Press Releases

ACES Aims to Increase Teacher Diversity with CREC Teacher Residency Program

February 13th, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 13, 2021

(North Haven, Conn.): Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) is excited to partner with Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) in bringing their Teacher Residency Program (TRP) to its staff and districts, to assist the State in meeting its Minority Teacher Recruitment (MTR) goal.
ACES, the Regional Educational Service Center (RESC) for south central Connecticut, acknowledges the critical shortage of teachers of color and is committed to matching the diversity of its students with their teachers through this program. The Teacher Residency Program is an alternative route to elementary certification designed to recruit and retain teachers of color. The program aims to eliminate typical barriers that have contributed to the shortage of diverse teachers, like the high cost of graduate school tuition, standardized test requirements, and inadequate preparation for candidates.
“Embracing diverse teacher candidates with existing connections to students and their community is the key to stronger, more welcoming schools,” said President Joe Biden’s pick for U.S. Secretary of Education, Miguel A. Cardona, in October 2020, when he was Connecticut Commissioner of Education. “Case in point is CREC's innovative ‘grow your own’ Teacher Residency Program provides mentorship and support to school staff on their path to certification.”
TRP was created by CREC and began in 2019, with approval from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) as a revolutionary method of recruiting, training, certifying, and retaining elementary teachers of color. CREC’s first cohorts produced 26 new teachers of color. ACES is proud to partner in this mission and is actively recruiting more districts for their first cohort, which is scheduled to begin coursework this summer.
“I’m very excited about the possibilities this program has to offer. TRP has shown success in diversifying the teacher ranks at CREC and it has potential to do the same for ACES schools and districts,” said ACES Human Resource Director, Steve Cook. Cook has developed a collaborative relationship with Marlene Megos, Director of TRP, to bring the program to ACES and its partner districts.
The Teacher Residency Program is open to applicants who have earned a bachelor’s degree and demonstrate a desire to educate. Residents begin their 18-month road to elementary certification, starting with a six-week intensive summer course to prepare them for teaching in the Fall of 2022. Residents are paid a salary, with benefits, as they gain first-hand experience with their mentor teacher for one year. Residents continue to take classes throughout the year, in the Summer and into the Fall. Residents who successfully complete the certification requirements are guaranteed full-time classroom teaching positions in the second school year with their partnering district.
Connecticut has a large disparity between the number of students of color and teachers of color. Data from the Connecticut State Department of Education shows that 47.6 percent of the state’s students are of color and only 9.6 percent of teachers are of color. In 2015, the CSDE made a goal to increase minority teaching staff to 10% by 2021. In 2015, teachers of color accounted for 8.3 percent of total teachers, which rose to 9.6 percent in 2019. ACES’ partnership with TRP will continue to increase staff diversity, which is in line with the State’s commitment to increasing racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of Connecticut’s teaching workforce.
“For too long, classrooms throughout our state struggled to reflect the beautifully diverse communities we live in, putting a hindrance on equitable learning opportunities for our students,” said State Representative Josh Elliott. “By expanding TRP to Hamden and 20 other committed districts, we send a resounding message that in Connecticut, every student’s education matters.” Elliott, a Democrat who represents the House’s 88th District (Hamden), is House Chair of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.
Research indicates that increasing teacher diversity improves the experiences for students of all racial backgrounds by decreasing drop-out rates for low-income students, increasing expectations and student achievement, and creating a role model effect.
School districts that agree to participate in the program will increase diversity, while being able to advance staff internally. Many eligible candidates are already working within the school system. The TRP offers districts the chance to identify individuals within their local communities and provide them the resources to launch their teaching careers.
The application for the 2021-22 cohort is open from January 4 - March 5. Online information sessions will be throughout that period for people interested in applying. The URL to sign up for the sessions is www.crec.org/c/trpinfosessions. More information about TRP can be found at www.crec.org/c/trp.

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Area Cooperative Educational Services (ACES) is the regional educational service center for New Haven and parts of Middlesex Counties. Established in 1969, ACES strives each day to fulfill its vision of creating an equitable and socially just world, one life at a time. ACES serves its members districts and others through an ever-growing array of programs, services and schools that meet the needs of a changing educational landscape. As a school district, ACES operates three magnet and eight special education schools. ACES services range from transportation, professional development and school improvement services, technology, translation, international, security, and occupational and physical therapy. ACES operates the Open and Magnet School Parent Choice programs for New Haven County. Its programs include a federally funded Early Head Start Program and ACES ACCESS, a vocational and life skills program for developmentally and physically disabled adults ages 21 and older. For more information, go to
www.aces.org.
In the 1990s, Connecticut’s six RESCs formed the RESC Alliance to create greater access to resources and savings for all Connecticut public schools. Today, the RESCs collaborate to deliver an ever-growing variety of education resources and services that schools and communities couldn’t otherwise afford. The RESC Alliance also advocates at the state legislature for laws that address and respond to the education needs of all Connecticut residents.