Professional Learning Opportunities

The STAR Program is designed for individuals with bachelors degrees who want to become certified teachers. The program offers on the job training where participants work as either a co teacher or lead teacher in a String Theory School, while simultaneously earning credits towards becoming a certified teacher. Participants earn a salary and receive full medical and dental benefits. STAR facilitators work with participants to create personalized schedules to maximize success.

This one-year alternate route certification program is ideal for career changers, substitutes, aides, and other loyal members of the education community in need of teaching certifications to enter the classroom with confidence. Residents have opportunities to learn teaching strategies, instructional pedagogy, and best practices in leading a classroom. In return for paid tuition and a teacher of record teaching position at a String Theory School, STAR residents commit to teaching at STS for three additional years beyond their training year.  Programs of Study Each program is unique. Once accepted into the STAR program, residents will be paired with one of the following three schools. Click on an institution to learn more about their program: Relay GSE Temple University Drexel University Praxis Exams STAR residents have the opportunity to work with trained professionals to help prepare for the Praxis.

To learn more about the STAR Program, please email Dr. Tom Mosca, Director of Teaching and Learning for String Theory Schools, at tmosca@stringtheoryschools.org

The Temple Teacher Residency (TTR) at String Theory Schools is a teacher education program designed to train diverse, highly-motivated individuals with strong mathematics and science subject knowledge to become teachers. This program is a grant funded partnership between Temple University and String Theory Schools, and aims to provide participants with the skills necessary to become middle or high school mathematics or science teachers. 

TTR offers participants an intensive, hands-on learning experience. Individuals are required to attend education classes at Temple University while simultaneously co-teaching with a temple appointment mentor teacher at Philadelphia Performing Arts for one academic school year. The main purpose of TTR is to fully prepare its students to teach with confidence and a high level of skill in Philadelphia schools upon completion of the program.

Now accepting applications for Cohort 2025!
Applications Due: January 13, 2023

LIGHT Leadership Residency

Illuminating innovation.

Announcing a best-in-class, PDE approved, post-baccalaureate, principal preparation residency program that equips excellent, diverse teachers with the skills, knowledge, experience, and confidence to lead schools in Philadelphia successfully.  

Learning at the intersection of innovation and best practices, residents engage in intensive summer training and ongoing cohort study and site-based rotations to lead in their own school context.  Residents leverage Design Thinking and collaborate with their mentor principal, LIGHT leadership coach, and cohort to improve student achievement and engagement at their school. Upon successful completion of the two-year residency and the School Leadership Licensure Exam, residents earn their PA principal certification. 

For more information:

Program Overview and Timeline

Program Application

Participation Agreements:

• Arts & Sciences (Current Faculty and Staff)
• Philadelphia Performing Arts (Current Faculty and Staff)
• Educators from outside the String Theory Schools organization

Please email LIGHTResidency@stringtheoryschools.org
with your questions, or to learn more about the LIGHT Leadership Program.

This program prioritizes deeper learning on PA Leadership Core Standard I through design thinking. It consists of five onsite workshops, each aligning to one of the five stages of design thinking, to the five LIGHT Leadership lenses, and to one Corollary PA Leadership Standard.

In each workshop, leaders participate in inquiry-based protocols that yield deep knowledge from curated expert texts and the shared experiences of the cohort and craft an action plan to take back to their schools. After each workshop, leaders engage in job-embedded action steps, and participate in an online SPARK Collaborative to share successes and challenges in executing on their plan and leveraging the cohort to revise or refine their action. Because the work of this program prioritizes responsiveness to context, leverages both expert research and shared wisdom, and is laser-focused on impacting student engagement and achievement, it gives leaders the evidence-based resources, time for incubation, and collaborative support needed to create sustainable and robust positive change in their school communities.

For more information on this program, please email Danielle Shylit, Director of Innovation for String Theory Schools, at dshylit@stringtheoryschools.org