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برچسب: Champion

  • Why California must champion community college bachelor’s degrees

    Why California must champion community college bachelor’s degrees


    Cerritos College students honing their skills in ironworking during hands-on training.

    Credit: Courtesy Cerritos College

    A college degree or certificate is a proven pathway to higher earnings, job stability and economic mobility. Yet, nearly half of California’s adults have not pursued higher education due to barriers like cost, rigid schedules and a lack of local options.

    California set an ambitious goal: By 2030, 70% of working-age adults should hold a college degree or certificate. However, instead of making it easier to achieve this, public universities are blocking one of the most promising solutions — community college bachelor’s degree programs.

    Cerritos College is leading the way with its first-of-its-kind field ironworker supervisor bachelor’s degree, which was developed with the California Field Ironworkers. The program creates a direct path from apprenticeship to high-paying supervisory roles. Designed for working professionals, it offers flexible online coursework that fits the schedules of full-time ironworkers.

    With over 1,300 supervisor job openings annually in Los Angeles County alone, this program helps close critical workforce gaps while fostering regional social and economic mobility. First-line supervisors with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $34,000 more in their annual salary than those with a high school diploma or associate degree. At under $11,000 in total tuition costs — less than half the price of even the most affordable public universities, our students can recoup their investment in as little as four months, making this program a powerful tool for upward mobility.

    Beyond the numbers, programs like these change lives. Rocio Campos, an ironworker and mother, defied societal expectations to pursue a career in construction. While balancing work, family and education, Rocio gained the training and resources to grow her career in ironworks through the field ironworker apprenticeship program at Cerritos College. She aims to earn a bachelor’s degree in ironworker supervision once the program receives full approval, giving her a chance to advance into a supervisory role.

    Community college bachelor’s degrees are game-changers, especially for underrepresented communities. At Cerritos College, 73% of students in the ironworker apprenticeship program come from diverse backgrounds, and active recruitment efforts are bringing more women into this historically male-dominated field. These programs don’t just increase wages; they provide economic mobility by helping workers build stability, advance their careers, and lift their families into greater financial security.

    Several community colleges have received provisional approval to launch bachelor’s degree programs in health care, technology and public safety — fields where California urgently needs skilled professionals. However, many of these proposals remain under review because of objections from public universities, particularly within the CSU system. Despite meeting workforce demands and serving students who might not otherwise pursue a four-year degree, these programs face unnecessary roadblocks. The final approval ultimately rests with the California Community Colleges board of governors, but these initiatives risk being delayed indefinitely without broader policy support.

    California cannot rely on four-year universities alone to meet its growing workforce needs. Expanding community college bachelor’s degree programs will strengthen industries, create more opportunities and solidify California’s leadership in workforce innovation. It’s time for policymakers, industry leaders and educators to support these programs and invest in the future of our state.

    •••

    Jose Fierro is the president/superintendent of Cerritos College in Norwalk. Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Application Window Open for The Teach Like a Champion Fellows–Cohort 4!!

    Application Window Open for The Teach Like a Champion Fellows–Cohort 4!!


     

    Since 2016, one of our most exciting projects here at Team TLAC has been our Teaching Fellowship, which has allowed us to learn from champion teachers and share their expertise through our workshops and materials with schools all over the world. We are excited to announce that we are opening applications for our fourth cohort of TLAC Fellows!  

    The goal of our Fellows program has always been to recognize, support, and develop outstanding classroom teachers. In our initial launch of the program, we described the purpose like this:  

     

    We want to create incentives for great teachers to become even better teachers. That is, we want ways for them to be ambitious and remain in the classroom, to be ambitious about being a classroom teacher, rather than having entering administration be the only way to be ambitious. 

     

    And we want to encourage very, very good teachers to focus on getting even better- to strive to become classroom artisans who love and are fascinated by the mastery of the craft. We want them to love deep study of teaching and importantly, to influence their peers though the excellence of their daily teaching and their passion for the craft- their growth mindset, if you will. We think great schools need people like that. And being who we are of course we also want to learn not just from but with people like that- study them and their work but also study the craft generally alongside them. 

     

    The time is right for a program like this one. Since 2020, teachers have been required to adapt to a constantly changing educational landscape, and students have returned to school with increasingly urgent learning needs. Across the country and around the world, schools are struggling to attract and keep top teachers in classrooms. This is our opportunity to honor the incredibly hard and important work teachers are doing. 

     

    Of course, our team benefits tremendously from the Fellows program. Not only have we been inspired and energized by the work that our Fellows have done in their schools, but we’ve gained invaluable video and reflections about the nuances of various TLAC techniques. Many of our former Fellows are featured in TLAC 3.0, including in our new Keystone videos (extended videos, 10 minutes or so, intended to show a longer arc of a teacher’s lesson where they use multiple techniques in combination). We still have strong relationships with former Fellows who continue to contribute to our team and help us learn. Over the next few months on the blog, we’ll be shining a spotlight on Fellows from our recently concluded third cohort to share some of the work and learning they’ve done during their time in the program (see the end of this blog post for their names and independent study areas). 

     

    If you are a teacher who is looking to be valued and celebrated for your work while being pushed to grow in your own practice to become even better for your students and colleagues, we invite you to apply and learn alongside us!  

     

    Cohort 4 Details:  

    • The program will run from January 2026-January 2028, for which Fellows must remain in the classroom. 
    • The first 18 months will involve active programming (bi-monthly remote and some in-person meetings with the team, classroom filming, video analysis, etc.) and the final 6 months will be an independent project. 
    • A $10,000 stipend (paid over the course of two years, provided that Fellows remain in the classroom and complete the independent project) 

     

    For more detailed information and to see the application, visit our Fellows page here: https://teachlikeachampion.org/teach-like-champion-fellows/  

     

    Here’s a list of our most recent cohort of TLAC Fellows, along with their grade band and subject, and their area of study for their independent project.  

     

    • Ben Katcher, HS History, Implementing Knowledge Organizers in the Classroom  
    • Beth Greenwood, MS Science, TLAC Techniques in the UK 
    • Bob Arnold and Rene Claxton, Medical Education, Engaging Academics in the Medical Education Setting 
    • Casey Clementson, MS Orchestra, What to Do Cycle in Middle School Orchestra 
    • Christina Mercado, MS ELA, Habits of Discussion Implementation and Maintenance 
    • Diana Bentley, HS ELA, Cultivating Facilitator Expertise Across the School 
    • Jamarr McCain, MS Math, Adult PD on Knowledge Organizers 
    • Kathleen Lavelle, HS Science, Supporting Students with IEPs in General Practical Science 
    • Rockyatu Otoo, ES SPED, Increasing Belonging and Collaboration with Colleagues through Culturally Responsive Lesson Prep Checklist 
    • Steve Kuninsky, HS Science, FASE Reading and Accountable Independent Reading in Chemistry 



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