Center X’s work extends across two graduate credential programs and many professional development initiatives. Together, this work aims to transform public schooling to create a more just, equitable, and humane society.
Become a Teacher
The Center X Teacher Education Program (TEP) prepares aspiring teachers to become social justice educators in urban settings. To serve a wide range of aspiring educators, the Teacher Education Program offers several pathways that culminate in a Teaching Credential and/or a Master of Education degree.
Become a Leader
Center X’s Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) prepares educators to be social justice leaders and offers a Master of Education degree and a Preliminary Administrative Credential. Students engage in 15 months of course work and field-based learning experiences, culminating in a master’s project that demonstrates candidates’ competency to be transformative instructional leaders. This program requires 5 years teaching experience.
Professional Development Initiatives & Projects
Center X engages thousands of practicing and accomplished educators through a portfolio of professional development opportunities including these projects:
AP Readiness
The AP Readiness Program aims to improve the teaching abilities of AP (Advanced Placement) instructors while simultaneously giving students the skills they will need to be successful in college level classes. AP Readiness allows students to work with master math and science teachers. Concurrently, their AP teachers observe and learn from the master instructors, gathering a framework for how to successfully conduct an AP course.
Civic Learning
Housed at UCLA and UC Riverside, the Leveraging Equity and Access in Democratic Education (LEADE) initiative works with communities and districts to ensure students have access to high quality civic learning opportunities. LEADE presents a conceptual framework, develops tools to help districts collects data on equity and access, contributes to public deliberation, and supports professional development.
Coaching & Collaboration
The mission of Center X Coaching Partnerships is to support schools in becoming self-directed, resourceful, and collaborative communities committed to social justice. This is achieved by valuing individual and collective experiences through instructional coaching and facilitating collaboration designed to increase the collective capacity of the school.
Computer Science – California
Computer Science for California (CSforCA) is a coalition of educators, industry leaders, nonprofit organizations, and higher education institutions advocating for high quality computer science teaching & learning opportunities in K-12 public schools so that every California student has access, regardless of zip code, race, gender or economic background. Julie Flapan, Director of the UCLA Computer Science Equity Project, is Co-Director of CSforCA and Center X is one of the many organizations represented in the CSforCA coalition.
Computer Science – California
SCALE-CA (Supporting Computer Science Access, Leadership, and Equity in California) is a Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) co-developed by researchers from the UCLA Computer Science Equity Project and school leaders/administrators from 17 local education agencies, with the goal of increasing access and engagement in CS to prepare students for college, careers, and community engagement. SCALE-CA is making systemic change using a three-pronged strategy: in the classroom, county/district, and the capitol to build leadership capacity to broaden participation in CS education among girls, students of color, and low-income students.
Computer Science – Student Voices Research
The mission of our project “Researching Equity, Access, and Learning in CS Education (REAL-CS),” is to highlight the voices and experiences of high school students historically underrepresented in CS who have had little to no prior experience with CS. We are specifically focused on students’ perspectives—that are currently lacking in the CS educational research landscape—to understand their sense of engagement, identity, and agency in computer science contexts that are focused on broadening participation in CS for All, such as Exploring Computer Science and Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles.
Cultural Sustainability and Educational Equity
The Culture & Equity Project at UCLA Center X supports educators in transforming their schools into more effective spaces for educating culturally diverse students by developing their knowledge base around teaching and learning that is equity focused and culturally relevant, responsive and sustaining. We work with schools and districts to engage them in identifying processes and strategies that push educators to reimagine relationships, policies, teaching and learning through a cultural and equity lens to better serve their students and school community.
Data Science
The Introduction to Data Science (IDS) Project prepares high school teachers to teach a mathematics curriculum and to develop pedagogy that helps students learn to reason with, and think critically about, data in all forms. IDS provides access to rigorous learning that fuses statistics with computer science through the use of RStudio, an open-source programming language that is the industry standard for statisticians and analysts. IDS is a C-approved mathematics course in the University of California A-G requirements and has received a statistics designation.
Design-Based Learning
The Design-Based Learning Project introduces educators to the student-centered Design-Based Learning teaching methodology, which engages students in seeking and solving curriculum-based problems as they build a city, colony, civilization, or other small, contextual model in the classroom. Encompassing all subject areas, Design-Based Learning is an interdisciplinary methodology that ignites creativity and motivates civic engagement to teach critical thinking and problem solving.
English Learners
Based in Connecticut, Center X Northeast runs the ExcEL Leadership Academy which offers job-embedded, learn-by-doing programs to help PK-12 teachers become more effective educators of multilingual learners in all academic areas. The ExcEL Leadership Academy offers two “micro-credential-based pathways” for teacher development: Essential Support for Working with Multi-Lingual Learners or Advanced Support for Working with Multi-Lingual Learners.
History & Geography
The UCLA History-Geography Project, one of the sites of the California History-Social Science Project, is committed to enhancing history-social science education in the Los Angeles region, with a focus on teachers and students in high-need urban schools. We develop and present research-based pedagogical strategies that help all students access our text-based content.
Mathematics
The UCLA Mathematics Project is part of a statewide program that strives to make a positive impact on math teachers and their students. The project’s goal is to enhance the skill sets of K-12 math teachers who can in turn increase their students’ ability to succeed. Based on over twenty-five years of experience, UCLA Mathematics Project has developed a program that is helping to make significant differences in the quality of teaching in urban schools.
National Board Certification Support
The UCLA National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Project is committed to supporting educators pursuing the rigorous National Board Certification Process. The UCLA NBPTS Project brings accomplished teaching and student achievement to the forefront by supporting teachers in achieving the highest level of teaching excellence.
Parent Empowerment
The UCLA Parent Empowerment Project provides research based programs which focus on developing and sustaining parent involvement and leadership in the Los Angeles County School District. The project brings parents and educators together, stressing that a dialogue between the two is pivotal for the enhancement of student’s scholastic experience. The PCP partners with schools to improve this parent-educator dialogue, which ultimately helps to improve student performance in low performing schools.
Reading & Literature
The UCLA California Reading and Literature Project designs programs that identify, develop, and provide effective instruction in English Language Arts TK-12, with a particular focus on Social Justice for BIPOC students, Standard English Learners, English Learners, and struggling or reluctant readers. Through collaboration and high-quality professional development, the California Reading and Literature Project strives to deepen the pedagogical and discipline knowledge of educators.
Science
The UCLA Science Project implements programs that identify, develop and promote strategies that make good science instruction available and accessible to all students. The UCLA Science Project offers several programs throughout the year designed to foster collaborative communities of researchers and practitioners. Through these collaborations, the UCLA Science Project aims to deepen teacher’s science content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in order to better meet the needs of their students.
Writing
The UCLA Writing Project, one of over 200 sites of the National Writing project, has been working with teachers K-University of all disciplines on the teaching of writing since 1977. We collaborate to find the best strategies for helping students become strong, enthusiastic writers. Our focus is on all students, including English learners, students in under-resourced schools, and students who are among the highest achievers in small schools, public, private and charter schools.