Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/712197
A precipitous drop in enrollment in the state's teacher preparation programs since the Great Recession, along with layoffs and budget cutbacks, means California is looking at a severe teacher shortage. CDE projects the need for schools to hire 22,000 teachers in the near future. Several bills are pending that address the shortage, among them: Senate Bill 915 (Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge) re-establishes the California Center on Teaching Careers (Cal Teach) to recruit qualified individuals into the profession. SB 933 (Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica) creates a California Teacher Corps program that provides matching grants to local school districts to create or expand residency programs. SB 62 (Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills) reinstates and improves a state program that offers student loan forgiveness to new teachers. Four Square is a first-day or first-week way to learn about your students quickly and in an entertaining way. Have them take a piece of paper, fold it into quarters, and fill out the "four F's": Friends, Favorites, Fun and Family. They can draw or paste a picture of themselves in the middle. You get a snapshot of each student's life, relationships and interests, and a chance to see their writing style. Make sure to do one yourself so they can learn about you. You have until Aug. 29, 2016, to give feedback on the 2016 Science Framework for California Public Schools. The framework includes direction for educators on how they could implement the Next Generation Science Standards. The dra framework is available for review on the California Department of Education (CDE) website at cde.ca.gov. Members of the public may send comments on the dra framework by email to scienceframework@cde.ca.gov. Comments will be presented to the Instructional Quality Commission in November for possible inclusion in the final dra. This 1975 photo, taken during a strike in the Mount Pleasant Elementary School District, shows now-retired educators Susan Meschi and Sandi Martin with their handmade picket sign in front of the CTA Mt. Hamilton office in San Jose. At the time, Mount Pleasant and nearby school districts required pregnant women to take maternity leave if they were "showing," and wouldn't allow teachers to use sick leave as part of their maternity leave. The latter changed as a result of the strike. Read the story at bit.ly/2a8TpSx and hear more about CTA's history at cta.org/oralhistory. 1 Labor History, Indeed Building the Ranks — Now Four Square Be Heard: The Science Framework 10 cta.org news & notes in the know