Mission Statement 
The comprehensive mission of the School of Teacher Education is embedded in the name of the department. We are committed to helping lead the nation in all aspects of teacher education from novice to expert as instructional and curricular leaders, change agents, social justice advocates, and builders of compassionate communities through cutting-edge knowledge, distinguished scholarship, and exemplary practice.
The School of Teacher Education is particularly committed to serving Southern California's and the nation's increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse student population. In keeping with this mission, the School of Teacher Education is working to realize the following goals through excellence and distinction in teaching, research, and service.
Goals:
1) Develop multiple pipelines for recruiting and preparing
teachers for culturally and linguistically diverse K-12
schools.
2) Increase the recruitment and enrollment of students of
color to better reflect the racial, ethnic, and linguistic composition
of the student population in public schools.
3) Increase the recruitment and enrollment of the pool of candidates to promote gender equity in the teaching force in K-12 schools.
4) Provide a continuum of teacher education committed to social justice, caring, and educational equity from undergraduate to fifth-year credential programs, to master's programs, and to doctoral programs.
5) Prepare teachers to develop and promote student achievement in all areas of the curriculum, including reading, language arts, English, mathematics, science, social studies, foreign languages, technology, physical education, music, drama, and art.
6) Prepare teachers to support students' intellectual developmental and emotional needs.
7) Prepare teachers to address cultural and linguistic diversity and issues of class and gender.
8) Maintain, further develop, and expand multicultural curriculum and scholarship
9) Maintain, further develop, and expand connections, partnerships, and alliances with schools and school districts.(Approved September 17, 2001)
School of Teacher Education Purpose and Basic Tenets
The purpose of the School of Teacher Education is to provide systemic professional development for teachers throughout their careers, so that they may provide quality education for the diverse student population of California. This systemic professional development focuses on three points in teachers' careers: (1) undergraduate level, (2) credential level, and (3) graduate level, and is driven by the following Tenets of the School of Teacher Education:
We believe that:
- Theory/Practice STE students learn best in environments that enable them to actively transform theory to practice.
- Leadership STE should have an active role in formulating and impacting educational policies and practices at local, state, and federal levels.
- Cultural STE should develop culturally relevant educators who will impact educational decision-making and help transform public schools.
- Research STE faculty should be major contributors to the research/theory that informs, directly or indirectly, effective classroom and educational practices.
- Technology STE faculty should integrate appropriate technology in the teaching/learning process for the purpose or enhancing learning or refining praxis.
- Collaboration Education is a collaborative process; therefore, the STE will place an emphasis of field-based programs and professional development schools.
- Community STE faculty and students as a community of learners should have experiences that bring about constant instructional renewal.