“Students benefit from mirrors and windows: the mirror represents the story that reflects their own culture and helps them build their own identity, and the window offers them a view into someone else’s experience. Simply stated, diversity makes us smarter.”

Read insights for why diverse representation among classroom educators matters in our Q&A with Saroja Warner, and for more information, check out the Council of Chief State School Officers' Guidance for a Diverse and Learner-Ready Teacher Workforce, written by Warner and colleague, Eric Duncan.

The New Generation of Educators Initiative (NGEI) has helped improve teacher preparation in one of the biggest teacher preparation systems in the country — the California State University (CSU) system. CSU prepares nearly 50 percent of the teachers in California and 8 percent of the teachers in the United States. Read four new reports for insights, as well as lessons learned form WestEd’s evaluation work with the California Teacher Residency Grant Program and the Kern Rural Teacher Residency.

• The NGEI Approach to Improving Teacher Preparation in the CSU Through a System of Supports
• Building Strong Partnerships to Improve Clinically Oriented Teacher Preparation
• Strengthening the Clinical Orientation of Teacher Preparation Programs
• Strengthening the Data Use and Continuous Improvement Capacity of Teacher Preparation Programs

California Teacher Residency Grant Program. WestEd is conducting a formative evaluation of the California Teacher Residency Grant Program, examining the program’s progress toward its goal of training diverse, well-prepared STEM, bilingual, and special education teachers who take jobs and are retained in high-need schools. A new report summarizes learnings from the first year.

Kern Rural Teacher Residency. The award-winning credential and master’s degree program, Kern Rural Teacher Residency (KRTR) was created to address the urgent need to prepare and increase the retention rate of qualified educators serving students from rural, low-income communities. Learn how KRTR’s dedication to continuous improvement helped to foster committed and well-prepared new teachers.

The California Analysis for Learning and Engagement (CALE) initiative serves as a knowledge hub for research, analysis, and insights into pressing California policy priorities — particularly curriculum and instructional systems and teacher workforce issues — to advance strategic policymaking capacity. Read recent findings from this multi-year initiative.

• What California Teachers Are Saying About Their Instructional Materials for English Learner Students 
• Improving California’s Data System to Better Inform Decisions 
• Expanding California Districts’ Curriculum-Focused Professional Learning
• Voices From the Field: County Office of Education Leaders Discuss COVID-19’s Impact on California Education

How to Make Historical Thinking Visible for English Learners. Social studies teachers sometimes struggle to provide their students with opportunities to develop ways of thinking, inquiring, and critically approaching ideas as historians do. Learn how you can use multimodal texts, such as historical maps and photographs, to make lessons more accessible to English learners. 

Reaching Equitable Outcomes for All Students. In science and beyond, in person and remotely, educators can cultivate learners who are guided by their curiosity and rewarded with the thrill of discovery. To make this happen for every learner, educators must focus on the research about how humans learn. Get insights from WestEd’s Making Sense of SCIENCE.