As the university system that prepares nearly half of all the newly credentialed teachers among California’s institutions of higher education, the California State University (CSU) is making positive gains to diversify the educator workforce. Of the 9,633 candidates enrolled in CSU education credential programs in 2023, more than 55% are from traditionally underrepresented populations, which include Black, Latinx and Native American students. To ensure that educators in the classroom are more representative of the students they teach, the CSU created the Center for Transformational Educator Preparation Programs (CTEPP) dedicated to recruiting, preparing and retaining teachers of color.
“The ability to recruit, prepare and retain diverse and culturally responsive educators is critical to the success of students and the state,” said Shireen Pavri, assistant vice chancellor of CSU’s Educator and Leadership Programs. “Our university teams have used improvement science methods to investigate specific problems of practice in their programs and then they've taken action so that aspiring Black, Indigenous and other teachers of color can thrive in our programs.”
CTEPP is now closing out a four-year, systemwide effort—The Transformation Lab—that brought together 10 campus improvement teams to better understand systemic challenges to diversity, equity and inclusion within university programs and implement improvements to address these challenges.
Their changes yielded some positive results:
- Sacramento State increased the retention of matriculated historically underserved students earning a single subject teaching credential by 10% in a 10-month period.
- CSU Bakersfield and CSUN increased the completion rates for Black candidates by 17% and 31% from 2020 to 2023.
- Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona improved first-time submission and pass rates on the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA) for candidates who are from historically underserved populations.
- Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo now has an established partnership with the human resources directors in San Luis Obispo County to work together on improving hiring and retention rates of Latinx completers.
- Stanislaus State doubled its student teaching placements for historically underserved candidates at Modesto City Schools in a two-year period.
The Transformation Lab launched in fall 2021 with teams from four CSU campuses: CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly Humboldt, Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo and CSUN. In fall 2022, a second cohort of six campus teams included Chico State, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, Cal Poly Pomona, Sacramento State and Stanislaus State.
Each team also had an improvement coach—a member of the CSU’s Educator Quality Center—to help them throughout the process and promote a culture of inquiry using improvement science strategies.
Improvement plans across the campus teams included a variety of best practices that help CSU educator preparation faculty create learning environments that support students of color.
Improved practices included:
- Adjustment to clinical practice supervision to be more equitable and culturally responsive
- More intentional and strategic outreach and recruitment of historically underserved candidates
- Partnering with school districts to support job opportunities for historically underserved candidates
While the Transformation Lab teams have concluded this process, they continue to apply improvements to their programs and share their learnings with colleagues across the system. The CTEPP leadership team is currently seeking funding to support future transformation proposals and projects that emerge from this important work. In addition, CTEPP continues to offer professional development to the educator preparation community with the CSU Equity and Excellence Certificate Program. The three-course online program results in two Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and helps participants apply diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies and practices to their work.
The leaders of CSU’s educator preparation programs remain intentional about building a more equitable and diverse teacher workforce for California. In addition to CTEPP and the Transformation Lab, CalStateTEACH, the CSU’s systemwide online multiple-subject teaching credential program, is especially focused on recruiting men of color, and is committed to serving all regions of California—both urban and rural. Many CSU campuses also have programs aimed at increasing teacher diversity, including CSU Dominguez Hills and Cal State Long Beach.
About the California State University
The California State University is the nation's largest four-year public university system, providing transformational opportunities for upward mobility to more than 460,000 students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. More than half of CSU students are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, and more than one-quarter of undergraduates are first-generation college students. Because the CSU's 23 universities provide a high-quality education at an incredible value, they are rated among the best in the nation for promoting social mobility in national college rankings from U.S. News & World Report, the Wall Street Journal and Washington Monthly. The CSU powers California and the nation, sending more than 125,000 career-ready graduates into the workforce each year. In fact, one in every 20 Americans holding a college degree earned it at the CSU. Connect with and learn more about the CSU in the CSU newsroom.