Education Week - May 29, 2024 - 12

Teachers' Unions Are Starting Teacher-Prep
Programs. Here's What to Know
The Washington Education
Association is pioneering
a teacher residency
for special education.
Other unions are noticing
By Madeline Will
Teachers' unions, long defenders of the teaching
profession, are now putting their own spin on an
often-criticized component: teacher preparation.
The Washington Education Association is in its
first year of overseeing a teacher residency program,
in which aspiring teachers receive on-thejob
training (and a paycheck) while they earn their
teaching license. It's the first-and so far, only-
preparation program in which a union is taking the
lead role in credentialing teachers, although other
state unions are interested in following suit.
Teacher residencies have become increasingly
popular at colleges and universities, school districts,
and nonprofits, and have been supported by federal
grants. Some of those efforts have partnered with
teachers' unions, but the unions had not taken a
lead role until now.
But the conditions are ripe for more to follow
in the WEA's footsteps: Teacher shortages in
certain fields are continuing to plague schools;
new sources of federal funding are available; and
teachers' unions are looking for ways to bolster
their own membership.
" Unions have been trying to find ways to engage
members, and to innovate, and I think this is a natural
avenue to pursue, " said Bradley Marianno, an
associate professor of educational policy and leadership
at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He
expects to see more state teachers' unions adapt
the residency model, either by themselves or with
a university partner.
After all, this can double as an organizing strategy
at a time when teachers' unions have been hit with
legal and legislative challenges to how they recruit
and retain members, he said.
" They are in front of these new teachers and can
pitch the benefits of the union, " Marianno said.
In the WEA's residency program, the residents
are union members and are covered by a collective
bargaining agreement as they earn their teaching
certificates.
" Being able to bargain for them, being able to
make sure they get all of that bargaining power as a
member when they are a resident, I think is significant, "
said Annie Lamberto, the special populations
coordinator for WEA who supervises the program.
Also significant: A union-led residency program is
designed for and by teachers, she said.
" Everyone that is involved in our program are
current members of WEA, and they're in the
classroom, " Lamberto said. " It doesn't have that
disconnect that you can sometimes find in other
teacher-prep programs. ... Every single thing we
do in our coursework has a direct thread to classroom
activities-we don't make them do anything
in our [coursework] that they don't actually have
to perform. "
How Washington's union-led residency
got started
A couple years ago, Washington state schools
began relying on record-breaking numbers of
emergency substitutes, who aren't required to
12 | EDUCATION WEEK | May 29, 2024 | www.edweek.org
"
Every single
thing we do in
our coursework
has a direct
thread to
classroom
activities-we
don't make them
do anything in
our [coursework]
that they don't
actually have
to perform. "
ANNIE LAMBERTO
Special populations
coordinator,
Washington Education
Association
have a background in education or a bachelor's
degree.
That pattern was " one of the health indicators
that our system is struggling in terms of educator
shortages, " said Jim Meadows, the dean of educator
career pathways at the WEA.
Chris Reykdal, the state superintendent of public
instruction, asked the WEA to develop training
and support for the emergency substitutes-and
create a pathway for teacher certification, Meadows
said.
Trade unions in other fields have long run programs
to train future workers and supply a pipeline
of dues-paying members. And teachers' unions
have long offered professional development, including
the clock hours teachers need to maintain
their licenses.
" As an organization, we had a strong track record
for providing high-quality, relevant, practitioner-led
professional learning, " Meadows said.
The WEA received $10.7 million in federal pandemic-relief
money from the state, with $6.6 million
of it allocated for the union to build and launch
a teacher residency program. The first cohort of residents
started last year and will graduate in August
with their teaching certificate with a special education
endorsement.
There are 16 residents in the first cohort who are
working in three school districts. The WEA expects
to grow to about 30 residents and nine school districts
for its second cohort, which will start in June.
The residents are primarily former paraeducators
and substitute teachers. They already have bachelor's
degrees, which gives the WEA more flexibility:
" We do not see our space as being degree-conferring, "
Meadows said.
While designing the program, the WEA participated
in the National Center for Teacher Residencies'
Residency Design Academy, a consulting service
that included a facilitated site visit to another
residency to see the work in action.
It was the first time the NCTR worked closely
with a union-led teacher residency, said Kathlene
Holmes Campbell, the center's chief executive
officer. There's a lot of opportunity in this space,
she said, adding that teachers' unions are " well
positioned " to run such programs, given their experience
offering professional learning opportunities
to their members.
But in general, it might be beneficial if unions
work with an institution of higher education to offer
participants a chance to earn a bachelor's or master's
degree, Campbell said. Creating a pathway to
a degree can help attract more diverse candidates.
A more affordable path to the classroom
WEA residents receive a minimum $35,000 salary
for the school year, plus benefits. Local teachers'
unions can negotiate for higher salaries, and
since the residents are covered by the district's
collective bargaining agreement, they're eligible
for paid time off, including sick days and bereavement
leave.
" If you think about the barriers for new teachers,
a [collective bargaining agreement] is life-changing
in terms of removing those barriers, " Meadows said.
Residents must pay up to $5,000 for the cost of
the program, although the WEA is looking into ways
to reduce that cost, Meadows said. After graduating,
residents commit to teaching in the district they
trained in for at least three years.
One of the residents, Patrice Madrid, had become
a paraeducator in the Federal Way school
district in the spring of 2022 after being a stayat-home
mom for eight years. She immediately
felt like she had found her calling and wanted to
become a full-time teacher-but she didn't see an
immediate path forward.
" I wasn't sure I would be able to enroll in a traditional
program any time soon, because [taking on]
significant student loans didn't seem like the right
decision for my family, " she said. " I was pretty disappointed. "
When
she learned about the WEA's residency
program, it felt like the pieces had fallen into place.
Meron Menghistab for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - May 29, 2024

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