NORWALK - Cerritos College education students may be creating bulletin boards and lesson plans sooner than their peers at other colleges because of an innovative partnership between the college and Cal State Long Beach.

    Cerritos College President Fred Gaskin and Cal State Long Beach President Robert Maxson met Monday to finalize the details and signed an agreement linking the newly established Cerritos Teacher TRaining ACademy (Teacher TRAC) with the teacher education program at CSULB.

    Cerritos students who are admitted to Teacher TRAC will be on a four year program that included two years at Cerritos and automatic admission to CSULB, Gaskin said.

    The program will allow students to complete a bachelor's degree and a multiple-subject teaching credential within four years.

    Gaskin said CSULB was a logical choice for a program partner because the state institution is already a first choice among students who transfer.

    Dr. Jean Houck, dean of CSULB's  College of Education said Cal State partnered with Cerritos because of the community college's advance technology center and commitment to teacher education.

    Maxson said he hopes the program will give students the chance to complete their work seamlessly even though they transfer between institutions.

    CSULB administrators say this is the first such agreement geared toward teacher training.

    Studies by the National Commission of Teaching and America's Future show that more than 2 million new teachers will be needed to fill the vacant positions during the next ten years.