About Us
Arizona is facing a critical teacher shortage.
More than 19% of teachers in Arizona leave their school every year (the highest turnover in the U.S.). And, even though research shows that teachers of color advance beneficial outcomes for students of color, over 75% of teachers in Arizona are white—while more than half the students are people of color. The teacher shortage and lack of diversity are major problems, because teachers impact student achievement more than any other school factor. We believe that by recruiting, preparing, and supporting diverse and talented people who want to become educators, every child in Arizona can receive an outstanding education.
Vision
Our vision is that every child in Arizona receives an outstanding education taught by a well-prepared teacher committed to the profession and the children they serve.
Mission
The Arizona Teacher Residency recruits, prepares, and supports diverse and talented people who want to become teachers through a rigorous graduate education, year-long clinical apprenticeship, and ongoing professional learning.
Our Values
AZTR believes all students deserve teachers who are caring, committed, and inclusive. Teachers who understand and respond to students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs. These are exceptional professionals who hold high standards for all students—and for themselves, continuously reflecting on their practice.
As such, we value:
We are committed to serving partner communities, advancing the work of schools, and providing an excellent education to students. Residents are members of learning communities, committed to the learning of their students and to their own continuing growth and development as teachers, while serving partner districts for at least four years.
We work deliberately to include and represent all voices in our recruitment, coursework, and advocacy. Residents reflect, understand, and serve students from diverse backgrounds in partner districts.
We hold high standards for our work, teaching practice, and student learning. Residents know their students and learn to employ appropriate strategies and methodologies for each student to excel. To that end, they are responsible for managing and monitoring the learning of their students.
We believe that education is a human profession, and that the basis of the work is about forming meaningful connections. Residents develop reciprocal and respectful relationships through knowledge of, and authentic care for, the students and families they serve.
We are committed to creating learner-centered classrooms in which teachers work to engage, understand, and honor the students they teach. Residents learn responsive approaches to teaching and learning that include constructivist, relevant, reflective, and inquiry-based pedagogies to deepen understanding, critical thinking, and learning.
We rigorously evaluate and reflect upon residents’ work in communities and pre-service teacher education. Residents embrace feedback and think critically about their own practice to provide for a cycle of continuous improvement.
Meet the team
Our team is made up of dedicated staff, advisory members, and program ambassadors.
Faculty & Staff
Dr. Victoria Theisen-Homer
Founding Director and Assistant Clinical Professor for NAU
Dr. Victoria Theisen-Homer
Founding Director and Assistant Clinical Professor for NAU
Victoria Theisen-Homer is the Founding Director of the Arizona Teacher Residency. She grew up in Arizona and is a product of public schools in Phoenix. Prior to joining NAU's faculty, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation and completed her Doctorate in Education at Harvard University, where she studied teacher residencies. She was also an English teacher at a large public Title-1 high school in Los Angeles, where she received a Los Angeles Unified School District Teacher of the Year award. Victoria served as an editor on the Harvard Educational Review Board and continues to review manuscripts for a range of journals. Her own research – which lies at the intersection of teaching, teacher residencies, and the formation of meaningful human relationships – is represented in the book Learning to Connect: Relationships, Race and Teacher Education, scholarly journals like Journal of Teacher Education, Schools and Theory and Research in Education, and periodicals like Salon, Education Week, Alternet and The Arizona Republic.
Jessica Manzone
Assistant Professor of Practice for AZTR and NAU
Jessica Manzone
Assistant Professor of Practice for AZTR and NAU
Jessica Manzone is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. She was a classroom teacher and instructional coach before entering higher education. Jessica currently serves as lead faculty for the Arizona Teacher Residency where she works to prepare graduate students for future careers serving their local communities. Jessica’s research interests include curriculum and instruction for diverse gifted and advanced students. Jessica speaks at state, national, and international conferences on gifted education and provides demonstration lessons for school districts related to curriculum and instruction.
Stephanie Edgerton
Academic Program Coordinator for Recruitment and Enrollment
Stephanie Edgerton
Academic Program Coordinator for Recruitment and Enrollment
Stephanie has over 15 years of teaching experience including mathematics at the middle and high school levels, mathematics in NAU’s Math Department, and college readiness in NAU’s First Year Experience program. She was also an Assistant Director in NAU’s Career Development office. Stephanie has a Master’s of Education from Marygrove College, and is currently pursuing an EdD in Educational Leadership from the University of Arizona.
David DeCabooter
Academic Program Coordinator for Operations
David DeCabooter
Academic Program Coordinator for Operations
Nichola Henry
Course Instructor
Nichola Henry
Course Instructor
Nichola Henry, M. Ed, has been in education for 10+ years. Her educational journey began in 2011 through the Teach For America program, which skyrocketed her experience as a K-12 Special Education Certified Teacher supporting students in the self-contained, resource and inclusion settings in Washington, D. C. and Phoenix, AZ. Nichola has also worked in Higher Education at Arizona State University. Recently Nichola serves as a board member of Fulfilled Life Institute, a nonprofit that supports young adults 18-30 with the tools they need to “adult” through life coaching. She also does personal life coaching for women and working mothers. Nichola has a passion and commitment to serving individuals in a wide variety of capacities, providing them the tools for advocacy and overall generational advancement.
Juliana Urtubey
Course Instructor
Juliana Urtubey
Course Instructor
Juliana Urtubey, NBCT has used her platform as 2021 National Teacher of the Year to advocate for a “joyous and just” education for all students, one that is inclusive and celebratory of all students’ identities, families and communities. A bilingual, first-generation immigrant, Juliana has worked throughout her teaching career to serve as a mirror for her school community, helping students to be proud of their identities and families, and to acknowledge their strengths and contributions to the community.
While teaching in Las Vegas, students gave her the nickname “Ms. Earth” for her efforts to beautify schools and unify the community through murals and gardens. With great pride, Juliana has coined the term “linguistically gifted” to honor the incredible linguistic gifts her students and their families contribute to our school communities. One of her greatest accomplishments is teaching linguistically gifted students to be confident readers, writers, and mathematicians who also care deeply about the wellness of their communities.
Juliana is a National Board Certified Teacher and holds a bachelor’s degree in bilingual elementary education and a master’s degree in special bilingual education from the University of Arizona. In September 2022, President Biden appointed Ms. Urtubey to the President's Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. She is a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Board of Directors member and Teacher Fellow. Ms. Urtubey has been featured on the cover of People Magazine representing educators as the 2021 People of Year and on Telemundo’s 2022 Hispanic Heritage Celebration.
Since being announced as National Teacher of the Year in May 2021, Juliana has shared her “joyous and just” message with thousands of pre-service teachers, educators, and policymakers across the country – including at the White House and Harvard University– and through U.S. and international media, including Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, Univision, Telemundo, and Colombia’s El Pais, El Espectador, and RCN Noticias.
Juliana (HOO-lee-on-a ER-two-bay) lives in Arizona. She enjoys reading in Spanish and traveling, and has had the opportunity to teach in Ecuador, Mexico, Spain and Puerto Rico. She also enjoys tending to her collection of house plants and spending time outdoors, and she aims to visit all the National Parks.
Advisory Board
Bruce DuPlanty
Bruce DuPlanty
Mr. DuPlanty currently serves as the Deputy Associate Superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and is on the Arizona K12 Center’s Board of Directors. He also served in the role of the Director of Certification for the ADE. Mr. DuPlanty has over 25 years of experience in the K-12 education system and was a teacher for many of those years. In this capacity, he received multiple teaching awards, including the prestigious Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 1999 and the O.M. Hartsell Excellence in Teaching Music Award from the Arizona Music Educator’s Association in 2005. Mr. DuPlanty has also served as professional development specialist and an administrator. He received his master’s degree in education from NAU, just as the residents in AZTR will do by the end of the program. In his role on the Board, Mr. DuPlanty provides guidance on teaching, licensure, operations, and compliance with the rules established by the Arizona State Board of Education.
Zel Fowler
Zel Fowler
Ms. Fowler is a Gifted and Talented Lead Teacher at Balsz School District in Phoenix and is the President of the Arizona Alliance of Black School Educators (AzABSE). Ms. Fowler has been a teacher for over 15 years, working with kindergarten through 8th grade students. She has received numerous awards, including the State of Black Arizona’s Community Luminary Award in 2015, the National Alliance of Black School Educators Distinguished Educator of the Year, and was just named a 2023 Semifinalist for Arizona Teacher of the Year. This year, she supported recruitment efforts for AZTR and has helped to craft a program through AzASBE to support residents from AZTR outside of the classroom. Ms. Fowler understands the rigors and complexities of teaching from the inside and advocates for both children and teachers throughout the community in her role as the President of AzASBE. She supports AZTR with the recruitment, support, and retention of teachers from a range of backgrounds.
Dr. Adama Sallu
Dr. Adama Sallu
Dr. Adama Sallu currently serves as the Director of Equity and Inclusion for the Chandler Unified School District. She has extensive experience providing leadership in K-12 education, and her work focuses on educational equity, culturally responsive teaching, and inclusive practices in schools.
She is national and statewide presenter on educational equity and challenges school districts to examine the normalization of failure ascribed to historically marginalized students. She has focused on identity and cultural pedagogical practices as a vehicle in closing the racial achievement gap. Her recent discourse explored the Impact of Racialized Trauma on Black Students, her recent publication focused on Women Who Lead in which she co-authored a chapter. Dr. Sallu serves on the Arizona Department of Education –Equitable and Inclusive Practices Advisory Council as well as Arizona Committee on Diversity and Equity in STEM, with specific interest in decolonizing STEM education.
Dr. Sallu also serves as a board member – Arizona Teacher Residency Program at Northern Arizona University, board of trustee for Justice College in Chandler, Arizona and a board member for the Chandler/Gilbert YMCA. She is also a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) serving children in Arizona’s foster care system.
Dr. Sallu was the 2022 Keeping the Dream Alive Award from the City of Chandler, 2022 United States Congressional Recognition for Service, 2016 City of Tempe Arizona, Martin Luther King Jr. Education Award. She received her doctorate in educational administration and supervision from Arizona State University, master’s in educational leadership/principal certification from Northern Arizona University, master’s in clinical social work from Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts, and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee Massachusetts.
She is a mother of two children.
Nikkie Whaley
Nikkie Whaley
Nikkie is the Vice President of the Washington Elementary School District (WESD) Governing Board. For over 20 years, Ms. Whaley has worked with children from a range of ages in behavior health and education. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and understands the complexities of running a program like a residency. Ms. Whaley is also a graduate of Valle del Sol’s Hispanic Leadership Institute and is deeply engaged in the community. Through her work at WESD, Ms. Whaley understands the importance of teacher preparation programs from a school board perspective; she also understands it from the perspective of a parent of school-aged children. She has expertise in recruitment and retention, as well as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and supports the Arizona Teacher Residency in these areas and others in her role on the Board.
Glenn Wike
Glenn Wike
Glenn is the Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Community Investment at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF). As Chief of Staff, he serves as advisor to the President and CEO and leads the development and execution of special projects, manages and directs organizational priorities, and coordinates implementation of the foundation’s strategic plan. As Senior Vice President of Community Investment, Glenn leads ACF’s grantmaking operations, including management of statewide grant programs and donor-recommended grantmaking. He is deeply engaged in the community, has extensive experience on non-profit boards and initiatives, and understands the complexities of running and funding programs like the residency. ACF has been supportive of the Arizona Teacher Residency since its inception, funding the feasibility study that led to the program’s creation and providing additional funding to help get the program off the ground. Glenn has been engaged in each stage of this grantmaking, and now continues to engage with and support the residency through the Advisory Board.
District Program Coordinators
Cassandra Carter
Cassandra Carter
Cassandra Carter has over 30 years’ experience in the field of Education. She currently serves in the role of Roosevelt School District Math Specialist and Arizona Teacher Residency Field Supervisor.
Cassandra moved to the Phoenix area in 1992. She worked for 27 years in the Avondale Elementary School District. Eighteen of those years were spent in the classroom mainly teaching 4th and 6th grade, before becoming a Master Teacher for 9 years. In her role as a Master Teacher Mrs. Carter planned and delivered weekly professional development, evaluated teachers, and coached teachers and teacher candidates.
In fall of 2020 Cassandra was hired by the Roosevelt School District as a content specialist first in K-3 literacy and then math. In this role she supports the implementation of the board adopted curricular resources in alignment with the state standards. In addition, she communicates regularly with the district math content teachers with updates on important information.
This year Cassandra is supporting the participants of the Arizona Teacher Residency program in the Roosevelt School District. She monitors supervising teachers and residents to provide a successful experience according to the framework developed by the Arizona Teacher Residency Program to prepare teacher residents to become qualified instructors.
Cassandra holds a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Northern Illinois University. She is proud to be a National Board-Certified Teacher.
Kelly Kesterson-Walker
Kelly Kesterson-Walker
Kelly Kesterson-Walker has been in education for 18 years as a paraprofessional, classroom teacher, an instructional coach, and now the Osborn School District's Program Coordinator for Arizona Teacher Residency. She has a passion for science, nature, and inquiry-based learning, and even obtained a masters degree in biological sciences through a partnership with The Phoenix Zoo. Kelley finds joy in working with students and teachers and strives to ensure that every student receives the best education while all teachers feel supported and appreciated. She has been married to her husband for 22 years; they have a ten-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, who are her ultimate loves and the people who push her to be a better person every day.
Will Shropshire
Will Shropshire
Will Shropshire is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and Troy University. He has worked in the Tempe Elementary School District for more than 10 years. During that time he served as an 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher.
2022-2023 Supervising Teachers
Brenna Annibale
Desiree Barnett
Brenda Connolly
Cristina Chavez
Courtney Clarke
Bradley Deboer
Alisha Ellis
Maria Garcia
Anju Kharbanda
Shannon Lame
Alexandra Larson
Nia Lewis
Alexxa Martinez
Edgar Ochoa
Alex Parker
Amanda Renning
Jeanne Sacabin
Daniel Sapien
Hope Tedrow
Molly Terriciano
2022-2023 Teacher Residents
Travis Ball
Grace Brock
Hector Campos
Minh-Triet Dao
Allison Dewey
Jason Doutree
Kylie Dunn
Alyscia Etsitty
Katerina Hoffman
Melissa Ibarra
Liana Klanke
Tayler Lipscomb
Aldith McConney
Chelsey Mickelson
Stephanie Miller
Bre'yanna Sanders
Guadalupe Sandoval
Samantha Schlottman
Jeremy Tabeling
Aisha Thomas
Allison Valenzuela
Luis Vargas
Our Partners & Affiliations
Working together to transform education.
We are grateful for the support we receive from our partners. Together, we are working to ensure every child in Arizona receives an outstanding education, taught by a well-prepared, committed teacher.
District Partners
Initially, the Arizona Teacher Residency program is partnering with the following three school districts. The program will expand in coming years to partner with additional districts across the state. If you are interested in partnering as a school or district, please for updates about the program and mark your partnership interest.
Osborn School District
Located in the heart of Phoenix, Osborn Elementary School District is a public school system serving more than 2,800 students.
Roosevelt School District
Serving more than 8,000 students, the district boundaries are the Salt River to the north, South Mountain to the south, 40th Street to the east and 35th Avenue on the west.
Tempe Elementary School District
Encompassing an area of approximately 36 square miles, including not only Tempe but also parts of Phoenix and the Town of Guadalupe, there are approximately 12,000 students in the district.
The Arizona Teacher Residency program was established based on the teacher residency model codified by the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR). Our program is the first and only NCTR affiliated program in AZ.
We are proud to work with Northern Arizona University. Residents are eligible to have their tuition covered at NAU by the Arizona Teachers Academy funding.*
Founding Donors
Help us achieve our vision.
If you want to make a difference in education, whether you’re an individual educator, community organization, or potential funder, we want to hear from you!
You can make a difference in the lives of AZ students. We can help.
Learn about what it means to be a teacher resident— including earning your master’s degree, instructional responsibilities, and financial incentives.
