National-Louis University issued the following announcement on July 16
National Louis University, Northwestern University, and Evanston/Skokie District 65 (D65) have partnered to form the Collaborative Residency for Achievement and Equity (CREATE 65). Adding to NCE's portfolio of district-embedded residency programs co-designed to meet district-specific high needs areas, this year-long residency will cultivate a new generation of educators whose diversity of background reflects that of the students they serve.
D65 is considered a well-resourced district and ranks in the top third for well-performing school districts in Illinois. Yet, there is a significant achievement gap in Math and English Language Arts (ELA) between the district's white students and students of color, who make up 58% of the district's student body. CREATE 65 aims to diversify the district's teaching staff who serve the district's students of color attending schools located in primarily white, middle, and upper-class communities.
During the program, residents work alongside a mentor teacher who has completed rigorous equity-focused professional development training and demonstrates instructional practice that shows growth for the students of color in their classrooms. Simultaneously, residents learn how to enact culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies in their coursework, focusing on engaging students in exploring social issues through the lens of varied perspectives and identities, and cultivating interactions that demonstrably value all students and colleagues. NCE residents learn how to facilitate difficult conversations and respond to various expressions of bigotry in addition to their subject matter and disciplinary content.
"This is a major opportunity to forge a new model for equitable and empowering education," said Dr. Kavita Venkatesh, NLU's Residency and Alternative Pathway Program Director. "Though CREATE 65, we enthusiastically look forward to working with our partners in District 65 to address historical inequities in our educational system and help assuage the chronic teacher shortage in Illinois by training a cohort of conscientious educators, many with roots in the Evanston/Skokie community."
Funding for CREATE 65 comes from the Illinois State Board of Education's Teacher Residency Planning Grant, which makes $750,000 available specifically for districts serving high rates of low-income students or students of color and districts that have experienced chronic teacher shortages. The grant will support partnerships between institutions of higher education and high-need school districts to plan full-year teacher residencies.
Original source can be found here.
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