The Power of Urban Teacher Residencies:
The Impact of IMPACT
Xpress Working Papers
This section contains pre-publication versions of academic articles and reports that document how and what teachers learn in residence.
1. Learning in Residence: Mixed-methods Research on an Urban Teacher Residency Program
Karen Hunter Quartz & the IMPACT Research Group
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we examine how and what teaching candidates learn through an urban teacher residency experience. We synthesize the work of an interdisciplinary research team that used a variety of data collection and analytic methods over a five year period to study the learning experiences and processes of 158 residents and 109 mentors working across 32 urban schools and communities. Four themes are examined; the first three focus on the “how” of learning in residence: the relationships that comprise the living curriculum, the role of time in establishing identity, and how residents integrate theory and practice. The fourth theme examines learning outcomes and offers insight into the conceptual and methodological work involved in selecting, developing, and using multiple measures of teaching quality to advance learning in residence. We conclude that the complexity of school-based learning, as evidenced by these four themes, underlies the promise of residency programs.
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Learning in Residence: Mixed-methods Research on an Urban Teacher Residency Program (pdf)
2. Measuring Teaching Quality of Secondary Mathematics and Science Residents: A Classroom Observation Framework and Pilot Generalizability Study
Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, Danny Dockterman, Jarod Kawasaki, Jon Schweig, Karen Hunter Quartz, & Jose Felipe Martinez
ABSTRACT
Classroom observations are viewed as an essential component for measuring and assessing teaching quality. Many observation frameworks, though, require immense amounts of training and are often too comprehensive, creating a heavy burden for those tasked with using them, especially for formative purposes. Additionally, these frameworks do not always capture essential features of classroom teaching that programs such as university based teacher education programs value. In our study, we report on the development of two observation frameworks—secondary math and science—that embody the aims and values of our teacher education program and then discuss our efforts to examine the reliability of the framework (e.g., generalizability study) to measure teaching quality in secondary math and science classrooms. We describe the various sources of measurement error from our study and discuss their implications for our program and using the framework moving forward.
3. Learning to Teach Language Arts in a Field in Flux
Kate Riedell & Kathryn Anderson-Levitt
ABSTRACT
In this qualitative case study of a cohort of elementary student teachers (apprentices) in an urban teacher residency program, we asked what the apprentices learned about reading and writing instruction in the field, and how they learned it. Specifically, we came to ask what the apprentices learned in a field that was “messy” and in flux. Not only did some mentor teachers use Reading/Writing Workshop (RWW) and others the district basal, Treasures, but some used both and some were in transition from one to the other during field placements. Drawing upon field notes, interviews, lesson plans, and supervisor notes from the fall and spring, we learned that nearly all the apprentices learned key skills for reading instruction and most learned key skills for writing instruction. Rather than confusing them, exposure to both RWW and Treasures provided the apprentices with a more complete skill set for teaching language arts and prompted them to develop their own literacy teaching styles.
READ THE PAPER
Learning to Teach Language Arts in a Field in Flux (pdf)
4. On Campus and in the Field: Apprentice Teachers Developing a “Style”
Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, Jenna van Draanen, & Helen M. Davis
ABSTRACT
This qualitative case study of a cohort of elementary apprentice teachers in an urban residency program asks how the apprentices learned to teach, and particularly how they integrated learning from coursework with learning from student teaching. The study draws on participant observation, interviews, and document analysis conducted by a research team. In this program, we discovered, individual apprentices themselves created coherence between university and field by developing their own teaching identities. They could do so because the program encouraged them to develop individualized teaching styles. Moreover, although the program worked to integrate field and university closely, it was often in moments of tension that apprentices developed their own styles. This case study thus permits us to explore connections between emerging teaching identities on the one hand and the question of coherence in teacher education programs on the other.
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On Campus and in the Field: Apprentice Teachers Developing a “Style” (pdf)
5. When Teacher Education Programs Promote and Pre-service Teachers Embrace: Collaborative Learning and the Case of the Matching Messages
Sarah Lillo
ABSTRACT
This paper is concerned with coherence in pre-service teachers’ training. It explores the degree of alignment between pedagogies promoted, modeled, and adopted. Specifically, this paper looks at collaborative learning practices within UCLA’s IMPACT teacher education program. Evidence suggests that the program heavily promoted collaboration and modeled it. In turn, pre-service teachers used collaborative practices to support their own learning and within their teaching. In short, a pervasive pedagogy surfaced which allowed many to benefit from collaborative practices. This paper explores manifestations of collaboration within IMPACT and also considers implications for teacher education programs that wish to make similar messages match, including: a cohort model, swapped teaching placements, student-centered seminars, modeled behavior, and reinforcement through feedback.
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When Teacher Education Programs Promote and Pre-service Teachers Embrace: Collaborative Learning and the Case of the Matching Messages (pdf)
6. Multiple measures of mentoring quality: Early lessons from an urban teacher residency program
Jarod Kawasaki, Karen Hunter Quartz, & Annamarie Francois
ABSTRACT
Mentor teachers play a vital role in clinically based teacher education programs such as urban teacher residencies. As such, it has become increasingly important that teacher education programs adequately define and measure the mentoring quality of mentors in its program. In this study, we examine one urban teacher residency’s effort to collect and use mentoring quality data to support mentor development and make mentor retention decisions. We describe several data collection efforts and how we used this data to inform programmatic elements designed to support mentor development and make decisions about which mentors to keep in our program.
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Multiple measures of mentoring quality: Early lessons from an urban teacher residency program (pdf)
7. Practical research: Using the IQA, a case study
Nichole Rivera, Sunanda Kushon, & Jia Wang
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we discuss the use of an artifact-based measure (Instructional Quality Assessment, IQA), with first year teachers for formative assessment purposes. We discuss teachers’ reflections on the scores they received and the ways that teachers can learn about their own teaching practices from the IQA.
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Practical research: Using the IQA, a case study (pdf)
8. Novice and Mentor Teacher Experiences in an Urban Teacher Residency Program: A Final Report of IMPACT Survey Findings from 2010-2014
Daniel Dockterman
ABSTRACT
This report focuses on the survey findings of cohorts 1-4 of math and science and ECE/multiple subject teacher apprentices and mentors. This report starts by first providing background information on math and science apprentices and ECE/multiple subject apprentices based on results collected from Survey 1. Then, using the results from apprentice Surveys 2 and 3 and mentor Survey 2, the major themes of IMPACT are described—Time, Roles, Context, and Learning. The last section examines teacher apprentices’ views before and after IMPACT