John Galisky and Ethan Sullivan, alumni of the Teacher Education Program at UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, are two members of the committee to develop California’s Next Generation Science Standards. The two teachers are members of the Science Expert Panel and charged to to recommend new Science Content Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve based upon the nationally developed Next Generation Science Standards. The national the framework provides a research-grounded basis for improving science teaching and learning across the country. It is intended to guide standards developers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, professionals responsible for science teacher education, and science educators working in informal settings.

John Galisky (M.Ed., ’95, Single Subject Teaching Credential, ’94) teaches Advanced Physics, Robotics, and Space Science among other subjects at Lompoc Unified School District. Ethan Sullivan (Single Subject Teaching Credential, ’09) teaches science at the Granada Hills Charter High School.

Ethan Sullivan says, “I am very grateful for every aspect of my TEP experience and I thought it was amazing that on a panel with only a few high school teachers two of them came from the same program.”

TEP offers a rigorous, 13-month, post-graduate M.Ed.+Credential program (an academic year with 2 summers). It is one of the highest quality programs in the nation, with state-of-the art practice grounded in partner schools, a focus on teaching to reach ALL learners, and teacher educators with established records of success. TEP works with one cohort of teacher candidates per year and keeps the program small to ensure individualized attention for each teacher candidate (approximately 100 candidates). Course- and field-work is concurrent, which means candidates spend the entire academic year in schools, developing their practice with daily guidance, then extending their learning in afternoon/evening courses. This allows for a more streamlined, purposeful integration of university and fieldwork, which drives our faculty to collaborate across all aspects of teacher preparation. TEP strives for a community of learners where everyone – teacher candidates, teacher educators, and K-12 teachers – are working together to meet the needs of our new, our diverse, and our very different generation of learners.

TEP offers a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential for elementary school teachers; a Single Subject Teaching Credential for junior high or high school teachers in: English, Math, Social Science, World Language (French, German, Latin, and Spanish), and Science (Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics); and, an Education Specialist Moderate/Severe Teaching Credential for special education teachers.