Avance Residency Los Angeles is a partnership built between Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Para Los Niños, STEM Preparatory Schools, and Loyola Marymount University to provide access and advancement for educators through the Teacher Residency Model. The Avance Residency partners are united not only by their geographic location in the Downtown Los Angeles region, but also their shared values of equity and excellence. Avance Residency Los Angeles knows that frequently teaching teams do not reflect student demographics because the pathway to the teaching profession can come with significant barriers in time, cost, and accessibility. Avance seeks to disrupt this by providing an equitable pathway to teaching for our classified staff and alumni in order to ensure that the students we serve have teachers that reflect them and their lived experiences.
Our Purpose
Avance disrupts systems of inequity in teacher preparation to collectively innovate, transform, and provide access and advancement for educators, especially those from our historically marginalized communities. We invest in and develop them to thrive, so that our students receive the highest quality education starting on day one.
Our Equity Design Principles
Disrupt the inaccessibility of the traditional teacher preparation model
Center the lived experiences of our residents
Ensure impact and sustainability for our residents and for our schools
The Avance Way
In Avance, you are a true part of a cohort community.
Weekly seminar with the cohort
Cohorting within LMU courses
Gathering/fun outings throughout the year
Friendship and support network
In Avance, you receive mental health support.
Once a month stress support group with a focus on building a toolkit for educator sustainability
Access to mental health support (1-1 and affinity spaces) as a full-time student at LMU
In Avance, you are supported from all angles.
Wrap around coaching: Avance Mentor, Avance Coach, LMU Fieldwork Instructor
Support from school leaders and managers
Credential support within the university and district
Subject-matter preparation with a free account to Study.com , study time, and logistical best practices
Our Team
Sarah Tapia-Pruett
Associate Director of Teacher Residency
Briana Murray
Residency Learning and Talent Coordinator
Sarah Seinfeld, Ed.D.
Loyola Marymount Director of Teacher Residencies
Spencer Sands
STEM Prep Teacher & Residency and Induction Coordinator
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Katie Clark
Para Los Niños Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Kate O'Brien
New Los Angeles, Chief of Schools
Jessica Edelman
Equitas Academy,
Managing Director of Talent