The Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved revised California Standards for the Teaching Profession that provide educators with a set of knowledge, skills, and abilities intended to equitably benefit the academic achievement and well-being of all students.

The updated teaching standards, adopted during the February 2024 Commission meeting, were developed in partnership with the California Department of Education and the Region 15 Comprehensive Center, alongside a diverse and expert work group of education practitioners across the state.

The standards guide each teacher’s pathway forward, from their educator preparation program to their mandatory two-year, job-embedded induction program, and then as a roadmap over the trajectory of their careers.

“The new California Standards for the Teaching Profession include evidence-based best practices to ensure inclusive learning experiences and create equitable outcomes for every student,” said Mary Vixie Sandy, executive director, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

“This means that the standards attend to the social, emotional, physical, cognitive, linguistic and academic needs of learners, and lay the groundwork for next steps in continuously improving teaching for the next generation of Californians.” The standards are organized within the following six domains that embed California’s vision for teaching in an effective, equitable learning system:

  • Engaging and supporting all students in learning
  • Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning
  • Understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning
  • Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students
  • Assessing students for learning
  • Developing as a professional educator

The updated standards also highlight enhanced family and community engagement practices, with an emphasis on two-way communication to develop positive and reciprocal family and community connections.

Also included are indicators for teaching performance in relation to digital citizenship, restorative justice, a growth mindset, and the implementation of a continuous growth model.

“The revised standards take aim to rehumanize our system by focusing on the whole student, their identity, and what’s meaningful in this world to them, not us. They have the potential to transform all of our classrooms into culturally and linguistically responsive and sustaining communities,” said Leigh Dela Victoria, an instructional coach in the Fontana Unified School District.

The California Standards for the Teaching Profession were originally developed and adopted in the 1990s and were updated most recently in 2009 as required by state law. The new standards are scheduled to go into effect during the 2025-26 academic year.

Updated April 09, 2024