Oct. 12, 2009

CSU Monterey Bay is one of three universities that will share a $12.6 million grant from the federal government for improvement and innovation in their teacher education programs.

The Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Education is aimed at improving teachers' skills and training so that students in rural areas can get a better education. Emphasis will be placed on math, science and special education, but all teacher preparation programs will be affected.

These efforts at reforming teacher education are inspired by changes in medical education that took place a century ago.

The project is aimed at closing the achievement gap for thousands of children located throughout the nine-county region of Central California.

"The No. 1 goal is to improve K-12 student achievement," said Dr. Mark O'Shea, professor of education at CSUMB and principal investigator for the project.

The five-year grant will be shared by CSU Bakersfield and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and the offices of education in Tulare and Kern counties. It will target improving student performance in 16 high-need schools in Monterey, Kern and Tulare counties. The Monterey County Office of Education will receive funding to support professional development in local schools.

In Monterey County, those high-need schools are in the Alisal Union and Gonzales Unified school districts.

The grant will be used to accomplish four goals that will enhance the universities' teaching programs. They are:

• Reform teacher education by introducing features typically seen in medical education

• Bring teacher education faculty and content experts into K-12 classrooms during clinical training of teacher candidates

• Recruit teachers in response to the needs identified by partner school districts

• Help support and develop school leadership

Among other things, the grant money will be used to build an online network to help new teachers form a collaborative community where they can share ideas and build on individual experiences.

"Research shows that teacher quality is the most important factor in improving student achievement," Dr. O'Shea said. "We need to improve the way we prepare teachers by examining methods introduced to medical education almost a century ago."

Before 1910, most medical schools trained physicians through lectures and classroom presentations. Educational reformer Abraham Flexner envisioned today's medical education system, grounded in clinical practice and apprenticeship. As a result of his influence, today's medical professor is affiliated with a teaching hospital, practicing medicine within that setting while also teaching. By contrast, education professors continue to teach in the classroom. Rarely do they demonstrate their own skills as K-12 teachers.

"Faculty members from CSUMB and the other two universities will be in K-12 classrooms working to ensure that the university teacher preparation programs are realistic and effective. Part of our goal is to strengthen teachers' skills before they even reach the classroom," Dr. O'Shea said. He noted that university faculty members will regularly teach in the subject areas and at the grade levels for which they prepare teachers.

Work is expected to begin in January.