Graduate Studies at Reach

Graduate Institute

The Reach Institute for School Leadership is the graduate institute and post-baccalaureate division of Reach University. We refer it as the “Graduate Institute.” Our work is grounded in the conviction that great teaching is at the heart of every great school.

Vision

The Reach Institute is committed to a more equitable world in which every student is supported by highly effective and dedicated teachers, who themselves are supported by highly effective and dedicated school leaders.

Mission

The Reach Institute mission is to improve schools by improving instruction, fostered by providing rigorous, relevant, and applied pathways and preparation for exceptional teaching & leadership in our candidates’ daily work. The Reach Institute develops and supports teachers and educational leaders who are committed to creating and sustaining effective urban schools.

Institutional Goals

The work of the Reach Institute is focused on achieving three Institutional Goals:

Goal 1. Develop highly effective teachers & instructional leaders to serve the diverse needs of students in partner schools and districts.

Goal 2. Create an innovative graduate school that embeds rigorous, relevant, applied learning in the school contexts of teachers and leaders.

Goal 3. Provide the educational community with a model for teacher and leadership development for ensuring equitable access and performance for all students.

The Reach Institute for School Leadership, in affiliation with Bay Area School of Enterprise (BASE) and the Oxford Teachers College of Reach University, offers six place-based complementary programs in Reach partner schools:

Intern Teacher Credentialing Program

Intern Teacher Credentialing Program + Master of Arts in Teaching

Teacher Induction Program (TIP)

• Master of Education in Teaching and Induction Program

Instructional Leadership Academy

Whole School Development

Bachelor of Arts in Global Education

Institutional Strategies

Reach was designed from the outset to meet the needs of educators learning complex skills, on-the-job, in difficult circumstances. Reach program practices were developed in response to research from teacher training, professional development, and apprenticeship programs, indicating that new knowledge and skills are more effectively developed when integrated with experience as opposed to the fragmentation that occurs when teachers learn in a context removed from their day-to-day experience. In response to this challenge, Reach developed the following five integrated and overlapping strategies:

  • Personalized Professional Development: Each candidate develops and implements an Individualized Learning Plan with the help of peers, experienced leaders, and coaches. The plan is regularly referenced, reflected on, and updated based on evidence of the candidate’s progress. 
  • Job Embedded Coaching: While learning about individual school contexts, experienced coaches support the development of candidates’ practice through questioning, instruction, collaboration, observation, and feedback.  Coaching occurs cyclically as a process of building awareness, taking action, analyzing results, and changing attitudes.
  • Integration of Knowledge and Practice: Reach candidates are supported to apply knowledge gained from research to continually develop skills while immediately impacting and improving their classroom, program, or organization in pursuit of equitable student outcomes.  Course instruction is designed utilizing best practices in professional development and adult education.
  • Inquiry Mindset:The relevant and applied curriculum of Reach courses engages candidates in repeated cycles of inquiry.  These cycles take a variety of forms, all of which contribute to the development of an action-research orientation that assists candidates in not only analyzing practice but in making and implementing evidence-based decisions to improve practice.   
  • Reflective Communities of Practice: In order to build classroom and instructional leaders who are committed to and support one another’s growth, candidates meet in cohorts and small inquiry groups and develop the habits of mind to look deeply at their own and each others practice, offering feedback and inquiries to help one another identify the obstacles and avenues to great work

Equal Opportunity

Reach University affords equal opportunity to all students, and other participants without regard to race, color, religion, citizenship, political activity or affiliation, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition (as defined under California law), veteran status, family care status, sexual orientation, sex (which includes gender and gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), taking or requesting statutorily protected leave, or any other basis protected by law.)

Reach Institute Master’s Graduate Profile (Institutional Learning Outcomes, ILOs):

Reach graduates combine research and practice to take effective action in the service of educational equity.

Toward this end, they are able to:
O1. Inquiry: Identify problem of practice, gather information, develop and execute an action plan, analyze results, reflect on implications for future practice
O2. Equity Orientation: Take action to address situational and systemic inequity in education
O3. Integration into Practice: Apply that which they have learned and integrate it into their practice
O4. Collaboration: Interact around research problems and increase each other’s knowledge of the research related to their projects
O5. Commitment: Demonstrate a commitment to creating and sustaining urban schools

Participant Satisfactory Data:  Read the Reach Institute for School Leadership participant satisfactory data HERE.

Regional Accreditation: The Reach Institute for School Leadership is accredited by WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), 985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501, (510) 748-9001. 

California CTC Program Accreditation:  In affiliation with the Reach Institute for School Leadership (dba Reach University), the Alternatives in Action Bay Area School of Enterprise (AIA/BASE) is accredited by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. You may view the current list of approved program HERE