Chapter 22: The Critical Importance of Boundary-Spanners In Creating And Sustaining A Paid Residency Program

In this chapter, we describe a paid residency initiative between our College of Education and two partner school districts, one urban and one rural. Through a paid residency, an undergraduate teacher candidate in the final year of their teacher education program is hired by a district as a teacher of record. Key boundary-spanners in this initiative include school-based mentors, college-based university supervisors, and the paid residents themselves. Each role is a boundary-spanning role because the mentor, university supervisor, and paid resident each engage in transactional and transformational work across contexts. A description of our paid residency initiative can provide a useful model for other colleges of education to discuss, analyze, critique, and adapt to their own contexts.