Category: FRONTLINE VOICES

By Tricia Protzman and Amy Tarantino Jones, Ed.D

When districts across Madera County began turning to Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as a strategy for improvement, they did so from distinct contexts and with clear intentions for growth. Yosemite Unified School District engaged through technical assistance and selected PLCs to strengthen outcomes. Madera Unified School District pursued the Intensive Assistance Model (IAM) through the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), launching a multi-year partnership focused on systems alignment and instructional coherence. Together, this work extended across six schools, each bringing its own strengths, history, and readiness for improvement.

To scale the IAM model, Matt Navo, Executive Director of CCEE, approached the Madera County Superintendent of Schools (MCSOS) with a proposal for countywide implementation. County Superintendent Tricia Protzman embraced the opportunity to build capacity through an intensive model grounded in professional learning communities. With CCEE’s partnership, PLCs became the structure supporting district improvement efforts across the county.

The MCSOS Educational Services team assumed leadership of the countywide effort. Led by Program Director Amy Tarantino Jones and strengthened through PLC training facilitated by Rich Smith of Engaged Learning Center, the team established a shared understanding and operational plan. By aligning varied leadership experiences and clarifying roles, the team deepened its PLC expertise while functioning intentionally as a county guiding coalition.

Work with Madera Unified and Yosemite Unified began in late spring 2025. From the outset, the MCSOS team prioritized foundational knowledge of professional learning communities, recognizing that sustainable PLC practices require more than just structures — they require shared understanding. The PLC at Work framework emphasizes mission, vision, and collective commitments as the starting point and as implementation unfolded in each district, it became clear why that sequence matters. Sustainable change begins with culture.

Although teams were eager to begin content standards work early on, we invested substantial time in strengthening the four pillars of the PLC model: mission, vision, collective commitments, and goals. This deliberate “go slow to go fast” approach was critical before beginning the technical work.

Developing collective commitments required honest dialogue and thoughtful collaboration. Guiding coalitions engaged in meaningful conversations that surfaced shared beliefs about student learning and clarified expectations for adult practice. The result was a set of commitments that provided accountability to move the work forward.

With those foundations in place, teams turned to building units of study, but identifying essential standards proved more nuanced than anticipated. In one district, districtwide essential standards created opportunities for school teams to collaborate and strengthen ownership. In the other, teachers expanded their capacity in identifying essential standards and unpacking them effectively.

Eight months into implementation, there is so much to celebrate! Teachers are collaborating more intentionally and reflecting on practice. Principals are monitoring teamwork with greater clarity and guiding coalitions continue to clarify roles while strengthening collective leadership, particularly at the district level. Conversations are increasingly centered on student learning, and the use of data to inform instruction is becoming more consistent.

For MCSOS, this work has required growth as well. While supporting districts, we strengthened our own collaborative structures and internal alignment. One lesson stands out: productive dissonance is a natural part of meaningful improvement. When foundations are strong, tension becomes a catalyst for clarity rather than a barrier to progress.

At the county level, coherence guides our work as we align state priorities, county support, and district practice. Within that alignment, PLCs serve as the structure connecting leadership expectations to classroom instruction and student outcomes.

Our partnership with CCEE and the trust built alongside Madera Unified and Yosemite Unified have strengthened Madera County’s capacity to deliver a coherent system of support. Over the next two years, we will deepen that coherence—ensuring structures for student learning are increasingly aligned, collaboration is seamless, and responsibility for results is shared. Together, we will continue strengthening alignment across our system while maintaining a clear and disciplined focus on student outcomes.

For more information about Madera County’s PLC efforts, please contact Amy Tarantino Jones, Ed.D., Program Director, Madera County Superintendent of Schools, at 559-673-5569 or [email protected]

Across California, educators are working to improve outcomes for middle and high school students through investments in community schools, career pathways, dual enrollment, and expanded student supports. These efforts reflect a shared commitment to student success. The Secondary School Redesign Pilot builds on that foundation by focusing on the design of schools themselves.

Rather than introducing new initiatives, the California Secondary School Redesign Pilot asks how secondary schools themselves can be redesigned so that learning experiences, relationships, schedules, and supports are aligned to better serve today’s students.

The pilot is led by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence in partnership with the California Department of Education and the State Board of Education, and was authorized through AB 121 (2025). It is designed as a statewide learning effort that builds on the work already underway in schools and districts across California.

An application process launched in late October drew 56 applications statewide, reflecting strong interest from networks engaged in rethinking middle and high school design. From this pool, 14 school networks were selected to participate, representing more than 100 schools across 65 districts at varying stages of redesign. These networks bring diverse regional, demographic, and instructional contexts, along with deep experience in secondary improvement efforts.

While the approaches across participating networks vary, the pilot is anchored in a shared understanding of what effective secondary schools require. The work centers on ensuring that every student is known and supported through strong relationships and systems of care. It emphasizes learning experiences that foster deeper knowledge and skills, including critical thinking, collaboration, and real-world application. It prioritizes personalized learning and supports that respond to students’ strengths, needs, and interests, while using evidence of learning and engagement to guide continuous improvement. Underlying all of this is a focus on building sustainable structures—such as schedules, staffing models, and professional learning—that allow redesign efforts to endure over time.

Through the pilot, CCEE is partnering with participating networks to learn alongside them. The goal is not to identify a single model of redesign, but to better understand the conditions that make effective secondary school redesign possible across varied contexts. This includes examining how redesigned school structures interact with existing state investments, such as community schools, career pathways, and dual enrollment, and how greater coherence across these efforts can support more equitable outcomes for students.

Over the next 18 months, the pilot will focus on documenting promising practices, surfacing common challenges, and supporting shared learning across networks. Insights from this work will contribute to broader statewide understanding and help inform future policy and practice related to secondary education in California.

Click the button below to learn more about the California Secondary School Redesign Pilot and participating networks.

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) celebrates significant growth in academic achievement among schools participating in the Intensive Assistance Model (IAM). After three years in the IAM, the 2025 CAASPP scores are showing impressive results for the first cohort of IAM LEAs.

Launched in 2022–23, the Intensive Assistance Model was established to address the growing need for districts requiring more comprehensive support through Direct Technical Assistance. Informed by research on districts that outperformed expectations, this initiative was designed to deliver focused and sustained support to LEAs aiming to strengthen instructional practices and improve academic outcomes for their students.

In this cohort, the Intensive Assistance Model utilized the PLC at Work framework. Through this collaboration, the Intensive Assistance Model leverages needs assessments, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and leadership coaching, and promotes common formative assessments, aligned curriculum, and data-informed instructional strategies, to incite positive growth among LEAs.

• This year, Highland Elementary (Inglewood USD) has seen extraordinary gains — +13.11% in ELA and +9.96% in Math on the 2025 CAASPP.
• Similarly, H.W. Harkness Elementary (Sac City USD) has seen remarkable growth of +6.42% in ELA and +5.06% in Math on the 2025 CAASPP.
• Fillmore Unified School District saw an increase of +6.38% in ELA and +2.13% in Math on the 2025 CAASPP.

To hear more about their journeys, tune into CCEE’s Podcast: Rising from the Margins. Dive into Episodes 2 and 3 of Rising from the Margins to hear about Highland’s journey through the power of focused coaching and collaboration.
In Episode 4, you can hear how focused, collaborative improvement helped Harkness set a new standard for student success.

Finally, listen to how educators and leaders at Fillmore USD are charting a new path for student achievement in Episodes 5 and 6.

In the Intensive Assistance Model’s short span of existence, it is already proving to make a substantial impact on LEAs. At CCEE, we are excited to continue to support and expand this model in order to grow our reach and impact on California’s schools and improve outcomes for all students. 

Successfully accelerating learning is complex and often challenging because it requires a holistic shift in how educators and school systems approach student support. It demands a comprehensive and systematic change that centers learning acceleration in all educational system design decisions, educator professional learning initiatives, and instructional planning for students. Though this may seem daunting, the return is worth the investment… and CCEE’s Playbook for Accelerating Learning (PAL) 2.0 is here to help!

We’re excited to announce the release of a comprehensive update to the PAL, which outlines core components of learning acceleration along with updated research, resources, and actionable strategies. Initially published in 2021, the PAL aimed to distill available resources into a concise and actionable format, helping instructional leaders in California shorten the time it takes to create effective accelerated learning systems. Though the purpose of the PAL remains unchanged, we’ve learned a lot since then. Further, California has taken bold action since 2021 to strengthen the system of support for learning acceleration.

The PAL 2.0 incorporates new research, learning, initiatives, resources, and evolution since its initial publication. Enriched and informed by the work and expertise of Learning Acceleration System Grant partners in California, the PAL 2.0 details essential elements of learning acceleration, including:

• Defining Learning Acceleration
• Planning for Strategic Content Instruction
• Harnessing the Power of Data-Driven Instruction
• Creating the Conditions for Learning Acceleration
• Embedding Strategic Supports for Diverse Learners
• Building Sustainable Learning Acceleration Systems

Learning acceleration requires an all-hands-on-deck approach and a willingness to diverge from current models. We hope you find the resources in the PAL 2.0 useful to help your team get started, keep you iterating and improving, and provide support at all stages of your work to help all students thrive and reach their full potential. 

California Collaborative for Learning Acceleration (CCLA) is designed to strategically leverage the expertise around learning acceleration across the state in order to provide resources and support that can be accessed by every educator. Led by the Santa Clara County Office of Education in partnership with six CCLA county regional hubs, CCLA provides free online courses, statewide workshops, and annual summits for leaders, educators, and paraeducators. CCLA also offers targeted site-specific professional learning and coaching to build capacity in evidence-based accelerated learning strategies, such as small group instruction, tutoring, and focusing on key content. We are excited to share the following CCLA resources and collaboration opportunities in math, literacy, and language development to help educators accelerate learning for all students!

BRIDGES to Learning Acceleration

One of CCLA’s signature tools is the BRIDGES to Learning Acceleration Framework, a seven-component model that highlights best practices and helps educators connect their current approaches with new strategies to enhance accelerated learning. By using the BRIDGES framework, educators can strengthen instructional practices and more effectively meet the diverse needs of students.

CCLA Canvas Courses

CCLA also offers flexible, self-paced Canvas courses in math, literacy, and language development. These courses emphasize culturally sustaining pedagogy, social-emotional learning, and support for multilingual learners while equipping educators to expand access to grade-level content. Participants may use the courses for individual professional growth or to earn graduate-level credit, making them a versatile option for professional learning. Complete the interest form for enrolling in the Canvas Course.

Statewide Virtual Workshops

In addition, CCLA continues to host statewide virtual workshops that provide targeted professional learning and collaboration opportunities for all California educators. These sessions combine the sharing of evidence-based methodologies with dedicated time for educators to collaborate, exchange ideas, and strengthen their practice. Workshop topics include learning progressions, comprehension, and culturally responsive pedagogy, giving educators practical strategies they can apply immediately in their classrooms. (Math workshop Registration | Literacy Workshop Registration).

By helping school systems and leaders adopt learning acceleration mindsets and practices, CCLA is committed to promoting student success. Please visit the CCLA website to learn about additional opportunities including the upcoming 2026 Summit and don’t forget to subscribe to the CCLA newsletter!

Introducing the Assessment System Review Online Learning Path 2.0

Last month, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) launched an updated version of the Assessment System Review Online Learning Path (2.0), an online professional learning resource developed in partnership with the Center for Assessment. This version builds on insights from CCEE’s 2024 Balanced Assessment System pilot with three California districts as well as the Center for Assessment’s work nationwide, offering school and district teams more flexible ways to reflect and improve their assessment practices. The learning path equips local educational agencies (LEAs) with tools to determine whether their assessments are providing the right information to the right users at the right time, and where adjustments may be needed. At its heart, this work is about creating coherent, balanced assessment systems that free up valuable instructional time, strengthen decision-making, and ultimately, support student learning.

Bringing Local Assessment Systems into Focus

Central to the learning path is the Assessment System Review Tool, which helps LEA teams see their assessment system in full. Rather than talking about assessments in the abstract, the tool guides teams to map out all the assessments students encounter in a year focusing on one grade level and content area at a time. This process makes it easier to spot patterns, such as redundancies, gaps, or assessments that aren’t serving their intended purpose, and concludes with consolidating insights into a clear set of next steps. The updated 2.0 version offers flexibility in how teams take on this work: as a two-day sprint or as a long-distance run stretched over several months.

The learning path and accompanying tool turns reflection into something concrete and actionable. Districts like Bakersfield City School District, which eliminated redundant district-required assessments, and Coachella Valley Unified School District, which revisited the purpose of their assessments to strengthen alignment, demonstrated the value of this process. Their experiences illustrate how seeing the full picture of the student assessment experience can spark candid conversations about which assessments to keep, replace, eliminate, or add. Both the sprint and long-distance approaches offer distinct advantages but the aim is the same: reduce testing overload, clarify priorities, and ensure assessment data truly supports decision-making so that instructional time is protected and student learning remains at the center.

Resources

• Assessment System Review Online Learning Path (2.0)
• Bakersfield City School District: Eliminating Unnecessary District-Required Assessments
• Coachella Valley Unified School District: Bringing a Fresh Perspective to Assessment Purpose

Highlighting California’s Work at RILS 2025

Next month, CCEE will join the 2025 Reidy Interactive Learning Series (RILS), hosted by the Center for Assessment, as part of a panel featuring three statewide organizations. In this session, leaders will share how their states are supporting districts and educators in moving assessment systems toward greater balance. CCEE’s contribution will spotlight California’s work with the Assessment System Review Online Learning Path and how it equips LEA teams to reflect on their assessment practices, identify priorities, and strengthen alignment across their systems. 

This panel is an opportunity to lift up the work of California districts in addressing common threats to balanced assessment systems, such as issues of efficiency, usefulness, and coherence. The Assessment System Review Online Learning Path helps LEAs tackle challenges such as too much testing and redundancy, inconsistency between assessments and the district’s instructional vision, and assuming all tests can inform instruction. By sharing how districts are working through these challenges, CCEE can demonstrate how the learning path can turn  common pitfalls into opportunities for improvement. Just as importantly, engaging in this national conversation allows CCEE to learn from other states’ approaches, ensuring our supports remain both relevant and responsive while also contributing valuable insights while contributing valuable insights to the broader national dialogue. 
Resources: 2025 Reidy Interactive Learning Series (RILS)

Closing: Why This Matters

The Assessment System Review Online Learning Path is more than a resource—it’s a catalyst for local reflection, collaboration, and improvement. It reflects CCEE’s values of modeling continuous improvement, nurturing curiosity, and embracing innovation by giving LEAs the tools to refine and reimagine their local assessment systems in ways that truly support teaching and learning. Striking the right balance of assessments can drive continuous improvement, supporting ongoing monitoring, informed decision-making, stronger instruction, and greater accountability in addressing equity gaps. With more purposeful data at their fingertips, LEAs can move beyond compliance and use the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) as a genuine strategic plan for equity and improvement. I invite you to explore the learning path, share it with your colleagues, and use it to spark local conversations about how assessments can be leveraged to improve outcomes for every learner.

On August 19, 2025, the California Department of Education (CDE) hosted a press conference at Williamson Elementary School in Folsom Cordova Unified to announce the release of the California Attendance Guide: Taking a Comprehensive Approach to Attendance and Engagement in California. This resource provides district, school, and county leaders with strategies and tools to reduce chronic absenteeism and strengthen student engagement.

The press conference brought together state and local leaders to spotlight the urgency of addressing chronic absence rates, which remain above pre-pandemic levels, and to highlight collaborative solutions. Speakers included Sujie Shin, Deputy Executive Director at CCEE and member of the Statewide Chronic Absenteeism Working Group, and Eric Swanson, Superintendent of Folsom Cordova Unified and former CCEE staff member.

Addressing California’s Attendance Crisis

Presenters: California Department of Education, Statewide Chronic Absenteeism Working Group

The guidance emphasizes that chronic absence in California doubled during the pandemic, peaking at 30 percent in 2021–22. Although rates have since dropped to 20.4 percent in 2023–24, over half of California schools still experience chronic absence rates above 20 percent. The guide sets an ambitious statewide goal: reduce chronic absence to 12.5 percent by 2030.
Why it matters: Chronic absence impacts academic performance, social–emotional development, and graduation rates. By naming both the challenge and the solution, this guidance provides a roadmap for schools and districts to take coordinated, data-driven action that prioritizes prevention, family engagement, and student connectedness.

Resources

Conference Spotlight: CCEE at the 2025 California MTSS Professional Learning Institute
July 22–24, 2025 | Anaheim Convention Center

The Orange County Department of Education and Butte County Office of Education convened  the 8th Annual California MTSS Professional Learning Institute (PLI), a dynamic convening of educators, leaders, and community partners focused on advancing academic excellence through inclusive, research-based practices. This year’s theme “Unite, Empower, Impact” centered on promoting equity and access for all learners through the California MTSS framework.

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence  is charged with  supporting local educational agencies (LEAs) in addressing high-priority needs aligned with their LCAP goals. We are proud to spotlight the following presentations delivered by our team and partners at this year’s PLI.

Strengthening Your System Through Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Presenters: James McKenna, Christine Olmstead, Dorcas Kong
Format: Pre-Conference Workshop
Slides | Padlet Resource Hub

This interactive session invited educators and system leaders to explore how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can serve as a driver for strengthening best first instruction. Participants engaged with actionable strategies and left with a customized UDL implementation plan tailored to their local context.

Rooted in the principles of the Statewide System of Support, the session emphasized inclusive design, student-centered planning, and the power of proactive systems. LEA leaders shared field-based examples, making the work immediately relatable and relevant to participants across roles.

The Throughline: Operationalizing the Statewide System of Support Resources

Presenters: Mindy Fattig (CCEE), Kristin Brooks, Ed.D. (CCEE), Christine Olmstead (CCEE), Angelica Hurtado, Ed.D. (CDE), Wendy Little, Ph.D. (CDE)
Focus Area: Administrative Leadership
Slides

This engaging, scenario-based session helped leaders navigate the SSOS Toolkit, a one-stop-shop of tools and resources from over 60 technical assistance projects statewide. Participants learned how to connect their problems of practice to curated solutions aligned with the California MTSS domains and features.

Real-world LEA examples and guided small group work allowed attendees to draw direct connections between systems challenges and resource-based solutions, offering both quick wins and long-term pathways for sustainable impact.
Key takeaway: Navigating resources becomes less overwhelming when grounded in local needs and shared frameworks.

Power Up Your CA MTSS: Unlock the Statewide System of Support Resource Hub for Instant Impact

Presenters: Mindy Fattig (CCEE), Kristin Brooks, Ed.D. (CCEE), Christine Olmstead (CCEE), Toby Espley (OCDE)
Focus Area: Inclusive Academic Instruction
Slides

This high-energy, collaborative session gave participants the chance to experience the SSOS Resource Hub in action, blending real-time problem-solving with AI-powered collaboration. Participants explored resources, shared ideas with peers, and developed ready-to-implement action plans they could bring back to their school and district teams.

Whether participants were new to the MTSS journey or refining mature systems, the message was clear: there are powerful tools at your fingertips, and using them well can spark real change.
Standout moment: Watching ideas evolve into tangible next steps for site and district leaders.

Why This Matters

Each of these sessions exemplifies what Frontline Voices is all about: surfacing emerging practices, lifting up practitioner expertise, and offering immediate tools to strengthen systems that support all learners. CCEE’s presence at the MTSS PLI underscores our commitment to helping LEAs navigate complexity, align strategies to LCAP priorities, and implement change that lasts.

Stay tuned for more insights from the field!