Inspiring Minds through a Professional Alliance of Community Teachers,
IMPACT is an innovative 18-month teacher residency program.

At this time, applications for the IMPACT program are not being accepted.  Please check back with us in September 2013 for updates on admissions to the program.

UCLA IMPACT is an innovative teacher education program developed in partnership with UCLA Center X TEP, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Los Angeles Small Schools Center.  With the goal of preparing highly qualified community teachers and urban school teacher leaders, IMPACT is committed to working in Los Angeles in the high-need subject areas of math, science and early childhood education. 

This 18-month teacher education program, provides not only a $10,000 stipend for all students through a U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Partnership grant, but it also provides field support for the first two years of teaching. During year one of the IMPACT program, students, called apprentices, engage in summer foundational coursework followed by a year-long residency with a mentor teacher in a school within the LAUSD East Educational Service Center. At the end of year one, students have earned their California Preliminary Teaching Credential and are ready to become full-time teachers.   In the fall of year two, teachers are supported by UCLA faculty in their own classrooms and work to develop a masters inquiry project before their graduation in December. Field support from UCLA faculty continues for the rest of the school year.

Programs Within IMPACT

At this time we only offer the IMPACT program with these subjects and levels.

• Math – Secondary
• Science - Secondary
• Early Childhood Education and Elementary multiple-subject*

* Participants complete requirements for the early childhood permit and the elementary multiple subjects' credential, preparing teachers to be versatile in the job market and knowledgeable about child development and pedagogy from birth through elementary school.

How is IMPACT Innovative and Different?

Urban Teacher Residency Model
UCLA IMPACT is considered an urban teacher residency program, which means a key feature of the program is learning through a year-term apprenticeship in a classroom with a highly qualified mentor teacher. To meet this goal UCLA IMPACT students will be working as apprentices in a mentor teacher’s classroom in LAUSD for a full year, from the very first day of school to the last. Urban teacher residencies such as IMPACT have recently emerged as a third pathway option for individuals entering the teaching profession. They offer a response to a long-standing debate about the merits of traditional teacher preparation programs, which are often seen as too “distant” from the communities they serve, and the merits of alternate route certification programs, which are often seen as being “trials by fire” that cause many promising teachers to leave the field before establishing a career.

Commitment to Collaboration
Collaboration is a cornerstone to our teacher preparation work, whether it is through working with Center X and GSE&IS faculty and programs, through joint projects with the wider UCLA community, through our cohort team organization and inner programmatic structure, with partnership districts and schools, neighborhood communities and community organizations or through educational research shared with our field. Rather than seeing our work solely as credentialing individual teachers to work alone in individual classrooms, we believe that by building our own and our students’ commitment to and capacity for working together and sharing knowledge, we strengthen the possibility of creating sustained change in educational practice and policy.

• Cohort Model
  Each student will be a part of a subject-matter cohort of 10-15 students guided by a UCLA faculty advisor. You will become immersed in collaboration as a valuable member of a content-specific cohort of developing social justice educators. The cohort model provides:

  • ongoing opportunities for relationship building,
  • regular spaces for critical dialogue and inquiry, and
  • academic and personal support

  This team approach supports your development as a social justice educator, strengthens your ability to build community in your own classrooms, and prepares you to work in contexts of diverse workplaces and communities.

• Faculty Advisors
  IMPACT Faculty Advisors lead each team and provide additional leadership in the development of this innovative program. In addition to teaching classes they develop and maintain relationships with local urban districts and coordinate all field assignments and supervision in their respective partnership schools. They ensure that all apprentices understand and demonstrate competency in the California Teacher Performance Expectations, meet eligibility criteria for the preliminary teaching credential and make credential recommendations. IMPACT Faculty Advisors collaborate with mentors throughout the classroom apprenticeship experience by making regular classroom visits, providing regular feedback about apprentice lessons, providing on-site support for IMPACT mentors and collaborating with apprentices and mentors on an ongoing basis.

• Mentors
  High-quality mentors are vital to the success of our apprentices and our program therefore UCLA IMPACT provides many opportunities for mentor learning and growth, and works to build and maintain strong relationships between mentors and apprentices.

• Community Partners
  We believe teachers must learn from and support the well-being of the communities that we serve. We see communities as rich sources of knowledge, culture and hope for our students. We take an alliance-building approach to our work with families, communities and community-based organizations, seeing them as valuable assets, rather than obstacles to overcome. Therefore, a vital part of your work will be exploring and learning about the communities in which you will be working, partnering with community-based organizations, and using what you discover to: 1) make teaching and learning culturally relevant; 2) provide powerful learning experiences for students, and 3) actively engage in the transformation of urban schools and educational policy.

  IMPACT community partners include:

  • Los Angeles Unified – East Educational Service Center  LAUSD East Educational Service Center is considered the cradle of reform within the Los Angeles Unified School District, so this location is not only beneficial for learning how to teach but also for providing a different perspective on education and educational reform.
    
    Los Angeles Unified School District’s East Educational Service Center serves part or all of the neighborhoods of Pico-Union, Westlake, Wilshire Center, Koreatown, Virgil Village, Echo Park, Temple-Beverly, Historic Filipinotown, Hollywood, East Hollywood, Thai Town, Little Armenia, Echo Park, Elysian Valley, Atwater Village, and Glassell Park.
  • Los Angeles Small Schools Center
  • Families in Schools
  • Parent Institute for Quality Education
    

Financial Support

Each student is given a $10,000 fellowship to help cover the cost of tuition during the first year of the IMPACT program. In addition there are scholarships, fellowships and federal loans available.

For federally funded financial assistance, please fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://federalstudentaid.ed.gov/about/index.html.

 IMPACT Coursework

Timeline of IMPACT Program

• Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education
  Summer Session A: coursework begins
  Summer Session A: Early Childhood Education fieldwork (1 week break)
  Fall quarter: Elementary fieldwork (lower k-2 or upper 3rd – 5th) and coursework
  Winter quarter: Elementary fieldwork (lower k-2 or upper 3rd – 5th) and coursework
  Spring quarter: Early Childhood Education placement and coursework
  Recommendation for a California Early Childhood Education permit
  Recommendation for a Preliminary California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential
  Fall, year 2: Completion of Master of Education

• Math and Science
  Summer Session C: summer coursework begins, school professional development, begin in classroom
  Fall quarter: fieldwork and coursework
  Winter quarter: fieldwork and coursework
  Spring quarter: fieldwork and coursework
  Recommendation for a Preliminary California Single Subject Teaching Credential
  Fall, year 2: Completion of Master of Education
  First year after program completion: support with BTSA and clearing the credential

Job Placement

Placement in a full-time teaching position after year one is not guaranteed. However, in the 2011-12 school year all of our IMPACT students did find teaching positions in their subject matter areas. This is unusual compared to other programs and we are constantly working to maintain and develop the necessary relationships with schools, as well as working to improve the already high quality of our teacher education program, to keep this 100% employment record for the future.