California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program: An analysis of collaboration between higher education institutions and school districts

In 2003, California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program had 145 programs throughout the state, organized into five clusters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how selected BTSA programs addressed BTSA Standard ;Twenty-six representative programs comprised the study sample. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher based on review of prior research in collaboration. Nineteen factors related to successful collaboration were identified. They were sorted in to six components of similar factors. A minimum of three questions were designed and field-tested for each component for a questionnaire. The questionnaire was returned by thirty respondents: twenty-one district-based BTSA directors and fifteen representatives of higher education institutions.;Findings were conclusive. All programs were described by both sub-samples as successful. All six components and nineteen factors identified through the research literature were present in all programs. No additional components were identified in any program. While a prior successful working history with the collaborating partners and ongoing regular communication emerged as the most frequently named reason for success, all six components were identified as important for success.;The most frequently identified problem was with the turnover of representatives of the higher education institutions and with the related difficulty of maintaining effective communications through the life of the program. Reward structures within higher education that do not support collaborative work with schools was named as the primary perceived reason for the pervasive pattern. The inability of higher education institutions to respond quickly to conditions of rapid change was also named as a related issue.;Federal and state programs that fund targeted projects but allow flexibility in implementation were found to be successful.;Future research should be done on the interrelationships of the components of collaboration, on modification of the reward systems of institutions of higher education; and on the development of federal and state policies that continue to support funding of local, flexible solutions to issues of school change.