The Elementary Education Department offers the following school credentials: Multiple Subjects (Elementary Education), Multiple Subjects Intern Credentials, Multiple Subjects Middle Level Emphasis (MLE), Multiple Subjects BCLAD (Spanish), and a Multiple Subjects Credential combined MA Program (CRA). The College of Education also offers an MA in Education with an emphasis in Literacy Across the Curriculum for an Equitable Society (LACES) and an MA in Education with an emphasis on Curriculum and Instruction.
Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential with a Bilingual, Cross Cultural, Language, and Academic Development Emphasis Program is designed for those who will teach in culturally and linguistically diverse settings. Because most California schools serve culturally and linguistically diverse student populations, the demand for this credential has increased dramatically in recent years. Consequently the BCLAD emphasis within the Multiple Subject Teaching Credential has become a popular credential offered by the Department of Elementary Education.
Not all SJSU education students attend classes at the downtown San Jose campus. There are a sizable number of students enrolled in Web-based classes or television education classes or satellite locations such as Sacramento, Monterey, etc.
Multiple Subjects Intern Credentials
The Teacher Education Collaborative Internship (TE) Program Option is a one-year course of study and practice which begins with an orientation session available twice a month. It is a collaborative program with the Oak Grove, Campbell, Union and Santa Clara School Districts, and combines paid teaching internships with credential program work.
The School-University Partnership Intern (SUP) Program Option is a two-year internship in which successful candidates are compensated for full-time classroom teaching while satisfying the requirements for the Multiple Subject Credential Program.
The University Library, as the main resource for research in elementary education, maintains strong collections of books, periodicals, reference materials, electronic resources and services relevant to the Elementary Education Department. While the majority of education books and periodicals materials are integrated into the general Library collection, the library maintains on separate floors several unique collections. These specialized collections and the main collection of materials support the Teacher Education programs of the College of Education and the other academic departments that offer teacher preparation courses such as the English Department, the History Department, the Math Department, etc.
Specialized Education Collections
Educational Resource Center (ERC)
The Educational Resource Center (ERC), located on the seventh floor and Lower Level is a place and a gateway that provides information and resources for students, educators, professors, parents, and all others interested in K-12 education in Silicon Valley. The ERC is a collaborative effort among SJSU librarians, the College of Education, School of Library and Information Science, San Jose Public city librarians, school personnel, community members, and concerned groups.
Located in the ERC are 5 major collections:
Award Winning Books - award winning children's book (both fiction and nonfiction). These include not only the Newbery and Caldecott winners, but also award winning books that represent the diverse population of San Jose.
State Adopted Textbooks - includes textbooks currently adopted by the state of California for use in classrooms; also includes some supplementary materials. With the move into the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the collection has circulated at very high levels. This section of the ERC is also known as The Learning Resource Display Center (LRDC). The LRDC is a co-operative endeavor between the California Department of Education, San Jose State University and the Santa Clara County Office of Education. It contains grades K-8 print and non-print instructional materials adopted by the State of California. The University Library is a depository for state adopted textbooks.
Big Books - oversize copies of children's books, often classics. Some state adopted textbooks have supplementary material in the Big Books format. These are located on the Big Books shelves instead of the State Adopted Textbook shelves. Unlike the State Adopted Textbooks section which houses current textbooks, Big Books section contains current as well as historical materials.
Curriculum - includes professional development materials based on current learning theory and research; also includes lesson planning materials for practical application in classrooms. Materials are regularly evaluated to ensure that the collection remains current in its focus.
Libraries and Learning - materials that focus specifically on information literacy in the classroom and also the role of school libraries in information literacy.
Historical Collections
Historical Education Collections are located on the Lower Level, which houses three collections:
The State Text Collection is comprised of historical instructional materials. They include textbook series formerly on the list of California Adopted State Texts. Faculty identified seminal textbook series of historical interest and books from the early days of the San Jose Normal School. The majority of the materials focus on grades K-8.
The University Library has two historical Juvenile Collections in the Lower Level. These include a Juvenile Fiction and Nonfiction area, known collectively as the Children's and Young Adult Literature Collection. This collection supports the College of Education, the School of Library and Information Science, the English Department courses on Children's and Young Adult Literature, researchers and others interested in current and older books. The collection reflects the history of children's literature as it was used in the teaching world beginning with the San Jose Normal School. The Collection Development policy for the School of Library and Information Science also addresses this collection. With the exception of award winning books, the University Library does not select many current children’s books. Generally, current children's books are housed in the San Jose Public Library's children's collections.
The Elementary Education liaison works in tandem with the Secondary Education, Educational Administration & Higher Education, Counselor Education, Child and Adolescent Development, Special Education, Communicative Disorders and Sciences and Psychology liaisons; other subject liaisons are consulted as appropriate. Special note is made of the need to consult with the English Department faculty and librarian and the School of Library and Information Science faulty whenever Children's literature is involved. Responsibility for acquisition of items in these areas of overlap is decided in consultation with librarians responsible for collection development in the fields noted above.
San Jose State University students, faculty, and staff have access to the print collections of the other 22 California State University libraries through CSU+, a resource-sharing system, giving SJSU patrons access to over 29 million books.
One of the Education librarian liaisons participates as a voting member on the College of Education Curriculum Committee, a committee comprised of one representative from each of the eight departments, college leadership and others. Membership on this committee allows proactive participation in changing the curriculum, offering new courses and obtaining new resources necessary to support the College of Education.
Materials are purchased in the format that most effectively delivers the information needed by the discipline.
The book collection for elementary education is fairly strong in basic curricular support of the teacher preparation program. A balance of books on theory and practice has been collected over the long history of the University as a Teacher Preparation institution. One of the strengths of the elementary education collection is the growing number of electronic resources available to support the on- and off-campus programs. During the past few years, funds have been used to change from print resources to digital resources. This is due to heavy faculty and student demand for off-campus access to research and resources. Some of the resources used by the education faculty and students are shared with other disciplines.
An additional strength is the Educational Resource Center (ERC) that houses a curriculum collection. These curriculum materials support the professional work and research of the in-service teacher or administrator. The collection also supports the professional programs such as Teacher Preparation/Credential Programs, special Credential Programs, School Library Media Specialist and certificate programs. It is rigorously reviewed to remove outdated materials retaining only the latest in research and practice.
The other ERC collection that is very important is the state adopted textbooks collection, also known by the State Department of Education as the Learning Resources Display Center (LRDC). This collection primarily supports the Teacher Preparation programs offered on campus through many different academic units such as the Elementary Education Department, the Liberal Studies Program and the Child and Adolescent Development Department. Teacher preparation includes seven subject areas and involves more than six different academic departments. The subject areas taught in grades K-8 are Reading/Language Arts (including ESL), Foreign Languages, Social Studies/History, Mathematics, Science, Health/Physical Education, and Visual and Performing Arts. Materials are sent by publishers to the LRDCs in California. The SJSU LRDC is currently the main display center for Santa Clara County. For viewing LRDC materials at the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE), please call the SCCOE for more information. These materials are kept on the adoption list for approximately seven years with some variation. Materials are reviewed by the elementary education librarian and the appropriate teacher preparation faculty at the end of an adoption term. Items of significance for the teacher preparation program are selected for transfer to the historical textbook collection.
The ERC also houses the Award Winning books and has a fairly long history of collecting Award Winning children's literature. These titles are eventually moved to the Lower Level collection as they get older.
The periodicals collection has been greatly enhanced by the addition of full-text electronic databases to the collection.
A. Academic Senate Policy
According to Academic Senate Library Policy S15-10, periodic evaluations of the print collection are required to maintain the high quality of the academic collection, with the primary goals of improving the effectiveness of browsing and providing space for new acquisitions. The objectives include relocating materials, and weeding duplicate materials and materials that support discontinued programs or are no longer relevant for current programs. Evaluation of the elementary education collection involves not only print materials but sound recordings and other media as well.
Resources for the Elementary Education collection are selected after consulting with the Teacher Education faculty whose focus in research and university teaching is on K-8 subject matter. Recommendations from the faculty and students are the first priority. The ALA EBSS listserv, dedicated to education and social science librarians, and the databases, Choice Reviews and Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) are other sources of recommended library resources.
B. Past, Present and Future Evaluation Plans
Future objectives include reviews of the Learning Resources Display Center materials as they move off the California list of state adopted textbooks. Children's literature titles no longer needed for the public library collection are reviewed in consultation with public library colleagues and teaching faculty to identify titles that are still essential to support the University curriculum. If the titles are in good condition and enhance the collection, these materials are re-located to the historical juvenile fiction or nonfiction collections in the Lower Level of the Library.
Further development of the elementary education collection includes: