MPUSD gets over $500,000 for Teacher Residency Program

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION-TV)-- The Monterey Unified School District said they received $575,000 to help fund their Alder Teacher Residency Program for the 2022-2023 school year.

“Our residency program is critical as it not only creates a larger pool of effective, high-quality educators that learn the MPUSD way, but it allows us to recruit teachers that closely mirror the racial, ethnic, and linguistic makeup of our student population,” said PK Diffenbaugh, Superintendent, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. 

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing provided the money to the district. This will increase the living stipend from $15,000 to $37,000 during the teacher's year of residence.

“This increase will support MPUSD in recruiting more diverse teacher residents, as well help us recruit diverse mentor teachers. The mentor stipend will also increase from $2,000 to $5,000 in the 2022-2023 school year,” said Sarah Hudson, Director of Teacher Development, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.

This residency program was developed to help fix the growing teacher shortage and help keep qualified teachers in the school district. This grant is especially needed on the Central Coast due to the high cost of living.

In 2018, the district partnered with the Alder Graduate School of Education to launch its teacher residency program. The goal was to acquire qualified and diverse teachers to fill its teacher shortage.

The program has been successful and has contributed to increasing the diversity of the district’s teaching staff.

“We have been close to meeting our recruitment and graduation targets each year of graduating residents thanks to the residency program,” said Sarah Hudson, Director of Teacher Development, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. “Of our 55 residents over three years, we have retained 50 of them as teachers in MPUSD in the school year following their residency year.”

MPUSD said that during the hiring process, many applicants withdrew their applications and cited financial reasons such as rent, supporting a family, or making ends meet.

“This increase will support MPUSD in recruiting more diverse teacher residents, as well help us recruit diverse mentor teachers. The mentor stipend will also increase from $2,000 to $5,000 in the 2022-2023 school year,” said Sarah Hudson.