Growing Our Academic Opportunities

Our new MA in Emancipatory School Leadership program is designed for emerging K-12 school leaders who wish to engage with emancipatory leadership practices to improve educational opportunities for historically marginalized students. We admitted our first cohort of students to this 1-year program in Summer 2020; those students persisted and persevered through the program during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now ready to become transformative school and community leaders.

“This program has really prepared me to be more confident in taking on a leadership role,” said recent graduate Abby Almerido. “Being in this program during a pandemic has really taught me to push back against the status quo of following a path because that is what has been laid out. We’ve had to do things differently during the pandemic and I think that sentiment has followed through in my learning.”

Learn more about our Emancipatory School Leadership program at sjsu.edu/edleadership/academics/emancipatory-leadership. Our new Impact Fellowship program supports and develops educators who are driven by their passions for social justice, educational equity, and postively impacting their communities. We selected our first cohort of fellows in Summer 2020 and supported them throughout the academic year with significant scholarship funding, priority for teacher residency placements, regular and ongoing mentorship, and membership to a professional learning community.

“I’ve really wanted to focus on how my teaching can be more justice-centered, and this program has given me a space that is physically and emotionally safe to explore these ideas more,” said Impact Fellow Eden Conghuyen. “The fellowship has also connected me with a community where we can discuss how important justice-centered teaching is.”

Learn more about Eden and our Impact Fellowship program at sjsu.edu/education/fellows.

GROWING OUR ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES

Our new Ethnic Studies Residency Program is a collaboration between San José State University, East Side Union High School District and Overfelt High School. In this program, credential candidates gain expereince teaching alongside current Ethnic Studies teachers while receiving ongoing professional development and scholarship funding.

“My dream is to be the educator that my students need me to be,” said recent Ethnic Studies Resident Julia Duggs. “My goal as an educator is to work, heal, and rest into collective liberation. The Ethnic Studies Residency program has been a major marker in my own healing journey and growth towards that.”

Learn more about three of our recent Ethnic Studies Residents - Angelica, Jenna, and Julia - on our Lurie College blog and watch Julia co-present “Freedom Dreaming: Ethnic Studies Teaching in the Secondary Grades” as part of our Summer 2021 K-12 Teaching Academy on our Lurie College blog. Our Critical Bilingual Authorization Program (CBAP) specializes candidates in pedagogy, practices, and ability to identify linguistic assets and potential for students and empowers candidates to be changemakers in their own context. As the needs and demand for this program has grown in recent years, we’ve responded by making this opportunity available to both our multiple subject and single subject credential candidates.

“I think now, more than ever, I’ve realized how important it is to care for a student as a whole,” said CPAB student Fanny Camacho. “As educators, before we try to get students to grasp and understand content, it’s important to put the students first, build relationships with them first, and to bring culturally responsive practices into the classroom.

Learn more about Fanny and our Critical Bilingual Authorization Program at sjsu.edu/teachered/academics/cbap.