County Office Opens Teacher Residency Program Recruitment

The San Mateo County Office of Education has opened applications for its teacher residency program. 

The County Office is dedicated to furthering our focus on equity and diversifying the educational workplace in our county by partnering with Alder Graduate School of Education to offer a Teacher Residency Program. Alder’s mission is to create opportunity and cultivate success for every student by recruiting and educating excellent teachers and leaders who reflect our schools’ communities.

To achieve equity, the County Office has committed to disrupting inequitable practices and replacing them with equity-driven, transparent systems; improving outcomes for historically and currently underserved student groups, honoring their strengths and talents. County Office staff have continued to educate themselves in order to better confront and dismantle systemic inequities and center voices of those who have been historically marginalized and underserved. The Teacher Residency Program plays an important role in this, and in 2024-2025, 70% of residents in the cohort were people of color.

This teacher residency program provides participants with the following:

• The ability to earn a Master’s Degree and Teaching Credential in one year (June-June)
• Apprentice four days a week with an expert teacher in the participant’s residency school
• Learn within a cohort of peers who may become lifelong friends and colleagues
• Engage in critical conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion with a mentor, instructors, and peers
• Receive priority consideration for a full-time position upon completing the program
• Do all of this at a cost that is affordable and includes a grant-funded living stipend and other financial support

The program is based on a residency model that combines immersive hands-on practice in the classroom with educational theory and research in both seminars and online. It takes place in partnership with K-12 schools in historically underserved communities, and 97% of program graduates obtain full-time teaching positions after completing the program.

Residents who choose to pursue a special education credential find themselves in particularly high demand, and often find they have more choices of districts to work in than those with other credentials. The program offers credentials for various settings, including small groups of specialized instruction, co-teaching (fewer students, higher impact), and classroom settings if that is what participants prefer. 

“I see the Alder Teacher Residency as a program that really ensures teachers are ready to serve a classroom and community of historically underserved students,” said Vitalis Obidi, a graduate of the program. ”What I really appreciated about the residency was the amount of support I got from my director, mentor, fellow teachers and staff, and my cohort. Equity was a major part of the experience and making sure we knew where our students and families came from and how to best serve them.”

“There are so many benefits of the Alder residency program,” said Anita Rodriguez, another graduate of the program. “Alder set me up for success by pairing me with a highly experienced teacher that I collaborated with daily in my year-long residency. The experience I received from my residency year was invaluable. You really become a part of your school community.”

Applications for the 2026-2027 cohort may be submitted online, and the application period opens September 1. Residents receive a financial stipend of $41,250, and grants are available to cover tuition fees.

For more information on the Teacher Residency Program, please visit the San Mateo County Office of Education’s website.