Integrating theory and practice, CREDE forms partnerships with schools, districts and other universities to apply the Five Standards in ways that can be effectively measured and assessed.
Integrating Science and Diversity Education (2006 – 2010)
The Integrating Science and Diversity Education: A Model of Pre-Service Elementary Teacher Preparation project is funded by USDOE IES Teacher Quality Mathematics and Science Research Grants Program. The three year project involves collaboration between researchers and teacher education faculty from San Francisco State University, California State University – Stanislaus, UC – Santa Cruz, and UC – Berkeley. The research and development group are working together to develop and test a pre-service elementary teaching methods course and field practicum designed to prepare novice elementary school teachers to teach science to culturally and linguistically diverse students and demonstrate the model’s potential to improve student achievement.
The purpose of the project is to integrate the CREDE Five Standards for Effective Pedagogy (CFSEP) into the CSU Stanislaus pre-service teacher education program and prepare pre-service teachers to use the CFSEP in science teaching.
This intervention will allow CREDE researchers to conduct an experimental study that: (1) compares the teaching practices of a random sample of pre-service teachers in the experimental CREDE Five Standards teacher education program with the teaching practices of a random sample of teachers in a traditional teacher education program; and (2) examine the relationship between the degree of the novice teachers’ implementation of the CFSEP and the achievement of students in the beginning teachers’ classrooms.
Teacher Quality Enhancement (2005 – 2010)
The Teacher Quality Enhancement Project is funded by USDOE Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program. The five-year project involves collaboration between researchers at University of California, Berkeley, teacher education faculty from California State University, Stanislaus and School Districts in Modesto, Riverbank and Stockton, California.
The purpose of the project is to systematically recruit, prepare and retain new teachers for high-need schools. For every stage of teacher preparation and induction, the project’s coherent, multi-layered model of teacher education will model, teach, and support a culturally responsive pedagogy with strong evidence for increasing the academic achievement of at-risk students. In prerequisite undergraduate courses and core courses in the post-baccalaureate credential program, to the clinical setting of student teaching through the first two years of induction, the program intends to shape new teachers’ development and make them more effective in narrowing the achievement gap of the districts’ diverse student population.
Research on Effective Pedagogy and School Reform (1996-2005)
CREDE funded 31 research projects around the country between 1996 and 2001. Researchers in these projects gathered data and tested curriculum models in wide-ranging settings and with diverse student populations–from classrooms with predominantly Zuni-speaking students in New Mexico to inner city schools in Florida to California elementary schools with large populations of native Spanish-speaking students.
During 2001-2003, seven synthesis teams extracted the key findings and practices from the field, including work done by CREDE’s two predecessors – the National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning (NCRCDSLL) and the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP). Comprised of the nation’s leading experts, practitioners, and policymakers in education, each team focused on a specific theme and produced an array of materials to bring state-of the-art knowledge on diversity education into America’s classrooms.
The synthesis teams also produced authoritative reports on the nation’s current state of knowledge about effective school reform for all students. The reports are based on the research findings of CREDE and were completed in spring 2004. The teams also recommended the next national research agenda. The teams focused on these seven areas:
- Language Learning and Academic Achievement
- Professional Development for Diversity
- Preservice Teacher Education for Diversity
- Schools, Families and Community
- Mathematics and Diversity
- Science and Diversity
- Teacher-School-Systemic Integration for Effective Reform