News — The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) campus has always been a place where new ideas and best practices are honed, and El Oso Center for Innovative Educator Preparation (El Oso Center) is continuing that legacy. The center’s objective is to develop and study innovative practices that improve preparation of and access for candidates in educator preparation programs at UNC. In keeping with the core mission of all of UNC’s education programs, El Oso Center is focused on helping UNC graduates provide the best educational outcomes for the students in their future classrooms.
To supplement and improve the time-tested programs on campus, El Oso Center promotes research and development of practices and policies that can enhance educator’s outcomes in the classroom. Educator preparation and lessening barriers to those who would like to teach are central to the center and many of the initiatives it is kick-starting.
Corey Pierce, Ph.D., who served as director of the School of Special Education for 19 years and associate dean for the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences for six years, has been instrumental in the creation of the center. One of the things he’s most excited about is its ability to increase access to education.
“We're really putting a lot of our time now in El Oso Center into finding innovative ways to reduce barriers for those who want to become teachers,” said Pierce.
One of the ways the center is working to reduce barriers is through a partnership with the Poudre School District (PSD) to create a dual enrollment pathway for high school students who are interested in becoming teachers. Through the program, students can take up to 12 college credit hours toward their teaching licensure, all without paying the cost of tuition.
Career data supplied by PSD indicates that across middle and high school students, hundreds of students identified having a high interest in becoming a teacher. However, by the time those students graduate, the number who pursue an education to become a teacher decreases dramatically. The dual enrollment pathway was created specifically to expose interested potential educators to the profession and allow them to get a head start on their degrees.
Another program that was born from collaboration with PSD seeks to help fill the critical gap in special education teachers — an issue the school district, state and country are all facing. The Become a Teacher Program allows paraprofessionals working in the school district to earn degrees to become special education teachers by earning UNC’s Special Education Generalist or Early Childhood Special Education degree. Currently, there are 17 paraprofessionals actively working toward their degrees through this program with the first graduate walking in the Fall 2024 commencement ceremony.
El Oso Center is currently working to secure funding to build upon the success they’ve seen locally with the Become a Teacher Program and expand the program across the state.
“The current UNC administration had supported this notion of giving us a little bit of startup money, giving us a little bit of time to be able to get the center going, to get funding to get these projects off the ground because now people are hearing about the Poudre School District project and they're saying, ‘we want to do that,’ ” said Pierce.
In addition to these teacher preparation programs, Pierce helped spearhead the creation of the new online Bachelor of Arts Special Education Generalist completion program. The degree allows students to earn an associate degree fully online.
“It's the first online education degree of that sort that we've been able to offer. UNC, again, removing a barrier,” said Pierce.
Moving forward, El Oso Center is working to start a teacher apprenticeship program, create paid teacher residency opportunities andsupport other pathways for those working to become teachers.The exciting opportunities happening at El Oso Center are a testament to UNC’s consistent dedication to reducing barriers for students and graduating well-prepared teachers, and they are just getting started.
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