By the academic year 2018-19, the Colleges and Schools of Education at the California State University will offer 40 Integrated Teacher Education Programs on 20 campuses. Thirty of these will be in the high-shortage teaching fields of mathematics and science, bilingual education, and special education.
These innovative programs integrate content and pedagogy in the preparation of teachers. As future teachers learn about science, for example, the laboratory courses they take prepare them to develop labs that will engage their own K-12 students in the practice of science.
Similarly, when a teacher-to-be takes mathematics courses, she learns to guide her own students in mastering concepts in mathematics, developing mathematical reasoning and dispositions, and overcoming mathematical misconceptions.
Future teachers in CSU's Integrated Teacher Education Programs begin teacher preparation as early as their freshman year; they typically enter the program as juniors. Partnerships with community colleges provide articulated pathways from the two-year community college experience that aligns with lower-division study on the CSU campus.
The freshman- and junior year-entrants both earn their teaching credential and are ready to enter the teacher workforce shortly after they are awarded their bachelor's degree. They are eligible for financial aid throughout their enrollment in the program.
Integrated programs include robust clinical preparation and practice in a classroom with coaching by a skilled teacher mentor during the senior year. When candidates complete the program, they have fulfilled California's requirements of 600 hours of clinical experience and are equipped for teacher classroom roles.
The result: New teachers who are well-prepared beginners helping to address the state's critical teacher shortages.
Visit the Cal State Apply Teaching Credential site if you are a high school, community college or CSU student, or a teaching paraprofessional, who is interested in learning how to apply for an Integrated Teacher Education Program or other CSU teaching credential pathway.