‘Residencies’ Set Up to Train Urban Teachers at School Sites

Chicago

Three groups that use a yearlong practicum to prepare college graduates for some of the nation’s toughest classrooms recently invited educators and others to take a closer look at their model.

Advocates of the programs, which provide teachers for high-poverty schools in Boston, Chicago, and two districts near Denver, said in an Oct. 20 symposium here that other school systems could benefit from similar arrangements. Given the challenges and the teacher-turnover rates in many struggling schools, the record being compiled by the graduates of the three programs is compelling, they said.

“In some ways, this is a historic moment,” remarked Linda Darling-Hammond, an education professor at Stanford University and a leading researcher on teacher education. “What’s going on here is the discovery and perhaps the beginning of the most necessary...