Teacher Program
Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program
Teachers can have a huge and lifelong impact on their students. But not all teachers have the same resources. In recognition of a teacher’s important role, the Foundation’s Trustees launched the Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program in 2002.
MISSION
The goal of the Program is to prepare teachers to make a profound and lasting difference in the lives of low-income students, their communities and their schools, so that all students have equal educational opportunities.
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
Better teachers create better students. That’s why the Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program combines the best-known research and practices for teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and support in high-needs schools.
The rigorous program combines traditional and alternative graduate-level teacher education and is designed to increase the achievement levels of high-needs students by providing them with a greater number of highly qualified teachers.
A select number of Fellows are admitted for the Program each year. These Fellows make a five-year commitment to teaching in one of the Program’s partner districts. In return, they receive payment of all costs associated with getting their teaching certification and Master’s degrees, plus a living stipend during their 1-year teaching residency and the opportunity for unique mentoring and encouragement through the Program’s community of teachers.
| The First Year: In the first year of the program, Fellows complete their licensure requirements with the support of a mentor teacher, earning their provisional teaching certification through the Colorado Department of Education. At the same time, they participate in a teaching residency where they work in a high-needs classroom with a mentor teacher and receive on-site feedback from both the mentor and Program staff. | The Second through Fifth Years: Fellows are full-time teachers in one of the partner districts, and earn full-time teaching salaries. During this time, Fellows complete their Master’s degrees and get significant mentoring from their district’s induction staff. In the end, the goal is to earn their professional teaching license after completing their district’s induction. |
This combination of serving in classrooms as both teachers and students allows Boettcher Fellows to immediately draw valuable connections between academic theory and classroom practice.
CLOSING THE BACK DOOR ON TEACHER LOSS
It’s estimated that 50% of all teachers leave the profession after just five years.
Why? The majority cite their lack of practical preparation and on-the-job mentoring as reasons. The Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program directly addresses these issues through the field-based education described above and the comprehensive mentoring program.
By targeting teachers’ primary reasons for leaving the field, we can encourage Fellows to continue teaching— and to continue in the districts that need them most —long after the five years required for participation in the Program.
So far, signs are that it is working! Fellows tell us that the supportive encouragement of their mentors has helped them achieve new heights throughout the rigorous Program and challenging responsibilities of classroom work.
For more information, please visit the Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program website.
The Colorado Boettcher Teacher Residency Program is a collaboration between the Boettcher Foundation, Public Education & Business Coalition, Regis University College for Professional Studies, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Mapleton Public Schools, Aurora Public Schools, Adams State University, Alamosa Public Schools, Center Public Schools and North Conejos Public Schools.