University of California - Santa Barbara

The standards for admission into either the institution or its teacher preparation program should be sufficiently selective to ensure that teacher candidates come from only the top half of the college-going population. In order to ensure that any test used as a screen is able to provide sufficient selectivity, it must be normed to the college-going population.

The program only partly meets the standard because while the program does require a high grade point average (GPA) and the average GPA for the incoming class of teacher candidates is high, it does not require that candidates pass a rigorous audition or provide a score on one of the standardized tests of proficiency commonly used in higher education for graduate admission, either of which would provide assurance that candidates have the requisite academic talent.

A diverse teacher workforce benefits all students, particularly students of color. While there has been real progress over the last twenty years in diversifying the teacher workforce,¹ these gains have not kept pace with a rapidly diversifying student population. To accelerate progress, strategic recruitment efforts by teacher preparation programs are essential.

• Teacher prep enrollment: 52 percent candidates of color²
• California teacher workforce: 38 percent teachers of color³
• Local demographics: 55 percent persons of color⁴

Programs earning a B support the diversification of the teacher workforce. Programs earn this grade under one of two conditions: 1. The percentage of enrolled candidates of color meets or exceeds the diversity of the state teacher workforce, but is up to 5 percentage points lower than the proportion of persons of color in the local population; or, 2. The percentage of enrolled candidates of color meets or exceeds the diversity of the local population, but is up to 5 percentage points lower than the proportion of teachers of color in the state workforce.

University of California - Santa Barbara is found to be 13.7 percentage points more diverse than the California teacher workforce and 2.9 percentage points less diverse than the local population.

Courses reviewed: ED 360 FW, and ED LA 320 FSW

The research-based content proven to be necessary for teaching all children to read should be clearly evident in course materials such as lecture topics, assignments and textbooks. All of a program's required reading courses — not just some courses — should impart what is necessary to teach reading.

The program meets only a small part of the standard because its coursework covers two of the five of the components of effective reading instruction:

• Vocabulary
• Comprehension Strategies

but does not address:

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency

In order for elementary schools to deliver equitable and effective instruction in mathematics to all students, they need their teachers to have acquired the mathematics content and pedagogical knowledge specified in commonly accepted mathematics education standards. To evaluate that coverage, the Elementary Mathematics standard examines the instructional time allocated to each of the five essential topics in coursework required by teacher preparation programs.

To assess performance under this standard, the distribution of instructional time is estimated using syllabi and course descriptions. Only courses that provide content and pedagogical knowledge related to elementary mathematics are considered.

A review of ED M 320, Math 100A, and Math 100B found the following coverage:

Numbers & Operations: 52 instructional hours*
Recommended target: 45 hours

Algebraic Thinking: 5 instructional hours*
Recommended target: 20 hours

Geometry & Measurement: 4 instructional hours
Recommended target: 25 hours

Data Analysis & Probability: 0 instructional hours
Recommended target: 15 hours

Mathematics Pedagogy: 41 instructional hours
Recommended target: 45 hours

*Please note that for grading purposes, the hours for Numbers & Operations and Algebraic Thinking are summed and measured against a combined target of 65 hours. Under this measure, 57 instructional hours were found.

Programs earning a D provide a small part of the content and pedagogical knowledge elementary teachers require for effective mathematics instruction. Programs earn this grade by allocating between 90 and 104 hours (of the 150 recommended target hours) to the five essential topic areas combined, equivalent to 60% of the total target recommendation.

Analysis of the required coursework for elementary teacher candidates at University of California - Santa Barbara found the program to address 68.0% of the total target recommendation.

To be successful, elementary teachers need content knowledge in science and social studies, both to build their students' understanding of the world and their critical thinking skills, and also to support students in becoming strong readers. Becoming a strong reader requires cumulative exposure to content knowledge, cutting across multiple domains and disciplines. The courses aspiring teachers take gives them strong background knowledge in these subjects, and in turn, they give this knowledge to students.

This program was not included in the 2023 Building Content Knowledge analysis.

Student teaching serves a critical role in preparing teacher candidates to take the reins of their own classroom. This apprenticeship allows candidates to build on coursework by learning directly from an established teacher, and practice and refine essential instructional and management skills.

Student teaching should be at least 10 weeks long in order to offer opportunities for repeated cycles of practice and growth. It should be full- or nearly-full-time, and include several weeks during which the candidate has primary responsibility for teaching the whole class for full days, so that the candidate can experience the full demands of being a teacher.

• Our review finds that the program includes at least 10 weeks of full- or nearly-full-time student teaching, but does not require candidates to take primary responsibility for a classroom for at least three weeks.

In addition, there are two essential steps that programs should take to safeguard the value of the experience:

1. Supply student teachers with sufficient feedback by requiring supervisors to provide student teachers with at least four instances of written feedback based on observations.

• A review of program policy finds that supervisors are required to provide a minimum of 5 instances of written feedback based on observations.

2. Establish a structured process for selecting strong cooperating teachers that includes the collection of sufficient information to confirm that cooperating teachers have relevant skills, including ability as a mentor and instructional effectiveness as measured by student learning.

• Analysis finds that this program collects information on some relevant skills, but does not specifically confirm mentorship skill or instructional effectiveness as measured by student learning.

Based on the findings above, the program nearly meets this standard.

Next Steps

• Ensure that the student teaching experience includes at least three weeks when the candidate takes primary responsibility for planning and presenting instruction for full days.
• To ensure candidates are placed with the best, establish an explicit process with partner districts to gather information on potential cooperating teachers' skills including both their effectiveness (as measured by student achievement) and capacity to mentor. Collecting additional information, such as a teacher's classroom management style or communication skills, can also be valuable, as long as the focus remains on quality and the potential fit as a mentor and not on just collecting basic data, like years of experience. This information should be used to screen cooperating teachers' suitability before placing student teachers with them.
• Clear requirements for cooperating teachers can help to guide the cooperating teacher selection process. At a minimum, cooperating teachers should be both strong mentors of adults and highly effective instructors. Our review finds that program requirements do not include that cooperating teachers must be strong mentors or effective instructors as defined by student learning.

New teachers and their principals consistently report that classroom management is one of their greatest challenges. Teachers will be better prepared to establish a positive classroom environment if, during their preparation programs, they practice and receive feedback on the five classroom management strategies shown by conclusive research to be useful for all students. These strategies are:

1. Rules and Routines – Establishing classroom rules and routines that set expectations for behavior;
2. Learning Time – Maximizing the time that students are engaged in learning by pacing lessons appropriately, managing class materials and the physical setup of the classroom, and teaching interesting lessons;
3. Praise – Using meaningful praise and other forms of positive reinforcement to encourage appropriate behavior;
4. Low-profile Redirection – Using unobtrusive means that do not interrupt instruction to prevent and manage minimally disruptive behavior; and
5. Consequences – Addressing more serious misbehavior with consistent, appropriate consequences.

Student teaching and residency are crucial times for the development and refinement of classroom management skills. The first few months of school are just as critical for candidates in alternative programs who have full responsibility for a classroom of children. Evaluation and observation forms used during these experiences can shape the feedback that participants receive on key classroom management strategies.

A review of program evaluation and/or observation instruments finds that they provide feedback on student teachers' use of the following classroom management strategies:

• Rules and Routines
• Learning Time (manage student engagement)
• Consequences

The program meets only a small part of the standard because the feedback provided to student teachers addresses only a few of the critical classroom management strategies.

Next Steps
Consider modifying evaluation and observation instruments to provide participants with feedback on their use of the following strategies:

• Learning Time (manage time; manage materials; manage the physical classroom)
• Praise
• Low-profile Redirection