If you have considered teaching children in preschool through 3rd grade or you are looking to advance your education, now is the time to make it a reality. With the expansion of transitional kindergarten (TK) through universal transitional kindergarten (UTK), there is an increased need for teachers to teach TK. For those who already hold a multiple subject credential, most will need to obtain additional early childhood units to do so. There is also an increased need for those wanting to work in preschool classrooms. There are a few different pathways one might take to teach in preschool through 3rd grade classrooms. The San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) has many resources available to support you in navigating these pathways. In addition to multiple resources available, there are also funding opportunities available that can directly support those that are looking to teach in our P-3 classrooms.

Currently, the Early Educator Teacher Development (EETD) grant is available to support with tuition reimbursement for those eligible. This includes those that are entering into the preschool workforce, those moving from preschool into TK-3 or those currently in the TK-3 workforce that need to obtain additional units to meet the Early Childhood Educator (ECE) requirements. The EETD grant can provide up to $4,500 per year in tuition reimbursement for the duration of the grant.

The Classified Employee Teacher Recruitment grant (TK/SPED) has additional spaces available for a limited time. For classified employees in participating districts/charters, this grant provides up to $3,500 per year toward the completion of a teacher credential program including the prerequisite bachelor's degree if needed. The grant program also provides personalized advisement and test preparation for classified employees seeking to earn their first CA credential to teach either TK or special education. If you are interested in this grant, please contact your Human Resource department to see if your district/charter is participating and to get the application and additional details.

Beyond the EETD grant there are many other opportunities that are currently available. By exploring the SDCOE Educator Pathways, Financial Supports webpage, you can find additional financial support available to you.

In addition to the financial support and resources available, SDCOE is also preparing to launch the 5th cohort of the SDCOE TK Pathway! This pathway has been a huge success.

“I have been teaching kindergarten and pre-K for more than 20 years. I loved every minute of these TK Pathway classes and walked away with a clear understanding of why my kids do what they do and how I can make a bigger difference in my teaching role. I have to be honest, I really wasn’t keen on taking these at first, because I have so much experience! The classes turned out to be fantastic and the support I received from my instructor was amazing. She took the time to have a personal connection to me and my situation. This early childhood learning is very special and specific! I learned so much! It was also fun to work and share with my peers during our Zoom calls and projects. This is a comprehensive early childhood pathway that is an absolute must for any educator who is interested in teaching at this level. I am thankful for this experience and would choose to do it again!”

- Rita Zobel, TK Teacher, Santee Unified

The SDCOE TK Pathway is intended for multiple subject credential teachers who are looking to obtain up to 24 ECE units to teach TK. This coursework is designed for currently working educators and will build upon and honor previous knowledge and experiences. Space is limited, sign up on the interest form today!

Your Partners in Education,

The Great Kindness Challenge (GKC) initiative, presented by Kids for Peace, is a global campaign that promotes kindness in kindergarten through grade twelve schools. It is a positive, action-based bullying-prevention initiative that creates a school culture of kindness, compassion, unity, and respect.

The GKC is a global campaign that promotes kindness, social and emotional health, and bullying prevention in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The GKC Checklist and Toolkit provides many free resources to support California’s students and educators.

During this powerful, unifying, and uplifting week, students are challenged to complete as many acts of kindness as possible using customizable checklists. The GKC gives every student an opportunity to model kindness and develop key social and emotional skills that are vital for school, work, and life success. Sample GKC checklists can be viewed here: English version, and Spanish version. Check out this overview video. Kindness, pass it on!

This session is designed for P-3 educators to learn more about specific strategies that will work to support chronic absenteeism beginning with our earliest learners. Come and collaborate with educators across San Diego County and develop an initial action plan that focuses on communication and relationships as we work to interrupt chronic absenteeism. Access the registration page to learn more!

Session objectives:

Investigate powerful P-3 practices at the P-3 Administrator Institute. All district and school administrators are invited to a two-day institute to develop and explore their P-3 system. This institute provides intentional, in-depth time for participants to examine their current strengths and opportunities within their P-3 system in order to make actionable and relevant site-based changes. This exciting opportunity will foster learning, collaboration, and action planning to build a cohesive P-3 continuum. Come and leverage county partners in this exciting work. Register for the P-3 Administrator Institute and join us on March 7-8.

Due to high demand, we are excited to announce that we are currently enrolling for the SDCOE TK Pathway. This pathway is designed for multiple subject credentialed teachers who are looking to increase their capacity in working with our youngest learners and will support them with meeting the 24 Early Childhood Education unit requirement to teach transitional kindergarten. To participate, fill out the TK Pathway registration form.

SDCOE offers a number of professional development opportunities on a variety of topics for preschool, infant/toddler teachers and administrators, and family child care providers. The workshops are intentionally offered to align to program quality goals and build upon existing skills. Check out the Early Education Professional Development catalog to explore how the workshops are differentiated by levels of expertise and target audience.

For registration or workshop questions, please email the SDCOE Early Education team.

SDCOE invites you to join ELO-P professional learning opportunities. The first offering is the Site Leader Training Series and is designed to support leaders who provide oversight and management of day-to-day program activities. Learn more about how to support your programs by attending this series. Sessions will be held on Dec. 8, Feb. 2, Mar. 1, and Apr. 12.

Join the Expanded Learning team for a one-day learning session: "Setting the Foundation for Our Youngest Learners." This learning session is designed to support folks working with students at the site levels on Jan. 25. Access the link to learn more.

The Early Years Conference is a celebration of your personal learning journey and unwavering dedication to the continuous improvement of early childhood education. This year's conference promises to be an enlightening experience, aimed at showcasing how your role as an early educator fosters diversity, equity, and inclusion in all early learning and care settings.

SDCOE has received a grant from the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency to increase and strengthen the early care and education system of San Diego County. As such, the grant funds will be used to offset the cost of the registration to ensure those caring for our youngest learners have equitable access to professional development. Register for the Early Years Conference now or learn more. Interested in presenting, access the Call for presenters information here.

The annual Leadership in Biliteracy Symposium is an awards celebration to acknowledge the individuals who have made significant contributions in promoting biliteracy for our students. This event honors leaders in school communities, promotes biliteracy as an educational asset, and celebrates the achievements of our community. For information on submitting an honoree, please email Alicia Moyer. The event will be held on April 25 from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Prado. Register now!

Mark your calendars for our annual Equity Conference, a pivotal event that brings together educators, community leaders, parents, students, advocates, and policymakers. Join us on January 18 and 19, 2024, as we collectively strive to advance educational equity for every student. For more information and registration details, visit the SDCOE Equity SDCOE Equity Conference webpage.

Jan. 26-27, 2024

8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Every year for more than two decades, SDCOE facilitates a popular dual language conference that brings together experts and practitioners of dual language from across the county, state, as well as visitors from other states and countries. Themes, topics, and sessions range from research to practice, addressing the needs of teachers, administrators, para-educators and parents/community members. If you are seeking to network and learn from dual language advocates beyond your local community, register to attend the conference.

Project ARISE is a literacy grant offering educators across California a variety of opportunities to implement literacy research into classroom practice. The grant is a collaboration with San Diego County, Contra Costa, and Glenn County Offices of Education. Last month, Project ARISE offered three workshops centered around executive function, science of teaching reading, and use the data-individualization in literacy interventions. Learn more about Project ARISE and access resources from our workshops.

The SDCOE professional development calendar highlights offering that may be a good fit for you and/or your staff.

The Early Education division has published the required UPK Planning and Implementation (PI) Grant Expenditure Report No. 3 for local educational agencies (LEAs). The purpose of this report is to collect the expenditure data required for the UPK PI grants.

Charter schools that have informed the California Department of Education (CDE) of their intent to return these funds are not required to submit this report.

If the LEA has spent all UPK PI grant funds, they are not required to submit any further expenditure reports.

Report due date:

For questions regarding this report or for technical assistance, please send an email to UPKPlanningGrant@cde.ca.gov.

SDCOE's grant team keeps an updated list of grant opportunities based on topic. For more information about grant opportunities and applying for grants, visit the SDCOE Grants webpage.

Subscribe here to the SDCOE Universal Prekindergarten newsletter. Access archived issues.