The Urban Teacher Leadership Program at CSU East Bay is designed for experienced, dedicated, locally developed urban educators. Coursework is tailored towards those with experience in schools, community and advocacy organizations, and in P-20 educational settings with a demonstrated commitment to urban youth and adults. Those with the equivalent of three years of teaching with a teaching credential are also eligible to earn the Preliminary Administrative Services Tier I Credential.

Purpose
The Urban Teacher Leadership Master’s Program is intended to prepare educational leaders for dynamic service in urban schools through developing and supporting the skills needed to blend an intense commitment to culturally responsive teaching, curriculum, administration, and leadership with a commitment to academic excellence. The purpose is to model the types of engaging, hands-on, culturally responsive, collaborative educational leadership that is required to address the increasing structural inequalities shaping urban public education. The program centers on developing and sustaining urban schools that prepare youth to be active participants in shaping democracy in their local communities, in the U.S., and globally. Because this program focuses explicitly on bay area urban districts, coursework is framed by culturally responsive teaching methods and critical race theory’s commitment to a racial justice lens. Particular emphasis is placed on culturally responsive instructional leadership and on developing school communities that welcome California’s underserved multilingual, multicultural communities.


Program Overview
This two-year master’s degree program (with option for the preliminary administrative credential) prepares educators to serve in formal leadership capacities within schools, districts, charter organizations, and community-based organizations for the purpose of building and sustaining equitable school communities. Guiding principles include a continual focus on addressing structural racism and classism, on modeling democratic, multicultural leadership, and on developing personal and community voice to de-center school inequality. The program is led by a collaborative advisory board that consists of critical educators, community advocates, and practitioners who center critical race theory, and culturally responsive, youth-centered approaches. Most courses are site-based, and focus on social justice principles to ensure educators challenge the normalization of academic failure for students of color in urban schools.

Program Scope and Sequence
Full time coursework begins Fall, 2011. The first year focuses on understanding the social context of educational inequality and reform efforts. Participants develop site and community-based leadership skills while examining instruction, supervision, law, and human resources as keys to sustained educational equity. Educators working towards their Tier I Preliminary Certificate engage in additional site-based fieldwork. The second year focuses on developing collaborative leadership teams that then implement participatory action research on key equity issues, as educators complete requirements for the Master’s degree.

 
Program Partners and Affiliate Faculty
Partnerships with Oakland Unified School District’s Teach Tomorrow in Oakland expose participants to recruitment and retention efforts for local teachers, and provide additional opportunities to develop leadership skills. Affiliate faculty include practitioners in Oakland schools, regional educational experts, and legal advocates.
 

If you have any questions or want to apply, you can contact Dr. Christopher Knaus, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Urban Teacher Leadership.