$5.4M grant will help teachers plant ROOTS in rural communities
An ambitious regional initiative at Sonoma State designed to address persistent teacher shortages in rural Lake and Mendocino counties has been awarded a $5.45-million Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant from the U.S. Department of Education to get underway.
ROOTS (Rural Opportunities & Outcomes for Teacher Scholars), led by a team of faculty from Sonoma State's School of Education, brings together SSU, Mendocino College, and four rural school districts (Ukiah Unified, Round Valley Unified, Kelseyville Unified, and Lakeport Unified). The project will continue to build a “grow-your-own” teacher pipeline, recruiting people with strong ties to local communities and providing them with a year-long teacher residency, intensive mentoring, graduate-level preparation, and two additional years of induction and early-career support.
“We are transforming rural communities by creating these spaces with our regional partners and communities,” said Laura Alamillo, dean of SSU’s College of Education, Counseling, and Ethnic Studies. “I am so proud of our work in ‘grow-your-own models’ of teacher education, and thankful for our district and college partners in Mendocino and Lake counties.”
ROOTS draws upon the strong partnerships Sonoma State built under the Redwood Coast K-16 Collaborative, a regional partnership designed to create streamlined educational and career pathways from high school through college into high-demand workforce sectors.
Over five years, ROOTS is designed to enroll 180 teacher residents, with a particular focus on preparing rural educators and those in other high-need fields such as bilingual/English Learner Education, mathematics education, science education, special education, and Transitional Kindergarten. Residents supported by the federal grant will receive $22,000 living stipends during their residency year, helping reduce one of the most significant financial barriers to entering the teaching profession.
“The vision for the K-16 Collaborative was to provide more opportunities for students who could not otherwise have access to high-quality teacher education,” Alamillo said. “A team of college faculty and staff enhanced the Liberal Studies program (and) created teacher residencies in rural areas, and now the icing on the cake are these additional stipends for students to be able to dedicate time to becoming high-quality educators.”
“We know that the financial burden of obtaining a teaching credential is one of the key reasons that individuals do not go into teaching, especially for those in rural areas,” said Rhianna Casesa, director and coordinator of SSU’s teacher residency programs. “So, we intentionally wrote this grant in such a way that the majority of the budget offers significant financial support of up to $22,000 to teacher residents with the hope of reducing that barrier.
“We have already seen positive impacts of our CTC-funded residency programs with regard to teacher retention and student outcomes. Now, with additional federal funds, we will be able to continue and expand this work to further support schools and communities.”
Other initiatives funded by the ROOTS project include the exploration and potential development of a Registered Teacher Apprenticeship, expanding dual-enrollment into rural high schools, and professional development in math and literacy for teacher residents and their mentors.
ROOTS builds upon Sonoma State's longstanding leadership in teacher residency preparation. Since 2018, SSU has prepared more than 300 teacher residents for rural and high-need communities. The new federal investment will allow the university and its regional partners to significantly expand that work while strengthening the educator workforce across the North Bay and North Coast.