BOETTCHER TEACHERS PROGRAM
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Boettcher Scholarship Program in 2002, the Board of Trustees decided to start a
new program with the hope that in future years it would have a similarly substantial impact on the State of Colorado.
The Boettcher Teachers Program, now in its third year, aims to prepare teachers to make a profound and lasting difference in
the individual lives of low-income students, their communities and their schools, thereby ensuring equitable educational experiences
for all students.
The Boettcher Teachers Program combines the best-known research and practices for teacher recruitment, preparation,
induction and support in high-needs schools. This rigorous program is a hybrid of traditional and alternative graduate-level
teacher education and is designed to increase the achievement levels of high-needs students by providing them with a greater
number of highly qualified teachers.
Representatives from the 2007 Boettcher Teachers Fellows
A collaboration between the Boettcher Foundation, Public Education & Business Coalition,
University of Denver College of Education, Adams 12 Five Star Schools and Mapleton Public Schools, the Boettcher Teachers Program
admits a select number of Fellows each year. These Fellows make a five-year commitment to teaching in one of the Program’s partner
districts in exchange for payment of costs associated with their teaching certification and Master’s degrees, a living stipend during
their 1-year teaching residency and the opportunity for unique mentoring and encouragement through the Program’s community of teachers.
In the first year of the program, Fellows complete their licensure requirements with the support of a mentor teacher, thus earning
their provisional teaching certification through the Colorado Department of Education. At the same time, they participate in a teaching
residency during which they work in a high-needs classroom with a mentor teacher and receive on-site feedback from both the mentor and
Program staff.
In the second through fifth years, Fellows are full-time teachers in one of the partner districts, earning full-time
teaching salaries. During this time, Fellows complete their Master’s degrees and receive significant mentoring from their district’s
induction staff, ultimately attaining professional teaching licenses after completing their district’s induction. This combination of
serving in classrooms as both teachers and students allows Boettcher Fellows to immediately draw valuable connections between academic
theory and classroom practice.
An estimated one-half of teachers leave the profession after just five years, and the majority of these individuals cite their
lack of practical preparation and on-the-job mentoring as reasons for changing careers. The Boettcher Teachers Program directly
addresses this issue both through the field-based education discussed above, and through its commitment to a comprehensive
mentoring program. We hope that by targeting former teachers’ primary reasons for leaving the field, we can encourage Fellows to
continue teaching - and to continue in the districts that need them most - long after the five years required for participation in
the Boettcher Teacher’s Program.
In fostering this spirit of support, the Program focuses explicitly on its mentors’ development both
as experienced teachers and as mentors, enabling them to expand their traditional role within the school to one of a site-based
teacher educator. Mentors report renewed enthusiasm for teaching and increased opportunities to reflect on the philosophy behind
their chosen career. Fellows indicate that the supportive encouragement of their mentors has helped them to achieve new
heights throughout the rigorous Program and challenging responsibilities of classroom work.
For more information, please visit our website at www.BoettcherTeachers.org.
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