support and feedback from UTRU staff. These sessions are designed to be data-driven. Teams bring formative assessment data from their programs in order to identify and analyze pressing dilemmas and to create real-time revisions to program elements.

Ongoing Individualized Support: During RRP 1 and 2, UTRU provides individualized support services to address the specific needs and dynamics of each developing program. This provides teams with in-depth consultation on particular aspects of their program design. Technical assistance may serve as a follow-up to work begun in an institute session or may address a local implementation challenge. Support is offered to all RRP participants and can range from helping them to develop a fundraising strategy to reviewing and co-developing the program’s course sequence.

Q:Will we be part of the UTRU Network after participating in the RRP?

Programs that participate in the RRP become partners of the UTRU Network. Partners can participate in peer working groups (after completing RRP 1 and 2), ongoing program codification initiatives, local and national program evaluation, as well as have access to our intranet and case studies and UTRU’s monthly newsletter. Partners may also act as demonstration sites for emerging programs participating in the RRP. All UTRU Network members contribute to the body of knowledge and the identification of promising practices of UTRs through sharing program documentation and curriculum as well as participating in the UTRU bi-annual symposium.

Q:Who is currently participating in the RRP?

UTRU launched the RRP in July 2008 with the following five partners:

• Denver Public Schools, Denver, CO
• Internationals Network for Public Schools, New York, NY
• Philadelphia Education Fund, Philadelphia, PA
• Memphis Teacher Residency, Memphis, TN
• New Visions for Public Schools, New York, NY

UTRU’s second cohort began the RRP in January 2010 with the following five partners:

• Aspire Public Schools, Oakland, CA
• Indiana University Purdue University- Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
• Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
• Public Education Fund, Chattanooga, TN
• UCLA- Center X, Los Angeles, CA

We encourage you to talk with any of our existing program partners to learn more about the RRP and their experience this year.

Q:How much does the RRP cost?

For RRP 1 and RRP 2 (eight institutes) and the individualized support services, the cost to participate in the RRP is $100,000 ($60,000 in year 1 and $40,000 in year 2). This does not include travel and lodging.