Key Projects
WestEd leads, facilitates, convenes, and collaborates across systems to support the development and retention of an effective, culturally responsive, and diverse educator workforce.
California State Educator Workforce Collaborative
(jointly funded by the Gates Foundation, the Sobrato Foundation, the Emerging Bilingual Collaborative, and the R15CC)
The California State Educator Workforce Collaborative, facilitated by WestEd, brings together leaders from state agencies in partnership with higher education institutions, including the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, State Board of Education, Student Aid Commission, Department of Education, and state and private higher education institutions. The Collaborative has facilitated dialogue across agencies and addressed the challenge of affordable, high-quality preparation for future teacher candidates. Efforts focus on improving affordability for candidates of color and candidates who will serve early childhood and multilingual learners.
Delaware Public Education Compensation Committee (PECC)
(funded by Delaware Department of Education)
The Delaware Public Education Compensation Committee (PECC) was established to review the state’s current educator compensation structure and develop recommendations for a new compensation structure for educators in Delaware.
The Committee, facilitated by WestEd, met between August 2022 and October 2023. The Delaware Department of Education will deliver a report that outlines the PECC’s recommendations, which will be included, as appropriate, in the Governor’s recommended budget for fiscal year 2025. A second phase of the work addresses the teacher career ladder, teacher leader roles, and strategies for additional compensation. Read culminating report.
Evaluation of CA’s Statewide Residency Technical Assistance Center (SRTAC)
(Center funded by CTC; evaluation subcontract with Santa Clara COE)
WestEd is serving as the lead evaluator for the newly formed Statewide Residency Technical Assistance Center (SRTAC), which is designed to provide high-quality technical assistance for residency programs across California.
As external, independent evaluators, Wested will facilitate the Center’s ability to provide technical assistance that supports educator residency programs with their promise of attenuating teacher shortages and diversifying the teaching profession.
Expanding Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Programs as an Industry Intermediary
(funded by US Department of Labor)
WestEd, in collaboration with RTI, the New America Foundation, and TeachMEducation, is supporting the US Department of Labor as an industry intermediary to launch, promote, and expand Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Programs (RTAPs) in states and districts across the country through technical assistance, research, and resource development.
If successful, RTAPs will join residencies as a ‘gold standard’ for teacher preparation while also providing a living wage to prospective teachers.
Formative Evaluation of the California Teacher Residency Grant Program
WestEd is conducting an external formative evaluation of the Teacher Residency Grant Program administered by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This brief presents five barriers to the long-term sustainability and scale of California’s Teacher Residency Grant Program (TRGP) at the Grant’s midpoint.
Modernizing Connecticut’s Educator Certification Regulations
The Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC) has supported the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) in its efforts to modernize and streamline educator certification policies. To help inform the CSDE recommendation that the State Board of Education adopt an enhanced reciprocity policy, the R2CC developed the “Teacher Certification Reciprocity Tool,” which compares certification requirements among the identified states and territories. The tool also significantly reduces the time required for CSDE analysts to approve out-of-state candidates for certification.
Teacher Leadership and a Differentiated Educator Workforce
(funded by R15CC)
Through enhanced collaboration, the Region 15 Comprehensive Center (R15CC) is working to increase access to teacher leadership opportunities and encourage schools to use a team-based teaching approach and role-based competencies that improve teacher leadership and development.
To foster teacher leadership and grow a differentiated educator workforce that meets the needs of diverse students, R15CC is supporting the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Arizona State (ASU), and select Arizona local education agencies (LEAs) through supplemental funding from the US Department of Education.
R15CC facilitates meetings with ADE and ASU to align new Teacher Leadership standards with ASU’s Next Educator Workforce initiative focused on redesigning teacher staffing to improve educator effectiveness and increase retention.