OC Teacher Pathway: Cultivating Future Teachers!

OC STEM helps all future teachers:

  • Get their start (online),
  • Transfer to university with a credential program in mind, and
  • Guidance to complete the 45 hours of observation needed for a credential program.

OC STEM works closely with informal educators and OC students to connect them to an education career path.  This may include supplemental authorizations in math and science.

Why now?

Shortages and Layoffs:

  • USA Today poll conducted the end of May 2020, one in five teachers said they are unlikely to return if schools open in the fall, including one in four teachers over the age of 55.
  • According to the Economic Policy Institute, more K-12 public education jobs were lost this past April than in all of the Great Recession.
  • Credentialed enrollments were already much lower than needed in shortage fields; which bodes poorly for addressing those critically needed positions with fully trained candidates.

Teacher Prep-STEM

Provide prospective teachers with STEM focused professional learning and on the job experience as an informal educator that will test the affinity for teaching as a career. Provide lean guided pathways with near peer examples from OC to neighboring teacher preparation universities such as CSUCI and CLU. Build sustained collaboration with feeder districts to identify informal educators in the after-school programs into a STEM teacher preparation path and current K-8 credentialed educators to earn STEM supplementary authorizations.

Aim of the Effort:

1. Address the STEM teacher shortage by cultivating homegrown teachers.

2. Increase transfer of OC STEM prepared students to four-year institutions with teacher preparation program.

Future Teachers Club

The purpose of the Future Teachers Club is to learn about teachers, what they do, and how to become a teacher. In addition, resources will be shared in relation to learning about internships, laws, and policies regarding teaching and counseling in the K-.12 environment. To learn more about the Oxnard College Future Teachers Club, please visit the OC STEM Club Alliance webpage.