The Seattle Teacher Residency joins the National Center for Teacher Residencies’ Black Educators Initiative to support preparing future Black educators in Seattle Public Schools.
The Alliance for Education’s Seattle Teacher Residency program is receiving a renewed gift as part of the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) Black Educators Initiative (BEI). NCTR’s BEI supports the recruitment, preparation, and retention of Black educators throughout the United States, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that students have access to a teacher who is ready on day one to improve student outcomes. Launched in 2019, BEI is a five-year, $20-million grant from Ballmer Group designed to recruit, develop, and retain 750 new Black teachers through NCTR’s national Network of teacher residency members. To date, NCTR’s BEI has supported over 900 Black teacher residents, exceeding its goal. The National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) is awarding $3.8 million in grants to 30 of its teacher residency members as part of NCTR’s Black Educators Initiative (BEI), where the Seattle Teacher Residency is a spotlighted program in the network.
The Seattle Teacher Residency (STR) program, established in 2012, has been a vital initiative aimed at addressing educational inequities faced by students, primarily in Title I Schools, in the Seattle community. Through its innovative model, the program has successfully attracted and graduated nearly 250 talented educators dedicated to staying in the teaching profession. The program is aimed at recruiting, diversifying, preparing and retaining well-prepared educators who reflect the rich diversity of Seattle Public Schools. These educators primarily impact the lives of students in Seattle Public Schools who are furthest from educational justice.
“We are excited to continue the important work of NCTR’s BEI to recruit, prepare, and retain Black teacher residents with our teacher residency partners. We are especially excited to help fund five new teacher residencies this year to grow our BEI impact. Going into the final year of this initiative, BEI continues to address a national exigency to help ensure that students of color and low-income students have equitable access to Black educators who are effective, culturally responsive, and ready to teach from day one,” said NCTR’s CEO Kathlene H. Campbell, Ph.D.
Investments in Black teacher residents through the BEI have resulted in tremendous impacts nationwide. The current 2023-24 cohort of future educators in the Seattle Teacher Residency is the most racially diverse cohort in the program’s history with 87% identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color).
Learn more about the impact of the NCTR BEI on their website and more about the Seattle Teacher Residency’s decade of impact in our 2022 Annual Report online.
About the Seattle Teacher Residency
The Seattle Teacher Residency (STR) is a program of the Alliance for Education and was developed in partnership with the University of Washington College of Education, Seattle Education Association, and Seattle Public Schools to recruit, diversify, prepare, and retain an excellent pipeline of teachers for students furthest from educational justice in SPS Title I elementary schools. The program prepares educators to teach in culturally and linguistically diverse communities and supports them in securing teaching positions in SPS Title I schools. STR participants earn a Master in Teaching (MIT) degree from the University of Washington, and upon graduation, commit to teaching in a Seattle elementary or special education setting for five years. Residency graduates reflect the rich diversity of the SPS students they teach with more than 50% of STR graduates identifying as people of color. The community developed in STR supports keeping educators connected and in the profession long term. Learn more about the Seattle Teacher Residency by visiting seattleteacherresidency.org.
About the Alliance for Education
The Alliance for Education is an independent, local education fund that has worked in partnership with Seattle Public Schools since 1995 to address big challenges facing Seattle students and schools. We develop, invest, and partner in programs that advance educational justice and increase racial equity for students in Seattle Public Schools. Our work is designed to challenge systemic inequities in public schools and create a more equitable and just education system that allows all Seattle students to thrive.
About the National Center for Teacher Residencies
The National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) is the only organization in the nation dedicated to developing, supporting, and accelerating the impact of teacher residency programs. Our core commitment is to build and develop teacher residencies as a lever to address the enduring and systemic inequities in school systems facing children of color and children living in low-income communities. NCTR disrupts historical educational inequities by advancing the teacher residency movement to prepare effective, diverse, and culturally responsive educators. Learn more about NCTR’s work by visiting nctresidencies.org.