New teacher residency program aims to fix educator shortage

A new program aims to recruit teachers to fill Arizona’s long-standing shortage and ensure they stay in the classroom for years to come.

Announced on Monday, the Arizona Teacher Residency program was created in response to the state’s teacher shortage and the profession’s high turnover rate. The Arizona Department of Education awarded the Arizona K-12 Center at Northern Arizona University with a $5 million grant from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund to launch the cutting-edge program.

The two-year program will bring its first cohort of 30 educators-in-training to elementary schools in Phoenix next fall and will function somewhat like a medical residency program. These new educators will work in Title 1 classrooms under the supervision of an experienced teacher and move through several areas of teaching during their time at a single school. The Flagstaff- based program will also offer a $15,000 stipend, subsidized tuition and ongoing mentorship long after the residency ends, as well as a master’s degree from NAU upon program completion.