CCAC History

Have you ever wondered where CCAC came from? After all, the organization is a unique association of credential professionals representing a constituency linked to both the credential candidate at one end and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing at the other. It appears that there is no other group like ours in the nation. Below is a a brief history of the organization.

CCAC began in March of 1975 when a group of some 93 individuals attended a one day meeting in Fresno conducted by staff representatives of the newly created Commission on Teacher Preparation and Licensing. As part of the program, workshops were held to disseminate information about licensing. Workshop leaders that day included Carol Berg, Helen Krahn and Jan Smith from the California State Colleges and Universities, and Ada Nix from the University of California. Historically, this meeting has been considered the beginning of the organization.

An outcome of the March 1975 meeting was the scheduling of a yearly Fall Credential Workshop in Sacramento. Credential Workshops were held in October of 1975, 1976, and 1977. It was not until 1978 however, that it became apparent that a more formal organizational structure was needed. Ada Nix, UC Irvine, Kay Pollock, CSU Fullerton, Madeline Sokolsky, CSU, Dominguez Hills, Donna Wegner, Stanford University, and Rebecca Wood, CSU, Northridge were appointed to draft bylaws to form a state professional organization. The name selected for the new association was Credential Counselors and Analysts of California, CCAC. In 1979 the first slate of officers was elected. Kay Pollack became the first president followed by Carol Berg (1984-1981), Ada Nix (1981-1982), Joe Schieffer (1982-1984), Gale Pemberton (1984), Carol Riley (1984-1986), Karla Hallum (1986-1988), Carol Riley (1988-1990), Thea Andrew (1990-1992), Diana Dille (1992-1995), Edith Thiessen (1995-1996), Carol Riley (1996-1998), Nancy Proclivo (1998-2000), Mel Hunt (2000-2002), and Bonnie Crawford (2002-2005), Tedi Kostka (2005 – 2007), Franell Prather (2007 – 2009), Peggy Smith Anderson (2009 – 2010), Franell Prather (2010-2011), Paula Sutton (2011 – 2012), Edith Thiessen (2012 – 2013), Denise Payne (2013 –2015 ), Debbie Brumfield (2015 – 2017), Jenny Teresi (2017 – 2018 ), Denise Payne (2018- ) The first membership list contained 53 names.

Over the year the membership has grown significantly, although the goals and objectives adopted by the first group of members have essentially remained the same: to help members become more effective in the professional performance of their duties, to provide an informational network to facilitate communication and the dissemination of credential information, to liaison with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, to conduct conferences, workshops, and meetings of the membership, to prepare publications on credentialing, and to facilitate communication between institutions of higher education, school districts, and county offices of education.

So as we look to the future of CCAC let us always remember those individuals whose vision and dedication helped to create and organization of which we can all be proud.

Carol Riley, Past President