2022 Residency-Grant Highlights
The KSOE has been awarded two grants to strengthen current teaching credential pathways (CalEPIC Educator Preparation Program Transformation Grant, $200,000, 2022-2024; Principal Investigator, Alta Joy Broughton, PhD.) and establish a new teacher residency for bilingual inclusive educators (California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Teacher Residency Capacity Grant, $250,000 2022-2024; Principal Investigator, Laura Alvarez, PhD.; Co-PI, Alta Joy Broughton, PhD). Both grants will support efforts to diversify the teaching workforce, prepare teachers proficient in serving diverse student populations, and strengthen partnerships with local school districts.
The CalEPIC Educator Preparation Program Transformation Grant will support professional development for the Teacher Education Department faculty, field supervisors, and staff. This professional development will center around the adoption of Cultivating Critical Consciousness in Educators (C3E) Coaching Tool (Broughton, 2019) a coaching model for preparing preservice teachers to practice critical consciousness, an all encompassing term for the ability to perceive the social, political, and economic inequities present in educational settings, engage in dialogue, and ultimately become educational leaders who advocate for change within their classrooms and schools. The C3E Coaching Tool guides teacher-mentors and their preservice teachers to carefully examine their teaching practices to ensure they address the needs of students in their classroom who have been historically marginalized, specifically students with disabilities, bi/multilingual students and students of color. The C3E Coaching/Learning Tool was developed through Dr. Alta Joy Broughton’s dissertation study, awarded 2020 Outstanding Dissertation of the Year by the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Teacher Education.
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Teacher Residency Capacity Grant is a joint award between Mount Diablo Unified School District and KSOE Teacher Education Department. This grant will support the development of a Teacher Residency Program for teacher candidates to earn California teaching credentials in three priority areas of teacher shortage; 1) Special Education with Bilingual Authorization in Spanish, 2) Multiple Subject with Bilingual Authorization in Spanish, and 3) Dual Credential (Special Education and Multiple Subject) with Bilingual Authorization in Spanish. The residency program will focus on cultivating bilingual teachers who have critical consciousness of the intersections of disability, language, and culture and can create inclusive learning environments for multilingual learners in dual language immersion schools.
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing describes the development of a Teacher Residency Program as:
Offering a teacher residency program requires careful collaborative planning and supportive infrastructure within and between the school district and the university to assure that the district sites are fully ready to implement this type of teacher preparation approach, that the school district administration and staff are prepared and ready to work collaboratively with and mentor teacher residents, and that the college is prepared to facilitate the professional preparation of residents within a cohort model in the local school district.
On September 1, KSOE hosted the retreat to launch grant activities. In attendance were MDUSD district administrators, principals, mentor teachers, and members of the SMC Teacher Education Department. During the retreat Co-PIs Dr. Broughton and Dr. Alvarez co-led the training with guest consultant Dr. David Hoppey of University of North Florida. The retreat provided attendees a unique opportunity to learn about teacher residencies, critical consciousness, and formulate a strategic plan for development over the next two years.
Attendee, Kathryn Fireman, Assistant Director of English Learner & Dual Language Programs at MDUSD, reflected:
“The retreat gave both teams the opportunity to get together in person and truly collaborate. The day got the “juices flowing” in the discussions that people were having and I think people were able to better understand the work we are setting out to do.”
Finally, Dr. Kathy Futterman, District-wide Program Specialist for Special Education, summed up the experience as the beginning of “Collaborating with all team members and stakeholders to create a sustainable partnership with SMU and MDUSD to establish an outstanding residency program” in the high-needs areas of teacher shortage.