Teachers Sought for Credential Program

Teachers with emergency teaching permits who are seeking credentials can still enroll at Cal State Northridge’s Secondary Internship Program for the upcoming semester, university officials announced.

Christine Smith, professor of secondary education at CSUN, said the program can take in an additional 10 students this fall. The application deadline is Sept. 11.

The two-year program, which was started last year at CSUN to address a teacher shortage, is designed to lead to a single-subject credential, Smith said.

“This was developed as an alternative route to supplying teachers for the [Los Angeles Unified School District] in the fields of math, English and the biological and physical sciences,” Smith said. “Because of the teacher shortage, I would like to see more students involved in the program.”

Students will have the option of pursuing one of two single-subject credentials: the cross-cultural language, academic development credential, which allows them to teach English-speaking students and those with limited English-speaking abilities; or the bilingual, cross-cultural language, academic development credential, which allows them to teach both English-speaking and bilingual students.

Program features include courses in which experienced teachers serve as mentors for intern candidates and university faculty help guide individual students throughout the two years, Smith said.

“The outcome of this is that we’re hoping to produce better teachers, which will lead to increased achievement by students,” Smith said.

For more information, contact the Department of Secondary Education at CSUN at (818) 677-2580.