The Texas State University Teacher Fellows Program offers a uniquely supportive and immersive start to your teaching career. Each emerging educator begins teaching in a participating Central Texas school district while earning an M.Ed. in Elementary Education, blending real‑world classroom experience with advanced graduate study.

Our program pairs every new teacher with personalized mentoring and guided  entry into the teaching profession, ensuring you are supported as you grow your skills, confidence, and instructional expertise. Coursework and fieldwork are woven together in an integrated curriculum grounded in cooperative and project-based learning, teacher research, and authentic performance assessment.

Join a community that develops innovative, reflective educators and be ready to make a meaningful impact from day one!

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  • The Teacher Fellows Program is designed to cultivate a supportive, collaborative professional community for beginning teachers. Through strong school–university partnerships, the program fosters ongoing professional growth for both new and veteran educators, promoting reflective practice and instructional excellence. These shared learning experiences ultimately strengthen teaching effectiveness and enrich student learning across participating classrooms.

  • The Teacher Fellows Program is designed to meet the evolving needs of beginning teachers, experienced mentors, the university, and participating school districts. Our goals include:
    • Fostering classroom‑based inquiry that drives continuous improvement in teaching and learning.
    • Providing ongoing, high‑quality professional learning for beginning teachers, mentor teachers, and university faculty.
    • Strengthening school–university collaboration to meaningfully connect educational theory with everyday classroom practice.
    • Deepening beginning teachers’ knowledge and instructional skill through advanced coursework and onsite mentoring—enhancing professional expertise and supporting long‑term retention in the field.
    • Helping new teachers create classroom environments that promote student learning, positive social interactions, and strong educational outcomes.

  • Teacher Fellows is a collaborative program between Texas State University and several Central Texas school districts that provides a supported, structured entry into the teaching profession. Built on a true exchange of expertise and resources, the program responds directly to the needs of early‑career teachers while strengthening connections between the university and participating districts.

    Through this innovative model, Teacher Fellows earn their M.Ed. in Elementary Education while serving as fully certified teachers of record in partner districts. In return, experienced educators—known as Exchange Teachers—are released from their regular classroom roles to serve as on‑site mentors during Fellows’ first year of teaching.

    The cohort structure brings beginning teachers together as a learning community, enriched by the guidance of a seasoned educator. Exchange Teachers provide intensive, classroom‑embedded mentoring, offering support that includes district expectations and procedures, access to materials and instructional resources, effective teaching and assessment practices, classroom organization and management strategies, and approaches for partnering with families and community members. This hands‑on professional support helps new teachers grow confidently and successfully into their roles.

    Since 1994, more than 600 novice teachers have completed the Teacher Fellows Program. Current partner districts include Hays CISD, Leander ISD, Bastrop ISD, Lockhart ISD, and Round Rock ISD.

  • This program is open to PreK-6 or 4-8 beginning teachers.  Using a cohort model, the program pairs one full‑time master teacher mentor with every three Teacher Fellows, creating an intimate learning community that draws on the experience and expertise of accomplished educators.
     
    Program benefits include:
    • Tuition and fees fully covered for 30 semester credit hours
    • Fellowship stipend (currently $27,600)
    • Eligibility for Texas State student health insurance through the Student Health Center
    • Parking and required textbooks covered by the program
    • Ongoing, intensive on‑site professional support from Exchange Teachers
    • Peer collaboration and encouragement within the Teacher Fellows cohort
    • Opportunities to strengthen and refine teaching skills through graduate coursework integrated with daily classroom practice

  • Teacher Fellows are fully certified novice or early‑career teachers who have completed all Texas educator certification requirements. They serve as teachers of record in participating school districts and assume full responsibility for their classrooms. Throughout this year, Fellows receive extensive support and supervision from both district partners and Texas State University faculty and staff.
     
    Interested TXST graduates along with graduates from other accredited institution are warmly encouraged to apply.
     
    Students interested in joining the program submit a formal application, which is reviewed based on academic performance, instructional skill, organizational and managerial strengths, interpersonal abilities, and demonstrated commitment to teaching and professional growth.
     
    Applicants must meet the following minimum requirements:
    • Baccalaureate degree in elementary education, special education, bilingual education, or 4–8 education from an accredited college or university
    • Passing scores on all required Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES) prior to program interviews
    • Valid Texas teaching certificate
    • Undergraduate GPA of 2.75 or higher
    • Admission to the Texas State Graduate College

  • First Summer 
    CI 5370: Classroom Management, Discipline, and Legal Issues
    CI 5326: Curriculum & Management in the Elementary and Middle Schools
    CI 5375: Problems of Practice in Elementary Education


    Fall
    CI 5390: Research Seminar
    CI 5317: Teaching Strategies for Elementary Teachers: Alternative Models


    Spring
    CI 5389 Action Research for Practitioners
    CI 5327: Principles and Practices in the Elementary School


    Second Summer 
    9 hrs of electives