Home > Academic Programs > Master’s & Credential Teacher Residency
Imagine:
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Earning your Master’s Degree and Teaching Credential in one year.
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Apprenticing four days a week with an expert teacher in your residency school.
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Learning within a cohort of peers with whom you will work (and laugh) all year, paving the way to becoming lifelong friends and colleagues.
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Building a relationship with an expert instructional leader in K–12 education, who will advise and support you through one-on-one observation and dialogue.
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Engaging in critical conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion with your mentor, instructors, and peers.
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Receiving priority consideration for a full-time position upon completing the program.
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Doing all of this at a cost that is affordable and includes financial support.
Our program is based on a residency model that combines immersive hands-on practice in the classroom with educational theory and research in both seminars and online. It takes place in partnership with K–12 schools in historically underserved communities, and 97% of our graduates obtain full-time teaching positions after completing the program.
Program Overview
- Residents spend four days a week in the classroom participating in hands-on teaching for the duration of a school year.
- One day a week is spent with a regional cohort in seminars that bridge educational theory and research with the direct experience taking place in the classroom.
- Additional discussion and reflection on theory and research take place via in-person course intensives and online coursework. More information is available in the Alder Scope and Sequence.
- Residents apprentice at one of our partner schools in California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley, or Los Angeles; or in Tennessee in Memphis.
- Residents receive a Master’s Degree and Teaching Credential in either California or Tennessee.
- California: Master of Arts with a concentration in Teaching or Special Education, and a Teaching Credential, both awarded by the University of the Pacific.
- Tennessee: Master of Arts in Teaching and a Practitioner License, both awarded by Relay Graduate School of Education. Credential is awarded in year one, and the Master’s Degree is completed with some additional part-time coursework in year two.
- Available credentials vary by partner. Some include:
- Multiple Subject (K–8)
- Single Subject (6–12): English, Math, Science, or Social Studies
- Special Education – Mild/Moderate (in California only)
- World Languages (eg: Spanish)
Partner K–12 Campuses
Alder GSE partners with mission-aligned school communities to provide apprenticeships for residents and a customized, right-sized pipeline of exceptional teachers for schools.
Current partner locations include Aspire California (SF Bay Area, Central Valley, Los Angeles), Aspire Tennessee (Memphis), Caliber Bay Area, KIPP Bay Area, and Summit Learning (Bay Area).