NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development today announced four new public school district partners for its Embedded Master of Arts in Teaching (EMAT) residency program for teacher education – San Francisco Unified School District, Syracuse City District, City School District of Albany, and Tucson Unified School District.
The EMAT teacher residency program enables students to earn graduate degrees by pairing technology-enhanced coursework with full-time residency experiences in urban schools. Because courses and NYU faculty mentoring take place through an online platform, students can be immersed in partner schools anywhere in the country, particularly in high-need schools and districts working to develop a pipeline of qualified teachers.
“The swift growth of this new program speaks to the excitement around new and innovative ways to prepare teachers for today’s classrooms. Thanks to technology, our program can educate teachers in the communities where they are needed most, even if they are hundreds of miles away from NYU,” said Dominic Brewer, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of NYU Steinhardt.
The new partners are joining after a successful first year of the EMAT teacher residency. Approved by New York State in early 2016, the program welcomed its first students last summer; the first cohort of ten students is expected to graduate this summer. During the 2016-17 school year, these students have been embedded in urban middle and high schools through Brooklyn Prospect Charter Schools and Great Oaks Charter Schools in Connecticut, Delaware, and New York. Brooklyn Prospect and Great Oaks will remain partners.
The new partner districts, in which NYU graduate students will be embedded beginning in the 2017-18 school year, will grow the EMAT program to roughly 75 students for the coming school year.
The 12-month graduate program blends online learning – a series of intensive academic modules designed to prepare secondary English, math, social studies, and science teachers – with structured and full-time residency experiences. Using a platform developed by technology start-up HotChalk, students complete their coursework under NYU faculty guidance in tandem with observed classroom instruction and one-on-one student contact in order to hone their teaching skills.
Throughout the program, NYU students are supported by both NYU faculty and experienced classroom teachers in the partner schools. As students learn the essential skills and competencies for teaching, they gradually gain responsibilities in the classroom, including planning lessons and assessing student progress, ultimately assuming full responsibility for their class in the spring.
“Research shows that the strongest way to prepare effective teachers is through immersive experiences in schools, which is why we designed the program to ensure our students spend their time embedded in middle and high schools from San Francisco to Syracuse,” said Diana Turk, director of teacher education at NYU Steinhardt.
For more information on the EMAT teacher residency model, visit teachereducation.steinhardt.nyu.edu.
About the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (@nyusteinhardt)
Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu.