The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) has approved the Teacher Education Program (TEP) at UC Santa Barbara to prepare teacher candidates for a mild/moderate special education credential. With this new credential, TEP will offer both a mild/moderate and a moderate/severe Education Specialist Credential (ESC) beginning with its 2019-2020 class.
“We are excited to offer this new credential—it is a high area of need for schools locally and statewide,” says Teacher Education Program Interim Director Andrew Fedders. “Adding the Education Specialist Credential in Mild/Moderate disabilities strengthens our Teacher Education Program overall. The credentials offered in TEP will now be covering more of the continuum of student abilities in schools than we have ever before. This will provide our teacher candidates new opportunities to work together to strive toward the success of all students.”
The ESC Program at UC Santa Barbara works to provide candidates with both the values and strategies they need to see themselves as change agents in today’s schools. TEP strives for inclusive, meaningful life outcomes for students with disabilities and that value is at the center of all the program’s decision-making.
The Education Specialist Credential (ESC) program provides future special educators the knowledge and experience to teach a wide range of diverse students with mild, moderate, and severe disabilities. The California Education Specialist Credential authorizes program graduates to teach students with autism, orthopedic impairments, cerebral palsy, developmental or intellectual disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, visual impairments, and other areas of need. The credential authorizes graduates to teach grades K–12, as well as transition programs for adults through age twenty-two. ESC Program graduates are prepared to become education interventionists who can effectively design and implement a range of special education models, such as inclusion programs and special day class programs in public schools and other settings such as, non-public schools, special schools, home/hospital settings, correctional facilities, non-public school and agencies, and resource rooms.
Both UCSB’s Teacher Education Program and its School Psychology program received full re-accreditation with notable accolades included in the official report after their 2011 California Commission on Teacher Credentialing review. TEP offers a rigorous, 13-month, post-graduate M.Ed.+Credential program (an academic year with 2 summers). It is one of the highest quality programs in the nation, with state-of-the art practice grounded in partner schools, a focus on teaching to reach ALL learners, and teacher educators with established records of success. TEP works with one cohort of teacher candidates per year and keeps the program small to ensure individualized attention for each teacher candidate (approximately 100 candidates). Course- and field-work is concurrent, which means candidates spend the entire academic year in schools, developing their practice with daily guidance, then extending their learning in afternoon/evening courses. This allows for a more streamlined, purposeful integration of university and fieldwork, which drives our faculty to collaborate across all aspects of teacher preparation. TEP strives for a community of learners where everyone – teacher candidates, teacher educators, and K-12 teachers – are working together to meet the needs of our new, our diverse, and our very different generation of learners.
In addition to the two ESC credentials, TEP offers a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential for elementary school teachers and a Single Subject Teaching Credential for junior high or high school teachers in: English, Math, Social Science, World Language (French, German, Latin, and Spanish), Science (Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, and Physics), and Industrial Technology.