Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and Education Partners:

Teacher Recruitment Summit and Statewide Recruitment Coalition Launch

Please join me for a Teacher Recruitment Summit on August 14, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Summit will take place at the California Department of Education (CDE), 1430 N Street, State Board Room 1101, Sacramento, CA 95814.

The Teacher Recruitment Summit is open to individuals from all organizations focused on work in this area and includes teacher credentialing programs, school districts and county offices of education, pipeline programs, and AmeriCorps programs. This event will formally launch a coalition to engage in direct recruitment of teacher candidates on a statewide basis.

Summit attendees will hear from Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the California State Board of Education; Dr. Mary Vixie Sandy, Executive Director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; and Dr. Travis Bristol, Associate Professor of Teacher Education and Education Policy at the Berkeley School of Education.

Addressing the educator shortage is one of the most important things we can do to support student achievement. We must increase compensation, prioritize training, improve working conditions, and pursue all strategies that can help our schools add staff to help our students thrive. The Summit and launch of the new coalition will help us maximize every idea and opportunity to reduce the teacher shortage.

Participants in the Summit will break out into groups to brainstorm specific strategies to support teacher recruitment and make recommendations. Group breakout discussions may include:

• Developing strategies to help retired teachers return to schools as short-term substitutes
• Identifying strategies to recruit teacher candidates from other states, including military spouses with teaching backgrounds
• Establishing and strengthening “grow your own” programs
• Identifying ways to help classified and Expanded Learning staff get on the path to becoming credentialed teachers

If you have any questions, please email TeachInCA@cde.ca.gov.

More information on my statewide teacher recruitment efforts is available on the CDE Year 2023 News Releases web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr23/yr23rel57.asp.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction