This website is maintained by CSU’s systemwide Department of Educator Preparation and Public School Programs and is designed to help campuses recruit and prepare teachers to work in diverse classrooms.
About Us
Our Focus on Activating & Recruiting Future Teachers
The CSU is committed to eliminating the state's teacher shortage This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. so that all public school students have access to well-prepared teachers. We are also committed to narrowing the diversity gap This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. between the state's public school teachers and students. As of 2016-17, students of color outnumbered teachers of color by 42 percentage points. What is encouraging is that also in 2016-17, 65% of the candidates in CSU's teacher credential programs were people of color. If the upward trend continues, the proportion of people of color graduating from CSU's credential programs will soon match that of the students of color in California public schools. This will help significantly to close the diversity gap since CSU educator preparation programs credential over half of the new teachers in California!
The California Department of Education This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. reports that of the state's 6.2 million K-12 students,
- 61% are underrepresented students of color
- 20% are English Learners
- 72 languages are spoken in students' homes
Teachers must be prepared not only to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students, but also to recognize, appreciate, and support the full range of human diversity among the students they serve. For example,
- 1 in 8 California students (12.5%) is identified as having special education needs, according to the California Department of Education This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
- 1 in 5 California students (22.8%) lives in poverty, according to kidsdata.org This link will take you to an external website in a new tab.
- 1 in 10 California students (10.3%) in middle and high schools identify as LGBTQ, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law This link will open a PDF file from an external website in a new tab..
We are pleased to provide a platform where faculty and teacher candidates can share and access resources that they have found useful in preparing teachers to meet these challenges and opportunities.