Dec 5, 2022
The School of Education’s first cohort of teacher residents in the Teaching for Inclusivity and Equity Residency (TIER) Program graduated in Spring 2022.
Funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, the TIER residency provides living wage stipends to residents who aspire to teach in special education and bilingual classrooms in local high-need schools.
Residents obtain their credential and master's degree through this SOE program and commit to teaching in a partner district. Program residents were trained in Evidence-Based Practices in Special Education and Culturally Responsive Teaching to better address the strength and needs of K-12 emergent bilinguals and students with disabilities.
Eight of the 10 residents enrolled in the 2021-22 academic year also received their bilingual authorization to teach.
To highlight a few residents who have found local employment for the 2022- 23 school year: TIER resident Annabelle Cole will be teaching fourth grade at Grover Beach Elementary in Lucia Mar USD; TIER resident Oscar Velasco will teach social studies at Santa Maria High School in Santa Maria Joint USD; and TIER resident Nicole Barbosa was hired to teach special education at Arellanes Elementary in the Santa Maria-Bonita ESD.
Grant staff and SOE faculty are grateful for our partnerships with these districts for supporting our tier residents. You can read about the program: HERE
In the pictures above two TIER candidates, Leslie Garcia and Annabelle Cole, present at the 5th Annual Central Coast Social Justice Education Conference (2022).
Nov 28, 2022
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Teaching for Inclusivity and Equity Residency (TIER) Program Graduates First Cohort
Funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, the TIER residency provides living wage stipends to residents who aspire to teach in special education and bilingual classrooms in local high-need schools.
Read more about TIER ›
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May 21, 2019
The School of Education (SOE) at Cal Poly benefits from external funding to support reform of its teacher preparation programs. In May 2018, the current awarded grants were in their last years, and the school realized the importance of securing additional funding to sustain reform efforts. Rumors of a new U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant competition circulated spring quarter.
External grants have improved the culture of SOE. What once were siloed teacher preparation programs now prioritize cross-program collaboration on course reform, research and unit-wide goals.
In hopes of continuing these changes, SOE applied for the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Quality Partnership grant last year. Principal investigator Megan Guise, co-principal investigators Tanya Flushman and Briana Ronan, and grant manager Sarah Hegg collaborated with faculty, staff and administrators from higher education and K-12 institutions to write the proposal.
In fall 2018, the SOE team and its partners joyfully greeted the news that the $4.1-million proposal had been funded. The grant supports deliberate and sustainable partnerships across multiple contexts and stakeholders to promote collaborative teacher preparation.
Project goals include:
- Recruiting teachers from underrepresented populations and teacher shortage areas
- Reforming courses and fieldwork
- Implementing a two-year, formalized induction program for new teachers
- Developing teacher learning around disciplinary literacy
Bringing together four colleges; the Office of University Diversity and Inclusion; the Center for Engineering, Science and Mathematics Education; and four high-need K-12 districts, the project addresses teacher preparation reform grounded in community-based approaches.
SOE believes that by establishing partnerships between Cal Poly, K-12 schools and the surrounding communities, teacher candidates will be better prepared to teach within those communities. The partnership framework prioritizes a shared vision, structures that enable success, commitment of resources, and alignment between school and university personnel.
After completing a community-based preparation program, teacher candidates will be able to recognize and leverage community assets and resources to become socially just and culturally responsive teachers.
May 21, 2019
Keynote speakers Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales (front) and DJ Gabriel de la Cruz present their "Ethnic Studies Mixtape." Photo courtesy of Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS)
The School of Education (SOE) and its collaborators hosted the second annual Social Justice Education Conference at Santa Maria High School in May, with presentations and discussions centering on the theme Doing What We Know Is Right: Ethnic & Gender Studies for Every Student!
The event was attended by 150 guests who enjoyed presentations, workshops and a curriculum and resource fair to advance social justice in PreK-12 schools. Keynote speakers this year included Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, a renowned ethnic studies scholar and activist from San Francisco State University, and Ricardo Valencia, an educator and community activist working at Santa Maria High School.
Eric Blanco and Patricia Villalobos from Santa Maria Joint
Union High School District present on their ethnic and
gender studies efforts. Photo courtesy of Central Coast
Coalition for Undocumented Student Success (CCC-USS)
The conference also featured presentations by Cal Poly’s education candidates from the Multiple Subject and Single Subject Teacher Preparation programs and the Spanish Authorization for Bilingual Education Program (SABE).
Candidates in the SABE program presented archival research, historical information and in-depth bilingual interviews they have been gathering from local Latinx residents and families. The candidates used these ethnographies and oral histories to build a vibrant and dynamic understanding of community members’ immigration histories and life experiences. Candidates also participated in walking tours to highlight historical sites, resources and organizations that feature the contributions that Latinx communities made to the Central Coast.
This year’s event was built on the success of last year’s Social Justice Curriculum and Resource Fair, which included more than 100 attendees across PreK-higher education fields and more than 20 presentations and sessions led by faculty, in-service teachers and future educator candidates from SOE. Reflective of SOE’s commitment to community-based teacher preparation, the Social Justice Education Conference is a collaboration of community leaders and educators, including the Cal Poly Office of University Diversity and Inclusion, the Central Coast Coalition for Undocumented Student Success, and the Santa Maria Joint Unified High School District.
May 21, 2019
Dear Friends of SOE,
The School of Education is moving from strength to strength. This year we hired two new tenure-track faculty members, one in elementary science education and one in educational leadership and administration. This coming fall we will start the new academic year with thirteen tenure-track faculty, more than we have had for many years.
As I observe our programs, I am frequently reminded of when a colleague said to me, “If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to raise a teacher.” The word “community” implies a group of professionals carefully coordinating their efforts, working collaboratively rather than independently, and actively engaging in the enrichment of each other’s lives. Our educator preparation programs are truly community-based teacher preparation. There is an increasingly strong sense of community commitment in our educator preparation programs, which is aligned with principles of best practice.
Our faculty are deeply engaged in building partnerships with schools and school districts in our local communities. This year Megan Guise, Tanya Flushman and Briana Ronan received a large federal grant that will, in part, examine and establish best practices in strengthening the partnerships we have between our teacher preparation programs and our local schools and school districts. It is exciting to see so many of our faculty, and so much of our collective energy, focused on strengthening school partnerships in the delivery of our teacher preparation programs.
A number of other faculty members were also awarded new research grants this year. Collectively, our faculty has more than $8 million in external funding. This is a remarkable accomplishment and reflects a true team effort, including the amazing work of our grants manager, Sarah Hegg. These grants provide an incredible boon for our students who will engage with faculty in groundbreaking work.
The renovation of our computer lab is almost complete. The new Educational Technology Lab, a cutting-edge digital collaboration classroom, will serve as a resource for our teacher candidates and for teachers in the schools with which we have partnerships. Our goal is to use the facility to help current and future teachers incorporate instructional technology more seamlessly into their classrooms.
It is richly rewarding to see the accomplishments of our school, and I am truly privileged to be the director. Thank you for your ongoing support of the School of Education at Cal Poly. Whatever your connection to Cal Poly, I pledge to continue striving to make it stronger in tandem with your continued engagement.
Cheers,
Kevin Taylor
May 21, 2019
Featured Articles
Social Justice Education Conference Offers Resources for PreK-12 Schools
The Social Justice Education Conference brought together speakers, workshops and a curriculum and resource fair to advance social justice in PreK-12 schools.
Letter from the Director
Kevin Taylor reflects on the many ways that the School of Education offers truly community-based teacher preparation.
Read the director's letter ›
$4.1 Million Grant Supports Community-Based Teacher Preparation
A new grant from the U.S. Department of Education supports deliberate and sustainable partnerships across multiple contexts and stakeholders to promote collaboration on campus and beyond.
Read more about the grant ›
Mar 22, 2019
Feb 1, 2019
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