While education systems and practices may differ significantly between nations, educators around the globe can learn from teaching and administrative practices in other countries to the benefit of their students at home. The internet can facilitate the sharing of knowledge, but can’t substitute for face-to-face conversation and the direct experience of another culture’s education system.
In 1999, ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College partnered with the Osborn Elementary School District in central Phoenix, Arizona, to create a program addressing two goals simultaneously: How can ASU better prepare teacher candidates for their first year on the job, and how can a school district nurture and train new teachers who might then choose to remain within that district’s faculty. This initiative would later be named iTeachAZ. (Note: Beginning with the 2019–20 school year, iTeachAZ was superseded by MLFTC Professional Pathways.)
Next Education Workforce at ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College created a pilot program for a new residency model of teacher preparation in the 2018–19 school year. Approximately 50 teacher candidates were placed in the Avondale and Pendergast school districts, working in teams of two or three TCs plus a mentor teacher who was already an employee of the district. Each team was responsible for two classrooms with approximately 60 pre-K–12 students.