School of Education hosts fall Credential Advisory Council meeting

The UCI School of Education's Credential Advisory Council held its fall meeting at UCI on November 22, hosted by Director of Teacher Education Virginia Panish (right). 

During the morning meeting, educational administrators representing six Orange County school districts - Anaheim Elementary School District, Capistrano USD, Irvine USD, Newport Mesa USD, Saddleback Valley USD, Santa Ana USD - joined with coordinators from UCI's multiple subject, single subject, and CalTeach programs to provide updates, share future plans, and discuss district and university proposals for K-12 education in Orange County.

"We always learn so much from the members of our advisory council," Panish said. "The feedback we receive related to supporting mentor and student teacher development is particularly valuable. At this meeting, we received several suggestions about how to better prepare our candidates to collaborate with parents to improve student learning." ​

Members discussed the following topics:

• UCI Teacher Academy offerings designed to connect the university and surrounding communities, and to support new teachers
• Santa Ana Unified School District Residency program, which places UCI science and math teachers with the intent of their staying on as teachers in the district
• California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) Complete Survey data, which included candidate feedback on their level of preparation as they enter the teaching profession. 
• Graduate Impact Survey content and distribution
• The CalTeach DOE grant-funded model of student teaching, which involves clustering student teachers at school sites and providing additional support for mentor teachers
• Credential Program shared reading and featured speaker (Lives in Limbo: Undocumented and Coming of Age in America, by Roberto Gonzales)

The next Credential Advisory Council meeting will be held in spring 2020.