TIP Spotlight: WEA Teacher Residency

From the Field

By Team Torace published on Oct 2, 2024

min read

What is TIP?

Torace is a mentor matching platform that was originally developed to help match mentor teachers with student teachers, but we soon realized that Torace could support field experiences, new teacher mentoring, leadership development, etc. This got us wondering what other types of matching might be going on that we could support in education.

The Torace Innovators Pilot (TIP) Program was created in the spirit of continuing to innovate and expand the ways that “matching” can be used in education and education-adjacent fields. TIP partners were carefully selected for their unique and innovative programs that had a matching component. Each TIP partner was provided a customized version of Torace to meet their matching needs and we are excited to highlight the work of our TIP partnerships through the TIP Spotlight blog series.

There is more to come! In-depth case studies with key learnings and resources will follow and can be found on our TIP Resource page. To keep updated follow us on social media!

TIP Partner: Washington Educators Association

The (WEA) is Washington state’s largest representative of public school employees. They have launched the nation’s only union-led teacher preparation program, a teacher residency program, to address the teacher shortages in Special Education in their state. The is a pathway for those with a BA or higher to earn a full teaching certificate with a Special Education endorsement. The vision of the WEA Teacher Residency is “for program staff and residents to experience the kind of rigor and joy that results in creating passionate, vibrant educators who celebrate students every day.” The program is also a program truly created by educators for educators, “The program is built for aspiring educators who have a passion for equity, who are student centered, who find joy in working with students with disabilities, and who represent the students and the community in which they will serve.”

The upcoming deadline for a future cohort is Oct. 9, 2024. Those interested can learn more and apply here.

Torace Matching

The WEA was selected as a TIP partner because their residency program is innovative in so many ways, and one aspect is the mentor matching. Residents in the program are placed in districts across Washington and experience 4 different rotations in different Special Education learning settings during the academic year. Torace was excited to support such complex recruitment, management, and matching for the program.

Torace built a custom instance for the WEA to ensure that required data was collected and that profile questions aligned to making the best rotation matches for participants. With the program in its infancy, Torace was also used to recruit and manage mentor teachers. An invitation link was shared with districts to share with their teachers. Once an interested mentor teacher completed the Torace profile, the WEA, local union, and district staff would ensure the teacher met the requirements and then approved them in the Torace platform which moved the mentor teacher into the pool for matching. Residents were provided a link during orientation to join Torace and complete their profile for their first rotation match. Data from both mentor and mentee profiles was used to make the rotation matches.

The Results

At the time of publishing this blog, Torace was able to support the first set of rotation matches for the WEA Teacher Residency. Toward the end of the first rotation, residents will have an opportunity to complete their second, third, and fourth rotation profile.

Torace makes it easy to complete event profiles for multiple events because once an event profile is created, the information is auto-populated on subsequent event profiles and participants will have the chance to update any pertinent information or their answers to any of the questions.

By the end of the Cohort 2 residency, 120 matches will have been made to provide rich and immersive learning experiences!