Category: Newsletter

News & Announcements

Project CLEAR (California Literacy Elevation by Accelerating Reading)

Project CLEAR builds capacity in implementing and accelerating literacy development in districts across the state. Educators can participate in one of two levels of professional learning offered through Project CLEAR – Teacher Leaders and Teachers. Participation is fully funded through Project CLEAR! For more information, see Project CLEAR’s webpage on our Learning Acceleration System Grant Website.

California Collaborative for Learning Acceleration – Math and Literacy Communities of Practice (CoPs)

The California Collaborative for Learning Acceleration (CCLA) in partnership with the CCEE and six County Offices of Education (COE) will be creating an inclusive space for collaboration and learning for educators across the state through a Community of Practice (CoP). 

You can find more information using the flyers below: 

Literacy

Mathematics

California Mathematics Framework 

The California State Board of Education approved the 2023 Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools at their July 12th meeting. You can read more about the new Framework by visiting the California Department of Education’s Mathematics Framework web page.

In Case You Missed It

UPK Key Information Flyer

UPK Resources & Materials

UPK Toolkit 

2022-2023 CCEE Annual Report 

Looking AHEAD

Open Door Sessions

CCEE, in collaboration with LEAs and partner organizations, is hosting “open door” sessions to share best practices, tools/resources, and strategies to support student learning. These sessions will provide opportunities for county office and/or district staff to listen and learn from other LEAs across the state, and connect further, if interested. Those who express interest in connecting further will be invited to join a smaller, more intimate “Special Interest Group” session, in which the presenting LEA will be available to listen, share, and help participants with more specific questions.

Register for upcoming Open Door sessions by clicking on the links below:

• Fresno CSS’s Tools for Navigating the Plan-demic (8/22/23)
• Graduate Profiles: Redefining Student Success (9/27/23)

To view archived materials from past Open Door sessions, please visit our Open Door Sessions Google Site. You can also check our Events Calendar or follow CCEE on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on upcoming Open Door sessions.

August Resources

• 21CSLA Regional Academies (Coaching)
• Women’s Equity Day
• International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
• National Vision & Learning Month

About the Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC)

Our team works in alliance with educators to improve teaching, learning, and leadership so every student is inspired and prepared to thrive as their best self.

About the CCEE

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence is a statewide leader delivering on California’s promise of a quality, equitable education for every student.

Executive Director’s Corner

Why is Coaching So Important?

By Matt J. Navo, Executive Director, CCEE

Why is coaching in education so important? Coaching provides opportunities for educational organizations and professionals to focus on the right work. Too often educational professionals are focused on the wrong indicators. For example, when schools and leaders focus only on test scores, we risk failing to comprehend the actual causes of those results. Coaching helps to uncover what we can control and/or influence that may be causing or have caused a potential result. Doug Reeves and Michael Fullan say it this way, “The number of priorities is inversely proportional to gains in student achievement” (Reeves, 2013). They go on to say, “while leaders and policymakers are often seduced by the promises of vendors that programs will solve educational challenges, the evidence is clear that it is practices, not programs that have the greatest impact” (Reeves 2023). 

Only through coaching can we focus on the practices that achieve better outcomes.

Effective Coaching Benefits Everyone

By Stephanie Gregson, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director, CCEE

Being an educator today, and even before today, is extremely hard. We are in the midst of the highest rate of educator burnout and fatigue causing many veteran and new educators to leave the profession. For this reason and many others, it is important we engage in practices that create spaces of community, belonging, vulnerability, and learning allowing educators to fill their buckets, rejuvenate, and reinvigorate their passion for education.

Effective coaching is one of those practices we should all be engaging in as individuals, as teams, and as an education community. Effective coaching isn’t just about achieving organizational goals, student achievement, and collaborative learning cultures, it is also about higher levels of emotional and physical well-being. We are in an era of initiative fatigue that can cause burnout and increased turnover in staff. Effective coaching can help peel back layers of initiatives as individuals and teams ask themselves, why?

There are more than 40,000 books on coaching showing the profound amount of research on effective coaching. Yet has it become common practice in our education community? When individuals and teams participate in effective coaching practices, they see an increase in psychological well-being, self-regulation, and self-insight. The teams benefit from gains in goal attainment and solution-focused thinking (Grant & Atad, 2021).

This month’s newsletter highlights some of the coaching embedded in the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence work with districts and county offices of education. We invite you to learn more and to consider how you can engage in effective coaching practices to find rejuvenation in your work.

Internal Coaching Cycles for Quality Improvement

By Rocio Gonzalez-Frausto, Assistant Director, CCEE

The Role of Coaching in Accelerating Learning

By Stacey Wedin, Assistant Director, CCEE

Learning acceleration doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Supporting the rapid progress of students toward mastery of content requires a comprehensive, systemic approach to rethink the way we teach and learn. The CCEE’s Playbook for Accelerating Learning underscores this point by outlining the necessary conditions to accelerate learning, which includes having a system aligned to the tenets of learning acceleration in both mindset and practice. Professional learning and coaching for educators to deepen understanding of learning acceleration and embed evidence-based strategies into practice is paramount to a sustainable system.

With this knowledge, Learning Acceleration System Grant partners have designed their professional learning offerings centered on systems of coaching and mentoring. This affords educators valuable opportunities to collaborate, share, learn, and provide feedback while incorporating new strategies into their practice. Coaching is one of four prongs of support offered by the Rural Math Collaborative (RMC) where participating counties receive targeted assistance around using TOSAs and instructional coaches to improve math instruction. Working with the California Math Project and drawing from the work of Jim Knight, the RMC is working to build sustainable networks of effective coaching teams throughout the region. As another example, Project CLEAR offers job-embedded individualized coaching while participating educators complete the training offered through the program. Once certified, Teacher Leaders coach educators in their respective school/district on early literacy intervention strategies to accelerate reading.

Coaching is integral to a robust system of professional learning and plays a critical role in accelerating learning. As the Learning Acceleration System grant grows in future years, the use of effective coaching to support teachers will continue to grow with it.

21st Century California School Leadership Academy

Are you a current or aspiring California school or district leader looking for

free professional development and coaching?  

Find your 21CSLA Academy HERE. 

All Academies include:

Communities of Practice

A space for leaders in similar roles to come together and work on equity-centered problems of practice using continuous improvement while championing transformational leadership.

Localized Professional Learning

Leaders participate in a process of practitioner inquiry that advances educational equity for a specific context around leadership, equity, and continuous improvement. Problems of practice are situated in and arise from the regional communities and are determined through an extensive needs-assessment process.

Leadership Coaching

Coaches provide job-embedded coaching built on relational trust and focused on equity-centered problems of practice using continuous improvement. They also support leaders with system transformation to ensure all children fulfill their potential to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.

21CSLA UTK

The 21CSLA Alameda Regional Academy, in partnership with 21CSLA UTK and the Solano County Office of Education, is launching Envisioning Equitable TK Classrooms on August 24–25. 

New UTK Leadership Certificate and Courses

Starting this fall, 21CSLA is offering UTK Leadership Certificate courses to any current Preliminary or Clear Administrative Services Credential candidate. These are free, online, synchronous courses offered through UC Berkeley Extension. Receive 4 units credit along with a certificate upon completion of the two-course series. To learn more, download the UTK Certificate flyer or visit 21CSLA’s website.

News & Announcements

Request for Proposals

Development and Delivery of Resources and Services to Support Professional Learning Activities for Local Educational Agencies

• Proposals Accepted Through: October 30, 2023 at 4:00pm PST

Open Door Sessions

CCEE, in collaboration with LEAs and partner organizations, is hosting “open door” sessions to share best practices, tools/resources, and strategies to support student learning. These sessions will provide opportunities for county office and/or district staff to listen and learn from other LEAs across the state, and connect further, if interested. Those who express interest in connecting further will be invited to join a smaller, more intimate “Special Interest Group” session, in which the presenting LEA will be available to listen, share, and help participants with more specific questions.

Register for upcoming Open Door sessions by clicking on the links below:

• Fresno CSS’s Tools for Navigating the Plan-demic (8/8/23)
• Graduate Profiles: Redefining Student Success (9/27/23)

To view archived materials from past Open Door sessions, please visit our Open Door Sessions Google Site. You can also check our Events Calendar or follow CCEE on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on upcoming Open Door sessions.

LEA Spotlights

The Spotlights Project aims to celebrate some of the innovative, inclusive, and shareable practices that LEA teams have implemented to improve outcomes for students across our state. Each Spotlight organizes the successes, challenges, and lessons learned in a way that calls attention to emerging practices, reproducible strategies, and applicable resources, in hopes of introducing accessible points of conversation for other LEAs looking to resolve similar issues.

Below are three recently published Spotlights. Click on the links below to learn more about the innovative practices taking place in these LEAs.

Cajon Valley USD embraced its multicultural and multiethnic district composition, leveraging its diversity to serve all community members and improve its community outreach and engagement with “families in need.”

Salinas City ESD uses data to drive collaboration, critical reflection, and action to improve attendance practices at all of their school sites.

Da Vinci Schools cultivates an inclusive learning environment that promotes real-world learning to prepare students for college, career, and life. However, it is their ability to gather and effectively use data that maximizes their impact on teaching and learning — ensuring students thrive as lifelong learners.

Project clear

Project CLEAR (California Literacy Elevation by Accelerating Reading) builds capacity in implementing and accelerating literacy development in districts across the state. Educators can participate in one of two levels of professional learning offered through Project CLEAR – Teacher Leaders and Teachers. Participation is fully funded through Project CLEAR! For more information, please visit Project CLEAR’s webpage on the Learning Acceleration System Grant website.

July Resources

Supporting Better Attendance Practices: The Evolving Role of COEs (5/31/23)

System of Support Updates (June/July 2023)

Microlearning Modules – CCEE has partnered with content experts and experienced educators to develop short videos sharing and explaining concepts, tools, and resources for a wide range of topics to support substitute teachers, paraeducators, and other instructional staff in the classroom. All microlearning modules are accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions, downloadable handouts, and additional resources to support immediate implementation. New videos are added periodically, covering various topics, tips, and strategies.

About the I3 Center

The Innovation, Instruction, and Impact (I3) Center implements a statewide approach to improving LEA capacity by collaboratively developing, delivering, sharing, and spotlighting practices that have demonstrated the power to improve outcomes for students.

About the CCEE

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence is a statewide leader delivering on California’s promise of a quality, equitable education for every student.

Executive Director’s Corner

By Matt J. Navo, Executive Director

“Every road will get you there if you don’t know where you are going” is a quote I heard from a school leader talking about the absence of data in their instructional teams. So often, school teams avoid the use of data to avoid the harsh realities around student, school, or district performance.

We (educators) sometimes find it easier to play “poker” with data. Meaning, I show you my two aces, hoping you think I have a three- or four-of-a-kind when in reality I have nothing more. Playing poker with data is a sure-fire way to avoid the tough conversations and reality of our efforts. IF we (educators) are going to move our networking, collaboration, convenings, and gatherings of expertise to the next level, we have to show all our cards—no poker, just raw data.

This newsletter by the Innovation, Instruction, and Impact (I3) Center describes examples of networks using data to improve student outcomes and address ineffective practices.

What Do We Learn When We Learn Together?

By Sujie Shin, Deputy Executive Director

For any of you who have had the privilege of attending workshops with Peter Senge, you know that a core tenet of his philosophy of learning is that “[S]haring knowledge is not about giving people something or getting something from them…Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.”

We know that to be a learning organization, it’s not enough just to acquire knowledge, but to share in that space with others, and find the opportunities to learn from each others’ successes and challenges. This is the philosophy behind our learning networks—creating safe spaces for local educational agency (LEA) teams to come together around similar problems of practice and share lessons learned as they try approaches to improving school and district systems to support student achievement.

One of our networks has been focused on academic outcomes for African American students, a group that has been disproportionately negatively affected by the pandemic and related challenges. Black students have experienced higher increases in chronic absenteeism and other measures of disengagement, and greater drops in English Language Arts (ELA) and math scores. Over the past year, this network of five LEA teams have each identified a key area of improvement to focus on for improving student outcomes. One team is testing the impact of regular check-ins with a school counselor on student attendance and course completion. Another is focusing on improving their implementation of their multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) to reduce the overidentification of Black students in special education in particular categories. Still another looked at the impact of personal learning plans to reduce the overrepresentation of African American male students receiving non-passing grades in core classes. The problems of practice are as diverse as the student bodies these LEAs support.

What is not varied is our approach in collecting data to examine change over time and progress towards our goals on a regular basis. This gets to another key principle of our work, which is, to again quote Dr. Senge, that “Learning cannot be disassociated from action.” And how we learn is to measure the progress from our action, through interim metrics such as attendance, test results, check-in data as well as direct input and feedback from the students and families we serve.

This framework of action research means that we can investigate problems of practice that LEAs are facing while supporting them in immediately addressing the issues they are facing.

Learn more about the work of our partner LEAs by clicking on the buttons below.

Lessons Learned from the Planning Phase of the Data Research Learning Network

By Ingrid Roberson, Assistant Director of Research Learning and Dorcas Kong, Senior Specialist of Executive Projects

In January 2023, the I3 Center launched the Data Research Learning Network (DRLN) as a three-phase initiative to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in transforming their data and assessment practices to accelerate student learning. As we close out the Planning Phase, CCEE is pleased to share the first DRLN Research Brief summarizing the lessons learned that came out of this learning community. The DRLN recently concluded the Planning Phase with the DRLN Showcase highlighting each LEA’s Action Plan for the 2023-24 school year. Over the past six months, DRLN participants conducted data dives to better define their problems of practice and develop their action plans, identifying goals and strategies that would move the needle on aligned progress measures. But what truly elevated their innovation ideas was the way they tapped into the wealth of collective knowledge and expertise within this learning network. LEAs were able to harness the power of collaboration in this shared learning space to exchange innovative ideas, explore different avenues of addressing their problems of practice, and ultimately, build their data capacity to support student outcomes.

In preparation for the Implementation Phase, CCEE will be hosting two summer workshops to guide DRLN participants in the progress monitoring and evaluating the impact of their Innovation Projects. The DRLN team decided to tailor these workshops to LEAs’ Action Plans, with a focus on designing effective surveys, collecting feedback/attendance data for trainings and professional development sessions, and measuring user statistics (e.g. website/dashboard analytics). By building the capacity of DRLN participants to develop and implement effective progress monitoring processes with tools, they will be prepared to embark on their Innovation journeys come August, with an understanding of how they will be engaging in continuous improvement cycles to enhance their data practices, programs, and systems.

Interested in learning more about each LEA’s innovation idea and action plan? Take a look at our DRLN Overview Handout or check out CCEE’s Learning Networks Google Site to explore the problems of practice identified by LEAs in not only the DRLN, but across all of I3’s learning networks. As our networks progress, the I3 Center will be updating the Google Site with measures of impact, as well as shareable resources that come out of our work. Aligned to I3’s goal of improving LEA capacity by collaboratively developing, delivering, sharing, and spotlighting research-based practices, we hope this Google Site can serve as a learning hub for California’s broader educational community.

Supporting Educators Through the Development of the California Educators Together Repository for High-Quality Online Instructional Materials

By Allan Taing, Senior Manager of Research & Impact Analysis

The CCEE, working with our partners at the California Department of Education (CDE) and the State Board of Education (SBE), are supporting Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) as they serve as the project lead for the High Quality Online Instructional Materials project (HQOIM), as defined in Section 144 of AB 130 (Chapter 44, Statutes of 2021) and revised in Section 41 of AB 167 (Chapter 252, Statutes of 2021). This three-year $15 million dollar project is designed to enhance the educator professional learning infrastructure within the Statewide System of Support. The goals of this initiative are to develop and curate easy-to-use resources for local educational agencies (LEAs) and educators, establish a transparent process for vetting materials to ensure quality and alignment with state academic standards, and provide guidance and resources regarding the implementation and use of open educational resources.

During this first year of the project, KCSOS developed the California Educators Together High-Quality Lesson Design Rubric (CaET Rubric) to evaluate high quality materials and hosted two virtual Lesson Design Institutes in February and March, and one in-person Lesson Design Institute in May to train more than 100 educators to design rubric-aligned lesson plans. To further develop and promote the California Educators Together repository (CaET), KCSOS presented at 12 conferences and implemented a vetting collaborative to train evaluators to vet resources on the CaET repository using the CaET Rubric, resulting in 307 new rubric-aligned lessons, 304 new standards-based lessons, 779 new resources, and 2,938 existing lessons vetted. As a result of KCSOS efforts, the California Educators Together portal now has more than 25,000 users, including 6,832 new users over the past year. During the second year of the project, KCSOS will continue to offer virtual and in-person Lesson Design Institutes, continue efforts to disseminate high-quality rubric-aligned lessons and resources, and vet existing materials. KCSOS will also focus on potential partnerships to increase visibility of the CaET repository and new users.

WestEd is leading the external program evaluation of the HQOIM project. Key findings from the formative evaluation of the first year indicate that Kern County has built a team that is focused on educators, learns and adapts, listens to feedback, and is focused on key issues of sustainability, partnerships, and scaling up. Feedback from teachers attending the Lesson Design Institutes are overwhelmingly positive; in focus groups and interviews, educators are excited for the CaET Rubric and praised the quality of the institutes. In addition, the California Educators Together repository contains a wide variety of high-quality resources and capabilities, and the program team and educators are excited about the potential of new and different capabilities for this platform to further support effective teaching and learning.

To learn more about this evaluation, as well as evaluations for other statewide professional learning initiatives launched in 2021, please visit the CCEE Statewide Program Evaluation website.

News & Announcements

New State Funding for 21st Century Skills Academy (21CSLA)

Read more at the Berkeley School of Education’s website.

Universally Designing Systems of Support: Webinar Series
Alternative Dispute Resolution

Presented as part of the California Coalition for Inclusive Literacy Spring Learning Series

More information, including registration is available here.

Registration is Open for the 2023 Spring ELO-P Academy!

The California AfterSchool Network (CAN) in partnership with the California Department of Education (CDE), Expanded Learning Division (EXLD), and members of the System of Support for Expand Learning (SSEL), are excited to offer a free virtual Expanded learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P) Academy! 

Register Here

In Case You Missed It

System of Support Updates (March 2023)

Looking Ahead

Universal Pre-Kindergarten

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) has partnered with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) to host two workshops on Universal Pre-Kindergarten Blending, Braiding, and Layering for districts, county offices, charter schools and community partners.

Workshops will be structured around guided working sessions in which LEA teams will use strategic planning tools, with the help of expert coaches, to generate solutions and strategic action plans that are specific to each LEA’s circumstances. For the best results, LEA’s are encouraged to bring a multi-disciplinary team to the workshop.  There is no fee to attend the workshops.

An information session was held on February 27, 2023, with a registration application available to all LEA’s and other entities, that was due March 10, 2023.

Workshop sessions will be held: April 18, 2023 (virtual) and May 4, 2023 (hybrid- virtual and in-person)

For more information, contact CCEE Assistant Director, Julie Boesch [email protected]

Equity Corner

Women’s History Month

Gender Equality Month

March 13 – National Good Samaritan Day

About the CCEE

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence is a statewide leader delivering on California’s promise of a quality, equitable education for every student.

Executive Director’s Corner

Investing Time in Exploring Tools

By Matt J. Navo, Executive Director, CCEE

I am always amazed by just how much we (educators, researchers and policy makers) do in efforts to improve public education. I am also reminded that we can, at times, try to do too much. The biggest threat to public education is not allowing educators time to understand, provide professional training and use the tools, resources and support being provided.
This March 2023, Transformative Systems for Equitable Education Center (TSEE) is taking time to remind us of all the resources being provided through the Statewide System of Support (SSOS) that are designed to enhance Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in accomplishing their Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and ultimately improve public education.

A Shared Journey to Support Student Achievement

By Chris Hartley, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director of the Transformative Systems for Equitable Educational Outcomes Center

It is hard to believe that we are well into the month of March 2023! All of us in the CCEE Transformative Systems for Equitable Educational Outcomes (TSEE) Center, want to express our gratitude to the many partners throughout the state that are all pulling together to support student achievement and growth. The Statewide System of Support (SSOS) is on the move with a multitude of programs and projects in full swing.
At the core of our collective work is the fact that collaboration, cooperation and communication are critical to aligning our work, fostering cohesion, building relationships and ultimately aligning support to assist districts and schools in meeting the needs of our students. Our partners throughout the state understand what it means to maximize leadership to give support where it is needed the most, inside our schools directly supporting students. No one agency can do this important work alone.
From our Community Engagement Initiative, the Leadership Institute, UPK Workshops, to the hard work of lead agencies like Geographic and SELPA Leads, we are focused on providing a through line between state initiatives and implementation at the school site level. It is critical that we keep this momentum going within the SSOS. Thank you to all the incredible partners both in the field and at the state level, who are actively engaged in aligning systems and committed to using the same compass on our collective journey to serve students.

CEI Updates: Fostering Stronger Relationships Between LEAs, Students, Families, and Community Partners

By Steven Sterling Mitchell, Assistant Director, Community Engagement & System of Support

The Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) fosters stronger relationships between Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), their students, families, and community partners to support student success. Now in its fourth year of operation, the CEI has expanded its reach in the 2022-23 school year and now represents 36 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) across California, ranging from as far north as Shasta County to as far south as Imperial County. This growth demonstrates the increasing recognition and importance of community engagement in education systems across the state.

A major milestone for the CEI was the All-Cohorts Peer Leading & Learning Network (PLLN) meeting held in January. Over 400 educational partners from diverse communities across California attended the event to share promising practices and strategies for promoting equity and inclusion in schools and communities. Attendees had dedicated time for teams and role-alike groups to share experiences and ideas about effective approaches to community engagement.

Dr. Karen Mapp, a senior lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and author of the Dual Capacity-Building Framework, was the keynote speaker at the event. She emphasized the importance of building strong relationships between schools, families, and communities and discussed strategies for effective communication and collaboration between them.

Our peer leading and learning model recognizes that our districts/LEAs who are new to the work, will learn best from their peers who are further along. Because of this our January event was dedicated to peer-led learning opportunities. The event provided foundational CEI districts in Cohorts I & II a platform to share promising practices and their own strategies for overcoming barriers to strengthen relationships within their communities. By working collaboratively with families and community partners, LEAs are helping to create more equitable and inclusive education systems across California. The work of CEI cohorts demonstrate that partnerships between educational institutions, families, and communities can positively impact student outcomes.

In February, our Cohort III teams convened in Sacramento where team members from our Peer Leading & Learning Exchange (PLLX) (Comprised of members of our foundational Cohorts I and II teams) introduced them to improvement science concepts and how to develop their initial community engagement problems of practice (PoP). This PoP will inform their site-level work in the coming year and lead to transformational outcomes for their campuses and students in the months ahead. After our March PLLNs that included capacity building and work around data and metrics with our foundational districts earlier this month, we are well poised for our next All-Cohorts PLLN in-person in San Diego on April 26.

The CEI is part of the Statewide System of Support and is a collaborative effort led by CCEE, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (SBCSS), the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE), and Families in Schools (FIS). The commitment to authentic community engagement is helping to empower educators and communities to build a more equitable and inclusive education system in California, focused on student success.

CCEE & SSDA Leadership Institute

By Dr. Julie Boesch, Assistant Director, State System of Support

The Leadership Institute is a collaborative effort between CCEE and the Small School Districts Association (SSDA) to create a safe space for new and aspiring small school district leaders to learn, grow, highlight areas of needed support, share successes, and build relationships with other small district leaders.

The ultimate goal of the Leadership Institute is to empower educational leaders in an authentic environment of learning and grace to grow in service to their students, staff, and communities.

Current Active Participants: 38
Coaches: 11
Facilitators: 5
These participants represent numerous districts and counties across the State.

We are planning monthly 90-minute virtual sessions as well as two in-person sessions to align with the dates of the two annual SSDA conferences in March and July. The scope and sequence includes topics such as leadership, communication, governance and finance, human resources, community engagement, and vision and goal setting. Our goal is to create a valuable learning experience that is driven by the field for the field and to be highly responsive to participants needs and requests.

Cohort One will wrap up in July and we will kick off cohort two. We already have participants on the waitlist for our upcoming cohort.
We are excited to announce that our Leadership Institute will be kicking off cohort II in San Diego in July! This collaborative effort between CCEE and SSDA is a great growth opportunity for new and aspiring small school district leaders. This Institute has been designed for small district leaders by small district leaders and experts in the field! Reserve your spot now by emailing [email protected]

Collaboration, Cooperation, and Communication

An example of the Riverside County partnership between the County Office of Education (COE) and Special Education Local Planning Area (SELPA)

By Dr. Melissa Bazanos Hutton, Executive Director of Accountability, Assessment, and Continuous Improvement &

Leah Davis, Executive Director, Riverside County SELPA

The Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) and the Riverside County Special Education Local Plan Area (RC SELPA) exist as two separate entities in the CA education system, yet their cooperative support of Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) within their region, demonstrates their shared dedication to collaboration in support of all students in Riverside County. Team members from the RCOE and RC SELPA recognized many years ago that each educational organization provided a variety of supports to LEAs that periodically overlapped, yet each agency also possessed additional unique resources and services that benefitted districts, schools, and students. In order to better align supports and to maximize resources, RCOE and RC SELPA representatives established a collaborative structure to build coherence across agencies to support LEAs, schools, and students.

In addition to regular standing meetings between the Executive Director of RC SELPA and the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, monthly meetings were initiated in 2017-2018 to bring together teams from both agencies. The teams developed purpose statements to guide their frequent collaboration which include:

• Provide consistent communication to each other and to school districts
• Align services and support to districts
• Model collaboration between COEs and SELPAs
• Connect to Statewide System of Support

To guide collaboration sessions, standing agenda items were established. Each month team members from both organizations coalesce around the following topics:

• CA System of Support. RCOE Educational Services Division provides Geographic Lead Agency updates. RCOE Student Programs and Services Division provides Supporting Inclusive Practices (SIP) Project updates. RC SELPA provides SELPA System Improvement Leads (SIL) updates. Together the teams determine how these CA System of Support opportunities may support the unique needs of the region’s individual LEAs.
• Level 1 Support. RCOE and RC SELPA staff provide updates on services currently offered to LEAs. Opportunities for cross-agency collaboration are discussed.
• Level 2 Support. RCOE and RC SELPA staff discuss support for LEAs eligible for Differentiated Assistance and opportunities for alignment with Special Education accountability support through Compliance and Improvement Monitoring.

Over the past five years, opportunities for collaboration have evolved and expanded. For example, RC SELPA presents information at RCOE’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) workshops and Instructional Leaders Network (ILN) including updates such as requirements for consultation with SELPA in LCAP development along with facilitating differentiated assistance inquiry sessions with LEA teams. RCOE and RC SELPA team members join district teams in analyzing student data, identifying potential root causes for student outcomes, and determining high leverage practices to address student needs. RC SELPA has co-presented with RCOE staff regarding opportunities for plan alignment between the LCAP and and the Special Education improvement activities as required by the Compliance and Improvement Monitoring (CIM) process (previously the Performance Indicator Review (PIR) and Special Education Plan (SEP). RCOE and RC SELPA staff have co-presented to Riverside County English Learner Directors regarding resources and services for English Learners with Disabilities.

During school closures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, RCOE and RC SELPA continued to collaborate virtually. Staff supported LEA teams with strategic plan alignment as part of the Differentiated Assistance process in 2020-2021 and are exploring how to further this support in recognition of Special Education technical assistance requirements. RCOE and RC SELPA staff continue to collaborate when providing Differentiated Assistance support to LEAs, specifically those meeting DA eligibility criteria based outcomes for Students with Disabilities.

While a common purpose and structured agenda have supported the collaborative efforts of RC SELPA and RCOE, the success in providing high quality technical assistance to our local LEAs evolved through building the trust and shared commitment of individual team members. Relationships matter and are critical to the success of Riverside’s collaborative support structure. Team members from both RC SELPA and RCOE took great interest in each others’ expertise and found opportunities to highlight and complement each others’ work. Monthly collaborative meetings were prioritized and time to meet was protected. Ultimately by leveraging the strengths of each organization, focusing on relationships, trust, and camaraderie, RCOE and RC SELPA have been better able to serve Riverside County LEAS as they strive toward improved outcomes for students with disabilities.

Steven Sterling Mitchell, Assistant Director, Community Engagement & System of Support

Steven has worked in public education for over 25 years. He joined the CCEE team over 4 years ago, and has supported the growth and development of the Community Engagement Initiative.  

Fun Fact: Steven’s favorite foods are Mofongo and Pozole, and he searches the world to try and find the best one.

Mayra Mendoza-Flores, Administrative Assistant II

Mayra recently joined CCEE. She previously worked for Twin Rivers Unified School District as an Administrative Secretary for the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Department. Her focus with CCEE will be to help provide administrative and program support within the Community Engagement Initiative. 

Fun Fact: Mayra enjoys mini family getaways. Her favorite place is anywhere where there’s a beach.

News & Announcements

Request for Applications – Community Engagement Initiative 2.0 Lead Agency

The California Department of Education and the CCEE invite interested county offices of education, on behalf of a consortium of entities (e.g., LEAs, institutions of higher education, nonprofit educational services providers), to apply to be named as the Lead Agency to co-administer the expanded 2.0 work of the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI). Application details

21CSLA Research-Practice Webinar: Hate speech on social media—What can leaders do?

Featuring Dean Tina Christie and Dr. Arif Amlani (UCLA School of Education and Information Studies) in conversation with leaders from the field and facilitated by Professor Jabari Mahiri (Berkeley School of Education) on Wednesday, February 15, 3:30–4:30 pm. All webinars are free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. Learn more and register here. Until then, watch recordings of past webinars.

In Case You Missed It

System of Support Updates (February 2023)

Looking Ahead

California Dyslexia Initiative Professional Learning Network 

Do you want to better understand how to support struggling readers and students with dyslexia in your school?

Join Sacramento COE, the CDE, CCEE, and SBE on March 1 to learn more about identifying risk factors, setting up effective MTSS/RTI school systems to prevent reading difficulties, and delivering research-based instruction to support and remediate struggling learners and students with dyslexia.

21CSLA UTK Leadership Initiative

The 21CSLA Universal Transitional Kindergarten Leadership Initiative prepares leaders to “lead for equity” in rolling out California’s Transitional Kindergarten for all four-year-olds.

Join the 21CSLA Valley to Coast Regional Academy for two series they are hosting: 

• Series 1: Leaders Envisioning Equitable TK Classrooms in Action

• Series 2: Leadership Practices to Support, Integrate, and Align UTK

Join the 21CSLA  Mid-State Regional Academy for a two-day event on envisioning and leading equitable TK Classrooms they are hosting: 

• Day 1: Leadership Practices to Support, Integrate, and Align P-3

• Day 2: Inquiry through Play

February Resources

African American Heritage Month

Black History Month

Youth Leadership Month

Feb 1 – Global School Play Day

Feb 20 – National Leadership Day

About the Teaching Learning and Leading Center (TLLC)

Our team works in alliance with educators to improve teaching, learning, and leadership so every student is inspired and prepared to thrive as their best self.

About the CCEE

The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence is a statewide leader delivering on California’s promise of a quality, equitable education for every student.

Executive Director’s Corner

The 2022 Dashboard results are out…Now what?

By Matt J. Navo, Executive Director, CCEE

The 2022 Dashboard results confirmed that the impact of COVID-19 created lasting educational challenges. Challenges that require a continued focus on providing safe and healthy school environments, an intense focus on addressing educational inequities exacerbated by learning challenges, and finding collaborative solutions for improved educational outcomes.

Now what? The good news is that there have been many investments by both local, county, and state officials to help prepare for this predictable need. The state investments in Community Schools, Expanded Learning Opportunities Grants/Programs, Universal Pre-K, Transitional Kindergarten, Social Emotional and Behavioral Health, and Learning Acceleration System Grant have all been put in place in anticipation of the challenges educators would face, and most importantly what students would need.  

In this newsletter, our Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC) team highlights some of the resources available to help educators, administrators, and other partners address the challenges ahead.

Learning From and With Each Other

By Stephanie Gregson, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director of the Teaching, Learning & Leading Center, CCEE

As was stated in the Executive Director’s Corner, there have been substantial investments by local, county, and the state to help educators address challenges. With these substantial investments and highlighted state initiatives, there is the opportunity to learn from each other and to learn together. There were many lessons from the pandemic, one of them being we all do better, and our students do better when we are in a learning space together. The next several articles will share the different opportunities CCEE is convening and facilitating for educators across the state to share space and to learn together. These professional learning networks are just a few examples and range in topics that are timely and relevant to different areas and contexts across our diverse state. You will see threads from Fullan and Quinn’s Coherence Framework woven throughout as we advise and assist districts in cultivating collaborative cultures, deepen learning, focus their direction, and build accountability within their system. We hope to see you in one of our future professional learning networks. 

Lifelong Learners: Professional Expert Learning Network  

By Erik Swanson, Senior Advisor of the Teaching, Learning & Leading Center, CCEE

“When you know better, you do better.” Maya Angelou 

The Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC) works to support districts experiencing chronic systemic challenges through Direct Technical Assistance (DTA).  The team that supports these districts is comprised of CCEE employees and a diverse set of experienced educators throughout our state.  

As an organization focused on getting better at getting better, a year ago, after thoughtful discernment and reflection about the model guiding our support, the Center made the decision to adopt the Coherence Framework by Fullan and Quinn as the foundation of our support.  This framework coupled with our intentionality on fostering compassionate systems that utilize quality improvement tools and the cycle of continuous improvement is now how we are best partnering with districts and their leadership teams. 

This year, our monthly learning network meetings have been focused on grounding our professional experts in the new model.  For this reason, our convenings are focused on three main topics…

1. The “Coherence” book study,
2. A review of the revised phases of direct technical assistance, and
3. Sharing and soliciting feedback on the protocols and tools being developed to best serve our partner districts.

The conversations this year have been rich with the sharing of each members vast experiences in different contexts and how that expertise, aligned with the framework can continue to support the districts receiving Direct Technical Assistance.  We are excited about the opportunity to continue to learn together in a singular effort to be more prepared to serve our districts who serve the students of California most in need.   

Better Together: The Learning Acceleration System Grant Professional Learning Network

By Stacey Wedin, Assistant Director of the Teaching, Learning & Leading Center, CCEE

The Learning Acceleration System (LAS) Grant is a statewide initiative to build systems and capacity to provide California educators with professional learning around evidence-based strategies to accelerate student learning. The CCEE has partnered with three LAS grantees and their respective partner agencies to achieve our collective goals. The goals are ambitious and, indeed, strong partnerships, shared accountability, and authentic collaboration are critical ingredients to our recipe for success. The CCEE established the LAS Grant Professional Learning Network as a space where grantees, along with their teams, can cultivate collegiality, alignment, and deep learning across projects as we move through phases of implementation together. 

Two primary objectives were established for the LAS Grant PLN: 

1. To form a learning community focused on developing, sharing, aligning, and scaling evidence-based best practices related to learning acceleration across California. 
2. To develop strategies for systematically evaluating learning acceleration for the purposes of improvement, sustainability, and communication.

During the quarterly PLN meetings, LAS grant partners discuss a myriad of topics, including implementation successes and challenges (along with solutions), outreach strategies, and opportunities to support, connect, or align efforts. Maintaining a trusting, vulnerable, respectful learning environment is paramount. The LAS grant work is dynamic, complex, varied, and just getting started. The PLN will serve to coalesce grantees around a shared purpose despite varied approaches, calibrate expectations around impact and success, and fuel the steadfast commitment of LAS grant partners to support educators and accelerate learning. To learn more, please visit the recently launched LAS Grant website.

Independent Study Professional Learning Network 

By Gonzalo Avila, Ed.D., Senior Manager of the Teaching, Learning & Leading Center, CCEE

Is your district, school, or county office struggling with creating effective structures and processes to create a rigorous independent study program? Then this professional learning network is for you. CCEE facilitates monthly sessions where Independent Study Professional Learning Network (ISPLN) participants learn strategies, structures, practices, policies, and procedures that districts have adopted to effectively engage their local communities in support of improving student outcomes.

This year, our focus is on professionals sharing their best practices for Independent Study implementation. Districts and counties from across the State are involved in this high level collaboration. Please join our next meeting on March 6th. To join our meeting, please complete registration.

Feel free to contact Gonzalo Avila at [email protected] or visit our website for more ISPLN information.

Project CLEAR is offering a series of free after school virtual workshops on Literacy Learning starting February 13, 2023. Participants will explore different elements of powerful literacy teaching and learning. Learn about strategies to accelerate students’ literacy that you can apply today! For more information, see Project CLEAR’s flyer.

Just released … FREE, online, asynchronous professional learning courses for learning acceleration in targeted math, literacy, and language development areas that infuse critical elements of Universal Design for Learning, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, and Social-Emotional Learning. If you wish to learn more, visit the CCLA Website .

Act now! CCLA is hosting its FREE inaugural summit on March 11, 2023! Register to gain knowledge and deepen understanding of learning
acceleration to reinvigorate classroom instruction to improve student outcomes.

Coming Fall 2023… FREE, online, asynchronous professional learning modules on Multi-tiered System of Support and Universal Design for Learning in the mathematics classroom, coaching, Lesson Study, and instructional strategies and concepts from the California Mathematics Framework.