CalStateTEACH, the California State University’s innovative, alternative teacher preparation program, began its sixth year in fall 2004. Developed in 1998 by expert CSU teacher educators, CalStateTEACH now offers two options. One option is for teachers who are already teaching in multiple subject classrooms and need to complete their credential. The second option is for candidates who are not teaching and want to earn a credential, but find it difficult to access campus-based programs.

This past year, CalStateTEACH added 515 more fully credentialed teachers to California’s professional workforce, bringing the total to more than 1,400 new teachers after five years. The program is housed at four CSU campuses—CSU Fresno, CSU Fullerton, CSU Los Angeles, and CSU Monterey Bay—but teacher candidates live and work almost everywhere in California and participate in CalStateTEACH.

CalStateTEACH has become an established pathway to earning a teaching credential in the CSU. Highlights and noteworthy accomplishments this past year include enhanced collaboration with CSU campuses on professional development and curriculum, such as:

• Co-sponsoring a statewide faculty conference, “Examining the Gordian Knot in Teaching: Closing the Achievement Gap for California’s Diverse Learners,” for all CalStateTEACH faculty and CSU Dominguez Hills faculty.



• Participating in the development of a Master of Arts in Teaching degree (M.A.T.) with Cal Poly Pomona, CSU Fresno, and CSU Monterey Bay.



• Co-sponsoring a one-day conference, “Reading to Learn: Building Academic Literacy for Urban Learners,” with the CSU Dominguez Hills Institute for Urban Literacy Research.



• Developing a teacher candidate performance assessment:
  • Teacher candidate assignments scored by faculty other than those who taught them.
  
  
  
  • Faculty participation in professional development resulting in assessor certification.
  
  
  
  • Standardized assessment system, which uses scoring rubrics and benchmark cases.

As more institutions of higher education and schools districts consider site-based education as an accessible and cost-effective way to prepare teachers and provide induction programs, many are looking to the expertise of CalStateTEACH’s faculty, administrators, and program graduates. To learn more about this uniquely designed program, visit www.calstateteach.net.