The College of Education’s advising office sits in Trimble Hall on July 23. The college is starting a program for students to earn paid hands-on experience before entering the workforce.
The UTA College of Education is starting a paid teacher residency program in the fall semester, where students who want to be future educators can gain paid hands-on classroom experience.
Ann Cavallo, interim dean of the college, said the Educator Preparation Program aims to give pre-service teachers benefits that may not be available in traditional programs, including a year-long paid experience and a higher likelihood of being hired once they complete the program.
The first year of the program is for planning and development in partnership with the pilot district, said Ambra Green, interim associate dean for Academic Affairs and Student Success. Cavallo said they expect to have a smaller cohort as the systems and the model of the program get figured out.
“Our main priority are the students and the school districts, and then the students in those school districts,” Cavallo said. “We want them to have the best experience possible, so we have to have the structure built.”
While providing benefits for pre-service teachers, this program also works to address the teacher demand in Texas.
Passed in June 2025, House Bill 2 added $8.5 billion in funding for teacher preparation and certification into Texas public schools, and $4 billion for teacher and staff pay raises.
“It increases the possibility that they may stay longer in the field, and that they may stay in that district because they are already acclimated to the way that the district operates,” Green said.
Students are still required to get their general courses done before applying to the program, Cavallo said.
Pre-service teachers will have some preparation courses before going into their residency year, while some courses will have to be taken as they progress through residency, Green said.
“It would be a split because we don’t want them to go in there without any knowledge of how to teach,” Green said.
Specifics like the level pre-service teachers will be teaching at will depend on the districts they work with, and Green said the year-long experience allows them to get a full preview of what they should expect.
Pre-service teachers will have a site coordinator, who will be a UTA faculty member, that will do informal and formal observations throughout the school year to provide guidance and assistance if needed, Green said.
“They have a leg up on being a first-year teacher,” Green said. “That then could increase the likelihood that they will stay being a teacher because they’ve received all of this extra support and they have all of this extra knowledge, and they know what it looks like.”
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