Stanislaus State adding 4-year teaching credential program

TURLOCK — California State University, Stanislaus, will use a $240,127 grant to add a combined bachelor’s degree and teaching credential program designed to scoot out new teachers in four years.

Traditional programs at the Turlock campus require a year’s study after college graduation. The plan is to have teacher training parallel undergraduate coursework to complete both in the time it normally takes to get a bachelor’s degree. Such programs exist at seven CSU campuses, including Fresno State.

The difference saves teachers in training an estimated $20,000 in fifth-year costs. Students in the program will also be eligible for $16,000 in state and federal grants.

Areas of particular focus will be those experiencing a shortage of teachers: special education and bilingual credentials, as well as so-called STEM specialties — science, technology, engineering and math.

Stanislaus State joins 16 other CSU campuses sharing a total grant of $5.19 million given by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

“As a statewide innovator in teacher preparation, the CSU is uniquely poised to offer these new four-year blended teacher training programs,” said Marquita Grenot-Scheyer, assistant vice chancellor of Teacher Education Program and Public School Programs. Grenot-Scheyer said the grants will enable the university to nearly triple the number of new teachers graduating annually.

CSU programs award 6,500 California teaching credentials annually. The Turlock campus has 237 graduate students enrolled in the 201617 school year for teaching credentials, and 650 undergraduates in its liberal studies program, the most common degree of teacher candidates.