The Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s Pathways to Teaching Residency and Teacher Induction Program will be receiving a prestigious Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association (CSBA).
The CSBA Golden Bell Awards promote excellence in education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and practices of school boards in school districts and county offices of education throughout California.
The Golden Bell Awards reflect the depth and breadth of education programs and school board decisions supporting these programs that are necessary to address students’ changing needs.
SMBSD is recognized by CSBA in the category of teacher recruitment and retention. These two teacher pipeline programs, residency and induction, will be recognized at the Golden Bell Ceremony in December in San Diego.
Over the past five years, SMBSD has developed a seamless four-year educator development continuum: the Pathways to Teaching Residency (years 1-2) and the SMBSD Teacher Induction Program (years 3-4), the district said.
Together the programs enact a Grow Your Own philosophy recruiting community members into multiple subject with bilingual authorization (BLA) and education specialist pathways, preparing the candidates through year-long clinical placements co-designed with California Lutheran University (CLU), and sustaining these teachers with individualized mentoring and professional learning.
Shelli Hart, coordinator of educator development for SMBSD, said the Pathways to Teaching Residency and Teacher Induction Program represent the district’s commitment to those who teach local children.
“We are not simply filling vacancies, we are building a generation of educators who grew up in this community, who speak the languages of our students, and who are supported at every step from their first day as a resident to the moment they hold their clear credential,” Hart said.
“When I watch a second-year induction teacher confident, reflective,and already mentoring her own students the way her mentor supported her, I see exactly why this work matters. This is what it looks like to grow our own,” she said.
“Receiving a Golden Bell Award is a tremendous honor, and it belongs to everyone who made this work possible: our residents, mentors, and teachers, our university partners, and the families who trust us with their children,” Hart said.
“To have the California School Boards Association recognize that work is a tremendous honor, and it reminds us that when a district invests in its own community, students are the ones who benefit,” she said.
CSBA said the Golden Bell programs represent the best in the state’s education system.
“Golden Bell winning programs exemplify the best aspects of California schools as well as the values we try to instill in our students: conscientiousness, creativity, innovation, critical thinking and a desire to make the world a better place,” said Debra Schade, CSBA president.
“By demonstrating not only existing best practices, but also pioneering new ways to care for students and expand learning opportunities, Golden Bell awardees serve as a beacon for their peers and a model of how schools can serve students and redefine the capacity of school districts and county offices of education,” Schade said.