Commission Elects New Chair, Adopts PPS Standards

Commission Elects New Chair, Adopts PPS Standards

SACRAMENTO – Thursday, April 11, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing unanimously elected a new chair, Tine Sloan, an associate professor of education at UC Santa Barbara. Commissioner Sloan has been a faculty member at UC Santa Barbara since 2000, where she directed the Teacher Education Program for 12 years. She served on the Commission for 11 years as the ex officio representative of the University of California system before accepting her current appointment as a higher education faculty member. Setting the tone for her first meeting, Commissioner Sloan shared that the guiding principle of her academic career has been making schools better for California’s children and her excitement at the possibilities ahead. Commissioner Sloan is replacing former Chair, Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, who was appointed by the Governor to serve as the new president of the State Board of Education.

In other news, the Commission also adopted new standards for the preparation of school counselors, psychologists, and social workers. The new standards include requirements for preparation programs and performance expectations for teacher candidates. The revisions address the complexities of today’s school, focusing on social emotional learning, addressing the needs of the whole child, and restorative justice. They also address college and career standards and align California with national standards. Commissioner Barnes, a school counselor, praised the new standards, declaring it a “monumental day.” She went on to share about the difficulties students encounter in their daily lives that distract them from their education, concluding by saying, “This is so needed, and I hope it drives change in our state.”

The Commission moved forward on a variety of other topics as well, including special education credentialing and a discussion of what preparation teachers need to teach literacy. The full agenda, and a video archive of the presentation can be found here.

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is an agency in the Executive Branch of California State Government. It was created in 1970 by the Ryan Act and is the oldest of the autonomous state standards boards in the nation. The major purpose of the agency is to serve as a state standards board for educator preparation for the public schools of California, the licensing and credentialing of professional educators in the State, the enforcement of professional practices of educators, and the discipline of credential holders in the State of California.