The Office of the State Superintendent of Education awards SOAR Act Teacher Pipeline grants to public charter local education agencies (LEAs) and nonprofit organizations through a competitive process. Eligibility for the grant is based on a demonstrated history of success in working on projects designed to impact the quality and quantity of the teacher supply for DC charter schools. Teacher pipeline projects are initiatives that a) recruit high-quality candidates new to teaching for DC charter school teacher residency or teacher roles, and b) train and/or certify these teachers. Awarded projects are designed to have direct and rapid impact on academic achievement and outcomes for students.

FY23 SOAR Teacher Pipeline Awardees

• Relay Graduate School of Education - $284,964
• Teach for America - $500,000

Project Descriptions

Relay Graduate School of Education
Partners: DC Prep, Friendship PCS
Relay Graduate School of Education will support 50 DC Prep and Friendship PCS residents (projected 26 DC Prep and 24 Friendship) at a high level while seeking to reduce the per resident cost. The residency is a two-year program to cultivate prepared, diverse new teachers grounded in evidence-based practices refined through substantial clinical experience with P-12 students. In the first year, residents co-teach; in the second year, residents are hired into full-time teaching roles to meet LEA needs. At the end of the two-year program, they earn the Master of Arts in Teaching. Alongside this job-embedded experience, residents complete a research-based curriculum integrating theory, practice and mindsets to help them get better faster. Relay is in deep consultation with LEAs as they partner to ensure the programmatic offerings meet the needs of the P-12 students we serve.

Teach for America
Partners: DC Prep, Meridian Public Charter School, Rocketship Public Schools, KIPP DC Public Schools, Paul Public Charter School
To meet the needs of OSSE LEA partners/DC charter schools, namely teacher retention and student learning loss, in the coming school years, Teach for America DC Region (TFA-DCR) is increasing our teacher development and pipeline program at public charter school partners. TFA-DCR will recruit, certify, train and place 33 teachers, or corps members (CMs), in the 2023-24 school year 2023-24, and 33 teachers in the 2024-25 school year, totaling at least 66 over two school years, directly impacting 4,224 students.