Faculty sitting around a long rectangular table in a restaurant having lunch

Partners from Claremont Graduate University, Saint Mary’s College of California, and Mount Diablo Unified School District at a collaborative site visit

Cultivating reciprocal partnerships requires multiple touchpoints. As engaged partners, Dr. Charlotte Achieng Evensen, CalEPIC Senior Transformation Specialist, and Dr. Kevin Nguyen-Stockbridge, CalEPIC Project Manager, travel throughout California to visit their five partner Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs): University of San Francisco, University of Redlands, Loyola Marymount University, Claremont Graduate University, and Saint Mary’s College of California. These site visits are vital to CalEPIC’s mission of working in trusted partnerships with EPPs and Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) to improve teacher education and educational outcomes for students facing ableism, racism, sexism, and other forms of systemic oppression. 

In the first year of the grant, site visits allowed the CalEPIC team to learn about each EPP’s local context, program history, and established community relationships. The team sought to better refine specific support for each EPP as they continue to design and develop programs reflecting the unique complexity, needs, and capabilities of their communities. 

CalEPIC visits each EPP two times a year. Throughout the year, the CalEPIC team visits EPPs regularly. Utilizing a collaborative agenda, EPPs plan the visits, highlighting both program successes and areas of need. Incorporated in site visits are meetings with all stakeholder groups including faculty, administration, and teacher candidates.  As site visits provide significant opportunities to engage partners in the work of teacher preparation transformation, the EPPs also arrange collaborative meetings with local educational agency LEA partners to which the CalEPIC team is welcomed. 

As a technical assistance center, CalEPIC recognizes that site visits are a core component of the CalEPIC Framework in that these face-to-face touchpoints affirm mutually beneficial partnerships between the EPPs and CalEPIC.

For more information about CalEPIC, please visit Chapman.edu/tpi-calepic.