State Center Federation of Teachers:

• Believes in cultivating the potential of students;

  • Community colleges are a vital part of the life and economy of the Central Valley. State Center Federation of Teachers (SCFT) is the beating heart of the Central Valley’s colleges and provides the quality education that prepares students to become active and informed participants in our democracy. As SCFT members, we provide the foundation for our students to debate ideas, to challenge established thought and to construct new meaning for themselves and the world around them as they become contributing citizens. As educators, we support this learning with a solid grounding in established knowledge and open minds toward new solutions. We recognize that we are preparing our students for a world we do not yet know.

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• Believes that educating students is a craft requiring talented and dedicated professionals;

  • We recognize that educating future generations is one of the most important and complex tasks in our society. As skilled professionals we understand that our students learn in a variety of ways; this inspires us to become innovators in developing a variety of techniques and approaches that create student engagement. We combine our extensive knowledge of content, experience in the classroom, and deep concern for our students’ progress and well-being to help us create engaging lessons that motivate and guide our students to educational success. We know that the relationships we develop with our students help them build and reach their own potential.

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• Believes that our communities’ voices help foster our students’ success; and

  • Strong public education exists within a societal context of dealing with challenges of transience, poverty, and discrimination. While these challenges may arise from the community, the community and public schools must share the responsibility for their resolution in order to deal with such challenges successfully. Community and family involvement within the educational process provide the needed support for all of our students. Building relationships with our community partners will help our students connect to their communities in different ways and let them know that we all value education. These partnerships can provide our students with real opportunities to apply their learning and to develop stronger communities where everyone is respected.

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• Believes that a good education is at the heart of a good society.

  • As SCFT members, we are dedicated to initiating policies that will improve public education. We work diligently to ensure that our colleges have the necessary resources to create a climate where real learning occurs, and where all students are afforded a high quality education. We are tireless advocates for our students.

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SCFT Values Statement—adopted May 2012