About CTA

What Works:  Strengths-Based Approaches to Early Childhood Education
A multi-week virtual conference happening now shines spotlight on strenghts-based approaches to preschool teacher-driven change in early childhood learning environments.
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Announcing the IFT Early Childhood Education Alliance     
Through the CTA Institute for Teaching, members have an opportunity to influence the direction of school change. ECEA is based on the idea that early childhood education can act as a catalyst for P-14 school change. Become a member of a statewide organizing virtual community.
Get involved with the ECEA

Since 1967, the CTA Institute for Teaching has either participated in or been wholly responsible for many innovative programs. The most recent endeavors are centered on three specific needs of California schools:

• Assisting California’s "Schools of Greatest Need,”

• Reforming high school education,

• Increasing awareness of the importance of school readiness and voluntary universal preschool in California through a universal preschool outreach campaign.

These programs are the result of fund-raising by the Institute, grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and others. Other fund-raising activities include direct mail solicitation of educators and education supporters, and the National Education Association, as well as voluntary donations by CTA and its members. 

In addition to the programs underscored above, the CTA Institute for Teaching has either participated in or been wholly responsible for many additional programs since 1967, including:

• California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST)  preparation workshops have assisted emergency credentialed teachers and other credential candidates in preparing for their teaching credentials.
• The California Challenge provides diversity training to more than 350 teachers annually.
• SB 395 Program  qualifies more than 7,000 public schools teachers to instruct students with limited proficiency in English. 
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• CTA High Risk Program  provides hundreds of training opportunities each year for school personnel ranging from teen pregnancy prevention and gang intervention to special issues confronting gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth.
• The Institute for Teaching has been the recipient of proceeds from various Teacher Appreciation Night activities, such as Teachers' Night Basketball games.  

Download an Institute for Teaching Brochure

Download an Institute for Teaching Flier

• Compton
• Hanford West
• Hiram Johnson
• Luther Burbank
• Montebello
• Norwalk
• Santa Maria