Welcome to CCTE

Welcome to the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE) website! CCTE is the largest and most comprehensive forum for educator preparation in our state, representing nearly every teacher preparation program in California, and proudly including members from across the entire teacher learning continuum. We invite you to explore the website to find more information about our organization, our priorities, and our meetings.

Who are we?

CCTE is a group of people committed to improving education at every level through fostering teacher development and growth opportunities. Our members include deans, higher education faculty, TK-12 teachers and teacher associations, induction leaders, CTC affiliates, graduate students, field coordinators, policy advocates, district administrators, county office of education representatives, and educational consultants.

As an organization, we are the California affiliate of both the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). We also have several associated organizations: the Association of Independent California Colleges & Universities, Education (AICCU-ED), the California Alliance for Inclusive Schooling (CAIS), the California Association for Bilingual Teacher Education (CABTE), the California Association of Professors of Special Education (Teacher Education) (CAPSE/TED), the Southern California Professional Development Schools (SCPDS), the California Association of School-University Partnerships (CASUP), and the Center for Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child (CRTWC).

What are our priorities?

• Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI): Given the increasing diversity of California’s TK-12 students and persistent gaps in diverse representation of California teachers, CCTE is committed to engaging in work that supports the recruitment, retention, and professional growth of teachers of color, culturally responsive and sustaining educators, and strong culturally competent educators that serve multilingual learners and students with disabilities. To this end, we partner closely with our associated organizations and have established a JEDI subcommittee to consider actionable steps to move us towards our goals. CCTE officers are also a part of statewide teacher diversity initiatives including the California Coalition for Educator Diversity. Our conference themes, journal special issues, and calls for research proposals all put justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at the center of our work.
• Informing and Impacting State-wide Policy Initiatives: Our priority is to be an active voice in the state, advocating for all aspects of educator preparation. During policy sessions at each conference, attendees get updates from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and hear from a policy advocate or legislator. We also spend time talking with individual legislators about key educational priorities each spring at our SPAN conference. Our policy committee focuses on staying current on important legislation impacting TK-12 students, educators, and educator preparation and collects data around focal priority areas to inform legislative work.
• Promoting and Supporting Research-Informed Praxis and Practice-Informed Research: We recognize teacher educators, across the educator continuum, as experts, leaders, and co-learners. Our organization promotes professional conversations around educator preparation, giving opportunities for diverse perspectives to be heard and engaged, both at conferences and through our multiple publications.
• Professional Networking, Community, and Partnership-Building: Our biannual conferences focus on key topics of importance for teachers and teacher educators throughout the state and on advocacy through policy. In partnering with our associated and affiliated organizations, we support ongoing opportunities for professional engagement throughout the year. CCTE is large enough to draw a varied state-wide constituency, yet small enough that you’ll find colleagues, renew connections, and get your work done. We believe that we grow stronger through new ideas, collaboration and navigating the complexities of our work together.

When do we meet?

CCTE has a fall conference in San Diego in mid-October and a spring policy-focused conference (SPAN) in Sacrament in mid-March each year. These conferences are a great way for members to network, reconnect, and share their work. CCTE Committees (Policy, Communications, Membership, JEDI) meet more regularly throughout the year and the CCTE Board of Directors and Leadership team meet 3-4 times a year. We hope you’ll find CCTE to be a friendly and dedicated professional environment where you can engage with like minds and diverse perspectives, an energetic and approachable group of colleagues, and plenty of opportunities to get involved and to have an impact on educator preparation in the state. Thank you for checking us out!

Karen Escalante (2024-26)
CCTE President