Absolute Priority Checklist

Required TQP Absolute Priority Checklist

Effective Teaching Residency Programs (Teacher Residency Program) INSTRUCTIONS: Applicants must provide page number(s) for each requirement that has a space provided in the Page Number column to identify where each requirement is discussed in the application’s project narrative or shown via a document or form included in the appendix. Some requirements are dependent on the design of the applicant’s project and are listed “as applicable.”
Page Number (a)____, (b)____ (1)____ (2)____ (3)____ (4) ____	(I) IN GENERAL. Under this priority, an eligible partnership must carry out an effective teaching residency program that includes all of the following activities: (a) Supporting a teaching residency program described in paragraph II(a) for high-need subjects and areas, as determined by the needs of the high-need LEA in the partnership; (b) Placing graduates of the teaching residency program in cohorts that facilitate professional collaboration, both among graduates of the teaching residency program and between such graduates and mentor teachers in the receiving school; (c) Ensuring that teaching residents who participate in the teaching residency program receive— (1) Effective pre-service preparation as described in paragraph II; (2) Teacher mentoring; (3) Support required through the induction program as the teaching residents enter the classroom as new teachers; and (4) The preparation described in paragraphs (c)(i), (ii), and (iii) Clinical Experience and Interaction in the Absolute Priority.
(1)____ (2)____ (i)____ (ii) ____ (iii) ____ (i)____ (ii)____ (iii)____ (iv)____ (v)____ (as applicable) (5)____ (i)____ (ii) ____ (as applicable) (7) ____	(II) REQUIRED COMPONENTS OF TEACHING RESIDENCY PROGRAMS. (a) Establishment and design. A teaching residency program under this priority must be a program based upon models of successful teaching residencies that serves as a mechanism to prepare teachers for success in the high-need schools in the eligible partnership, and must be designed to include the following characteristics of successful programs: (1) The integration of pedagogy, classroom practice, and teacher mentoring; (2) Engagement of teaching residents in rigorous graduate-level course work leading to a master’s degree while undertaking a guided teaching apprenticeship; (3) Experience and learning opportunities alongside a trained and experienced mentor teacher-- (i) Whose teaching must complement the residency program so that classroom clinical practice is tightly aligned with coursework; (ii) Who must have extra responsibilities as a teacher leader of the teaching residency program, as a mentor for residents, and as a teacher coach during the induction program for new teachers; and for establishing, within the program, a learning community in which all individuals are expected to continually improve their capacity to advance student learning; and (iii) Who may be relieved from teaching duties as a result of such additional responsibilities; (4) The establishment of clear criteria for the selection of mentor teachers based on measures of teacher effectiveness and the appropriate subject area knowledge. Evaluation of teacher effectiveness must be based on, but not limited to, observations of the following-- (i) Planning and preparation, including demonstrated knowledge of content, pedagogy, and assessment, including the use of formative and diagnostic assessments to improve student learning; (ii) Appropriate instruction that engages students with different learning styles; (iii) Collaboration with colleagues to improve instruction; (iv) Analysis of gains in student learning, based on multiple measures that are valid and reliable and that, when feasible, may include valid, reliable, and objective measures of the influence of teachers on the rate of student academic progress; and (v) In the case of mentor candidates who will be mentoring new or prospective literacy and mathematics coaches or instructors, appropriate skills in the essential components of reading instruction, teacher training in literacy instructional strategies across core subject areas, and teacher training in mathematics instructional strategies, as appropriate; (5) Grouping of teaching residents in cohorts to facilitate professional collaboration among such residents; (6) The development of admissions goals and priorities-- (i) That are aligned with the hiring objectives of the LEA partnering with the program, as well as the instructional initiatives and curriculum of such agency, in exchange for a commitment by such agency to hire qualified graduates from the teaching residency program; and (ii) Which may include consideration of applicants that reflect the communities in which they will teach as well as consideration of individuals from underrepresented populations in the teaching profession, as applicable (7) Support for residents, once the teaching residents are hired as teachers of record, through an induction program, professional development, and networking opportunities to support the residents through not less than the residents’ first two years of teaching.
(i)____ (ii)____ (i)____ (ii)____ (iii)____ (as applicable)	(b) Selection of individuals as teaching residents. (1) Eligible Individual. In order to be eligible to be a teaching resident in a teaching residency program under this priority, an individual must—- (i) Be a recent graduate of a four-year institution of higher education or a mid-career professional from outside the field of education possessing strong content knowledge or a record of professional accomplishment; and (ii) Submit an application to the teaching residency program. (2) Selection Criteria for Participants. An eligible partnership carrying out a teaching residency program under this priority must establish criteria for the selection of eligible individuals to participate in the teaching residency program based on the following characteristics-- (i) Strong content knowledge or record of accomplishment in the field or subject area to be taught; (ii) Strong verbal and written communication skills, which may be demonstrated by performance on appropriate tests; and (iii) Other attributes linked to effective teaching, which may be determined by interviews or performance assessments, as specified by the eligible partnership.
(1)____, (2)____, (i)____, (ii)____, (iii)____, (iv)____, (v)____, (1)____, (2)____ (as applicable) (3)____,	(c) Stipends or salaries; applications; agreements; repayments. (1) Stipends or salaries. A teaching residency program under this priority must provide a one-year living stipend or salary to teaching residents during the teaching residency program; (2) Applications for stipends or salaries. Each teacher residency candidate desiring a stipend or salary during the period of residency must submit an application to the eligible partnership at such time, and containing such information and assurances, as the eligible partnership may require; (3) Agreements to serve. Each application submitted under paragraph (c)(2) of this priority must contain or be accompanied by an agreement that the applicant will— (i) Serve as a full-time teacher for a total of not less than three academic years immediately after successfully completing the teaching residency program; (ii) Fulfill the requirement under paragraph (c)(3)(i) of this priority by teaching in a high-need school served by the high-need LEA in the eligible partnership and teach a subject or area that is designated as high-need by the partnership; (iii) Provide to the eligible partnership a certificate, from the chief administrative officer of the LEA in which the resident is employed, of the employment required under paragraph (c)(3)(i) and (ii) of this priority at the beginning of, and upon completion of, each year or partial year of service; (iv) Meet the applicable State certification and licensure requirements, including any requirements for certification obtained through alternative routes to certification, or, with regard to special education teachers, the qualifications described in section 612(a)(14)(C) of the IDEA, when the applicant begins to fulfill the service obligation under this provision; and (v) Comply with the requirements set by the eligible partnership under paragraph II-(d) of this priority if the applicant is unable or unwilling to complete the service obligation required by the paragraph. (d) Repayments. (1) In general. A grantee carrying out a teaching residency program under this priority must require a recipient of a stipend or salary under paragraph (c)(1) of this priority who does not complete, or who notifies the partnership that the recipient intends not to complete, the service obligation required by paragraph (c)(3) of this priority to repay such stipend or salary to the eligible partnership, together with interest, at a rate specified by the partnership in the agreement, and in accordance with such other terms and conditions specified by the eligible partnership, as necessary; (2) Other terms and conditions. Any other terms and conditions specified by the eligible partnership may include reasonable provisions for pro rata repayment of the stipend or salary described in paragraph (c)(1) of this priority or for deferral of a teaching resident’s service obligation required by paragraph (c)(3) of this priority, on grounds of health, incapacitation, inability to secure employment in a school served by the eligible partnership, being called to active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, or other extraordinary circumstances; (3) Use of repayments. An eligible partnership must use any repayment received under paragraph (d) to carry out additional activities that are consistent with the purposes of this priority.

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