Educating Teachers in California: What Matters for Teacher Preparedness?
Learning Policy Institute
High-quality teacher preparation is foundational for an effective and stable teacher workforce. Over the past decade, California has considerably revised its statewide licensing and accreditation systems that set performance expectations for beginning teachers and standards for preparation programs. These changes emphasize preparing teachers to cultivate students’ higher-order thinking skills, support social-emotional and academic learning, and teach students with different language and learning needs. The state has also increased investments in high-retention pathways into the profession.
The results of these reforms are reflected in 60,000 surveys of teacher education graduates over 5 years, analyzed for LPI’s new report, Educating Teachers in California: What Matters for Teacher Preparedness? Findings show a growing pool of graduates, most of whom are teachers of color. A large majority (90%) of graduates feel prepared to teach, and those who participate in high-quality residencies or student teaching feel most prepared. Yet while residency programs prepare about 1 in 10 new teachers, and about 60% of those residency completers are teachers of color, findings show Black and Native American candidates and those preparing to teach students with disabilities report less access to residency or student teaching experiences.
Graduates’ sense of preparedness depends substantially on the quality of clinical support they receive, as well as how well they are prepared for teaching key subjects like mathematics and English language arts. Part of the state’s challenge is to continue to build access to high-quality programs for all candidates.