residents not improving student achievement more than
traditionally trained teachers. (The California Teachers
Association, the labor union that represents teachers,
didn’t respond to requests for comment on teacher intern-
ships and residencies.)
A STAR IS BORN
The promising data from residency studies don’t necessar-
ily apply to internships. National data show residents stay
in the field at higher rates than do interns, says Tara Kini,
director of state policy at the Learning Policy Institute.
Still, those outcomes may not ref lect results in Califor-
nia. In the last several years, the state has strengthened
its coursework, coaching and supervision requirements
for intern programs, making them more stringent than in
other states. “(California) is really, I think, a leader among
states in the strong support that it requires districts to pro-
vide to intern teachers that they’re hiring,” says Kini.
There are no statewide data on how long interns stay in
the profession. Michele Perrault of the California Commis-
sion on Teacher Credentialing, the state agency that issues
teacher credentials, says the commission doesn’t track turn-
over for specific teacher training pathways. But so far SCOE
sees promise in successfully keeping its interns in teaching.
The program, launched in September 2014 using both state
and county funds, has graduated 107 students in its three
classes. Liebert knows of no one in the first two groups who
has left teaching, and the third class just graduated.
Events this spring would seem to make Wallace one
of those in for the long haul. When he started teaching in
the 2017-18 school year, he had a bad case of imposter syn-
drome: “I thought the kids could see right through me be-
cause I came in with a positive attitude. But on the inside I
was like, ‘Yeah, right.’”
No longer. In May, he was named New Educator of the
Year for the Marysville Joint Unified School Distrtict. And
his enthusiasm has rubbed off on his coach. Garmire was
so inspired watching Wallace and his other interns that
he decided to substitute teach. “I learned so much that I
wanted to take it back to the classroom, and I’ve had an
absolute blast,” he says. n
Steven Yoder writes about business, real estate and crim-
inal justice. His work has appeared in The Fiscal Times,
Salon, The American Prospect and elsewhere. On Twitter
@syodertweet and at www.stevenyoder.net.
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