Rising to the Challenge of California’s Need for Teachers

After nine months at the California State University system, I have completed official visits to all 23 of our campuses. During those visits, I have learned about many important efforts on our campuses to address our state’s urgent need for high-quality teachers.

One outstanding example is the collaboration between Cal State Northridge and the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in Pacoima. Educators there have worked together to develop a powerful teacher training formula that calls for a mix of theory, practice and partnerships.

The two schools work side-by-side in a comprehensive effort to provide hands-on experience and top-quality instruction to prospective teachers. The school site brims with a contagious level of energy and enthusiasm. And the project not only addresses the demand for high-quality teachers; it also addresses the growing demand for accountability in education.

Simply stated, California will need 250,000 new teachers in the next decade. If we don’t train enough teachers, our schools will have to staff classrooms with those who are less than adequately prepared. This is already a major concern in Los Angeles County, which leads the state in the number of teachers holding emergency permits.

At the same time, our state is preparing to focus very closely on performance in education. Gov.-elect Gray Davis has made education his top priority. He and the new Legislature are sure to emphasize greater accountability. So there is increased pressure on educators to produce and show results.

The Vaughn-CSUN project has addressed those demands by identifying problems and establishing programs to solve them. For instance, in an effort to meet the need for high-quality teachers, the schools will soon open a joint professional development center at the Pacoima school site.

The CSU system applauds these educators for working creatively to improve teacher education and increase accountability. In that same spirit, we have pledged to do the following on a system-wide level:

* Use existing investments wisely. Are we maximizing use of our resources? Not if our campuses are empty between June and September, and state policy not to fund summer courses condones this wasteful down time. If we made full use of our resources, many prospective teachers--as well as teachers holding emergency permits and waivers--could learn and upgrade classroom skills during the summer.

* Offer reasonable alternatives. Today a person with a college degree who wants to become a credentialed teacher must devote an entire year to full-time study. Teacher education programs need to offer innovative alternatives: weekend, evening, short-term, off-campus or even home-based programs through new media technology. For example, in a partnership with AT&T;, the Cal State system has developed CredentialNet, a technology-based network offering teaching credential courses.

* Begin classroom experience earlier. Currently, most teacher preparation and classroom experience is crammed into the fifth year. But the Vaughn-CSUN partnership offers a good example of what we can do otherwise. Within the CSU system, we are working to streamline the current five-year program for the basic teaching credential to provide more--and earlier--classroom experience. This redesign will produce more experienced beginning teachers and will perhaps shorten the program to 4 1/2 years.

* Prevent teacher burnout. Teacher-training institutions can address the teacher burnout problem by listening and providing better support to the dedicated teachers who are in the classroom every day. Our newest teachers, who often get the toughest assignments, also deserve special attention. We can start by offering an 800-number or e-mail address for them to contact when they need help.

In July, the CSU Board of Trustees called for increasing the number of teachers credentialed annually from 12,000 to 15,000 by July 2000. So it’s clear that the CSU will be held accountable for high-quality performance and results.

We look to the Vaughn-CSUN partnership as an example of how we can move beyond traditional boundaries to develop innovative solutions for the educational challenges of today as well as tomorrow.

After all, teachers trained with that successful combination--theory, practice and partnership--would help California’s students immeasurably for years to come.

We believe that our state needs that kind of high-quality teacher. We believe that our public demands it. And most of all, we believe that our students deserve it.