Cleveland's children need well-prepared educators who know their neighborhoods, share their experiences, and are committed to helping children in their community thrive. The Future Ready Teacher Residency offers you the opportunity to meet this need via a high-quality, affordable pathway that allows you to work full-time while also preparing for your future role.
Your support page has everything you need: Lake Erie College advising, BloomBoard help, FRC contacts, and key program documents in one place.
The traditional teacher preparation pathway is broken. Programs are too expensive and leave candidates unprepared for the day-to-day rigors of being a lead teacher. As a result, too few candidates are entering into teacher preparation programs and approximately one-third of all teachers leave the profession within 3 years (Center for American Progress, 2025).
To address this issue, Future Ready Cleveland has partnered with BloomBoard to launch the Future Ready Teacher Residency, a high-quality and affordable pathway designed to ensure you graduate without high levels of debt and begin your career as a teacher ready to lead your classroom and make an impact within your community.
An affordable, high-quality pathway to teaching that doesn't leave you burdened by debt at grduation.
Designed for paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, and community members who are already showing up for kids everyday and ready for something more.
Residents maintain a full-time job in the school while they complete their coursework and certification.
Built around real classroom practice with a hand-picked mentor teacher who has already proven they can excel in the classroom.
Connects you to a teaching position in your placement school or an alternative Cleveland school the moment you finish.
BloomBoard is recognized as a Registered Apprenticeship Program provider in multiple states via the U.S. Dept. of Labor or State Apprenticeship Agencies.
Candidates who have completed the Bloomboard / Lake Erie College program and went directly into a full-time teaching role.
Of accepted candidates keep their full-time school job and salary throughout.
Estimated increase in career earnings by moving from a teaching assistant to classroom teacher over 20-year career.
Debt-free, fully credentialed, and prepared to make the kind of difference
only a teacher rooted in this community can make.
Schedule a 1:1 chat with our program coordinatorThe Future Ready Teacher Residency is a partnership between Future Ready Cleveland, Lake Erie College, BloomBoard, and your school. You'll work full-time as a teaching assistant or paraprofessional during the day while completing your bachelor's degree and Ohio teaching license through Lake Erie College's accelerated, fully-online coursework. Every week, you'll be coached by a hand-picked mentor teacher in your own school, build a portfolio of real classroom artifacts on BloomBoard's learn-by-doing platform, and meet with a cohort of fellow Cleveland residents walking the same path.
Three degree tracks are available through Lake Erie College: BA in Elementary Education (K–5), BA in Intervention Specialist – Mild to Moderate Needs (K–12), and BA in Elementary Education and Mild to Moderate Intervention Specialist (Dual). LEC and the program coordinator will help you choose the right track based on your interests and existing credits. A Master's degree pathway is also in development — stay tuned.
Earn an accredited bachelor's degree, complete Ohio teaching certification, and take on a full-time teaching role while working within a school and earning a full-time salary.
Most teacher preparation programs ask you to stop working and take on large amounts of debt to earn a degree. This one doesn't. You work full-time and earn a salary while using your access to students to work toward certification and a degree in education. By the time you graduate, you will be well-prepared to maximize your impact within the full-time teaching position waiting for you.
Adults already showing up for Cleveland's kids. Paraprofessionals, teaching assistants, substitute teachers, and other school-based employees who are ready to take the next step into a lead teaching role are natural fits. It's also a fit for community members with at least a high school diploma who want a real, supported pathway into teaching without leaving the workforce.
A two- or three-year teacher residency in one of the program’s partner schools in Cleveland. The Residency leverages full-time school employment within a school, fully-online accelerated bachelor's coursework through Lake Erie College, weekly coaching from a school-based mentor teacher, and on-the-job portfolio learning managed by BloomBoard to make sure you graduate ready for what’s next. To learn about a day in the life of a resident, click here.
Full-time work in your school during the day. Coursework is online and 95% asynchronous, which means that you control when and where you complete it. Plan for several hours of coursework per week outside your normal school day, plus a weekly meeting with your mentor teacher and regular check-ins.
Hybrid. Your school placement is in-person here in Cleveland; all degree coursework is online.
Tuition is primarily covered through Future Ready Cleveland, public funding streams, and the host school. Depending on a candidate's eligibility and partner school agreement, it's possible they will pay no out-of-pocket tuition.
Regardless of how you found this opportunity, the first step starts with a chat.
Schedule a 1:1 chatCandidates who are eligible and have been selected to participate in the program by their school leadership team will follow the following program arc:
Submit your interest. FRC reviews your background and Lake Erie College audits your existing transcripts to confirm your pathway. You'll hear back within 4 weeks to understand if you are eligible to apply.
You keep your full-time school job and salary throughout. Coursework is online and almost completely asynchronous through Lake Erie College. BloomBoard turns your classroom into your coursework. Every week, your school-based mentor teacher coaches you directly.
As you complete your degree, you'll prepare for your credentialing assessments. FRC covers exam prep costs. You graduate with a fully accredited bachelor's degree and Ohio teaching license.
Your first option for a teaching role is your placement school. If a role isn't available, FRC supports your placement in another high-quality Cleveland school. You commit to 2+ years of teaching in Cleveland after graduation.
Individuals are not immediately eligible to complete the Future Ready Teacher Residency unless they have a full-time role within a partner school. If you are not currently working within a school, or are currently working at a school in Cleveland, but your school is not yet partnered with the program, that's okay! Fill out this brief survey and the program coordinator will follow up with you to help you explore your options together.
Take a Quick Survey
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Katie Kohn, Chief Operating Officer of Urban Community Schools
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Alyssa Starinksy, Chief Academic Officer at Partnership Schools
The Future Ready Teacher Residency is Cleveland's accelerated pathway to a bachelor's degree, Ohio teaching license, and a full-time classroom of your own, all while you keep working, keep earning, and stay rooted in your community.
Earn your bachelor's degree and Ohio teaching license while working full-time at your school.
Graduate debt-free, without burdensome debt and with a full-time teaching role in Cleveland.
Get coached by a carefully selected, high-quality mentor teacher in your own building every week, all year.
The initial application takes about 30 minutes. Have your resume handy, but don't worry, we'll help with the rest.
A Future Ready Cleveland initiative preparing the next generation of Cleveland educators in partnership with Lake Erie College and BloomBoard.
1950 E 101st St. Unit 1810
Cleveland, OH 44106