Mission

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There is a pressing need for highly skilled teachers who can offer better educational opportunities for students. This is especially true for students who are living in poverty, or who have disabilities, or who are people of color, or for whom English is a second language, all of which are categories that represent vast segments of California's school-age population. At minimum, teachers must design innovative educational experiences for 21st century college and career readiness. At best, they address challenges to the social fabric of our nation, teaching students how to consider multiple perspectives, become critical consumers of information, and engage in healthy social interactions in a globalized society.

Teaching is complex. Unfortunately, teacher preparation in the U.S. is not meeting the complex needs of new teachers and their students. The teacher education field is wrought with ideological directives lacking a research base and policy directives requiring more robust empirical evidence. Teacher educators also need credible information on program practices that improve opportunities for teacher and student learning, both for generalizable “best practices” and also to recognize and accommodate the needs of their local communities. This is especially salient for a state as large, diverse and sprawling as California.

In response to these needs, CTERIN’s mission is to:

  1. Work closely with state agencies on data needs and provide methodological direction on future state systems
  2. Validate results through research across institutional and geographic contexts
  3. Produce exceptional doctoral scholars who teach the teachers
  4. Provide model preparation programs for the state
  5. Impact California’s next generation teaching force and the education our young people need and deserve

By reaching across the state as an interdisciplinary, multi-dimensional network, CTERIN aims to unite the divisions in our present understandings of equity in policy, practice, and the problems facing California education, thus establishing a foundation for us to collectively build, and improve, upon.