Author: Devang Pujara

California’s System of Support would not be complete without an investment in the professional development (PD) of educators who work directly with the students we serve. In a time when educators may feel lost in a storm of competing initiatives, the California Coalition for Inclusive Literacy (CCIL) provides shelter under the umbrella of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework.

In the same way that the UDL framework provides multiple options to meet the needs of a wide range of learners, the free resources developed by CCIL strive to meet the many needs of educators who, every day, must address a range of demands such as accelerating learning and nurturing the social-emotional resiliency of students. 

“Amazing. I haven’t heard UDL spoken like this ever. You truly understand the struggles we teachers feel daily. Thank you so much for what you are teaching us today.”

With empathy toward these pulls on educators’ stamina and time, CCIL provides Four Ways to Engage with inclusive literacy and UDL in thematically-linked packages every month. 

Got a Minute?

Understanding that time is an educator’s kryptonite, these flexible learning modules offer teachers, coaches, administrators, and staff with options to engage independently or collaboratively during a staff meeting or from the comfort of their home in 10-, 20-, and 45-minute increments.

Monthly Webinar Series: Universal Design for Inclusive Literacy

Literacy is an act of power and freedom. It includes making meaning from text but also encompasses the ability to critique the thinking of others and advocate for oneself. Literacy and content-area knowledge are intertwined and must be fostered in inclusive environments.

This 9-part series is especially relevant as we welcome students back to classrooms. Educators grappling with accelerating learning in the face of pronounced barriers and student variability will find this series timely and relevant. Learn how to support literacy for all students in inclusive and equitable learning environments through the lens of the UDL framework.

Top Tips!

Aligned with the monthly theme, this one-page document offers strategic support at your fingertips. Top Tips is designed to jog thinking, spark conversation, and encourage deeper learning.

Featured Resource from Learning Designed

CAST, Inc.—the creators of UDL—hosts this online community platform, which includes a curated library of more than 500 vetted resources related to universal design. Each month, CCIL highlights a high-leverage, quality resource for educators who are interested in Learning Designed, but might not have the time to peruse or navigate all the resources. Check out this month’s featured resource—The Assessment Playbook!

These supports, provided by the California Department of Education’s (CDE) $4.9M Educator Workforce Investment Grant (EWIG), are a venture and testament to the value of those in the field supporting students. Taking the time to grow yourself is an act of self-care. As teachers nourish the love of learning in students, they must also nourish that love for themselves. We hope you find a source of support in these resources, as described by a recent PD attendee: “Amazing. I haven’t heard UDL spoken like this ever. You truly understand the struggles we teachers feel daily. Thank you so much for what you are teaching us today.”

Click here to contact or learn more about the CCIL Team.

AUTHOR

Elise Yerkey,
Implementation Specialist,
CAST

RESOURCES

• California Coalition for Inclusive Literacy (CCIL)
• CAST Website
• Four Ways to Engage (Inclusive Literacy Resources)
• Got a Minute? Learning Series
• Learning Designed Featured Resource
• The Assessment Playbook: A UDL Approach
• Top Tips! (aligned with CAST’s monthly theme)
• Universal Design for Inclusive Literacy (9-part webinar series) – Register now!

All throughout the previous year, we held our collective breaths in hope for a “return to normal,” while recognizing that whatever we returned to would look very different. As school starts this fall, after a year of interrupted learning imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our return to school is one that is overshadowed by the learning gaps that our students are experiencing. The stresses and inconsistencies of remote and hybrid learning have increased the demands placed on families and students during the learning process, and our students are returning with greater gaps in learning acquisition than ever.

A study released by PACE earlier this year examined learning loss across the state as a result of the pandemic. While students overall experienced a loss of learning when compared with a year of typical in-person learning, the impact on learning is greater in the earlier grades, and for certain student groups, including English learners and low-income students. The disproportionately greater learning loss for students of color and low-income students as a result of COVID are were also found in a national study conducted by McKinsey, which compared actual learning with expected learning gains from full-time, in-person learning. The team found that while white students experienced the equivalent of three months of lost learning in math and four months in reading on average, Latinx and Black students lost between five to six months. The picture for students with low-income backgrounds is even grimmer, with a predicted seven months’ loss of learning.

While summer learning loss is always a factor in our back-to-school planning, this year, it is imperative that we define a concrete plan to assess the needs of our students and identify appropriate strategies to ensure that each child has the supports they need to feel safe and connected, and the skills they need to access grade-level content and learning. As discussed in Restarting and Reinventing School report published by the Learning Policy Institute, we have a deep body of research on the science of learning to help reshape the way that we might structure classrooms and schools to better address the needs of students as they return this fall. To address the learning gaps our students are returning with, we need to first start with the environment they are returning to, focusing on what we know about the best conditions for learning: 

• Developing positive relationships and attachments; ensuring that students feel  safe, affirmed, and deeply engaged within a supportive community of learners
• Creating real-world connections between what children already know and what they are learning
• Opportunities for physical activity, joy, and opportunities for self-expression
• Cultivating motivation through confidence; focusing on readiness rather than competition or shame

We also need to build on these conditions and rethink the way in which we support students’ learning recovery as they start school this year. The traditional way we have approached this in schools has been to remediate—focusing on mastery of skills and concepts missed from the prior year(s). But research such as Bellwether’s national study of NAEP performance continue to show that students who start below grade level rarely catch up. Students become stuck in a cycle of remediation—constantly working to catch up to grade level work and often falling further behind. The question we should be asking is, how do we accelerate the pace of learning in order to help our students access grade level content? This doesn’t mean running through all of the missed skills and concepts in less time. Instead, the concept of accelerating learning asks us to identify and support the acquisition of key concepts and skills that are needed to access grade level content.

Educators have always experienced and stepped up to the challenge of how to best tailor instruction to achieve the best possible outcomes for students. With our partners at Copernicus Solutions, CCEE is proud to launch our Playbook for Accelerating Learning (PAL), our latest resource in our series of playbooks to support instructional teams plan for, implement, and refine their strategies to ensure student success in schools. The PAL: 

• reviews current research on how best to improve student outcomes, 
• lays out models that practitioners can use to accelerate learning in their systems, 
• proposes ways in which they can plan with their teams in the pursuit of such goals, 
• envisions how their efforts may take place during and beyond the school day, and 
• suggests ways in which LEAs can leverage community-based organizations and engage families as partners in the work. 

By making these resources available in a concise and actionable format, CCEE hopes to assist instructional leaders in California shorten their preparation period for accelerating learning and promoting the joyful and successful future we envision and deem possible for all our students.

LAUNCH CCEE’S PLAYBOOK FOR ACCELERATING LEARNING 

AUTHOR

Sujie Shin, Deputy Executive Director, CCEE

RESOURCES

• CCEE’s Playbook for Accelerating Learning
• Restarting & Reinventing School – Learning Policy Institute (LPI)

Students, educators, and families alike wish for this summer to be filled with memory-making, joyful arts experiences that offer the foundation needed to reengage students and prepare us for the coming year. By thoughtfully and strategically leveraging available resources, educators can design a student-centered, standards-based approach to arts instruction that equitably attends to social and emotional considerations. The joy of arts learning offers a summer infused with creative possibilities!

Students thrive when learning environments nurture respectful relationships and link learning to the learner. Students engage in the learning process when the content harnesses their curiosity, connects to their lives, and amplifies their voice. These are the environments of arts learning. The arts disciplines (dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts) provide creative opportunities for students to foster positive social-emotional relationships, connect with their teachers and peers, and actively engage in the artistic processes of creating, performing/presenting/producing, responding, and connecting. These cognitive and physical actions of arts learning promote students’ artistic literacy and skill development. Educators’ careful attention to the creative processes, content area standards, learning environments, and students’ needs when planning summer arts instruction sets the foundation for students to thrive.

The statewide network of The California Arts Project (TCAP) supports educators in designing such instruction, summer or year-round. By tapping into these standards-based resources, student interests, and their own imagination, educators are equipped to design a memory-making summer of powerful and transformative arts learning to usher in the new school year.

California has developed guidance resources to support students’ artistic literacy development and advance social-emotional learning. The new 2020 California Arts Education Framework’s core themes of equity, access, and inclusion articulate a contemporary vision for arts learning that conveys the vital role arts education has in students’ artistic literacy, cognitive, social, cultural, and emotional development. The 2019 California Arts Education Standards encompass authentic arts processes and approaches in each arts discipline to promote students’ artistic literacy development and social and emotional growth. These discipline-specific, process-oriented, grade-appropriate, and inquiry-based standards build students’ capacities in developing social and emotional connections, such as setting and achieving positive goals, feeling and showing empathy for others, building relationships, understanding and managing of emotions, and developing ethical responsibility. Educators can find additional social and emotional learning resources on the California Department of Education webpage.

AUTHOR

Kristine Alexander, Executive Director, The California Arts Project

RESOURCES

• The California Arts Project
• CA Subject Matter Project
• CA Arts Education Standards
• CA Arts Education Framework