Study: UTEP Miner Teacher Residents Outperform Statewide Peers

A new study finds UTEP’s Miner Teacher Residency graduates improve student outcomes, earn more teaching designations and stay in classrooms longer than comparable new teachers.

Teachers prepared through The University of Texas at El Paso’s Miner Teacher Residency helped boost student learning and remained in the classroom at higher rates than comparable new teachers, according to a new policy brief from Texas Tech University’s Center for Innovative Research in Change, Leadership and Education.

Researchers J. Jacob Kirksey, Ph.D., and Erika Mein, Ph.D., compared Miner Teacher Residency graduates with other teachers in their first five years at the same campuses. The analysis used statewide data from 2021 through 2024 covering 390 campuses and 312,000 students, including 35,000 taught by UTEP-prepared teachers.

Miner residency graduates were the only group in the study whose students scored significantly higher in both STAAR math and reading than students taught by graduates of traditional university programs. The researchers estimated that Miner residents contributed about 1.5 to 2 months of additional learning for each student compared with the average Texas teacher.

The graduates were also about 50% more likely to hold a Teacher Incentive Allotment designation than comparable teachers with similar experience. The designation provides highly effective teachers a path to higher pay, including the potential for a six-figure salary.

Retention was another area where Miner graduates outperformed their peers. Between 94% and 95% remained in Texas public school teaching each year studied, compared with about 90% of other new teachers at the same campuses. The study found that Miner residents left teaching at about half the rate of their peers.

In the 2025-26 school year, UTEP placed more than 200 Miner Teacher Residents across seven El Paso-area partner districts. Residents spend a full school year co-teaching with a trained host teacher and receive coaching from UTEP clinical faculty known as site coordinators. They also receive stipends ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 in paid district roles.

The program is part of UTEP’s College of Education.