A 2019–20 survey of teacher candidates across 12 institutions conducted by WestEd and Prepared To Teach identified clinical practice as a time when candidates struggle most to support themselves, as they take on long hours of unpaid work in their placement schools.1 The financial burden on candidates, and especially candidates of color who tend to take on greater levels of student debt,2 can be a reason some do not complete teacher preparation. This concern spurred interest in paid apprenticeship programs and also prompted many prep programs, districts, and states to offer stipends to support student teachers.
Public Education & Business Coalition Residency
This residency program in Colorado offers stipends ranging from $10,000 to $42,000 for their residency year. Stipends are greatest for residents working in hard-to-fill content areas and for those who identify as Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). The program received funding from outside funders, which allowed it to increase its stipend specifically for BIPOC candidates. The program is meeting its goals: 93% of residents were hired as teachers after their year of clinical practice, and more than four in five are still in the classroom five years later. The program reports that the current cohort is nearly three times as diverse as the Colorado teacher workforce as a whole.
Beaumont Independent School District
Beaumont ISD partnered with a local prep program, Lamar University, to establish a residency program. Residents earn $20,000 over the course of the year. They work three days a week in the fall and four in the spring (and spend the other day or two in classes with their prep program). The stipend is partially funded by residents providing release time to both their cooperating teacher and, in the last quarter of the school year, to other teachers in the school. During this time, residents serve as substitute teachers, saving the district money that would otherwise go toward hiring subs. The release time is limited, building up to one full day a week (which is often divided across several days).
Louisiana
The state legislature allocated funds for local education agencies to pay $3,300 to yearlong undergraduate residents who have a resident certificate and are completing their residency in a public school.
Michigan
Michigan offers teacher candidates $9,600 per semester of student teaching (based on how many semesters their program requires). Anyone enrolled in a teacher prep program who is working toward teacher certification, engaged in full-time student teaching, and meets a few other requirements (detailed here) is eligible.
New Mexico
To make the case that aspiring teachers needed more financial support, the state used data from a survey by Prepared To Teach, which identified student teaching as a point of particular financial hardship for many candidates. New Mexico now offers $10,450 for student teachers (for a semester), and $35,000 for residents (who work full-time for the full year). To identify eligible candidates, all approved teacher prep programs in the state can submit applications that meet the standards that the community of practice has developed, identifying the number of student teachers and teacher residents in their programs, and the state provides stipends for all candidates listed on those applications. Prep programs have reported an increase in enrollment and on-time program completion since the start of the stipends. The state plans to further explore the outcomes of the stipends in research conducted by the state’s Legislative Education Study Committee and the independent evaluation of the EIR grant.
- New Mexico memorandum detailing planned clinical practice experience evaluation
- Amendments to New Mexico Teacher Residency Act – HBOO13
Pennsylvania
To support the financial needs of candidates, the state devoted $10 million toward the Student Teacher Support Program. Student teachers receive a stipend of at least $10,000 for entering student teaching and as much as $15,000 if they select an area of need.
Apprenticeship programs
Across many states, the Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program seeks to provide aspiring teachers with a low-cost or free path to earn a teaching license while working as an apprentice in a preK–12 classroom. These apprenticeship programs often provide a stipend to apprentices, making this a more affordable path into the classroom.
References
- Santos, F., Mansukhani, D., Skjoldhorne, S. (lead statistical analyst), & Finkelstein, N. (2021). Beyond tuition, costs of teacher preparation: Descriptive analytics from the aspiring teachers’ financial burden survey. Prepared to Teach. https://assets-global.website-files.com/648a407f22007944606d9581/64a2121ccd9bf6fbfe6fa42f_Beyond%20Tuition%20Costs%20of%20Teacher%20Preparation.pdf
- Fiddiman, B., Campbell, C., & Partelow, L. (2019). Student debt: An overlooked barrier to increasing teacher diversity. Center for American Progress.