Strengthening teacher quality through regional K-18 data-driven collaboration

AN INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AND RETENTION IN KERN COUNTY, Spring 2001

A Kern County Initiative to Increase the Critically Short Supply of Quality Teachers

The numbers tell it all! Nearly one-third of California’s teachers are approaching retirement age. Another 25 percent of new teachers leave the profession in their first five years, even though the demand for quality teachers has never been greater. So short is the teacher supply that nearly every school district in California has had to hire teachers that haven’t yet completed the course work needed for a permanent credential.

It is our collective experience that the single most important ingredient for learning in schools is the quality of the teachers. It is also a consistent conclusion of researchers who have studied schools and student achievement.

If we want schools to get significantly better, and we do, we have to do a better job of recruiting, preparing and retaining high quality teachers and providing excellent on-going professional development to our dedicated teachers already working in Kern County.

Not only in Kern, but across California, there is a significant shortage of teachers who are qualified and willing to work where they are most needed. Of the state’s 291,000 teachers, about 40,000 still require additional training and education before they can receive a full credential. And far too few veteran teachers have had opportunity for professional development to allow them to ensure that their students will achieve California’s rigorous academic standards.

In a report issued late last year on the status of California’s teaching profession, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning called the situation a crisis of unprecedented magnitude. It said: "There is no issue more critical to California’s future than improving its public schools, to make sure all of the state’s nearly 6 million students have the knowledge and skills to be productive and successful. And there is no issue more critical to improving schools than making sure every student is taught by a teacher who is well prepared and who has the skills to help students learn and grow."

We agree.

In Kern County, we face the difficult challenge of finding and keeping the qualified and effective teachers we need. Across the county, we have nearly 1,200 teachers –more than 16 percent of our teacher workforce of 7,000 -- who currently do not meet the state’s minimum qualifications for a full teaching credential.

Exacerbating this problem is the fact that the distribution of these underprepared teachers is uneven. Some districts have few underprepared teachers, and some have many. And within districts, there is a similarly uneven distribution of underprepared teachers with some schools not having any underprepared teachers and others having more than half of their teachers who do not have credentials.

These numbers begin to outline the challenges ahead. We are committed to finding and implementing solutions. Our goal is to make sure that every student interacts with qualified and effective teachers in school every day. That means we need to identify more promising prospective teachers from this region and do a better job of giving them the skills they need to become effective teachers. It means we must do a better job at retaining the many quality teachers we have now. And it means we must provide all of our teachers with the professional development they need to ensure that all their students reach the new, higher academic standards.

The good news is that we are committed to such an effort. The further good news is that we have high quality assistance in our work.

Two California Foundations have provided funding for the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning and Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International to help us develop the data to better identify the issues and challenges we face in building and sustaining a top quality teacher workforce and to develop strategies for strengthening teacher development from pre-service education and induction through professional development for veteran teachers. Both organizations have been at the forefront of identifying these issues across the state and working with policy makers on solutions. The work in Kern County is the first significant attempt in California to apply regional solutions to the statewide challenge of ensuring that every child has a fully qualified, effective teacher.

Three chief executive officers from the largest school districts in Kern County along with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the Chancellor of Kern Community College District and the President of California State University Bakersfield will provide leadership for the initiative. Dr. Tomas Arciniega will chair the countywide committee. It is the intent to include all school districts in this initiative for increasing both the quantity and quality of the teacher workforce in Kern County.The following individuals support the Kern County initiative on teacher development and retention.

Dr. Tomas Arciniega, President California State University, Bakersfield Dr. Larry Reider, Superintendent Kern County Office of Education Dr. Walt Packard, Chancellor Kern Community College District	Dr. Jean Fuller, Superintendent Bakersfield City Elementary School District Mr. Bill Hatcher, Superintendent Kern Union High School District Mr. Doug Miller, Superintendent Panama-Buena Vista Union Elementary School District
Mr. Michael McGuire, Superintendent Arvin Union Elementary School District Mr. Kenneth Chapman, Superintendent Beardsley Elementary School District Mr. Steven Wentland, Superintendent Belridge Elementary School District Ms. Kim Bell, Superintendent Blake Elementary School District Mr. Gary Glover, Superintendent Buttonwillow Union Elementary School District Ms. Robin Shive, Superintendent Caliente Union Elementary School District Ms. Sherrill Hufnagel, Superintendent Delano Joint Union High School District Dr. Milton Woolsey, Superintendent Delano Union Elementary School District Mr. Carl Delfino, Superintendent Di Giorgio Elementary School District Mrs. Barbara Clark, Superintendent Edison Elementary School District Dr. Wesley Thomas, Superintendent Elk Hills Elementary School District Mr. Dean C. Bently, Superintendent El Tejon Unified School District Mr. Adolph Wirth, Superintendent Fairfax Elementary School District Dr. Carl Olsen, Superintendent Fruitvale Elementary School District Mr. Larry Wilkins, Superintendent General Shafter Elementary School District Mr. James Goodgame, Superintendent Greenfield Union Elementary School District Dr. Steve Merta, Superintendent Kernville Union Elementary School District Mr. Nick Kouklis, Superintendent Lakeside Union Elementary School District Mr. James Bates, Superintendent Lamont Elementary School District Ms. Michelle Antonell, Principal Linns Valley-Poso Flat Union School District Dr. John R. Bogie, Superintendent Lost Hills Union Elementary School District Ms. Ann C. Paslay, Superintendent Maple Elementary School District	Mr. Barry Lindaman, Superintendent Maricopa Unified School District Mr. Roberto Cardenas, Superintendent McFarland Unified School District Mr. John Barnes, Superintendent McKittrick Elementary School District Dr. Don Swearingen, Superintendent Midway Elementary School District Mr. Larry Phelps, Superintendent Mojave Unified School District Dr. Bertha Boullion, Superintendent Muroc Joint Unified School District Dr. Wallace McCormick, Superintendent Norris Elementary School District Mr. John Leonard, Superintendent Pond Union Elementary School District Mr. Lyle W. Mack, Superintendent Richland-Lerdo Union Elementary School District Mr. Gerald Higbee, Superintendent Rio Bravo-Greeley Union Elementary School District Mr. Jamie Henderson, Superintendent Rosedale Union Elementary School District Dr. Michael Rucks, Superintendent Semitropic Elementary School District Dr. April Jones, Superintendent Sierra Sands Unified School District Mr. Larry Holochwost, Superintendent South Fork Union Elementary School District Dr. Christine Hoffman, Superintendent Southern Kern Unified School District Dr. Erich Kwek, Superintendent Standard Elementary School District Dr. Michael Harris, Superintendent Taft City Elementary School District Mr. Gerald P. Dragoo, Superintendent Taft Union High School District Mr. D. Kent Ashworth, Superintendent Tehachapi Unified School District Mr. Stephen Greenfield, Superintendent Vineland Elementary School District Mr. Gary Bray, Superintendent Wasco Union Elementary School District Mr. Anthony Monreal, Superintendent Wasco Union High School District
Mr. Michael E. Ford Chapter Services Consultant California Teachers Association	Mr. Richard N. Schuster Chapter Services Consultant California Teachers Association
Dr. David Cothrun Superintendent/President West Kern Community College District
Dr. James Doti, President Chapman University Dr. Jerry Lee, President National University Dr. Steve Morgan, President University of LaVerne	Dr Harold Haak, President Fresno Pacific University Dr. Robert Brower, President Point Loma Nazarene University Dr. Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, Chancellor University of California, Merced