Sonoma County Office of Education

SCOE to Dedicate Teacher Learning Center Oct. 18

10/02/2018 -

Teacher Learning CenterThe Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) will hold a dedication for its new Teacher Learning Center Thursday, Oct. 18, from 2:00-2:30pm. Members of the media are invited.

The Teacher Learning Center (TLC) is located at the main Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) Campus on Skylane Boulevard. The more-than 7,000-square foot facility provides 21st Century, state-of-the-art learning facilities for future teachers and administrators. It opened for classes in the fall of 2018 with the primary purpose of providing learning space for the North Coast School of Education (NCSOE) teacher and administrator induction and credentialing programs.

NCSOE was founded by SCOE in 2015 to address a growing teacher shortage by providing a range of high-quality teacher and administrator preparation programs. Today, NCSOE partners with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to provide state-approved teacher induction programs, teacher intern programs, and administrator preliminary and induction programs that serve more than 2,000 beginning teachers, administrators, and mentors. It runs one of the few career technical education credentialing programs offered through a county office. Operating with a staff of roughly 10 full-time employees and 150 limited-term employees, it serves 155 districts around Northern California and partners with nine universities and eight county offices of education.

The Oct. 18 dedication ceremony will include:

  • Congressman Mike Thompson will officially dedicate the building.
  • County Superintendent Steve Herrington will commemorate former county superintendent Walter Eagan, for whom the classrooms in the new facility are named.
  • Jason Lea, Executive Director of the North Coast School of Education, will speak to the value of teacher education programs.
  • Dani Eaton, a SCOE special education teacher who went through North Coast School of Education's Be a Teacher program, will share how the program inspired her to return to her home county of Sonoma in order to pursue her dream of being a special education teacher.

For more information or to set up additional interviews with SCOE/NCSOE staff or teachers benefitting from the program, please contact SCOE Communications Specialist Jamie Hansen at 707-524-2620 or jhansen@scoe.org.