Teacher Apprenticeships: Growing California’s Educator Workforce

Across California, districts are facing chronic teacher shortages, particularly in high-need certification areas and rural geographies. To meet hiring needs and ensure all students have access to well-prepared, fully certified educators, California is reimagining teacher preparation through Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) in teaching.

A RAP in teaching is an innovative strategy to “grow your own” teachers from within the local community. By combining paid school-based on-the-job training with teacher preparation coursework, RAPs create accessible, practice-driven pathways into teaching. This model helps remove the financial and logistical barriers of obtaining a degree and enrolling in educator preparation programs, opening doors for local talent like paraprofessionals, classified staff, and even high school graduates who are already deeply embedded in their schools and communities.

In January 2023, the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency launched a multi-stakeholder initiative to develop a roadmap for implementing and scaling RAPs across the state. The California approach centers on a shared vision for layering the registered apprenticeship model onto existing high-quality teacher preparation pathways, such as teacher residency programs. Developing a PK-12 certificated teacher RAP requires deep collaboration among county offices of education, school districts, educator preparation programs, and local labor unions. The California Division of Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) serves as the technical authority throughout the design process, ensuring all programs meet rigorous state standards and credentialing requirements. Through a joint approval process, the CTC ensures that the RSI provider in a RAP in teaching is a Commission-approved educator preparation program authorized to provide the coursework and clinical practice preparation for the specific credential area.

To support districts, educator preparation programs, and labor partners interested in building their own PK-12 certificated teacher apprenticeship programs, we have provided a suite of actionable resources. These early efforts to strengthen how California recruits and prepares educators are supported in collaboration with Education First.

The following resources, developed by Education First, are designed to support consistent, high-quality implementation:

• Earning by Learning Toolkit: A comprehensive guide that provides a blueprint for designing, launching, and sustaining a high-quality registered PK-12 certificated teacher apprenticeship program. It outlines a step-by-step design process and provides program quality recommendations for on-the-job training, competency-based coursework, progressive wage structures, and deep stakeholder partnerships.
• Earning by Learning Toolkit Addenda (Fall 2025): A companion resource that provides updated and supplemental guidance as policies, funding, and implementation practices evolve. The Addenda includes updated FAQs; clarifications related to sponsorship, wages, RSI, and tuition; an overview of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards registration process; updated agency contacts; and an overview of current state funding sources.
• Growing California’s Own: How Two Communities Are Reimagining Teacher Preparation Through Apprenticeship: Learn directly from early adopters like the Santa Clara and Tulare County Offices of Education, who designed California’s first PK-12 certificated teacher RAPs. Read about their collaborative design process, strategies for creating stackable pathways with multiple entry points, methods for blending and braiding funding, and the key lessons they learned along the way.

Through the Center for Educator Workforce Development’s Program Incubator: Testing and Scaling What Works, a primary area of focus is sharing new ideas, like RAPs in teaching. As teacher apprenticeships develop and spread, the Program Incubator will provide tools for local implementation, best practices from pilot sites, and connect aspiring programs to support from state partners.

For technical assistance in developing RAPs in teaching, we encourage you to reach out to the Earning by Learning Registered Apprenticeship Network (EARN), a statewide teacher apprenticeship intermediary led by the Santa Clara County Office of Education in partnership with the Tulare County Office of Education. EARN supports local education agencies, institutions of higher education, labor partners, and community organizations as they develop and implement RAPs in PK-12 teaching.