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When single mom Erica Martinez first pictured her student teaching semester, she saw a stressful and expensive balancing act.

She would be teaching every morning for no pay, running her 13-year-old daughter to after-school activities in the afternoons, and tapping her and her parents’ savings to pay the bills.

That all changed when she qualified for the new ������Ƶ Teacher Residency, a state-funded partnership between the Cal State ������Ƶ College of Education and ������Ƶ Unified School District that offers teacher candidates a $34,200 stipend, personalized, small-group attention and other non-financial support.

They receive priority interviews with ������Ƶ Unified and agree to teach there for at least four years. If the district can't place them, the credential programs support with their job search.

For the College of Education, this marks a first-of-its-kind initiative that transforms the student teaching experience by lifting the long-standing burden of unpaid student teaching.

“It was a lot of stress,” Martinez said of her outlook on student teaching before qualifying for the residency, which launched this fall semester. “I feel so much better now that I can focus just on student teaching and learning from that experience.”

For ������Ƶ Unified, the residency program creates a homegrown pipeline of well-prepared teachers in high-need areas. The student teaching term also spans a full year, giving the residents and district more time for learning, training and networking than is typical.

“Our residents will be coming in with preparation not only in pedagogy but in the culture of the school — ‘Striving toward excellence and equity,’ as we say,” said LBUSD Human Resources Program Specialist Ryan Ung. 

About the program

The residency program will accept up to 30 teacher candidates each year for four years from two credential pathways at CSULB. 

Twenty-five placements will be for students in the Urban Dual Credential Program, which offers both education specialist and multiple subject credentials. Five placements will be for students in the UTEACH program, with the Spanish BILA, which offers a multiple subject credential and Spanish bilingual authorization.

The university and school district, which have collaborated in other ways for years, chose those programs because ������Ƶ Unified needs more education specialist and Spanish-speaking teachers to sustain and grow high-priority initiatives. 

The district will train dual credential residents to work in co-teaching environments — with one special education and one general education teacher — to support its efforts to increase interactions between students with and without disabilities. 

LBUSD is also expanding its popular Spanish Dual Language Immersion program, which currently includes seven elementary schools and two middle schools, generating a need for more teachers with a Spanish bilingual authorization. 

������Ƶresidents will student teach from the first day to the last day of the school year in LBUSD classrooms. In return, the district has committed to prioritizing these graduates for job interviews and hired residents will receive a contract.

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While state budget changes may affect future hiring, ������Ƶ Unified is confident that graduates will find jobs — if not within the district, then nearby, said Kimberly Dalton, director of Human Resource Services.

“Those are very high-need areas throughout California,” Dalton said of special education teachers and teachers with a bilingual authorization. “So, if for some reason there were not sufficient vacancies, we know that there are many local districts who would love to have them.”

It’s a perfect setup for Martinez, who loves ������Ƶ Unified. She’s worked there for years, rising from recreation aide to administrative work. 

Her two adult sons graduated from ������Ƶ Polytechnic High School, and her daughter, Ariana, is in the Dual Immersion program at Hellen Keller Middle School.

“I definitely plan to be at ������Ƶ Unified for a while,” Martinez said.

Other support

Martinez is also excited about the residency’s robust mentoring and professional development component.

A two-day orientation this month brought together student teachers, university mentors, and LBUSD educators to build community and prepare for the school year. Throughout the year, the full residency cohort — including an oversight team of university and district leaders — will meet quarterly to ensure residents receive support and stay on track.

In addition to in-classroom training, residents also receive help preparing for required credentialing exams, with embedded CalTPA workshops offered throughout the year.

The program is modeled on other successful residency initiatives funded by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. But this is the first time the College of Education has launched this kind of residency program with a district. 

The university and school district will receive $5 million in capacity-building and implementation funds over the four-year life of the grant. Theirs was one of  in teacher residency grants in 2025.

For some students, the $34,000 stipend isn’t just a perk, it makes possible the dream of becoming a teacher, said Rita Suh, a lecturer in CSULB’s Teacher Education Department and coordinator of the UTEACH program. 

“The biggest issue we have in teacher prep is that when students get to student teaching, a lot of our marginalized students are not able to get past that financial burden,” she said.

“So, with this, we’re really able to ensure that those students who otherwise would not be able to complete student teaching are able to.”

Looking ahead, the district and university are already planning how to sustain and expand the program. Though the grant runs for four years, the funding can be used through 2031. 

Leaders hope that by showing clear outcomes such as improved retention, better student achievement, and strong mentoring relationships, the model will prove its long-term value.

There’s a good indication that it will. 

by the National Center for Teacher Residencies found that 87 percent of graduates from residency programs in the center’s network believed their participation prepared them to be an effective first-year teacher. Ninety-four percent of principals said that graduates in those programs were more effective than a typical first-year teacher.

Brought to tears

Gabriela Shy and Exy Gordon, two friends in the Urban Dual Credential Program, said they and many of their classmates burst into tears when they learned they’d be receiving the $34,000 stipend. They’d been having worrying conversations about how to make student teaching work financially.

“’OK, I need to get maybe two, three jobs over the summer to save money,’” Gordon recounted some saying. “’What are we going to do? Do you know someone who’s hiring?’”

Then ������ƵLecturers Lidiana Portales Blair and Stephanie Hunt announced one day in class that the residency program had been approved. The wave of relief was palpable, Gordon said.

“A lot of us were crying and just so emotional,” Gordon said. “I don’t really remember anything after they said we got the grant.”

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Shy and Gordon, who hope to co-teach together, make it clear they’d be student teaching even without the residency. But the residency program makes their lives much easier and their dreams closer at hand.

Shy, who holds a master’s degree in history, initially planned a career in the museum world but found the path unfulfilling. She’d always been drawn to special education because her extended family includes several diagnosed with autism and several who are teachers. 

Shy gave para education a try in the Redondo Beach Unified School District and “absolutely fell in love,” she said.

“I did not realize how in love I would be with that type of job,” she said. “It just really suited my personality and created some really special connections.”

Teaching was never the plan for Gordon. Raised in a family full of educators, she wanted something totally different — to become a lawyer, perhaps.

When the pandemic enabled her to graduate from college early, Gordon took an in-between job as a behavioral interventionist in a middle school special education classroom. She worked one-on-one with a boy she felt was misunderstood and unsupported by other adults, and the progress they made changed both their lives.

“He went from all Ds to all As and a couple of Bs and it was like, ‘OK, I see why everybody in my family is a teacher!’” Gordon said.

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Shy says it will also be hugely helpful that the residents can substitute teach in ������Ƶ Unified on Fridays, allowing them to forge connections with the people who may become their co-workers. 

“It’s great that we’ll have all these different relationships to support us, so it won’t be so new and frightening when we step out into the real world,” Shy said.

Gordon is all-in on committing to ������Ƶ Unified.

“I went to school in ������Ƶ my whole life. So, me going and working for ������Ƶ Unified was kind of always my plan,” she said. “It feels nice to know I am able to be committed to them.”

������Ƶ Unified officials love hearing stories like that.

“We want our school system to reflect our community,” Dalton said. “And the best way to do that is to hire students from our community.”