Teach in an independent or boarding school while earning your master's degree in education.

The Independent School Teaching Residency master's program enables aspiring and early career teachers to receive a master’s degree in education while completing an intensive teaching fellowship at a host partner school. With an innovative and comprehensive curriculum designed specifically for the independent schools’ unique settings, the program features intensive on-site sessions in combination with innovative and collaborative online learning.

Compare our three teacher education programs to find the best fit for you.

What Sets Us Apart

 Geared toward novice teachers with <2 years of experience
  On-site and online curriculum that fits around your teaching fellowship
 Tuition partially supported by your fellowship position

About the Program

The Independent School Teaching Residency program requires students to commit to a 2-year fellowship at a partner school, teaching a reduced load in addition to completing online and in-person courses. The fellowship program is a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education and two consortiums of the nation’s leading boarding schools and day schools.

Application deadline
Rolling
Entry term(s)
Summer
Course requirements
10 courses
Duration of program
2 years

Culminating experienceInquiry project and final portfolio

Schedule
  • Part-Time
Teacher Programs & Certifications
Overview

Solidly grounded in both the theory and practice of teaching, the Independent School Teaching Residency program is designed to integrate the expertise of professional educators from a host of leading institutions, drawing on the perspectives of scholars and practitioners alike. 

The program offers both a Boarding School Teaching Residency (BSTR) and a Day School Teaching Residency (DSTR). In addition to teaching responsibilities, program fellows can get involved in other programs at their schools, for example, working within the residential life program at a boarding school, leading an extracurricular activity at a day school, coaching a sports team, or advising students. To be academically eligible for the program, students must be hired into a fellows position by a partner school and maintain employment throughout the two years of the program.

The Independent School Teaching Residency program is ideal for those who:

  • Have less than 2 years of teaching experience and an interest in the independent school context
  • Have the ambition and drive to earn a master's degree in education while completing an intensive teaching fellowship at host partner schools
  • Desire a cohort experience in a collaborative learning community

Curriculum

The curriculum of the Boarding School Teaching Residency (BSTR) and the curriculum of the Day School Teaching Residency (DSTR) are each divided into three interconnected strands that span the length of the two-year program:

  1. Teaching and Learning
  2. History, Culture, and Social Contexts
  3. Reflective Practice

The culminating project is an inquiry portfolio in which the fellows examine a particular question that emerges from their teaching practice. For more information on courses and requirements, visit the Independent School Teaching Residency program in the University Catalog.

Schedule

We acknowledge the significant time demands placed on students serving in teaching fellowships. Our blended on-site and online curriculum allows fellows to meet their full-time partner school fellowship obligations while simultaneously completing their master’s degree studies over the course of two years. 

Each year of the program includes: 

  • A week-long session in June and a weekend session in January, both at Penn GSE
  • Two additional weekend sessions hosted by one of our partner schools, one in November and one in April
  • Monthly online classes with teaching fellows at other schools throughout the program
  • Weekly meetings with school-based mentors at the partner schools

Boarding School Partners

Location: Deerfield, MA Year Founded: 1797 Number of Students: 636 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2012
Location: Lakeville, CT Year Founded: 1891 Number of Students: 600 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2013
Location: Kent, CT Year Founded: 1906 Number of Students: 520 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2022
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ Year Founded: 1810 Number of Students: 816 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2014
Location: Windsor, CT Year Founded: 1874 Number of Students: 675 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2013
Location: Milton, MA Year Founded: 1798 Number of Students: 695 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2013
Location: Farmington, CT Year Founded: 1843 Number of Students: 320 Student Body: Single-Sex (Girls) Partner School Since: 2013
Location: Mount Hermon, MA Year Founded: 1879 Number of Students: 650 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2013
Location: Southborough, MA Year Founded: 1865 Number of Students: 370 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2022
Location: Concord, NH Year Founded: 1856 Number of Students: 531 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2012
Location: Watertown, CT Year Founded: 1893 Number of Students: 596 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2013

Day School Partners

Location: Baltimore, MD Year Founded: 1897 Number of Students: 1035 Student Body: Single-Sex (Boys) Partner School Since: 2017
Location: Greenwich, CT Year Founded: 1827 Number of Students: 795 Student Body: Single-Sex (Girls) Partner School Since: 2017
Location: Shaker Heights, OH Year Founded: 1876 Number of Students: 842 Student Body: Single-Sex (Girls) Partner School Since: 2019
Location: New Haven, CT Year Founded: 1660 Number of Students: 709 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2017
Location: St. Louis, MO Year Founded: 1923 Number of Students: 650 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2022
Location: San Rafael, CA Year Founded: 1971 Number of Students: 450 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2022
Location: Winnetka, IL Year Founded: 1919 Number of Students: 535 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2017
Location: Princeton, NJ Year Founded: 1899 Number of Students: 904 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2017
Location: Bronx, NY Year Founded: 1907 Number of Students: 1140 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2017
Location: West Roxbury, MA Year Founded: 1645 Number of Students: 303 Student Body: Single-Sex (Boys) Partner School Since: 2017
Location: New York, NY Year Founded: 1709 Number of Students: 986 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2017
Location: Braintree, MA Year Founded: 1877 Number of Students: 718 Student Body: Co-Educational Partner School Since: 2023
Location: Santa Rosa, CA Year Founded: 2001 Number of Students: 335 Student Body: Gender-inclusive Partner School Since: 2024

Our Faculty

The Independent School Teaching Residency program takes advantage of the unique resources available at Penn GSE, as well as those within the consortium of day schools and boarding schools. Classes are led by faculty members from Penn GSE and from all partnering institutions. You will also be paired with a specific mentor at your host school. Mentors are senior faculty who represent an invaluable resource for you as you complete your degree.

Penn GSE Faculty Ed Brockenbrough
Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Alesha Gayle
Senior Fellow
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Zachary Herrmann
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ed.L.D., Harvard University
Penn GSE Faculty Charlotte E. Jacobs
Director, Independent School Teaching Residency
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Michael Kokozos
Associate Director, Independent School Teaching Residency
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Michael J. Nakkula
Professor of Practice
Ed.D., Harvard Graduate School of Education
Penn GSE Faculty Sonia M. Rosen
Associate Director, Independent School Teaching Residency
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Frances O'Connell Rust
Adjunct Professor
Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University
Penn GSE Faculty Patrick Sexton
Executive Director, Teacher Education Programs
MFA, California Institute of the Arts
Penn GSE Faculty Jessica Whitelaw
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Penn GSE Faculty Jonathan Zimmerman
Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor in Education
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University

Program Leadership

Program Leadership and Staff

Charlotte E. Jacobs
Director

Sonia Rosen
Director of Inquiry and Reflective Practice

Patrick Sexton
Executive Director, Teacher Education Programs

Executive Committee

Boarding School Teaching Residency program

Ed Brockenbrough
Associate Professor and Calvin Bland Fellow
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Frances Rust
Scholar in Residence, Metro Center
Ed.D., Columbia University 

Katherine G. Windsor
Head of School, Miss Porter’s School
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

Day School Teaching Residency program

John Allman
Head of School, The Trinity School
M.A., University of Virginia

Kerry P. Brennan
Headmaster, Roxbury Latin School
M.A., Columbia University

Kai Bynum
Head of School, Hopkins School
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

Jonathan Zimmerman
Professor of History of Education
Ph.D. , Johns Hopkins University

Affiliated Faculty

Charles Alt
Faculty, Princeton Day School
Ph.D., Florida State University

Stella Beale
Dean of Faculty, Marin Academy
M.Ed., Teachers College, Columbia University

Susannah Bien-Gund
Instructor, World Language Teaching Methods
M.A., Hunter College at the City University of New York; M.S.Ed., University of Pennsylvania

Nicole Mittenfelner Carl
Director, Urban Teaching Residency Program
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

Craig M. Cetrulo
Penn Fellows Program Director at The Lawrenceville School
M.Ed., Teachers College, Columbia University; M.A., University of Virginia

Bryan Dunn
Penn Fellows Program Director at Roxbury Latin School
Ed.D, Northeastern University

Kate Fox Reynolds
Penn Fellows Program Director at Riverdale Country School
M.A., New York University

Amal Giknis
Adjunct Instructor
M.S., Fordham University

Brendon J. Jobs
Social Studies Methods Instructor
M.S.Ed., University of Pennsylvania

Caroline Lee
US English, Chair of Community and Multicultural Development Team
M.L.A., University of Pennsylvania

Katharine Millet
Penn Fellows Program Director at Milton Academy
M.Ed., Harvard University

Visaury Moreta-Carmona
Penn Fellows Program Director at Saint Mark's School
M.S.Ed., University of Pennsylvania

Rachel Nisselson
Associate Director, Kravis Center for Excellence in Teaching, Loomis Chaffee School
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Dave Pillsbury
Penn Fellows Program Director at Northfield Mount Hermon School
M.S.T. Mathematics, University of New Hampshire

Anne Russell
Director of Fellowship Program at Kent School
M.A., University of Georgia

Elizabeth Ellen Simison
English Instructor, Miss Porter's School
M.A., University of Connecticut

Trey Smith
Adjunct Instructor
M.S.Ed., University of Pennsylvania

Joshuah Thurbee
Adjunct Instructor
M.A., Concordia University Chicago

Kate L. Ward
Classroom Teacher and Fellow Mentor, John Burroughs School
B.A., Williams College

Katherine G. Windsor
Head of School, Miss Porter's School and Instructor, Penn GSE
Ed.D., University of Pennsylvania

"Penn GSE helped me develop an inquiry mindset that I still use in my job every day. I learned how to ask questions, how to collect data from students, and how to analyze that data to improve both my teaching and my students’ experience."

Mark Heath

Independent School Teaching Residency Program M.S.Ed., 2016

Our Graduates

Alumni of our program are outstanding teachers trained to meet the growing needs of a dynamic teaching landscape. They are self-reflective professionals who are willing and able to develop strategies for studying and improving their own teaching. They are qualified leaders, equipped to plan, build, and evaluate new curricula and programs.

Alumni Careers

  • Assistant Dean of Students, St. Paul’s School
  • Computer Science Teacher, Latin School of Chicago
  • English Teacher, Dublin School
  • English Teacher, Northfield Mount Hermon School
  • History Teacher, Taft School
  • Mathematics Teacher, Milton Academy
  • Religion Teacher, The Spence School
  • Science Teacher, Horace Mann School
  • Science Teacher, Riverdale Country School

Admissions & Financial Aid

Our program has a unique admission process. You must first apply directly to a partner school for a fellowship position. Once a school recommends you for consideration by Penn GSE, you should then apply to Penn GSE. Unfortunately, we cannot consider applications submitted to Penn GSE without first receiving a recommendation from a partner school. We encourage you to apply to multiple schools across both boarding and day schools. This program is designed for applicants with less than 2 years of teaching experience.

Contact Information

Contact us if you have any questions about the program.

Office of Admissions and
Financial Aid

Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania
3700 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 898-6415
admissions@gse.upenn.edu
finaid@gse.upenn.edu

Program Contact

gse-istr@gse.upenn.edu

Charlotte Jacobs
Director

Bryn Elizabeth Fulmer
Program Coordinator
(215) 573-0714
Email: bfulmer@upenn.edu

Applying to Partner Schools 

To get started, contact the partner schools directly to learn about their application processes and their deadlines. In a typical year, fellowship positions at partner schools are usually posted between December and February. Partner schools then submit their teaching fellow recommendations to Penn GSE in the spring of each year.

Tuition & Fees

The partner schools cover the majority of tuition as a part of your compensation, as well as providing you with a stipend. The partner schools may also include housing. You will need to pay a portion of tuition according to terms set between Penn GSE and the partner schools. Contact the partner schools directly to inquire about the compensation package offered by each school.