U.S. Dept of Education Awards $3.3 million to Teacher Education Program

A $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education has been awarded to Claremont Graduate University’s (CGU) Department of Teacher Education to develop and cultivate educators-in-training for the Claremont Teaching Fellows Program.

Over five years, the grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program will enable the university’s Teaching Fellows program—in partnership with Alliance College-Ready Public Schools—to strengthen its preparation of resilient, highly-effective K-12 educators to meet the needs of underserved student populations in the greater Los Angeles area.

DeLacy Ganley, who serves as dean of CGU’s School of Educational Studies, said that graduate students in the Teaching Fellows program will receive funding and exemplary mentorship and instruction while developing their pedagogy and an understanding of the strengths and needs of the communities they serve.

“Our Fellows program is deeply committed to empowering teacher candidates with the social justice and evidence-based knowledge to make a powerful difference in young lives,” she said. “We are thrilled and excited to have been selected for this award along with Alliance.”

Teacher Education Director Eddie Partida is the grant’s primary architect and will serve as its director. Ganley and CGU Postdoctoral Research Fellow Rebecca Hatkoff are the grant’s co-principal investigators. Alliance is a charter school network that has successfully served low-income communities in the greater Los Angeles area for the past 15 years.

“Our fellows program is deeply committed to empowering teacher candidates … to make a powerful difference in young lives.”– SES Dean DeLacy Ganley

Students in CGU’s Teaching Fellows program will be recruited and selected by Alliance and CGU. Students who are chosen as Teaching Fellows will start CGU’s Preliminary Credential Program. They will take classes at the university during the evenings and weekends and work during the day as paid residents teaching in Alliance Schools.

After earning their preliminary credential as well as a master’s degree in Education from CGU, the Fellows will start the university’s Induction Program in order to earn a Clear California Teaching Credential.

“CGU Teaching Fellows will gain valuable experience working in a school culture seeped in educational equity,” explained Dan Katzir, Alliance chief executive officer. “Fellows will witness firsthand what it means to put scholars first: to set high expectations, provide equally high levels of support and resources, and to approach every instructional day with a clear goal of preparing scholars for college completion.”

This year the U.S. Department of Education reports that it has awarded more than $20 million in funding to support innovative models that prepare prospective and new teachers to serve students in high-need schools. The award to CGU and Alliance was one of just 31 awards given this year to some two dozen school districts, institutions of higher education, and nonprofits.

For Partida, the tuition-reducing fellowship and living stipend will make “an enormous difference in the graduate experience of the program’s fellows.” He points to research that suggests that teachers who are provided with high levels of quality support are more likely to stay in the profession and to have a positive impact as compared with less well-mentored peers.

As a condition of participation, the Teaching Fellows sign a service agreement, pledging to teach in an Alliance School for at least three years after earning their Preliminary Credential.  As such, the program creates a pipeline of support and effective teachers for Alliance Schools.

Cohorts of Teaching Fellows will be recruited to start in January 2021, January 2022, January 2023, and January 2024.  There will be 20 Teaching Fellows per cohort.

• Learn more here about the School of Educational Studies
• Learn more here about Alliance College-Ready Public Schools