11/10/2016 -
The North Coast School of Education (NCSOE) is poised to dramatically expand its efforts to address the teacher shortage following recent state approval of four new credential programs.
On Wednesday, November 9, California’s Committee on Accreditation (COA) approved NCSOE’s multiple subject (elementary school), single subject (middle and high school), and education specialist (special ed) preliminary credential programs for teacher-interns. In August, a program for administrators, the Clear Administrative Services Induction program, was approved as well.
Preliminary credential programs prepare teacher-interns with the necessary background to assume the duties and responsibilities of a full-time teacher working in California classrooms. The administrator program prepares and authorizes an educator to serve an administrative role in California schools.
This marks a dramatic expansion of the successful Be a Teacher intern program launched by NCSOE in January of 2016. That program has already put 25 special education teacher-interns in local classrooms. It was recently lauded as an innovative approach to addressing the teacher shortage by former State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell.
In 2016, Be a Teacher was run in partnership with the Tulare County Office of Education as NCSOE sought approval for its own accredited program. That approval was obtained on Wednesday, along with approval of three other programs. This sets the stage for NCSOE to expand the number of teacher-interns it is preparing annually to about 75, along with roughly 25 administrators. NCSOE hopes to roll out its new Be a Teacher cohorts in or around January. This would allow the participants to enter local classrooms as paid teacher-interns by the fall of 2017.
“We are excited to provide these new programs in support of districts and confident that the programs will contribute to the development of outstanding and innovative teachers in the state of California during a time of incredible need in schools,” said Karen Ricketts, Executive Director of NCSOE.
NCSOE was created last fall by the Sonoma County Office of Education as a means to provide additional pathways to becoming a teacher for Sonoma County residents, as well as additional supports for new teachers and administrators.
“With about one third of our teacher workforce set to retire in the next decade, the idea was to grow our own, especially given the cost of housing here,” said Sonoma County’s Superintendent of Schools, Steve Herrington. He added that NCSOE plans to double enrollment in its credential programs in 2018.
Anyone interested in learning more can go to ncsoe.org or enroll for an informational session here.
Intern Program Details
Through a sequence of pre-service classes and field observation, candidates will learn fundamentals of California standards for teachers, fundamentals of lesson planning, educational technology, formative and summative assessments, classroom management, lesson planning for English learners, and accommodations for exceptional learners.
During their first two years of teaching, candidates will have four semesters of additional coursework and supervision in lesson planning, pedagogy, assessment, and differentiation for English learners, accommodations and modifications for exceptional students, and utilization of educational technology in classroom situations. These programs will allow prospective teachers the opportunity to earn their multiple subjects, single subject, or education specialist preliminary credential while acquiring hands-on experience in the classroom with appropriate supervision and mentoring.
