New Mexico’s Public Education Department (NMPED) invested in aspiring teachers this summer – helping fund the Albuquerque Teacher Residency Partnership (ATRP) program with a more than $250,000 grant.

ATRP is a collaboration between The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools and the Albuquerque Teachers Federation (ATF).

Faculty from UNM’s College of Education and Human Sciences say, “The partnership with APS and ATF is the only reason this program exists.”

For the last two years, NMPED has offered a Teacher Residency Grant worth $1 million. ATRP submitted its grant application in June, applying for $256,521.

The grant funding allows ATRP to support residents with an increase in their stipend from $15,000 to $20,000 and it allows the program to provide tuition for residents to get a Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages (TESOL) endorsement as part of their program.

To qualify for NMPED’s grant, COEHS faculty had to prove how ATRP’s program meets criteria in six different areas.

  1. Develop a teacher residency program that diversifies the teaching profession with teaching residents who reflect the diversity of students in the public schools in the state or the geographic area where the school is located.
  2. Fill high‐need teaching positions within the state and ensure that teaching residents are prepared for a NMPED‐issued teaching license at the end of the program
  3. Provide at least one full academic year of rigorous PED‐approved teacher preparation program coursework and provide a full academic year of guided apprenticeship in the classroom of an expert teacher at the partner area school district or charter school.
  4. Ensure faculty or university supervisors who work with the teacher residency program visit residency sites no less than three times per month to monitor teacher residents' programs.
  5. Require teacher residents enrolled in the program to meet the eligibility requirements. Residents must:
    (a.) Hold a bachelor's degree.
    (b.) Be a professional from outside the field of education and have strong content knowledge or a hold a record of achievement.
    (c.) Not hold a level one, two or three‐A teaching license.
  6. Provide a stipend of no less than $20,000 per year for teaching residents.

ATRP is a program intended for students who hold bachelor’s degrees in any degree field. As with any teacher preparation program, students are required to complete full-time student teaching in the classroom. Teacher residents in the program will receive intensive mentoring from master teachers in APS classrooms, while completing their New Mexico Teaching Licenses.