In spring of 2021, the Chancellor’s Office, with support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, developed a new center called the CSU Center for Transformational Educator Preparation Programs (CTEPP). The center will leverage the successes of the New Generation of Educators Initiative (NGEI) and the
Chancellor’s Office Learning Lab to Close the Teacher Diversity Gap to:
...support the ongoing transformation of all CSU educator preparation programs, advancing their positive impact on historically marginalized communities. Anchored in our Key Transformation Elements
(KTEs), we engage in data-driven, collaborative improvement efforts developing and scaling innovative, effective, and equity-driven teacher preparation pathways and supports.
(CTEPP Mission Statement)
EdQ Serves as Host to the Transformation Lab (TLab)
The Transformation Lab (TLab) will support CSU EPPs to undertake measurable, sustainable, and scalable improvements aligned with CTEPP’s vision and mission within an improvement network. EdQ is serving as the support hub along with external partners as needed to launch and support the work. Teams will participate in two years of funded work, followed by a year of sustaining and scaling. Two cohorts of teams will participate.
Four Campus Teams Kick It Off
Cohort 1 consists of 4 campus improvement teams drawn from the Learning Lab network: CSU Bakersfield, led by Dr. Shaylyn Markley, Humboldt State, led by Dr. Elizabeth Miller and Dr. James Woglom, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, led by Dr. Natasha Neuman and
Dr.Andrea Somoza-Norton, and Cal State Northridge, led by
Dr. Julie Gainsburg and Dr. Josh Einhorn.
Teams share their vision for CTEPP in their first Transformation Lab session October 13th.
On October 13th, teams came together for the first time in their new Lab environment to begin the work. Connecting activities like the one pictured above helped to set the stage for the work. Teams then concentrated on developing problem statements.
A problem statement is a way to very specifically identify the area you want to improve. Often, we identify this with data that point to a gap in performance of some kind. In the Learning Lab, we identified the gap between the diversity of the teachers we are preparing in the CSU and the students they are serving. This is an important step; however, not all problems present themselves so clearly in the data at first. We have to bring a human lens, clarifying that the problem:
-
Is something we care about
-
Is a barrier to our organization's priorities
-
Is within our control
-
Is regularly occurring
-
Is the right level of specificity
-
We don’t know how to solve yet
Teams were asked to consider potential root causes and the histories behind the problems they identified and to be clear about who the problem impacts. Next, they will begin to investigate the system that is producing this problem, begin gathering data and setting aims for their work.
Expanding the Lab
The Lab will be expanding to include a second cohort of 6 new campus teams in the fall of 2022. These campuses will benefit from the learning of cohort 1 to help accelerate the progress of improvement.
For More Information
Contact:
Project Directors
Dr. Bre Evans-Santiago (Bevans9@csub.edu)
Dr. Mimi Miller (MMiller@csuchico.edu)
Principal Investigators
Dr. Marquita Grenot-Scheyer (mgrenot-scheyer@calstate.edu)
Dr. Ernest Black (eblack@calstate.edu)