Students in special education credential program receive scholarships

Funding from KCSOS to help 44 students pay spring tuition

By California State University, Bakersfield

June 14^th, 2022

A group of students in the California State University, Bakersfield special education credential program have received scholarships to help pay for their tuition this spring.

The Kern County Superintendent of Schools’ Teacher Development Program has awarded 44 students its Local Solutions Scholarship for the 2021-22 academic year. The students will each receive $2,631 for partial reimbursement of tuition fees.

Recipients were selected based on their performance in the credential program and their intent to teach in a local special education setting.

“The timing of this scholarship is very appropriate, considering the financial hardship that many of our students have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Yeunjoo Lee, special education professor and chair of advanced educational studies. “We hope that this scholarship encourages more students to apply for the special education credential program to reduce the critical shortage of special education teachers in Kern County.”

One of the students who received a scholarship is Melissa Williams, who just completed the credential program in the spring. She just needs to take and pass the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment (RICA) through the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing for her credential to clear.

“I’m very fortunate and very happy to have received this scholarship,” she said. “I had to take out a substantial school loan for the program, so getting this grant is amazing because it will help me pay that down.”

The scholarship is part of a collaboration between the KCSOS Teacher Development Program and CSUB to recruit and support new special education teachers. Williams is grateful to KCSOS for helping students in this way.

“It’s amazing of them to give this support to students,” she said. “It is expensive to go to school right now, and everyone is still financially recovering from the pandemic. This is just such a great help to students and our school.”

Williams didn’t initially plan on becoming a special education teacher. When she began working as a substitute for the Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) in 2019, she wasn’t entirely sure whether she even wanted to be a teacher.

That all changed when, one day, she subbed for a special education class.

“As soon as I stepped into that class, I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do,” she said. “I just fell in love with it. I didn’t really feel that love with general education.”

Williams said she was impressed with the learning environment and the way faculty and staff worked with the students, who she said were very responsive and engaged.

“I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else,” she said.

Williams was hired by BCSD to work as a full-time intern for the 2021-22 school year to teach autism students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Once she passes the RICA test, Williams will become a fully credentialed teacher and expects to stay with the district.

“It’s been really exciting. I’m still in the honeymoon phase of it,” she said. “I never come home upset. I never wake up dreading to go to work. I may feel tired on some days, but I never feel like I had a bad day. I absolutely love my job.”

Williams said it’s been a challenge juggling the credential program and her work responsibilities, in addition to being a mother to three children. She is happy to be finishing up the program at CSUB and being able to focus more on her career.

“One of the reasons why I’m so grateful for this award is that it’s helped relieve some of that stress about being able to continue financially supporting my children,” she said.

The scholarship will also help Williams continue her education. She plans to apply for her master’s in special education and hopes to start next spring.