Building stability through preparation

csba at issue

By Jeanna Perry and Conni Campbell

Why residencies matter for school board leadership

igh-performing organizations don’t leave employee preparation and training to chance. They plan, invest and treat it as a long-term strategy. In the business sector, investment in employee training is understood as an essential part of an organization’s long-term return.

For school board members, long-term planning is familiar territory. They make strategic decisions about investments knowing stability and performance don’t happen by accident. The same investment principle applies to the educators who carry the daily responsibilities in classrooms with students.

In education, residency programs are one of the clearest expressions of this belief. Residencies are preparation models that invest at the very beginning of an educator’s career, ensuring each new teacher enters the profession confident, well-prepared and aligned to the communities they serve. Through a full year of on-the-job training paired with intentionally aligned coursework, residents develop the skills, knowledge and site-based expectations needed to be successful from day one. In this model, educator preparation programs become partners with the school community rather than operating parallel to it.

California’s educator workforce challenges are neither new nor unexpected. Trustees across the state see the compounding effect on school systems firsthand, with unfilled classrooms, reliance on emergency permits and frequent turnover among early career teachers. At the same time, institutions of higher education (IHEs) face declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs. Together, these trends have placed sustained pressure on local systems and prompted education leaders to confront a fundamental question: How do we, in partnership, recruit, prepare and, most critically, retain educators for the long term?

California recognizes that investing in residencies is a smart move and has provided funding for local educational agencies to implement teacher residency programs. Also aware that a large investment needs coordination, quality assurance and shared learning, the Statewide Residency Technical Assistance Center (SRTAC) was established.

A professor and student stand before a classroom as students applaud in front of a whiteboard.

Through a full year of on-the-job training paired with intentionally aligned coursework, residents develop the skills, knowledge and site-based expectations needed to be successful from day one.

California’s investment

Beginning in 2018, California made a deliberate shift, investing more than $600 million in teacher and school counselor residency programs. That level of investment reflects more than urgency; it reflects confidence in the effectiveness of residency programs and the necessity of technical assistance to help sustain them. Residency programs have demonstrated statewide that they are among the most effective educator preparation models available, particularly in high-need subject areas.

Why invest in residency

It is important for school boards to view residency as a workforce strategy, not an add-on program. When implemented well, they align preparation with specific hiring needs, reduce turnover risk and improve the return on public investment in educator preparation. Residencies also strengthen partnerships between local educational agencies and IHEs. Residency programs are co-designed ensuring preparation aligns to local workforce needs, student demographics and community needs. This preparation model is a “grow your own” approach that prepares educators within the communities where they are most likely to stay and serve long-term.

At the core, residencies are strategically designed to be robust clinical practice models ensuring residents have intensive time in classrooms with experienced mentors for a full academic year. Unlike short-term placements or disconnected clinical experiences, residencies integrate preparation and practice into a unified learning experience that reflects the realities of the school day.

Beyond preparation

While residency programs are often discussed in terms of candidate preparation, their impact extends beyond the individual resident. Schools hosting residents report positive effects on student learning because residents strengthen instructional practice through co-teaching and research-based strategies for targeted student support. Mentor teachers have reported benefiting as well and strengthening their instructional practice and leadership skills, creating a ripple effect across school sites. Districts are hiring well-prepared residents into full-time positions, and often into credential areas that have historically been difficult to staff.

As a result, many districts no longer view residency programs simply as a recruitment tool, but as a workforce strategy that advances professional growth, strengthens instruction and enhances workforce stability through teacher retention.

There is growing interest among districts in sustaining their residency programs beyond grant funding. This interest reflects a broader recognition across California that residencies are not a temporary solution, but a long-term investment that warrants thoughtful planning and board-level attention.

Unlike short-term placements or disconnected clinical experiences, residencies integrate preparation and practice into a unified learning experience that reflects the realities of the school day.

Statewide support

SRTAC is a collaborative effort between five county offices of education: Santa Clara (lead agency), Humboldt, Sacramento, Tulare and San Diego. All five partners collaborate with The Residency Lab, UCLA Center X and WestEd, bringing research, evaluation and regional expertise into a coordinated statewide system of support.

SRTAC provides targeted technical assistance to residency partnerships, supporting new, established and prospective programs. This work is grounded in four priorities:

Advancing high-quality residency models
Strengthening partnership
Supporting long-term sustainability
Promoting equity and inclusion across preparation pathways

The center’s design for providing regional technical assistance to the field is intentional. What works in a rural district may look vastly different from what is needed in an urban or suburban community. To address this, each of the five county offices that make up SRTAC is the support hub for their surrounding region.

Through this structure, SRTAC has supported more than 180 LEA-IHE partnerships and has supported the launch of 46 new residency programs since fall 2023. The support provided to partners includes programs that are grant or locally funded and districts exploring residencies for the first time. Regional Hub Leads positioned at each COE offer individualized coaching, resources, tools and both in-person and virtual convenings, creating space for programs to learn from one another.

Planning for sustainability

While state funding and technical assistance have been essential to launching and scaling residency programs, long-term impact depends on the partnerships’ ability to sustain their programs. Grant funding alone cannot carry this work forward indefinitely. In response to this, SRTAC has launched a sustainability initiative with eight LEA-IHE residency partnerships. SRTAC is facilitating these programs to study and pilot locally driven strategies focused on funding models, staffing structures and operational approaches that support long-term viability. This work will result in sustainability models that districts across California can adapt to their own context and present to their boards for consideration.

A strategic investment

Educator residency programs are a proactive and strategic investment. With school board support, residencies will continue to strengthen educator preparation, improve student outcomes and build workforce systems responsive to local needs. For school board members whose district hosts a residency program, we encourage you to ask district leadership for an update about the thorough preparation and impact on students. For those on a school board whose district doesn’t host a residency program, consider the benefits of year-long co-teaching by intentionally chosen educators who meet the needs of your community and who are guided by expert mentors year after year.

Through statewide coordination, regional expertise and shared leadership, SRTAC is demonstrating what is possible when preparation is viewed not as a short-term expense but as a long-term investment that can turn educator preparation into a high-value public investment.

Jeanna Perry serves as the director of the Statewide Residency Technical Assistance Center at the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SRTAC), where she advances educator workforce initiatives across California. Conni Campbell is an SRTAC coordinator.

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