VCU School of Education’s Center for Teacher Leadership

Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education’s Center for Teacher Leadership helps improve student learning by supporting and developing the teachers themselves, transforming them into confident, passionate leaders.  

Through a myriad of programs and outreach, the Center helps recruit and support more teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and provide them with the skills they need to teach in high-need schools.   

To help provide training and education that advance the profession of teaching, we are expanding our programming through RTR, VLARC, and MAP.  Read more about these programs:

 

RTR, Teacher Residency Program

The VCU School of Education’s RTR program is an undergraduate and graduate teacher residency program that recruits, trains, and supports teachers for high-needs and hard-to-staff schools. 

RTR teacher residents learn alongside our top district teachers for an entire year while earning a graduate degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). 

Our graduates receive one-on-one training with a content-specific career coach throughout the first two years of their teaching careers. With RTR, participants gain the skills and experience to positively impact the lives of students from under-resourced communities.

Our vision is that every historically marginalized student is taught by culturally responsive teacher leaders who stand against systemic inequities and empower them to reach their full potential.

We offer our residents a VCU education degree, a teaching license, and a full year of experience working alongside a mentor teacher with ongoing coaching for their first two years as a classroom teacher. 

The outcome? Teachers who are ready to step into the classroom as impactful teachers. Teachers who are ready to take student learning to the next level. Teachers who are ready to lift up communities from inside the classroom.

Having started as a partnership with Richmond Public Schools in 2011, RTR now serves numerous school districts across the state of Virginia: Arlington County Public Schools, Brunswick County Public Schools, Chesterfield County Public Schools, Dinwiddie County Public Schools, Essex County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, Hopewell City Public Schools, Petersburg City Public Schools, Prince George County Public Schools, Prince William County Public Schools, Richmond City Public Schools, Roanoke City Public Schools, Southampton County Public Schools, Stafford County Public Schools, and Surry County Public Schools.

 

The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VLARC)

The VCU School of Education’s Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center (VALRC) strengthens Virginia’s adult education and literacy system through professional development, resources, and collaborative projects. 

VLARC equips the field of adult education with essential skills and resources through an equity mindset.  VLARC provides adult education and literacy resources, publications, and training for adult education practitioners in Virginia.

VLARC is currently expanding its support of teacher recruitment by investing resources and time to support teacher preparation through programs and resources. 

Multilingual Ambassador Program

The VCU School of Education’s Multilingual Ambassador Program helps K-12 multilingual students learn more about college and career pathways that celebrate their multilingual skills.

The VCU Multilingual Ambassador Program connects multilingual students at VCU with multilingual students in Region 1 K-12 schools in central Virginia. The program supports  confidence building, identity development, and community building of multilingual students.  It also provides high-impact leadership opportunities for multilingual Spanish-speaking students at VCU.

The ambassador program places VCU students in K-12 schools to provide in-school English Language Learners with tutoring, mentoring, and career and college readiness presentations, which will support student success as well as future generations of potential VCU students. 

There are five individual schools participating across four districts: Dinwiddie Public Schools, Henrico Public Schools, Petersburg Public Schools and Richmond Public Schools, representing over 500 English Learners (ELs) from elementary through high school ages.