New Resources Help Put Quality Teacher Preparation Within Reach Amid Growing Demand Across California

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The State Collaborative for California's Educator Workforce has released a new suite of tools to make high quality teacher preparation programs more accessible and affordable to prospective teachers across the state.

California faces persistent teacher shortages that force many districts to hire substitutes or teachers who have not completed a preparation program. These shortages are greatest for early childhood educators as well as those who specialize in teaching students with disabilities and who are multi-language learners.

Despite the state's unprecedented investments to strengthen the teacher pipeline, high quality preparation programs are often inaccessible or unaffordable for many prospective teachers.

To address this challenge, education leaders from state agencies, public, and private teacher preparation programs developed a suite of resources to help prospective teachers identify  preparation pathways that best meet their needs given their individual experience and education, as well as guidance on available financial resources to make preparation affordable.

"All students need and deserve well-prepared, credentialed teachers. This resource toolkit will help California attract, grow, and retain the number of talented teachers needed to educate the next generation," said Mary Vixie Sandy, Collaborative lead and executive director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing along with Commission Chair Marquita Grenot-Scheyer.

The toolkit, available on the Commission on Teacher Credentialing's Roadmap to Teaching website, features:

• Funding Your Future in Teaching, which offers financial planning steps for every aspiring educator along with sample funding packages for those considering a California-based teacher residency program; and
• A Teacher Candidate Funding Explorer database of resources to help prospective teachers offset the cost of earning a teaching credential.
• In addition, the site includes a set of similar resources for teacher preparation program leaders that provide guidance on funding programs that pay teacher candidates a living wage while they earn their credential. The resources include:
• A Teacher Preparation Program Funding Explorer, a searchable database of federal and state funding sources that can be used to improve teacher preparation programs; and
• A series of Teacher Residency Program Funding Scenarios that describe strategies for combining funding to develop and sustain a teacher residency program.

"Teacher preparation programs are available and can be affordable, but too many prospective teachers are unaware of the pathways available into teacher education. We have come together to increase awareness of those pathways and to give teacher candidates the information they need to select the pathway that's best for them," said commissioners and higher education representatives, Annamarie Francois, University of California, Shireen Pavri, California State University, and Kimberly White-Smith, Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

A new state law allows for individuals who hold a qualifying bachelor's degree or higher in any subject to be considered for admission to most teacher preparation programs.

"Teacher shortages are a nationwide issue that must be addressed by tackling barriers to equitable access and the affordability of teacher preparation programs," said Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission. "These new tools will not only help prospective teachers identify high-quality teacher preparation programs, but also allow them and higher education institutions to participate in designing regional educational pathways to meet California's urgent need for teachers."

The resources were created through the State Educator Workforce Collaborative – a collaboration between state agencies and teacher preparation programs including the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California State Board of Education, California Department of Education, California Student Aid Commission, California State University Chancellor's Office, University of California Office of the President, California Community College Chancellor's Office, Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, and Department of Finance and Office of the Governor – with research and support from WestEd.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) serves as a state standards board for educator preparation for public schools, licensing and credentialing of professional educators, enforcement of professional practices of educators, and discipline of credential holders in California. Its mission is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of the educators who serve all of California's diverse students.

SOURCE California Commission on Teacher Credentialing