The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing met on Oct. 17-18 to discuss the status of teacher preparation programs, move forward work on revised criteria for the state’s Child Development Permit and decide upon alternate assessment options for candidates that find themselves in between official reading tests as the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) is set to sunset on June 30, 2025.
All agenda item details can be accessed at this link: https://meetings.ctc.ca.gov/Details/208
Chair Marquita Grenot-Scheyer began the meeting on Oct. 18 with a nod to current “culture wars,” citing a federal civil rights complaint that was recently filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District alleging racial preferences in its Black Student Achievement Plan. “To the dismay of many of the educators involved in the program, the district has agreed to overhaul the academic program by eliminating race as a factor in determining which students will be included in the program,” she said. “Such action reflects a broader playbook which has fueled culture wars across our nation through school board elections and litigation. These kinds of actions are frustrating and disheartening, but serve as a reminder that we must continue in our efforts to address historical and systemic inequalities for students of color to succeed and thrive.”
Teacher preparation programs (Agenda item 4A)
Staff presented to commissioners the Annual Report Card on California Teacher Preparation Programs for the Academic Year 2022–23, a high-level view of the programs required to submit data to the U.S. Department of Education. A total of 158 Institution and Program Report Cards were submitted to the department.
In 2022–23, there were 81 traditional route programs, 59 institute of higher education (IHE)-based alternative programs (university intern) and 18 non-IHE-based alternative route programs (local educational agency run). Of traditional programs, 23 were California State University (CSU), nine were University of California (UC) and 48 were private institutions.
Demographics
More than two-thirds of enrollment in the traditional and alternative IHE-based routes consisted of female candidates. The percentage of male candidates enrolled in both alternative IHE and LEA routes (28.6 percent and 30.6 percent, respectively) were higher than the traditional route (24.7 percent). The
race/ethnicity distribution of total enrollment varied by route as well. In both the traditional and LEA-based alternative routes, about two-fifths of candidates (41.3 and 43.8 percent, respectively) identified as Hispanic/Latino —the largest group when compared to candidates of other races. In the IHE-based alternative route, there was a higher percentage of candidates who identified as white (38.6 percent) when compared to Hispanic/Latino (31.3 percent). More than half of candidates identified as non-white in all three program routes.
Since 2018–19, Hispanic/Latino enrollment in CSU preparation programs has increased by 14 percentage points, from 34.9 percent to 48.9 percent. For the UC segment, there was an increase of Hispanic/Latino participants by 9.8 percentage points and a smaller increase by about one percentage points for candidates identified as Asian, Black or African American, and two or more races between 2018–19 and 2022–23. Private institutions’ Hispanic/Latino students stayed steady around 30 percent of the total enrollment in the past five years. For LEA preparation programs, there was an increase of Hispanic/Latino and Black or African American candidates (by 12.8 and 3 percentage points) between 2018–19 and 2022–23.
Hispanic/Latino candidates made up about 37 percent of program completers and white candidates composed about 36 percent of traditional and alternative LEA-based programs. More Black/African American candidates participate in the alternative LEA-based route, with 7.6 percent of completers versus 2.4 percent in traditional route and 4.9 percent in the alternative IHE-based route. Overall, more than half of program completers identified as non-white.
Out of the 14,636 new teaching credentials issued in 2022–23, 39 percent were issued in Multiple Subject (MS), 40 percent were issued in Single Subject and the remaining 21 percent were issued in Education Specialist (ES) credentials.
Child Development Permit (Agenda item 4B)
Recommendations from the 2023–24 Child Development Permit (CDP) Workgroup, which was convened to review and update the CDP Matrix, which had remained largely unchanged since 1993. The workgroup aimed to modernize the system and align it with California’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, focusing on building a competency-based approach to workforce preparation.
Their main goals were to expand access, create more opportunities for career growth, and ensure the early childhood education (ECE) workforce is well-prepared to meet the changing needs of children and families within the state’s mixed delivery system.
The following recommendations were made by the workgroup:
- Update the scope of authorizations for all permit levels.
- Designate the current Assistant Teacher level as a provisional certification entry point for individuals with six units of ECE coursework in ECE 1.
- Modify the scope of authorization for individuals with 12 ECE units, limiting them to instructional support roles rather than teacher roles.
- Increase the requirements for most permit levels and incorporate entry pathways that reflect current CDP standards.
- Introduce limited-term provisional certification at select levels to support dual enrollment and apprenticeship programs, while also providing flexibility for those needing additional time to meet the proposed permit requirements
Much of the public comment was concerned with the increase in requirements for each matrix level, as pay in the field has remained flat. The CDP Workgroup said they recognized that these updates may impact the field by increasing licensure requirements at a time when compensation and financial support for the field are not keeping pace. However, the primary consideration was to ensure a well-qualified and prepared ECE workforce to better address the evolving needs of children and families, particularly in light of the pandemic’s lingering effects on learning readiness.
The commission directed staff to move forward with the field review of the recommendations from the CDP Workgroup as described in the agenda item as well as any additional proposed next steps in the work relating to the CDP.
In other meeting news:
- Commissioners approved staff to look into three alternative means to fulfill the RICA requirement for candidates who earned a credential during the pandemic and were given a RICA deferral and candidates currently enrolled in MS and ES credential programs who have a limited time to take and prepare for the assessment. (Agenda item 4C)
- An update was given for the Roadmap to Education Careers Initiative, which has made significant progress providing potential candidates with access to live career coaching and debuted the Roadmap to Teaching interactive webpages. The field has been overwhelmingly positive about these resources, according to staff.
