Mississippi Teacher Residency

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has expanded an initiative to recruit, prepare, graduate, and retain an increasing number of academically talented and diverse teacher candidates. This initiative, the Mississippi Teacher Residency (MTR), would allow these candidates to enter and remain in the profession through a teacher residency program.

MTR is a rigorous graduate-level program, which upon completion residents receive a master’s degree in elementary and special education. This master’s degree ensures residents have the skills, knowledge, and dispositions for effectiveness as licensed educators under endorsements 120 and 221.

MTR applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree and either meet the minimum required passing score on all sections of the Praxis Core, have a 21 or higher on the ACT/SAT equivalent, OR have a minimum 3.0 GPA (last 60 hours of coursework).

Residents will spend one year in a participating district while receiving mentorship from a high-quality teacher in collaboration with community partners and other educators. Residents will commit to teaching for two (2) years in a geographical critical shortage area. People of color, men, veterans from the Armed Forces, and teacher assistants are strongly encouraged to apply. All selected Residents will receive a full scholarship for their master’s degree and other programming through grants issued by the Mississippi Department of Education to selected Mississippi educator preparation programs.  The project is funded by American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds.

Vision:
The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) and the Office of Teaching and Leading (OTL) aspire to provide culturally responsive residents with tools to become certified educators to meet the needs of Mississippi’s diverse and changing educational programs across the state through leadership, collaboration, and service.

Mission:
The mission of the Mississippi Teacher Residency (MTR) is to create opportunities for individuals who aspire to become an effective teacher in diverse classrooms and provide ALL students of Mississippi a deserved world-class education.

MTR Goals:

1. Recruit, prepare, and graduate an increasing number of academically talented, diverse residents from under-represented groups each year as highly effective elementary education and special education teachers to serve in critical shortage areas serving low income children, racial/ethnic minorities, and children with disabilities disproportionately impacted by Covid-19;
2. Design and implement a teacher residency program for qualified IHEs that culminates in MS teacher certification and a graduate degree;
3. Collaborate with partners including Mississippi public schools and educators, school leaders, teacher education and Arts and Sciences faculty, and community-based organizations (CBOs)  to implement and continually improve the teacher residency program;
4. Design and implement innovative curricula for the preparation of teacher residents to address the needs presented by students in schools identified as geographical critical shortage areas while enhancing the capacity of EPP’s to meet the educational workforce needs of communities;
5. Support the professional development of teachers and leaders in partnership schools with the development of job-embedded training and enhance the capacity of CBOs to work with teachers to meet the educational needs of communities;
6. Design and implement a mentoring and induction program to support the success and retention of program graduates;
7. Engage stakeholders in a review of the residency program and to identify a framework for sustainability and lessons that can be applied to teacher education programs at MDE;
8. Conduct research on the impact of teacher residency programs on teacher diversity, retention, and effectiveness relative to student learning.