11: History of Prior Experience and Effectiveness in Educator Preparation

Criterion 11: History of Prior Experience and Effectiveness in Educator Preparation

Santa Maria Bonita School district has been partnering with Santa Barbara County Office of Education and San Luis Obispo County Office of Education to provide Induction for our new teachers. Santa Barbara County Office of Education has been our partner in induction for decades. While their support was sufficient, it seemed to meet the minimum requirements while still leaving the candidates with much-needed support. In 2021 we joined the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education for Induction. We found their program much more flexible, comprehensive, and learner-focused. When we switched from Santa Barbara County to San Luis Obispo County, we continued to support our new teachers through our own onboarding system of support fully intending to seek our own accreditation for induction. The decision to seek our own accreditation was based upon the desire to continue the work we've been doing and align it with induction to provide a more cohesive program for our new teachers. SMBSDs comprehensive approach to New Teacher Support began in 2020 with the addition of a Teacher Development program within the Department of Teaching & Learning. While the county offices are the accredited institutions for Induction, in addition to Induction, SMBSD began providing multiple layers of support for new teachers, including recruiting and supporting mentors, training and supporting site instructional coaches, providing individualized professional development, providing professional resources, initial onboarding, new teacher collaboration, and bi-annual new teacher conferences. We are in our second year of this comprehensive support for new teachers and adding our own induction program will ensure alignment and eliminate duplication of services for our new teachers.

Current practices in place in SMBSD to support new teachers:

• New Teacher Academy

• New Teacher Orientation

• New Teacher Conferences

• New Teacher Meeting Schedule

Mentor Support - Your primary role is to support and develop new-to-the-profession educators while on their journey from a preliminary to a cleared credential. Through collaboration with the new teacher and the site administrator, you will support the design, review, and implementation of the ILP, guided by the Preliminary Program Induction Transition Plan (PPITP).

Mentors will assist new teachers in setting focused and attainable goals using the CSTPs, site, and district goals. Goals are documented using the Goal Setting Tool which includes a total of three professional goals for the year. Mentors will also provide “just in time” support for candidates, in accordance with the ILP, along with longer-term guidance and inquiry to promote enduring professional skills. Mentors will facilitate candidate growth and development through modeling, guided reflection on practice, and reflecting on feedback regarding classroom instruction. Mentors will connect candidates to available resources to support their professional growth and accomplishment of the ILP (Instructional and ELD coaches, conferences, professional learning opportunities, etc.). Mentors will meet with your mentee for no less than 1 hour/week to provide individualized support; document on Mentor Log.

Site Instructional Coaches - Each site in SMBSD has a highly qualified and supported instructional coach that adds another layer of support for our new teachers. The coaches engage in their own weekly professional learning in coaching and instructional strategies to ensure the learning that is passed down to our new teachers is rigorous and culturally relevant. Partnering districts will need to ensure there are varied levels of support for new teachers within their district as communicated through an MOU.

Teacher Development Pipeline - The Department of Teaching and Learning in SMBSD is dedicated to the recruitment and development of all new teachers demonstrated by our investment in our Teacher Development Pipeline. Some candidates may begin their support as early as high school where others may join us in their student teaching, continue with us through Induction and beyond. Each and every group represented on this Pipeline is supported through mentorship, aligned book studies, and focused professional learning.

Intent to Seek Initial Institutional Approval

Santa Maria-Bonita School District is seeking initial institutional approval by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This approval would allow Santa Maria-Bonita School District to sponsor educator preparation programs in California directly. Interested parties are invited to submit comments that may help to inform the Commission of substantive issues regarding this institution.

Comments should be submitted to the Commission at input@ctc.ca.gov.

Please note that comments should specify the party's relationship to the institution (i.e., graduate, present or former faculty member, employer of graduates, other - please specify).

All identifying information will remain confidential.