NTR and BTR emphasize traditional elements of the
residency model, including spending a full year working
in local schools and working alongside experienced
faculty mentors within those schools.25 NTR placed
15 residents in public charter schools in Nashville in
the 2016-17 school year, with the plan to double
this number in the second year. As part of the BTR,
candidates will receive their teaching master’s degree
from Belmont University, and the first cohort of students
will be recruited in the summer of 2017.
One common characteristic of these residency
programs is their focus on preparing teachers for
careers in under-resourced schools in largely urban
districts. These programs are also intentional about
selecting mentor teachers as well as supporting them
during the residency year. A prospective mentor
in the MTR program, for example, must fill out an
online application, provide recommendations from
administrators and peers, and be observed by an
instructional coach as part of the interview process.
To facilitate greater collaboration with each other,
several residency programs in Nashville are working
together in a community of practice. Representatives
from the NTR, BTR, and Relay Residency meet every
other week to discuss their work.
The national research on yearlong residency models
is promising. Teachers trained through the Boston
Teacher Residency, for example, are more likely to
teach hard-to-staff subjects such as math and science,
and they are also much more likely than other new
teachers to stay in the classroom for at least five
years.26 More importantly, residency models are
critical alternative pathways to bring people of color
and individuals from non-traditional backgrounds,
including career-changers, into teaching.27 For
example, 70 percent of the Nashville Teacher
Residents identify as people of color.28
Project Inspire
In partnership with the Public Education
Foundation of Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tech University, and others, Project
Inspire began as a means to train
teachers in math and science subject
areas to work