Cal
State Long Beach plans to increase
teachers, education
By Joseph Serna
Online Forty-Niner
Assistant City Editor
While reading this sentence should not be a problem, counting the words in it
might be.
This is why the California State University system has initiated a plan to double
the math and science teachers graduating from the CSUs by year 2010 to try and
reinvigorate future students with the fundamentals of a basic education.
“ The pipeline [of teachers] has sort of been drying up,” Marquita
Grenot-Scheyer, associate dean of graduate studies and research, said. “We
have to make teaching attractive for folks.”
She admitted graduates should not go into teaching for lucrative paychecks, but
those that choose the profession often do for the “mom and apple pie reason,” feeling
they have a responsibility and investment in society.
The Math and Science Teacher Initiative program is to provide a “supportive
and transparent pathway” for students in an educational career path to
take the necessary courses at the right time, Grenot-Scheyer said.
Instead of having to guess from semester to semester about which requisites must
be met and which classes are transferable, through MSTI, students will be able
to have long-term plans to graduate, she said.
“ I think people don’t really know what teachers do…if you
really don’t have children yourself,” Grenot-Scheyer said.
Understanding the responsibilities of an educator is an idea Cal State Long Beach
hopes to address to make the profession more attractive.
Though the system-wide goal is to double the math and science teachers in the
next four years, CSULB has a smaller goal of a 50 percent increase in five years.
“ It’s probably not as ambitious as the other universities,” Grenot-Scheyer
said.
“ We want to do a good job with the students we have.”
Another group of student educators have also found themselves unable to fill
needed positions in special education.
Grenot-Scheyer thinks the required extra credential mixed with a lack of on-the-job
learning opportunities have coalesced to make special education teaching an intimidating
pathway.
Additionally, with the shortages of teachers, CSULB graduates entering the teaching
profession will find many jobs available, Dan O’Connor, department chair
of Liberal Studies, said.
He also said that teaching goes through cycles and has its ups and down because
of shifting demographics, but graduates should be able to find teaching jobs
in the future.
“ Teaching is a noble profession,” he said. “There will always
be jobs.”
“We continue to have our work cut out for us,” she said.
However, with programs such as MSTI and collaborative efforts with the math and
science departments on campus, she expressed optimism that CSULB will be able
to meet its goal to have more math and science teachers for future students.
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