What Matters and for Whom? Exploring Characteristics of Teacher Residency Programs and Their Relationship to Participant Perceptions

Oct 15, 2026

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A concurrent mixed-methods study explores teacher residency programs (TRPs) across the United States using program and participant survey data from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) for 2021–2022. Latent class analysis identifies three program types—locally funded low tuition, multifunded multifaceted, and federally funded post-residency support. Regression results show significant links between program structures and perceptions from residents, graduates, mentors, and principals, while qualitative coding highlights extended clinical experience, localized support, programmatic training, and practical professional knowledge.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature Review

Central Structures and Effects of Teacher Residency Programs

Methods

Results

Program Types Identified by Latent Class Analysis

Relationships Between Program Structures and Perceptions

Qualitative Structures from Open Responses

Discussion

Conclusion

AERA Open January-December 2025, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1–21 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584251389560 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2025. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) What Matters and for Whom? Exploring Characteristics of Teacher Residency Programs and Their Relationship to Participant Perceptions Andrew Kwok Texas A&M University Tuan D. Nguyen University of Missouri This concurrent mixed-methods study descriptively explores teacher residency programs (TRPs) across the nation. We examine program and participant survey data from the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR) to identify important TRP structures for resident support. Latent class analysis of program-level data reveals three types of TRPs (locally funded low tuition, multifunded multifaceted, and federally funded post-residency support), while regression models indicate significant relationships between individual program structures and participant (residents, graduates, mentors, and principals) perceptions. Qualitative analyses of multiple open response items across participants details four salient TRP structures: providing extended clinical experience, localizing individual support, offering programmatic training, and teaching practical professional knowledge. Findings inform policymakers on TRP investment, practitioners about program design, and researchers about continued large-scale evidence. Keywords: professional development, teacher education/development, teacher characteristics, mixed methods, teacher residency programs, teacher preparation Introduction Teacher residency programs (TRPs)—designed to enhance the recruitment, preparation, and retention of teachers for high-needs schools (Silva et al., 2014)—have proliferated throughout the United States (Worley & Zerbino, 2023). These programs place diverse teachers in underserved districts and offer a suite of support for educator success (Azar et al., 2020; Gist, 2019) . Preliminary evidence suggests TRPs are positively associated with increased student achievement scores and teacher retention (Papay et al., 2012), alongside decreased long-term district costs (Worley & Zerbino, 2023) . These distinct benefits could curb the increased postpandemic teacher turnover (Goldhaber & Theobald, 2023) and persistent new teacher attrition rates (Papay et al., 2017) . Correspondingly, the U.S. Department of Education has invested nearly $350 million in TRPs since 2014.1 Given such significant financial investment, interest in and empirical evidence on the effect ofTRPs is growing. A great deal of existing research describes the need, theory, and purpose of TRPs (Gist et al., 2021; Solomon, 2009), while other studies have examined various perspectivesand experiences within residencies (Chu, 2019, 2021; Kwok et al., 2023; Mitani et al., 2022) . However, there is less evidence examining across TRPs, as many prior studies focus on single programs or particular states and districts. These prior works inform a burgeoning groundwork outlining central structures2 of TRPs, but given the variation across programs (Wasburn-Moses, 2017), less is known about peripheral structures that define this heterogeneity. Our concurrent mixed-methods study leverages data from 39 TRPs in the National Center for Teacher Residencies’(NCTR) network for 2021–2022. We explore program and participant surveys to identify important TRP structures through latent class analysis and qualitative coding of open response items, respectively. We also examine the relationship between program structures and participant experiences to understand the potential effects ofTRP design. This study contributes foundational evidence about TRPs and illuminates vital program structures that inform policymakers and program administration. The research questions guiding our work are:

FAQs

What data sources and study design are used to examine teacher residency programs?

The study uses concurrent mixed-methods with program and participant surveys from the NCTR network for 2021–2022, combining latent class analysis and qualitative coding of open responses.

How many types of teacher residency programs are identified, and what distinguishes them?

Three types are identified: locally funded low tuition, multifunded multifaceted, and federally funded post-residency support, based on program-level data.

Which teacher residency program structures are described as salient by participants?

Participants’ open responses highlight four structures: providing extended clinical experience, localizing individual support, offering programmatic training, and teaching practical professional knowledge.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious