urban teacher fellowship

Recruiting for summer cohorts for 2013

Are you passionate about teaching? Want to make a difference in the lives of young people? Sign up for the Urban Teacher Fellowship Summer program.

View our information flyer for more details

The Urban Teacher Fellowship is a career pathway into credentialed teaching that includes part-time employment in after school programs.

Piloted in 2008 as collaboration between the South Bay Center for Counseling, LA Harbor College, CSU Dominguez Hills, and after school providers, the Urban Teacher Fellowship (UTF) is now in place at six community colleges and four CSU’s in Los Angeles County as well as several sites throughout the state including San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.

UTF is designed to address: barriers to teaching careers faced by low-income, at-risk youth, including high turnover rates in after school program staffing, a projected shortage of credentialed teachers in CA over next five to 10 years.

There is a critical need for more diverse teachers California's schools. From the 2008 pilot cohort of 60 students at LA Harbor College:

90 percent have been retained in post-secondary education

65 percent have secured employment in after school programs or other youth settings

52 percent of the original pilot cohort transferred to CSU Dominguez Hills on a teacher preparation track as juniors

100 percent of students at CSUDH are currently retained

65 percent have secured employment in after school programs or other youth settings

100 percent of teaching-track participants at CSUDH are committed to teaching in low-income communities

UTF was piloted with generous support from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, the California Community College Chancellor's Office Career Academies, the office of County Supervisor Don Knabe, and the Governor's Gang Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention (CalGRIP) program.

Program Design

The Urban Teacher Fellowship offers a roadmap to students with a passion for becoming a teacher. Students are selected for the program based on a competitive, multi-step process including an application, personal statement, academic assessment, and interview. While the students are assessed for their academic skills, the main selection factor is their intrinsic motivation for becoming a teacher.

The program supports the students in attaining their Associate’s degree at Southwest and then transferring to California State University, Los Angeles where students complete their bachelor’s degree and single- or multi-subject teaching credential. Students take all of their classes together as a cohort at the community college and into their first college semester. Students are provided support services, including tutoring, transportation, child care, and job placement assistance.

Course Work

Fall (1^st year)	First 8 week session	Second 8 week session
	Health 11	Geology 1
	Speech 101
	English 28
	PD 17
Winter	Child Development 1
Spring	First 8 week session	Second 8 week session
	Art 103	Anthro 102
	Spanish 1
	Math 115
	English 101
Summer	Sociology 1
Fall (2^nd year)	First 8 week session	Second 8 week session
	English 102
	Math 125
	Biology 3
	Art 101
Winter 2013	History 11
Spring 2013	First 8 week session	Second 8 week session
	English 103
	Math 215
	Elective (3 unit)	Elective (4 unit)
	Poli Sci 1	Poli Sci 1 (cont.)
	PE	PE

Course Number	Course Name	Units	AA in Liberal Studies	Plan A	CSU Cert
Art 103	Art Appreciation I	3	LS*	C	C1
Biology 3	Introduction to Biology (with lab)	4	LS		B2
Geology 1	Physical Geology	3		A	B1
Engl 21	English Fundamentals			X	X
Engl 28	Intermediate Reading and Composition			X	X
Engl 101	College Reading and Composition I	3		D1	A2
Engl 102	College Reading and Composition II	3	LS		A3
Health 11	Principles of Healthy Living	3		E	E
English 103	Composition and Critical Thinking	3	LS	D2
Sociology 1	Introduction to Sociology	3		B3	D0
History 11	Political and Social History of the United States	3		B1	F1
Child Dev. 1	Child Growth and Development	3	LS*		D7
Math 115	Elementary Algebra			X	X
Math 125	Intermediate Algebra			X	X
Math 215	Principles of Mathematics	3	LS		B4
Speech 101	Oral Communication	3		D2	A1
Spanish 1	Elementary Spanish	5			C2
Art 101	Survey of Art History	3			C1
PolSci 1	The Government of the United States	3	LS		F2
PE	Physical Education	1		E2
Anthro 102	Human Ways of Life: Cultural Anthropology	3		B2	D1
PD 17	COLLEGE SURVIVAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT	1
Elective	Elective of the students choice	3
Elective	Either one 4 unit course or a 3 unit course along with a 1 unit.	4
	TOTAL UNITS:	60

LS* = Double counted for both AA and Plan A