Aspiring Teachers Take Up Residence

Urban districts are turning to another model of preparation to get teachers-one run by an outside group that mixes classroom training with practical experience in their own schools.

Boston

Each of the past five years, a group of new teachers has been entering some of Boston’s toughest schools knowing almost exactly what they can expect and what’s expected of them.

That’s because they’ve already spent a year in those buildings, observing and teaching classes under the watchful eye of a specially trained master teacher. They have developed a solid understanding of the academic and disciplinary issues they might confront. And if they need guidance, they know mentor teachers are on hand to help.

The teachers are graduates of the Boston Teacher Residency program, a yearlong, selective preparation route that trains aspiring teachers, many of them career-changers, to take on jobs in some of...