BY Laurie McLaughlin
August 18, 2005

Two of the common reasons teachers leave the classroom in search of a different career is a sense of isolation and lack of feedback. To combat these and other flee factors, Cal State Fullerton has had a long-running partnership with Fullerton and La Habra City school districts to work with teachers during their first two years in the classroom and increase retention within the profession.

The partnership, the North Orange County Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (NOC BTSA), was established 13 years ago, and according to Ruth Yopp-Edwards, project director and professor of elementary and bilingual education, ìhas been around long enough that some current school principals began as first-year teacher participants and have now moved up through the ranks.î

ìBTSA has been funded since 1992, and each year, we write a program improvement plan and seek new funding for the following year,î says Andrea Guillaume, program associate and professor of elementary and bilingual education. The most recent grant award was $78,404 from the two school districts.

Last year, the NOC BTSA won state approval as an induction program, a sequence that beginning teachers must complete in order to receive a credential, says Yopp-Edwards. ìCurrently, there are 107 first- and second-year teachers participating in the program.î

One of fewer than 20 original BTSA programs established in the early 1990s, the North Orange County-Cal State Fullerton partnership provides dual benefits: beginning teachers receive support from paid, trained and experienced teachers in the classroom, and university professors who work with these student-teachers more fully appreciate the issues confronting Californiaís teaching force, notes Yopp-Edwards.

In 2004, both Yopp-Edwards and Guillaume each received leadership awards from California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the California Department of Education ó the only faculty in the state to receive the honor ó for a decade of service to the BTSA community, and theyíve witnessed first-hand the challenges education continues to face.

ìWeíre proud to have been able to maintain a quality program despite turbulent times for education in California,î says Yopp-Edwards. ìWeíve seen the BTSA program through periods when many teachers were threatened with losing their jobs and through a time of increasing accountability for student achievement.î

ìThere were some years when the districts didnít anticipate hiring a single general-education teacher,î adds Guillaume. ìThe climate has changed from one of trusting teachers as professionals to holding them accountable for student performance, largely through standardized testing.î

ìWe are one of the few colleges or universities that maintains such a direct and active role in a BTSA program,î Yopp-Edwards says. ìIt serves as another example of our close community outreach and our emphasis on involvement in all phases of teacher education.î

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