About ACT - Accelerated Collaborative Teacher Education Program
The ACT Preparation Program was developed through the DELTA (Design for Excellence: Linking Teaching and Achievement) Collaborative, an initiative of the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project (LAAMP) and supported by a 5-year grant from the Weingart Foundation. The DELTA Collaborative represents a partnership between the Michael D. Eisner College of Education at California State University, Northridge, and Local District 2 in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The ACT Program was designed over a two-year period by a team of faculty from the College of Education at CSUN and Local District 2. The design of the ACT Program reflects research on best practices in preparing teachers through a fifth-year, post-baccalaureate program as well as needs-assessment data collected through surveys and focus group discussions with university faculty and District 2 teachers, administrators, and parents. The ACT Program is accredited by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Educators. Further, the ACT Program has been recognized by the Council of Great City Colleges of Education for its contribution to urban schooling, and the California Council on the Education of Teachers as an exemplary school-university partnership.
Preparation Program
ACT is designed as an accelerated program for teacher candidates who have completed a bachelor’s degree and are interested in a two-semester, full time credential program. The ACT Program leads to a Preliminary Multiple Subject, Single Subject, or Education Specialist (Level 1) Credential. In each semester of the program, students have experiences related to three program components: (1) a common core designed for all candidates that addresses content related to development, learning and teaching, special populations, and diversity; (2) coursework in the candidate’s specialization area; and (3) field experiences with teachers trained as coaches. Coaches provide support to teacher candidates in their field experiences under a traditional model of clinical practice.
ACT Program Principles
The ACT Program is designed around a core of principles derived from focus group meetings with university and school faculty, reviews of the literature, and discussion among members of the Collaborative. The principles continue to inform the design and implementation of the ACT Program:
- a standards-based program – ACT is organized around the six interrelated domains of the California Standards for the Teaching Profession and state and district content standards.
- a developmental approach – The scope and sequence of the content and experiences build developmentally, one upon the other.
- extensive and intensive field experiences – Teacher candidates complete a full year of fieldwork in the classrooms of exemplary teachers trained as coaches.
- preparation to teach diverse urban learners – ACT promotes sensitivity to diversity and the knowledge and skills necessary to teach in multicultural and multilingual settings.
- alignment with the school district calendar – The ACT calendar aligns with the district calendar so that teacher candidates experience a full year of school life.
- professional learning and teaching community – Through ACT, teachers, administrators, and parents in District 2, and teacher candidates and university faculty are collectively immersed in sharing knowledge, inquiry, and problem solving.
Program Components
The ACT Preparation Program is an innovative, collaborative teachers education program for Multiple Subject, Single Subject, and Special Eduation in teacher candidates. Each semester of coursework consists of three components: a common core designed for all credential candidates, specialization coursework, and field experiences.
The Common Core
The Common Core consists of two 4-unit courses. A cohort comprised of teacher candidates from elementary, secondary, and special education progress through the courses together. A team of university faculty representing expertise in educational psychology, multiculturalism and diversity in education, and special populations collaborate in planning and teaching the Common Core course with teachers from District 2, LAUSD, infusing course content that addresses the six domains of the California Standards for the Teaching Profession:
* engaging and supporting all students in learning;
* creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning;
* understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning;
* planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students;
* assessing student learning;
* developing as a professional educator.
Specialization
Building on the common core and teaching standards, specialization courses are designed for each specialization area (elementary, secondary and special education). Credential candidates from the general core attend the appropriate specialization courses. Faculty teaching a specialization course may also teach in the common core or supervise credential candidates in their field experiences, facilitating articulation and coordination across common core, specialization courses, and field work.
Fieldwork
Fieldwork is an integral part of the ACT Preparation Program and is designed to provide extensive experiences across grade levels and increase in intensity with each semester. Credential candidates are assigned to teachers who have been selected and trained as coaches. Coaches and faculty cadres plan fieldwork, collaboratively teach seminars, and meet monthly to discuss credential candidate progress, program goals and activities.
In semester one (fall), credential candidates are assigned to a coach to observe, participate and begin to assume responsibility for planning, teaching and evaluating the curriculum. In addition, the first semester field experience includes a community tour. In the second semester, credential candidates gradually assume greater responsibility for the classroom. It is expected that by the end of the spring semester of student teaching, the candidate will demonstrate the competencies required of a beginning teacher as reflected in the CSTP and associated Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs). Fieldwork hours vary according to specialization requirements.