COLUMBUS, Ohio — Program coordinators are seeing progress in the Capital City Teacher Residency program, which is aiming to build the teacher pipeline within Columbus City Schools. 

What You Need To Know

  • The program is a partnership between Columbus City Schools and Capital University 
  • 18 CCS employees are entering their second year of the program
  • Participants are preparing for student teaching and teacher licensure for the upcoming academic year

Participants in the program just wrapped up their first year.

Thaddeus Anderson, a participant in the program, is looking forward to becoming an intervention specialist within the district once he completes his second year in the program. He said he learned a lot about himself and the students throughout the school year. On the one hand, he said he recognized he needed better time management skills because he was working full time at Columbus Scioto 6-12, taking a full course load and taking care of his five-year-old son.

As for the students, he said he’s learned to be more patient.

“I feel very confident that I can increase positivity in the students’ behavior and in their education… if I stick to it,” Anderson said.

Director and co-founder of the program, Nisreen Daoud said watching the students develop and pursue what they’ve always wanted has been rewarding. That’s especially since many like Anderson have a lot to manage outside of classwork.

“Their passion is there and they love doing this,” Daoud said. “And you can tell that they love doing this…their passion is very different than our traditional student.”

While the passion is there, Daoud said one of the biggest challenges for many has been identifying how to manage the financial portion; but once scholarships or other types of aid were received, they’re able to move forward without the extra worry.

“My hope is really just to get them to the finish line and to just make sure that they are fully committed and passionate and doing what they really want to do,” Daoud said. 

That includes determining what student teaching looks like for each person and preparing them to be licensed. 

In the meantime, Bradley Conrad, co-founder of the program, said as they’ve worked through challenges within the program, they have full support from Capital University to expand the program even more.

Conrad said he is excited about where the program is headed and how they may help other districts around the state and across the country.

“There’s a lot of interest in looking at how we train teachers,” Conrad said.

While they continue initial conversations for potential expansion, the focus for now remains on helping the first cohort complete the two-year program.