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Becoming a teacher

Faculty Highlights and Accomplishments

 

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Exciting News from #HICE2025

december 2024

The Cal Poly SOE's Educational Leadership & Administration Program (ELAP)'s faculty, Dr. Andrea Somoza-Norton and Dr. Natasha Neumann, proudly presented their session, "Boosting Latinx/e Teacher Recruitment: University-County Office of Education Partnership," at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education!

Their research underscores the importance of creating supportive pathways for BIPOC and Latinx/e teacher candidates. By emphasizing identity, retention, and long-term local hiring, their strategies aim to foster a more diverse and equitable education workforce in California.

Recruitment and Retention of Latinx Teachers Is Top Priority: So Why Are New Teachers Saying ¡Adiós!?

Natasha Neumann, Andrea Somoza-Norton, & Lorraine Lopez

october 2024

"Coupled with the changing student demographic and linguistic landscape across many school districts, there is a need to mirror the demographic and linguistic teaching and leadership teams. The importance of students seeing themselves in their teachers and administrators impacts their educational success (Carver-Thomas, 2017). Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) make up 50% of children from birth to age 18 in the United States and approximately 37% of the adult population. In contrast, public school BIPOC teachers comprise just 19% of our teaching force (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). The literature describes the significance of student achievement by having teachers of color in front of students of color."

Read the article here ›

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Cal Poly School of Education awarded two federal grants to address local teacher challenges

october 2024

Cal Poly’s School of Education is combating teacher challenges in the classroom thanks to two new federal grants from the Department of Education.

Read the report on KSBY's website ›

Educational Leadership & Administrative Services Program Faculty

Andrea Somoza-Norton, Ed.D.

program co-coordinator, Associate professor

Andrea Somoza-Norton, Ed.D. is a dynamic educator and researcher passionate about shaping a sustainable future through education. As an Associate Professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she inspires students to become leaders in eco-justice and educational sustainability. With a strong foundation in education, leadership, and research, Somoza-Norton's expertise spans K-12 schools and higher education. Her innovative work on eco-literacy practices and biomimetic leadership is at the forefront of addressing climate change's impact on education. 


Learn more about Andrea Somoza-Norton›

Natasha Neumann, Ed.D.

Program co-coordinator, Associate professor

Dr. Natasha Neumann is an experienced K–16 educational leader committed to multilingual education, transformative socially just leadership, and her students. Bilingual in Spanish and English, she brings extensive experience as a bilingual teacher, curriculum coordinator, and principal, with a strong focus on supporting diverse learners and empowering educators.

Now teaching in higher education, she inspires future administrators and educational leaders through research on multilingual education, BIPOC teacher recruitment, and climate-conscious school leadership. With an Ed.D. in K–12 Leadership from USC, Dr. Neumann is dedicated to creating inclusive learning environments where all students and educators thrive.

Learn more about Natasha Neumann ›

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School of Education
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
805.756.2126
soe@calpoly.edu