Ushawnda Mitchell
Violet Jiménez Sims, Ed.D.
Dr. Violet Jiménez Sims is the Managing Director of Academic Programming and Legislative Affairs for the CT Teacher Residency Program. Dr. Sims has worked in every level of education from Pre-K through university public settings for twenty years. She has held roles as clinical faculty, academic advisor, Spanish and ESOL teacher, public school and university administrator, and led professional development as a consultant. Her professional interests and areas of expertise include dual language education models, bilingualism and biliteracy, teacher preparation, and creating culturally and linguistically sustaining spaces.
Niralee Patel-Lye, Ed.D.
Dr. Niralee Patel-Lye, Managing Director of Recruitment, Retention, and Partnerships for the CT Teacher Residency Program, has a range of teaching and administrative experiences spanning both public schools and higher education over the past 20 years. She has served in a variety of roles including teaching assistant, ABA therapist, teacher, department chair, clinical faculty member, and academic advisor. Niralee’s professional areas of interest include teacher preparation, creating culturally and linguistically sustaining curricula and classrooms, addressing the opportunity gap in education, and exploring the role of schools as places in which issues of social capital, cultural capital, power, and identity influence systemic inequities for students and educators.
Tatyana Duncan
Tatyana Duncan, Program Coach for the CT Teacher Residency Program, earned her bachelor’s degree at Temple University and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of New Haven. She has worked in the field of education for the past seventeen years and has served in the roles of classroom teacher in grades 3 and 6, mentor teacher, data team leader, math specialist, and math instructor for the TRP program. Tatyana describes herself as a life-long learner and is passionate about sharing her love of learning with those she encounters. She is committed to improving the educational outcomes of our nation’s youth through diverse and inclusive curriculum, recruitment and retention of highly qualified instructors, and creating culturally responsive classrooms.
Brianne Shea
Brianne Shea is the Program Coach for the Connecticut Teacher Residency Program. Brianne has taught grades K, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 across many geographic regions in Connecticut over the past nineteen years. Her educational experience spans roles such as classroom teacher, mentor teacher, collaborative team teacher, team leader, curriculum writer and provider of professional development. She holds both an 013 and 092 certification in Connecticut. Her professional area of interest is presently hiring, retention and support of marginalized communities within educational spaces – the area of her current doctoral research.
Victoria Whaley
Victoria Whaley is a Teacher Residency Program Resident Coach. She has enjoyed a career as a literacy instructor to children and teachers from across the country. Since beginning her career as a bilingual resource teacher in Houston, TX, she has worked with struggling readers in person and online to improve literacy outcomes. After completing her Masters from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, she was pleased to receive a fellowship from the National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention and is completing her Ph.D in special education from the department of Educational Psychology at the Neag School of the University of Connecticut. Her professional area of interest is improving the implementation of evidence-based practice in the classroom and closing the research-to-practice gap in education, which is the focus of her doctoral research.
Lesley Bentil
Lesley Bentil, Special Education Coach for the CT Teacher Residency Program, earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Western CT State University, a Masters degree in Special Education from the University of CT and a Sixth-year in Administration from Central CT State University. Lesley has worked as a Special Education Teacher for 17 years, case managing students with disabilities from grades pre-k to sixth grade. Her experience in specialized instructional and leadership have led to her roles as a lead teacher, administration designee, TEAM mentor, and equity and diversity facilitator. Her professional interests and areas of expertise are to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to become educators, so that they are able to serve all students and to provide students with disabilitiess the necessary skills to succeed and become lifelong learners.
After piloting this program in 2019, CT TRP joined with the RESC Alliance to create a statewide solution to meet the broader needs of Connecticut’s districts. Today, through a deliberate partnership with the RESCs and districts, we are prepared to change the quality, experience and diversity of our teachers.
Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) Magnet Schools is an intentionally diverse social justice organization whose members work to acknowledge, respect, and empathize with people of all different identifiers, such as race, socioeconomic status, gender identity and expression, education, age, ability, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, language, nationality, and religion.