Center Sponsored Projects 2018-2020
One aim of CTERIN is to conduct research in areas that will inform current California state policy implementation or future policy development. The research activity is fairly open in terms of units of analysis and approach, but it must be generalizable to larger issues of teacher preparation practice and policy in California. Preferential consideration is given to cross-campus and/or cross-sector (UC with non-UC) collaborations (for example, UC with P-12 partners, or UC with CSU partners).
Per the CTERIN research agenda developed with Stakeholders, areas for research include:
- Teacher retention and recruitment through teacher preparation programs and partners
- Clinical Practice (e.g., student teaching) in teacher preparation
- Effectiveness and/or understanding of the teacher preparation pathways in California
- Preparation of teachers to teach students with particular assets and needs (e.g., students with disabilities, Multi-lingual Learners, students learning within diverse communities)
- The qualifications and work of teacher educators in higher education and P-12 education
- Preparation for P-12 pedagogy in a subject matter discipline
In 2018-19, CTERIN funded $140,000 in research and in 2019-20, $125,250. Projects were selected based on several criteria including: generalizability and potential to inform policy and practice; depth and breadth of the research questions; quality of the research or project plan; capacity and expertise of the research team; and involvement of P-12 or other partners in the work.
Listed below are the 2018-19 and 2019-20 projects that received CTERIN funding:
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Irenee Beattie, Associate Professor, UC Merced
- Melissa Quesada, Ph.D. Candidate, Sociology, UC Merced
- Dr. Chelsea Arnold, Program Director, CalTeach, UC Merced
- Dr. Mayya Tokman, Associate Professor and Faculty Director, UC Merced
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Merced
Project Abstract
California faces a looming teacher shortage, especially in urban and rural schools that serve high proportions of minority, lower socioeconomic status, and English Language Learner students. Understanding the dynamic, longitudinal forces that support teacher retention in underserved schools is key to addressing this shortage. While prior research identifies both teacher social background and teacher preparation—especially the field experience—as central to predicting teacher outcomes, there is limited research that considers how both factors are jointly associated with teacher retention in underserved schools. Our study uses a life course framework informed by interracial contact theory to examine the longitudinal processes that shape teachers’ first job and 5-year retention in underserved schools among three CalTeach graduating cohorts (2011-13) on three UC campuses. We will examine how both social background and early field experience school context interact and intersect to predict retention. The research links UCOP admissions data on teacher trainee pre-college background, CalTeach data on early field experience school context, and California Department of Education/CalSTRS data on longitudinal teacher employment patterns and school characteristics. We will use logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses. The project will inform policies and practices relating to teacher retention, especially among those from diverse backgrounds.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Steven Z. Athanases, Professor, UC Davis
- Juliet Wahleithner, Assistant Professor, CSU Fresno
- Lisa H. Bennett, Assistant Professor, CSU Fresno
- Joanna W. Wong, Assistant Professor, CSU Monterey Bay
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Davis
- CSU Fresno
- CSU Monterey Bay
Project Abstract
Teacher Education (TE) needs innovative pedagogical models of research-informed practice, in light of “reforms” stripping TE of its research-based, visionary roles (Zeichner, 2014). As a premiere research university housing relatively small TE programs, the UC has responsibility to the field to engage both broad policy questions and deep investigations that closely examine TE pedagogy with preservice teachers (PSTs) to theorize innovations that support teacher knowledge and practice for diverse classrooms. This project works towards that end, exploring collective inquiry to scaffold PSTs’ learning of a high-leverage practice—leading class discussion. This innovation has sought for five years to foster 115 PSTs’ knowledge and practice in a domain, how their diverse students engage it, and how PSTs use collective inquiry to deepen learning and practice. The project explores secondary English where discussion is central to development of language, comprehension, interpretation, and argumentation. Class discussion recently gained currency, but relatively little is known about how new teachers learn to enact discussion. This project shines the light on such work, in pursuit of pedagogical designs that support PST learning of practices for diverse classrooms and that can be tested by other programs through dissemination.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Michael Gottfried, Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara
- Ethan Hutt, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland
- Jacob Kirksey, Doctoral Student, CTERIN Fellow, UC Santa Barbara
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Santa Barbara
- University of Maryland
Project Abstract
This project addresses whether rising cohorts of new teachers feel prepared to graduate and teach students with learning disabilities (SWLDs). Focusing on new teachers is critical, as university teacher education programs face increased responsibility to ensure all teacher candidates receive adequate preparation to educate all students – this becomes especially important considering that now-more-than-ever, SWLDs are being educated in traditional classrooms alongside nondisabled students. A key mechanism for achieving this outcome has been the adoption of rigorous, teacher performance assessments of candidates’ “readiness to teach”. Though states, like California, rely on edTPA to certify the preparedness of teachers, little research has examined if edTPA actually helps prepare teachers in reality for working with SWLDs. Our CTERIN study aims to close this gap by asking:
(1) What qualities of teacher education programs associate with candidates’ understanding of special education and inclusion policies?
(2) What qualities of teacher education programs associate with candidates’ perceptions of edTPA’s impact on their teaching practices with regards to educating SWLDs?
This project surveys graduating teacher candidates in the 2017-18 year in the University of California system, including all multiple-subject (elementary) and single-subject (secondary) credentialing programs.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Megan Franke, Professor, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Angela Turrou, TEP Faculty Advisor and Senior Researcher, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Sara Kersey, TEP Faculty Advisor, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Laura McMullin, TEP Faculty Advisor, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Nicholas Johnson, Math Methods Instructor, UC Los Angeles
- Brandon McMillan, Math Methods Instructor, UC Los Angeles
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Los Angeles
Project Summary
We are excited to continue our partnerships with elementary classrooms in the Los Angeles Unified and Lawndale Elementary School Districts in the fourth year of our field-based effort. We are also working toward the creation of a shareable resource that will support teacher educators across California in their efforts to implement field-based methods in ways that are responsive to their particular programs and local school contexts. Our materials and tools are guided by the details of what we do at UCLA and our ongoing learning as we continue to reflect upon and refine our process.
Project Abstract
We are engaged in innovative work partnering our practice-based methods courses (mathematics and reading) with elementary school classrooms, integrating theoretical coursework and practical field experience to leverage the recent increase in field hours. Our goal is to create opportunities for novice teachers to experience the intricate relationships among content, children’s thinking, pedagogy, students as “whole selves”, students as mathematicians and readers, and the influences of broader structures on teaching and learning. We do this by situating our methods classes in elementary school classrooms—engaging novices in cycles of planning, rehearsing, enacting, and analyzing teaching in the context of weekly interactions with elementary student “buddies” over an academic quarter. Our project studies the design and impact of our methods courses, investigating
1) How we create spaces for novices to engage simultaneously with issues of content, pedagogy, children’s thinking, and theory and
2) What our courses afford for teacher learning, both in immediate enactment and longer term.
Our efforts to detail the work and potential affordances of field-based, practice-based methods courses can contribute to a broadening knowledge base for teacher preparation that supports new teachers to learn from practice and from students, addressing issues of equity and social justice as they teach in linguistically and culturally diverse urban communities.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Director of Teacher Education, UC Davis
- Nadeen Ruiz, UC Davis
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Davis
Project Abstract
Currently, there are 1.3 million English Learners (EL) in California public schools (California Department of Education, 2018). California's demographics combined with a shift in viewing bilingualism through an asset lens, helped pass Proposition 58 in late 2016, now referred to as CA Ed.G.E. in state Education Code. There is now an urgent call for evidence-based practices to increase the number of well-prepared bilingual teachers in California Public Schools. This study proposes to add to the knowledge base of bilingual teacher recruitment and preparation by conducting a systematic literature review given our current context and examining the assets and needs of a state-wide cohort of Latinx undergraduates in four-year universities and community colleges (n= approximately 400), and a local cohort of current bilingual teacher candidates connected to our UC Davis bilingual teacher preparation program (n= approximately 45). This study will use quantititave and qualitative methodologies to collect and analyze data that will inform teacher education programs across the state on how to better recruit and prepare bilingual teacher candidates in California drawing from Mini Corp as a potential source of teachers who may already possess the linguistic and cultural capital to pursue bilingual authorization. Programmatic recommendations will be developed and shared.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Lisa Sullivan, Associate Director Teacher Education, UC Davis
- Dr. Cheryl Forbes, Director Teacher Education, UC San Diego
- Dr. Victoria Harvey, Lecturer/Supervisor, Teacher Education, UC Santa Barbara
- Soleste Hilberg, Program Director, Teacher Education, UC Santa Cruz
- Kimberly Holsberry, Supervisor Teacher Education, UC Davis
- Jane Kim, Supervisor Teacher Education, UC Los Angeles
- Alvin Mendle, Lecturer/Supervisor Teacher Education, UC Davis
- Rachel Millstone, Lecturer/Supervisor Teacher Education, UC San Diego
- Dr. Amber Moran, Lecturer/Supervisor, UC Santa Barbara
- Dr. Virginia Panish, Director Teacher Education/MAT, UC Irvine
- Dr. Elisa Salasin, Director, Teacher Education, UC Berkeley
- JerMara Welch, Asst. Dean & Director Teacher Education, UC Riverside
- Johnnie Wilson, Supervisor/Lecturer Teacher Education, UC Santa Cruz
- Evelyn Young, Supervisor/Lecturer Teacher Education, UC Irvine
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Davis
- UC San Diego
- UC Santa Barbara
- UC Santa Cruz
- UC Berkeley
- UC Irvine
- UC Riverside
- UC Los Angeles
Project Abstract
We propose to establish a Network Initiation Team of directors and supervisors from teacher education programs across the University of California system to examine current student teaching evaluation tools and processes and identify common challenges. A driving question for the team is how will our programs respond to new state level standards regarding student teacher evaluation data? This work will involve quarterly tele-conference meetings of team members, a summer two-day convening, and student focus groups at each campus. We will document current practices, gather student feedback, and write a comprehensive description of evaluation procedures at each campus. Establishing a network of University of California directors and supervisors will allow teacher education programs across our system to share valuable information and potentially establish a common aim for our student teacher evaluations. There is the opportunity to build on the efforts of the network initiation team in order to establish a larger networked improvement community. The primary aim of the work is to ensure that our students are receiving meaningful feedback on their student teaching that helps them improve and make progress on the Teaching Performance Expectations. -
Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
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Dr. Shanyce L. Campbell, UC Irvine
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Irvine
Project Abstract
Teacher education programs (TEP) have recently received a great deal of criticism with calls for more oversight and accountability to ensure that programs are preparing high-quality teachers. While much debate centers around the best way to measure program quality, there is little consensus on which aspects of TEPs matter. Arguably, one of the key program features for TEPs is the preparation to work with diverse learners and in diverse settings. Yet, TEPs continue to struggle in the preparation of candidates that are responsive to the assets and needs of students historically and currently marginalized by the educational system. Employing a cross-campus mixed methods comparative case study design, this study aims to understand whether and how teacher preparation programs foster candidates' equity dispositions. This design allows for greater generalizations to the larger UC TEP body and also presents a comprehensive understanding of the practices that support our commitment to California’s Teaching Performance Expectations. The growing sociodemographic and cultural teacher-student divide across California public schools highlights the urgency for UC TEPs to critically examine their role in ensuring candidates are adequately prepared with equity dispositions to improve the lives of K-12 students.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Jarod Kawasaki, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Annamarie Francois, UC Los Angeles
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Los Angeles
Project Abstract
Current teacher shortages across California public school districts is exacerbated by the challenge of supporting and retaining early career teachers (i.e., 1-5 years of teaching). University-based teacher education programs offer little in terms of organized support after teachers graduate from their programs. We are currently supporting a self- organized alumni-led professional learning community (PLC) for early career social justice science teachers. This emergent PLC is led by two graduates of our program (i.e., 2nd and 3rd year teachers) and seeks to provide socio-emotional support to participants, collaborative and reflective planning time between common grade level and content areas (e.g., Biology, 6th grade science), and continuing development around social justice theories and pedagogies. Our research goals are to document the needs and challenges of early career science teachers within this PLC and the process of leading and sustaining such a group as it unfolds over time. Findings from this research will inform our own university-based teacher education program and others in California about how design and structure early career alumni support into our program in order to help mitigate teacher turnover within the first five years of teaching, and more importantly support those teachers during these initial difficult years. -
Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Thomas M. Philip, UC Berkeley
- Dr. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, UC Davis
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Berkeley
- UC Davis
Project Abstract
There is little systematic study about what distinguishes the professional expertise of teacher educators, particularly teacher educators of color, and how they grow in their practice. To address the paucity of research on and frameworks for their preparation and support, we propose to conduct a cross-institutional study of teacher educators of color in the UC system. We propose to convene a group of 24 teacher educators of color (3 from each of the 8 UC campuses with programs of teacher education) for 1.5 days. Through extended group inquiries, we will investigate the following questions:
- What are the various developmental trajectories of teacher educators of color in the UC system? How did professional and research experiences, programs of study, and formal and informal relationships support or detract from participants’ growth as teacher educators?
- What are the unique strengths and institutional challenges for teacher educators of color in the UC system? How have they supported or created barriers for participants’ growth as teacher educators?
Our project will improve our understanding of how teacher educators of color enter and grow within UC teacher education programs. Additionally, the project will create a much-needed network of teacher educators of color across the system.
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Rita Kohli, UC Riverside
- Dr. Eddie Comeaux, UC Riverside
- Dr. Uma Jayakumar, UC Riverside
- Dr. Omar Safie, UC Riverside
- Dr. Emma Hipolito, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Darlene Lee, UC Los Angeles
- Dr. Alison Dover, CSU Fullerton
- Dr. Nicholas Henning, CSU Fullerton
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Riverside
- UC Los Angeles
- CSU Fullerton
Project Abstract
As research has demonstrated teachers of Color as integral to the success of our increasingly diverse student population (Cherng & Haplin, 2016), diversifying the teaching force has become a growing topic of concern among educational researchers, teacher educators, school leadership, and policy makers alike (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). However, the curricular and pedagogical approaches of teacher education have often been found unresponsive to the identities of teachers of Color (Gist, 2017)— they often feel invisible, silenced, isolated (Amos, 2010; Haddix, 2010), and enter teaching under-equipped to navigate the specific barriers they encounter in a predominantly White profession (Kohli, 2018). To improve the experiences of teacher candidates of Color, this project will adapt frameworks from higher education to design and pilot a model for assessing racial climate in teacher education. The project will be guided by the questions:- What are the characteristics and components of teacher education that are salient to its racial climate?
- What are the professional and personal impacts of racial climate on teacher candidates of Color?
- And what are ways teacher education programs can improve their racial climate with the goal of better retaining and supporting a diverse teaching force?
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Principal and Co-Principal Investigators
- Dr. Kip Téllez, UC Santa Cruz
- Dr. Brent Duckor, San Jose State University
- Dr. Carrie Holmberg, San Jose State University
- Adria Patthoff, UC Santa Cruz
Campus and Partner Schools
- UC Santa Cruz
- San Jose State University
Project Abstract
The purpose of this collaborative project between UC Santa Cruz and San José State University is to understand how preservice teachers conceptualize, enact, and reflect on formative feedback practices. Building on Hattie’s (2012) meta-analytic findings and the power of formative assessment (FA) to support English learners, this study catalogues with study case examples pre- service teachers engaged in a continuum and variety of feedback practices (e.g., self-assessment, peer assessment, and teacher assessment), using video from clinical placements in both multiple and single subject programs across a diverse set of high needs schools in northern California. The Teacher Learning Progressions (TLP) framework we employ in this project allows us to model teachers’ knowledge and use of formative feedback practices. Anchored in expert-novice studies of beginning teacher FA practices, the TLP framework emphasizes the socio-cultural development of beginning or “novice” teachers from a constructivist foundation, one that emphasizes the zone of proximal development in practice using common language frames and tools. By exploring preservice teachers’ knowledge and use of formative feedback practices in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms with a focus on ELs, findings support the building of teacher capacity and reframe the meaning of continuous improvement for California public schools.