Texas A&M University-San Antonio has been selected as one of the first universities approved to offer the Texas Teacher Residency Preparation Route (TTRPR). The year-long residency, which begins in the fall, provides a structured pathway for teacher candidates to gain experience through mentorship and integrated coursework, leading to an Enhanced Standard Certificate by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
Dr. Emma Savage-Davis, dean of the College of Education and Human Development, stresses that the approval of the TTRPR program represents a step forward in strengthening the teacher pipeline in Texas.
“We are focused on helping our students to not only obtain their higher-education degrees, but also to become influential role models within their communities by becoming well-prepared K-12 classroom teachers, mentors, and future leaders,” Savage-Davis said. “It is essential to provide our teacher preparation students with opportunities to have more robust, supportive, and guided yearlong clinical experiences as a summative preparation for these future teachers.”
The TTRPR program is designed to address teacher retention and effectiveness. The expanded training goes beyond traditional one-semester preparation programs, offering a more in-depth approach to teacher development.
“This new program will provide our teacher candidates with programmatic support by experienced and trained supervisors who themselves have been exemplary teachers in the classroom,” said Savage-Davis. “It’s a mutually beneficial and collaborative governance between A&M-San Antonio and our local educational agency partner school districts. We work side-by-side to monitor and prepare our teacher candidates. This all leads to putting more high quality and prepared teachers in the classroom.”
The College of Education and Human Development offers undergraduate and graduate programs across its three departments in educator and leadership preparation, curriculum and instruction, child development, applied behavior analysis, counseling, human services, and kinesiology.