Sonoma County expands program to train and credential new teachers

With state approval this month, the Sonoma County Office of Education is set to expand its credentialing program to create more elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers, special education teachers and administrators.

The credentialing program, offered through SCOE's North Coast School of Education, is an initiative that was devised in 2015 as a solution to the teacher shortage crippling school districts nationwide. It serves as an alternative path for adults who wish to get teaching credentials. The established fee is $4,250 per person, which pays for books and tuition.

“This credential expansion will allow us to grow,” said Steve Herrington, superintendent of Sonoma County schools. “With the housing costs being challenging for teachers, we're basically recruiting for current residents who in turn can meet the need of the teacher shortage here in Sonoma County.”

The “Be a Teacher” classes started in January, at a start-up cost of $100,000 paid by the county. The program first focused on training people interested in obtaining a credential to teach special education students. Now, it is expanding to offer other types of credentials, including credentials for administrators, multiple-subject teachers in elementary school and single-subject teachers in middle and high school.

The Sonoma County program has already put 25 special education teacher-interns into local classrooms. The expansion will allow the program to produce about 75 teacher-interns and 25 administrators a year.

The 25 teacher-interns are already working in classrooms across Sonoma County, including in Santa Rosa city schools, the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District, Windsor Unified School District and Cloverdale Unified School District - and there's a waiting list for future sessions.

The program has been a success, with Marin, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Davis, Yolo and Humboldt county offices interested in running satellite programs in their own counties, said Karen Ricketts, executive director of the North Coast School of Education.

The primary and secondary education credentialing programs were approved by the California Committee on Accreditation on Nov. 9, and SCOE expects those classes to begin in January 2017.

Herrington said that 120 adults are already enrolled in the January session.

The program involves 150 hours of coursework including classes held twice a week; there is a waiting list for the summer session.

Anyone interested in the program can go to ncsoe.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 707-521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.