Santa Clara University

PRE-TEACHING

Director: Carol Ann Gittens

Santa Clara University is accredited by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to offer professional preparation for prospective elementary school, middle school, and senior high school teachers. The Department of Education in the School of Education and Counseling Psychology offers graduate programs for the multiple-subject credential for elementary grades and the single-subject credential for secondary grades, both with a cross-cultural language and academic development emphasis. The preliminary teaching credential can be initiated during the four-year undergraduate program through the undergraduate Accelerated Teaching Credential Program or during a fifth year of graduate study. Students interested in teaching should consider completing a minor in urban education offered through the Liberal Studies Program.

The Eastside Future Teachers Project is a program developed to attract Eastside Union High School District high school students into the teaching profession. This program was established in order to increase the number of underrepresented students who choose teaching as a career. Six students are chosen each year to join the program, which provides special mentoring, coursework, and practical experience related to teaching as well as scholarship assistance during their undergraduate and fifth-year credential programs.

Preparation for Multiple-Subject Credential

Students interested in a career in elementary school teaching should fulfill the requirements of the liberal studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Those requirements can be found in Chapter 3, College of Arts and Sciences. Students must demonstrate the subject matter competency component for the multiple-subject credential by passing the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) for Multiple Subjects. While students may sit for the examination whether or not they majored in liberal studies, both the examination and the liberal studies degree requirements are closely aligned with the state of California’s elementary curriculum framework. Therefore, Santa Clara strongly recommends that students interested in being elementary school teachers major in liberal studies. An undergraduate minor in urban education is also recommended. Students must also demonstrate basic educational skills by completing the Writing Skills exam that can be added to the CSET or by passing the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST).

Preparation for Single-Subject Credential

Students interested in a career in secondary school teaching in a particular subject matter area should fulfill the requirements of the academic major of their intended teaching specialization. California teaching credentials are available in the following subject areas: agriculture, art, business, English, health science, home economics, industrial and technology education, mathematics, modern languages, music, physical education, science, and social science. Those requirements can be found in each department in Chapter 3, College of Arts and Sciences and Chapter 4, Leavey School of Business. Students must demonstrate specific subject matter competency by passing the California Subject Matter Examination for Teachers (CSET) in the subject area they desire to teach. An undergraduate minor in urban education is also recommended. Students must also demonstrate basic educational skills by passing the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST).

Requirements for Multiple-Subject and Single-Subject Credentials

The minimum requirements for the multiple-subject or single-subject teaching credential include:

• A bachelor’s degree in a subject area from an accredited institution
• Demonstrated knowledge of the United States Constitution by completion of undergraduate coursework or passage of an approved examination
• Demonstrated basic educational skills (see sections above for specific program requirements)
• Completion of an approved program of professional education, including field experience achieved through student teaching or internship
• Completion of a state-approved subject matter preparation program or passage of the California Subject Examination for Teachers, a subject-area competency examination, in the area one plans to teach
• For multiple-subject only: Demonstrated knowledge of the various methods of teaching reading by passing the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) examination

Accelerated Teaching Credential Program

The multiple-subject or single-subject teaching credential program can be pursued at Santa Clara in conjunction with the student’s undergraduate program. Undergraduate pre-teaching students can apply to either the multiple-subject or single-subject credential program in education during the winter of their junior year. Upon acceptance, students in the accelerated credential program are eligible to begin the credential coursework during the summer between their junior and senior years. The curriculum of the undergraduate Accelerated Teaching Credential Program is identical to the curriculum of the graduate program. Undergraduates are able to take University-based credential coursework prior to the completion of the baccalaureate degree, but must complete the bachelor’s degree before initiating their field-based directed teaching. In addition to the bachelor’s degree, students must demonstrate basic educational skills via the California Basic Educational Skills Test or the CSET Writing Skills Exam (option available to multiple-subject candidates only) and demonstrate subject matter competency via the California Subject Examination for Teachers or completion of an approved subject matter preparation program before beginning the directed teaching portion of the credential. Any 200 or 300 upper-division level courses taken for the credential are not counted toward the student’s undergraduate degree unit requirement.

Selected California state credential coursework may be waived by successful completion of specific undergraduate courses:

• A course in community health education by EDUC 70
• A course in teaching children with exceptional needs in the regular classroom by EDUC 138
• A course in educational policy, social foundations of education, and applied internship by EDUC 198
• A course in the psychological foundations of education by PSYC 134
• Coursework on the provisions and principles of the United States Constitution by POLI 1 or HIST 96A

Fifth-Year Teaching Credential Program

The multiple-subject or single-subject teaching credential program can be completed as a fifth year of study following the bachelor’s degree and qualifies the student for a preliminary teaching credential. This 50-quarter-unit program includes graduate coursework in educational foundations, curriculum design, teaching methods, and supervised student teaching. A field experience internship option may be completed in lieu of a regular two-quarter student teaching assignment. The selection of teacher credential candidates for internships is conducted by the participating school districts in collaboration with the University. Students admitted to a credential program may choose the two-summer credential option to do their primary coursework in conjunction with the field experience internship option. Students interested in fulfilling the field experience requirement through the internship option should seek academic advising during the senior year to learn about course prerequisites.