Bucking the traditional model of student teaching for teacher credentialing, a new residency pathway for teachers allows graduate students to achieve their credential tuition-free at Biola University’s School of Education. In partnership with Hope International University and Vibrant Minds Charter School (VMCS), Biola is the recipient of two large grants from the California Commission for Teacher Credentialing to plan and build a Teacher Residency Program Pathway.

“The grants are managed by Vibrant Minds Charter School, and the beautiful thing about the grants is that these two grants pay all the tuition for nine graduate students to earn their credentials. Five candidates are enrolled in this 24/25 academic year and four will enroll in 25/26,” said Dean of Education, Dr. June Hetzel.

In lieu of the traditional model that includes student teaching, graduate residents become a co-teacher for an entire year in one classroom while completing all of their graduate credential coursework.

“The residency grant completely removes the obstacle of having to pay tuition,” said Hetzel. “The first residency grant was a planning grant for $250,000. We received this grant in Spring of 2024. Shortly thereafter, we received the implementation grant for $360,000.”

Biola’s partnership with VMCS goes back to the charter school’s founding during the 2015-2016 school year. Since then, the charter school has hosted a number of Biola’s America Reads tutors, fieldwork students and student teachers. As a result of the ongoing partnership, the charter school’s current teaching staff includes several Biola graduates. Biola students currently serving as residents will be hired full-time in the 2025-2026 or 2026-2027 school years, pending successful completion of all of their credential requirements.

As Biola’s School of Education liaison to VMCS for the Residency Grants, Biola professor of education Dr. Jenna Canillas regularly provides inservice, mentoring and STEM lessons for Biola students and the VMCS scholars. Hetzel helped write the grants in partnership with VMCS principal Dr. Debra Schroeder.

Through the Teacher Residency Program, Biola and participating organizations aim to diversify the workforce by recruiting, developing, funding and employing teacher education candidates who have a commitment to educational excellence, work experience within the community, cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge, strong interpersonal skills, a passion for working in partnership with families and a long-term commitment to teach in California. This reality is happening, according to Hetzel, as most of the residents started out as tutors, then became paraprofessionals, then moved into residents (co-teachers for one year while taking the teacher preparation coursework), and then will move into fully credentialed teachers.

Starting this academic year, resident teachers entered into a co-teacher relationship with seasoned teachers at VMCS. Once they complete their residency, resident teachers will be eligible for hire for the 2025-2026 school year, doubling VMCS’s teaching staff and assisting VMCS to add additional classes per grade level. VMCS has approximately 250 students on their waiting list.

Applications to the School of Education’s teacher education program at the graduate level are open today. There are nine openings for the residency pathway at VMCS and potentially more at a new school district in the 2025-2026 and following academic years.

Learn more about Biola’s School of Education.


Written by Biola University Staff. For more information, contact Media Relations at media.relations@biola.edu.