Founded in 2013, Dallas Teacher Residency (DTR) is a homegrown Dallas educator preparation program created by educators, for educators. 

DTR aims to prepare and support highly effective classroom teachers for urban school districts to ensure that all students, regardless of zip code, are provided with a high quality education.  DTR believes that education is one of the most critical civil rights issues of our generation, and that providing children with an equitable and high quality education is a fundamental human right. Ultimately, this work is rooted in increasing student academic achievement by recruiting, preparing, and retaining effective educators. 

As the first urban graduate teacher residency program in North Texas, in partnership with Texas A&M University – Commerce (TAMUC), DTR employs the teacher residency model - an innovative model of teacher training that emphasizes robust clinical practicum experience paired with graduate level course work.

Similar to a medical residency model, (teacher) residents spend 14 months in a clinical apprenticeship prior to fulfilling a three year teaching commitment with a partnering urban school district.  During residency, carefully aligned graduate level coursework provided by TAMUC is paired with a yearlong clinical apprenticeship under the guidance of a highly effective mentor teacher. Successful program graduates earn their master’s degree in Teaching as well as their initial Texas Teacher Certification. Following their residency year, residents apply for teaching positions within the partnering school districts and earn full-time salaries.  All DTR residency graduates have thus far received an offer for a teaching position in these districts.