Have a question? Ask SSEW
Background
Accessible, affordable, and practice-based teacher preparation helps to increase the quality and availability of teacher candidates.1 Registered K-12 Teacher Apprenticeship programs (R‑TAPs) are an alternative pathway that addresses these characteristics.
Expanding nationwide, state education agencies and districts invest directly in R-TAPS to build their workforce. Apprentices benefit by gaining classroom-based training through expanded field experiences, earning a salary, and reducing student loan reliance. R-TAPs benefit through partnerships with education preparation programs and providing incumbent school staff and career changers opportunities for training without sacrificing income.
These new on-ramps are intensive, necessitating comprehensive support for candidates. Therefore, mentorship plays a pivotal and central role in R-TAPs.2 Mentorship in traditional preparation programs provides ongoing instructional guidance and integrates candidates within the school culture, but mentorship for practice-based R-TAPs requires enhanced requirements and responsibilities. R‑TAP mentors—usually experienced district teachers—help apprentices set goals, track progress, and assess on-the-job learning and competency attainment. R‑TAP designers benefit from mentorship planning. This includes decisions about mentor selection, ratio of candidates to mentors, mentor training, inclusion of teacher leaders and union representatives in decision-making, roles of mentor and supervisor in candidate evaluations, mentor compensation, and mentor scheduling.
Recommendations
The following actions can help states and districts address the educator shortage.
Review the responsibilities of a mentor in an apprenticeship program and ensure that mentors have the time, capacity, and training to appropriately meet those requirements.
Use the mentor role as an opportunity for experienced teachers to advance in their own careers without having to leave the classroom.
Consider how apprenticeship might align with other staffing initiatives, such as strategic staffing models.
Use the guiding questions when designing comprehensive mentorship within R‑TAPs.3
Resources
Report
Design Considerations: Mentoring in K-12 Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Programs 
This report describes considerations and examples of mentorship in R‑TAPs across the United States.
GUIDE
Kansas Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Sequence and Duration Guide
This guide from the Kansas State Department of Education provides a sample apprenticeship plan for an R‑TAP.
Web page
Apprenticeship USA’s Education page
This page features information and resources from the U.S. Department of Labor about R‑TAPs.
Web Site
Pathways Alliance
This article from the National Council on Teacher Quality provides strategies and examples of how districts are overcoming workforce shortages in critical areas.
References
1 The Affordability Imperative: Creating Equitable Access to Quality Teacher Preparation (Hannah Dennis and Karen DeMoss)
2 The Impact of Induction and Mentoring Programs for Beginning Teachers: A Critical Review of the Research (Richard M. Ingersoll and Michael Strong)
3 Design Considerations: Mentoring in K-12 Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Programs (Nicole Reddig and Amaya Garcia)
