Team lead Cynthia Grutzik, San Francisco State University, and William Hatrick of the Commision on Teacher Credentialing present the summary report from the CTC site visit
The seven-person state-level team from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), upon concluding its recent site visit to UC Santa Barbara, has unanimously recommended to accredit all credential areas at the Gevirtz School. Their findings await final approval from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing in late February.
That means the Gevirtz School will receive a seven-year re-accreditation for the Teacher Education Program’s Education Specialist: Mild/Moderate and Moderate/Severe Disabilities credentials, its Multiple and Single Subject credentials, and the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology’s pupil personnel services (PPS) credential in school psychology.
“The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UCSB is a community of educators deeply committed to preparing education leaders for the region,” the site visit team wrote in its summary report. “The impact of the programs is clear, as candidates feel well prepared by their faculty and programs, and the majority of them are hired by local districts. Graduates of the PPS credential and doctoral program go on to be professors at universities across the country….The GGSE embodies a clear vision for serving the local community and supporting candidates in each of the credential programs.”
Accreditation is based on a thorough review of institutional and programmatic information and site visit interviews with administrators, faculty, candidates, graduates, and local school personnel.
“We are a very committed group of educators in Santa Barbara, uniquely situated to collaborate as a result of our small geographic area,” Andrew Fedders, Interim Director of the TEP says. “It was extremely satisfying to have the commitment of our K-12 and university faculty validated by such a strong report. We know we do good work. It is very important that the field know as well, because not only is our goal to prepare excellent teachers, but to research and promote practices that will change how teachers are prepared in general. Our program does serve as a model for excellence in teacher preparation, and now we have further validation for promoting it as such.”
“The accreditation cycle is critical, rigorous, and time-consuming,” says Jill Sharkey, School Psychology Program Coordinator. “I am proud that our program excellence shone through to the accreditation team—they specifically mentioned the collegiality of faculty, students, and community partners; the strength of our candidates; and the contributions of our alumni in impressive positions upon graduating.”
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is an agency in the Executive Branch of California State Government. It was created in 1970 by the Ryan Act and is the oldest of the autonomous state standards boards in the nation. The major purpose of the agency is to serve as a state standards board for educator preparation for the public schools of California, the licensing and credentialing of professional educators in the State, the enforcement of professional practices of educators, and the discipline of credential holders in the State of California.