Recruitment and retention challenges are once again leading to teacher shortages in California and across the nation. Especially in urban and rural school districts, low salaries and poor working conditions often contribute to the difficulties of recruiting and keeping teachers, as can the challenges of the work itself. Newly emerging teacher residency programs offer an innovative approach to recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers. This report discusses the promise of residencies and the impact of residencies. [For the full report to this policy brief "The Teacher Residency: An Innovative Model for Preparing Teachers," see ED606443.]