$5.8 million grant will fund CSUMB teacher training program

By Mark Muckenfuss

A new $5.8 million five-year grant will help boost Cal State Monterey Bay’s program that provides residencies for students working simultaneously on their teaching credentials and master’s degrees in education. 

The Department of Education grant will allow an existing five-year grant that is sunsetting to continue and expand, said Erin Ramirez, an associate professor of education and the secondary education program coordinator. Ramirez and was the primary author of the grant application, which project coordinator Sophia Vicuna also worked on. Ramirez said the new grant is $1 million more than the previous one and will allow the program to produce 94 highly qualified instructors for local TK-12 schools. The program is also geared toward underrepresented populations.

President Vanya Quiñones said the program is one more way in which CSUMB is impacting the region.

“There are many ways in which CSUMB is making a difference in Monterey County and beyond,” Quiñones said. “But few are more important than improving the level of education in our schools. By providing well-trained teachers for local classrooms, we are helping to build a stronger generation that will benefit from opportunities for upward mobility. In the long run, it’s programs such as this that will enhance the quality of life for everyone, and I am proud of our faculty and staff for adding to the strength of us.”

“The real focus is to bring more teachers of color into the field,” Ramirez said. “Our big push is to train more bilingual and Black educators so students can see themselves in their teachers, which research has shown leads to higher student achievement,” 

Students in the 18-month-long Residents Offering Outstanding Teaching for Students program receive a $40,000 stipend for the first year while doing their student teaching and earning their credentials. The last six months are spent finishing their master’s degrees while working as first-year teachers in the classroom. The ROOTS grant will provide over $3.7 million dollars in residency scholarships over the five-year period. 

“One of the biggest pieces we’ve worked on is tightly aligning what residents are doing in the classroom with what they’re working on for their credentials,” Ramirez said. “Instead of just learning about theory, examining their own teaching curriculum in relation to CSUMB coursework and learning by doing. During their master’s program, residents design a quantitative research study they can conduct in their own classrooms.” 

Graduates of the program agree to teach for three years in one of three partner school districts in the Salinas Valley. That commitment is often an easy one, Ramirez said, since many students in the program come from those very schools.

“This is a grow-your-own program,” she said. “Students want to give back to their communities.”

Karen Myers-Bowman, dean of the College of Education, said the program helps meet part of CSUMB’s role in impacting the region.

“I fully support the ROOTS project,” Myers-Bowman said. “I believe it will serve a great need for the TK-12 underserved students throughout Monterey County.

“I am certain the successes achieved in recruitment, completion and retention from the previous DOE grant will provide the foundation for successful future efforts supported by this new project,” she added.

Ramirez said so far the current program has achieved a 100% retention rate, which she attributes to a robust multi-layered system of support, including one-on-one mentoring.

She said she is thrilled to be able to continue and expand the existing program and sees the funding as an affirmation of its success.

“At CSUMB,” she said, “We’re small but mighty.”