Message from the Dean

Responding to the Governor's education initiatives, the Graduate School of Education plans to open and expand innovative programs for new teachers and administrators as early as summer 2000. The School is proud that we are one of two campuses in the state called upon by the legislature in Sacramento to be flagships for these new ventures in California education. Berkeley faculty and staff have been busy all summer planning how to produce cadres of well-prepared teachers and principals able to succeed in urban schools.

Teacher-Scholars Program. The GSE will expand its rigorous two-year master's degree and teacher credential programs to prepare more teachers who can raise student academic achievement in urban schools. New pilot programs will also be added that may be compressed to 15 months to meet school district and teacher needs. Within five years, an additional 100 more teachers should graduate from our School each year. These students will be expected to commit to teach for four years in urban schools. To recognize their commitment, they will be designated Teacher Scholars. The GSE plans to raise funds to be able to offer each of them awards to offset their university fees while attending Berkeley.

Principals Institute. The GSE is planning a state-of-the-art educational leadership program in a joint venture by UC Berkeley and the California State Universities in San Jose, Hayward, and San Francisco. The first program to be introduced by this partnership will be the Principals Institute, which is intended to begin summer 2000. We are designing a multi-disciplinary curriculum specifically to prepare principals to address the challenge to reform urban schools. At least 100 school leaders will be enrolled at Berkeley alone each year. Participants in the Principals Institute will be awarded scholarship funds to cover at least their fees in return for a four-year commitment to lead urban schools and districts.

REPLICATE. The School is excited about a new program we are set to launch to help alleviate the acute shortage of science teachers. The program is called REPLICATE, a teacher education partnership between the Graduate School of Education, the San Francisco Unified School District, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This model internship credential program, beginning in summer 2000, is sponsored by the Stuart Foundation. Participants in REPLICATE will also be designated as Teacher-Scholars.

The new focus will revive our professional development activities in the School. We will be looking to our alumni and friends to take part in this ambitous project. Discretionary gifts to the GSE Scholarship Fund will be used to provide fellowships that attract and support the dedicated students who will take part in these challenging assignments.

Eugene E. Garcia