Brown nominates Darling-Hammond to California Teacher Commission

Gov. Jerry Brown and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson have made high-profile appointments to a troubled state agency, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Torlakson has assigned his Chief Deputy Superintendent, Richard Zeiger, as his designee to keep a close eye on the commission. Brown this week nominated Stanford University School of Education Professor Linda Darling-Hammond as one of a half-dozen of his Commission appointees. That Darling-Hammond, an expert on teacher development whose services are in constant demand nationwide, agreed to the potentially time-consuming, non-salaried position signals that Brown wants new directions and big policy changes to the autonomous state board.

The Commission accredits college and university teacher preparation programs, oversees teacher induction programs, and licenses as well as investigates and disciplines teachers facing misconduct and criminal charges. Darling-Hammond’s particular interest is in teacher preparation. But it was deficiencies in handling the policing function, by the Division of Professional Practices, that led to scathing findings in April by State Auditor Elaine Howle. She told the Sacramento Bee the Commission was one of the “worst run” agencies she had encountered in a long time. In June, a month after coming under fire during a Senate hearing, its long-time executive director and its general counsel resigned.

In the report, the auditor’s office found that practices “significantly delayed processing of alleged misconduct and potentially allowed educators of questionable character to retain a credential.” Two years ago, investigators found a three-year backlog of 12,600 arrest or prosecution reports, resulting in delays in launching investigations and revoking credentials. The audit also found patterns of nepotism in hiring and employees’ perceptions of intimidation. In a follow-up analysis, released last month, Howle reported that the Commission staff had fixed or made substantial progress on 12 of the audit’s 13 recommendations.

Some critics called for abolishing Commission and shifting its functions by the state Department of Education; however the Commission was not on the list of four dozen agencies that Brown called for eliminating this year.

Darling-Hammond told me she hadn’t formed an opinion on whether functions of the agency should be consolidated or turned over to the Department of Education, but said that California does have a fragmented system of teacher training and development.

Darling-Hammond said that California could learn from practices from other states and nations recognized for well-trained teachers, like Finland and Singapore. They use the power of accreditation as “a powerful lever,” she said. This hasn’t been done in California, where there are some very strong and very weak university and alternative teacher development programs.

Teacher development is one area, she said, that can improve in a short time with relatively small sums of money. California has been a leader in the past with the establishment of the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program (BTSA), but funding for it has lagged, as has training for mentor teachers. The same is true for other landmark programs: the Governor’s Teaching Fellowships, under the Davis administration, which underwrote the cost of a teaching credential in exchange for working in high-needs areas; and the California School Leadership Academy, a national model for training administrators, which also is no longer funded.

At Stanford, Darling-Hammond has launched the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and the School Redesign Network and has served as faculty sponsor for the Stanford Teacher Education Program. She is a former president of the American Educational Research Association. Her research and policy work have focused on school restructuring, teacher quality, and educational equity.

Darling-Hammond was one of six nominees that Brown made to the Commission this week, subject to Senate approval. Named to a two-year-term, expiring in November 2013, she would be a logical successor to the current Commission chairwoman, Ting Sun, whose four-year term expires in November. Most commissioners are teachers. Brown has now nominated eight of the 15 voting Commission members.

Some of the ideas Darling-Hammond has in mind may become clearer next week, when Torlakson releases his policy blueprint for his term. Darling-Hammond co-chaired Torlakson’s transition advisory team and organized the final recommendations; she led the subcommittee on teacher preparation and development.