Program LEA Partnership Structures and Collaborative Governance

Texas State's Program LEA Partnership Structures began with the piloting of a residency program in collaboration with US PREP. From the start, the program intentionally selected initial partner campuses based on proximity, pre-existing relationships, and a demonstrated history of strong clinical teaching collaboration. Superintendents who were already invested in the university's clinical model were approached first, making the shift to a residency structure a natural next step rather than a wholesale change.

As the program scaled, a structured new-partner process emerged. When a district reaches out to inquire about partnership, program leaders schedule an introductory meeting that is deliberately led with a needs-assessment question: "What are your needs? What would a residency help you accomplish in your district? What types of teachers are you needing?" This framing positions the partnership as mutually beneficial from the very first conversation, and candidate placement is tailored to the district's expressed needs as much as possible.

For new districts not yet participating in regional strategic staffing supports, Texas State developed a "Design Day" — a structured, collaborative planning session in which program staff and district leaders work together to establish residency parameters, select host teachers, set expectations for the two-semester resident experience, and map out available trainings and supports. Design Day gives districts a clear, complete picture of what to expect from residents and what the university expects in return.

The Program LEA Partnership Structures are sustained through four interconnected components:

Regional Site Coordinators (RSCs): Texas State employs RSCs who serve as embedded liaisons between the university and partner LEAs. RSCs are not solely relationship managers — they also conduct field supervision of residents. When possible, RSCs stay with the same districts for multiple years, building deep community relationships. In the San Marcos ISD partnership — the program's longest-standing — the same RSC has been in place since the residency launched. The result is a level of trust that goes well beyond a formal institutional relationship: the RSC communicates directly with the district's HR director and is treated as part of the school community.

Formal MOUs: Memoranda of Understanding between Texas State and each partner LEA explicitly define roles, mentor selection criteria, placement responsibilities, and shared governance expectations. These MOUs are notable for their specificity — rather than broad statements of intent, they name the shared responsibilities of both parties in concrete terms.

Collaborative Governance Meetings: Texas State convenes regular governance meetings with partner LEA leaders, supplemented by an annual External Teacher Advisory Committee that brings together district representatives from across the residency network. These meetings are structured data-sharing and decision-making sessions. At every meeting, Texas State shares a certification status data sheet listing each resident's exam registration and pass/fail status, holding candidates accountable while enabling districts to offer targeted support.

District-Led Celebrations and Candidate Integration: Multiple partner districts host formal "Signing Days" to welcome accepted residents into the district community. San Marcos ISD holds signing days with a full welcome event, and Manor ISD runs similar ceremonies where residents are formally welcomed as part of the school family. These celebrations reflect a district-wide investment in residency that extends far beyond HR — administrators, curriculum teams, and campus leaders across participating districts understand and champion the residency program internally.

Texas State and its LEA partners use several data sources and feedback mechanisms to monitor their Program LEA Partnership Structures and drive continuous improvement through Collaborative Governance:

• Certification Status Data Sheets: At every governance meeting, Texas State shares a table listing each resident's certification exam registration and pass status. This data has directly prompted districts to offer exam prep support — including Hutto ISD, which began offering free study materials and dedicated study time after learning through the advisory committee that certification completion was a barrier to hiring.
• Hiring and Retention Data: Districts share annual hiring data with Texas State. A recent Collaborative Governance conversation with San Marcos ISD used multi-year hiring trend data to jointly problem-solve the resident selection and placement process — explicitly framed as collaborative brainstorming rather than a directive from either party.
• First-Year Teacher Performance Data: San Marcos ISD tracks the classroom performance of hired residents against veteran teachers in their first year and shares those results with Texas State. In at least one case, a resident outperformed all fourth-grade teachers in the district — data that validates the residency model and is shared back to the university.
• T-TESS Rubric Data Discussions: RSCs lead structured data conversations with mentor teachers and campus leaders around T-TESS observation scores, identifying patterns of weakness and co-developing improvement strategies at the campus level.
• External Advisory Committee Feedback: Annual advisory committee input has directly changed program policy. When district leaders flagged that certification exams were not required before graduation — and described the downstream hiring problems this created — Texas State accelerated its initiative to require exams at structured checkpoints, and multiple districts volunteered to provide exam prep support.