TEACH ST LOUIS

Teacher Placement, Coaching, and Support: Teach St. Louis's residency program is designed as a two-year program leading candidates to earn their Missouri teacher certification in the areas of elementary or secondary language arts, math, or science at the end of their initial apprenticeship year. In their first year, residents spend the full academic year in a district or partner school, developing under the guidance of an experienced mentor teacher. Over the course of the year, teacher-residents move from a collaborative, co-teaching role in the classroom to an increasingly demanding, lead-teaching role. During their apprenticeship year, residents co-teach with their mentor four days each week. Every week, residents are observed by an instructional coach from the Teach St. Louis team. Coaches facilitate a meeting with the mentor and the resident, providing specific, targeted feedback on each teacher's strengths and areas of growth. The weekly coaching meeting is a significant lever in each teacher's growth and development and provides an important bridge between the residency's certification coursework and the work that is happening at each training site. In residents' second year, residents move into full-time lead-teaching roles and continue to receive bi-weekly observation and coaching from a member of the Teach St. Louis team. In addition to the teacher residency, Teach St. Louis has also expanded our programming to include a Teacher Leadership Program targeted at developing the skills and expertise of already-certified teachers working in our partner schools and districts. This program offers two pathways in order to accommodate the varied experience and background of our teachers. Teachers can work towards a Master of Arts in Teaching in Learning or pursue a one-year Certificate in Instructional Excellence. Participants in both pathways receive high-quality instructional coaching from Teach St. Louis as well as content-specific coursework and professional development. This year, in our seventh year of program operation, instructional coaches supported 51 teachers across the residency and the Teacher Leadership Program. In total, instructional coaches completed almost 720 observations of teachers, logging over 1500 hours in our partner schools and training sites. In addition to the direct support provided to program participants, Teach St. Louis also provides significant training and support to mentor teachers who are also working to develop their own instructional practice. Professional development for mentor teachers begins with 40 hours of training in the summer focused on instructional coaching, new teacher development, and content-specific instructional practices. During the school-year, mentors attend training with Teach St. Louis quarterly to continue their focus and development on prioritized instructional practices.

Certification & Master's Coursework: The Teach St. Louis coursework model offers a unique synthesis of theory and practice. In each core program, teachers train as part of a cohort - a peer group that provides ongoing support and collaborative learning throughout the program. Teach St. Louis has organized its curriculum around five core competencies that, when taken together, comprise a framework for what it takes to prepare teachers who lead their K-12 students to dramatic student growth. Participants enroll in spiraling modules, each of which is associated with a core competency and Teach St. Louis's Vision for Effective Teaching. Modules range in length from two class sessions to an entire semester. With a modular format, it is possible to spiral ideas over the course of a certification or Master's degree program. In order to ensure that teachers are effectively prepared, Teach St. Louis assesses teachers' progress through performance-based assessments. These performance-based assessments occur throughout the school-year and assess a candidate's ability to implement skills and strategies in their classrooms and school placements. Participants in the teacher residency program are recommended for certification following the completion of their first year in the program. During the second year, residents begin their work as lead-teachers and continue their coursework with Teach St. Louis, enrolling in the Master of Arts in Teaching & Learning program, facilitated collaboratively by Teach St. Louis and Washington University in St. Louis. Over the course of 4 semesters, residents take an additional 21 credit hours to complete their Master's degree. In the Teacher Leadership Program, participants enroll with our university partner in the first year, completing a one-year certificate or two-year Master's degree program.