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.
Project CLEAR’s Two-Unit Graduate Assessment Course
The two-unit graduate assessment course provides an overview of early literacy assessments in phonics, reading, and writing. For those who are considering the Teacher Leader or Teacher pathways, this course would offer an introduction to the opportunities sponsored by Project CLEAR, along with allowing time for district and school leaders to develop, or redesign, a literacy acceleration plan to incorporate into their Local Control and Accountability Plan.
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:
In Case You Missed It
Direct Technical Assistance Request for Proposal
CCEE is looking for respondents who can support partner LEAs in implementing State priorities. Further information is included in the Request for Proposal.
Universal PreK Resources
- UPK Key Information Flyer
- UPK Resources & Materials
- Great StartCalifornia: Advancing the California Department of Education’s P-3 Vision
Looking AHEAD
Winter/Spring 2024 Courses Toward the 21CSLA UTK Leadership Certificate
The next no-cost, university credit-bearing course toward the UTK Leadership Certificate will be Equity Centered Leadership Practices to Support, Integrate, and Align Transitional Kindergarten (TK).
This course will investigate and understand the instructional leadership practices related to preschool through third grade (P–3) education, including how to develop and enact a PK–3 vision, align and integrate Universal Transitional Kindergarten into the CA educational system, and implement strategies to build professional capacity through a culture of continuous improvement. With a focus on issues of educational inequality, course content and assignments will focus on ameliorating and improving public education with a P–3 focus.
For more information or to enroll, visit: https://21cslacenter.berkeley.edu/utk-leadership-certificate Questions? Email us at [email protected]
California Collaborative for Learning Acceleration Summit
Save the Date for the CCLA 2023-2024 Summit! This year’s theme is Students First: Every Moment Matters and will feature virtual and in-person options.
Tuesdays @ 2 Webinar Series
Following the adoption of the 2024–25 LCAP template and instructions the CDE will be providing a series of training webinars. For information, please visit the Tuesdays @ 2 Webinar Series web page.
November Resources
- National Native-American Heritage Month
- American Education Week (Nov 13-17)
- World Children’s Day (Nov 20)
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
How Do We Fix Schools?
By Matt J. Navo, Executive Director, CCEE
This is a question that has plagued educational practitioners and policymakers alike for years. The answer in short…we don’t! We don’t fix schools, we don’t fix people, and we don’t fix students. There’s not a compliance document, accountability document, or strategic plan that I have met that can fix schools. Rather, I would argue we help schools learn to improve, we help people to learn to improve, and we help students learn to improve. The only thing that can address the issues public schools are facing is the people in the buildings coming together for deep collaboration and problem-solving.
In this newsletter, you will read about how our Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC) is working with County Offices and state lead partners to support LEAs in learning to improve.
It’s Fall! A Time for Reflection and Planning
By Stephanie Gregson, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director, CCEE
The fall is a time for us to cozy up in our sweaters and have our hands wrapped around warm beverages. I would also say the fall is a time to reflect, especially for district and school site teams. The school year is well underway and spring is just around the corner. How can your school team come together in an authentic way to reflect on all they have accomplished and where they want to continue to improve? As Executive Director, Matt Navo, shared we don’t fix schools, we don’t fix people, we don’t fix students. We do, however, help school teams learn to improve, we help people learn to improve, and we help students learn to improve. How do you want to improve?
This fall is a time to reflect and start planning for the next Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) cycle. The new three-year LCAP cycle planning begins this year, and it is the time to bring your school community together to reflect and identify where you want to improve together. This is the time to have open conversations about what’s working and what isn’t. Reflection and planning are the cornerstones of a successful Local Control Accountability Plan. They enable schools to learn from the past and strategically navigate the future. Through these practices, schools and districts can create a comprehensive LCAP that meets the unique needs of all students fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
Our team is here to support and you’ll find this newsletter includes various resources and support on reflection and the upcoming changes expected for the LCAP.
The Power of Reflection, Together
By Jennie Wright, Ed.D., Assistant Director of the Teaching, Learning & Leading Center, CCEE
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful” (Wheatley, 2002). Much has been written about the power and importance of reflection, particularly self-reflection. There is also great power in reflecting together. To improve our systems to better serve our students and communities we must constantly strive to get better at getting better. This takes robust collaboration and internal accountability culture grounded in reflection, together.
Jenni Donohoo’s (2013) collaborative inquiry, which, like improvement science, is about learning and reflecting through four phases of a Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. There is no one path forward for everyone, if there was, we’d all be doing it already. Reflection, which lies in all four phases of the inquiry cycle, but particularly in the study and act phases is essential. Without engaging in all four phases we are not engaging in collaborative inquiry. It takes discipline through the four phases of inquiry to learn and reflect together so that the path forward reveals itself. Through disciplined rapid cycles of inquiry coupled with strong internal accountability at every level of the system, we create feedback loops and reflection so that the system and every level within it continuously improves.
It is much easier to look out the window than in the mirror but when we can be bold and brave enough to sit in a reflective space together, we can learn so much about ourselves, our practice, our students, and the needs of students, schools, and school systems.
References
Donohoo, J. (2013). Collaborative Inquiry for Educators: A Facilitator’s Guide to School Improvement. Corwin.
Wheatley, M. J. (2002). It’s an Interconnected World, Shambhala Sun, April, 2002.
A reflection on applying system improvement levers to the LCAP
By Matthew Roberts, Ed.D., Senior Advisor, CCEE & Joshua Strong, Administrator of the System of Support Office, CDE, Instruction & Measurement Branch
“Every system is perfectly designed to achieve exactly the results that it gets” is a phrase commonly used in system(s) improvement language. The words imply that design has more to do with system outcomes than simple intentions for system outcomes. Designing transformation in a district requires leaders to consistently think, reflect, and act in ways that drive continuous improvement across the entire organization. Getting to that point though takes reflection on current district priorities. How many priorities does your district have? Are priorities designed to solve problems rooted in the local data or do we stay flat in the data and act like it somehow moved? Do they fit an overall design for success in student outcomes? Do priorities capture the voice of those closest to students?
As districts measure the impact of current LCAP goals and begin engagement for the new LCAP cycle, consider applying the Carnegie Foundation’s Four Levers of Transformation (2020) to help inform the development of goals for the new LCAP cycle beginning 2024-25. The Four Levers include: 1) promote radical alignment across goals and plans to create a coherent, holistic design that places student success at the center, 2) build an improvement culture that opens voice and agency while holding everyone to high expectations, 3) develop everyone’s improvement capabilities to build the collective muscle that it takes to urgently do the hard work, and this means investing in people and building collaborative time, and 4) invest in improvement infrastructure that promotes collective learning, increases analytic capacity, and empowers decision-making.
In November 2023, the State Board of Education will consider revisions to the 2024-25 LCAP template including the following:
- Streamlining of the Plan Summary and Engaging Educational Partners sections of the LCAP
- Inclusion of tables in the Engaging Educational Partners and Increased or Improved Services for Foster Youth, English Learners, and Low-Income Students sections of the LCAP
- Addition of a requirement for school districts, county offices of education and charter schools that receive Local Control Funding Formula Equity Multiplier funding to include one or more goals within the LCAP
- Addition of a requirement for school districts, county offices of education and charter schools that are eligible for technical assistance and/or that have received the lowest performance rating on one or more state indicators on the California School Dashboard for (1) a school within the LEA, (2) a student group within the LEA, and/or (3) a student group within any school within the LEA to include specific actions in the LCAP
References
Berwick, Don. (March 3, 2015). [Keynote Speaker Presentation]. Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education. San Francisco, CA, USA. https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2015_Summit_Program.pdf
Dixon, C.J., & Palmer, S.N. (2020). Transforming Educational Systems Toward Continuous Improvement: A Reflection Guide for K–12 Leaders. Stanford, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Intensive Assistance Model
We invite you to hear the reflections of the Federal Terrace Elementary team in Vallejo City Unified School District and their journey with the Intensive Assistance Model. They are deepening their understanding and practices of authentic collaboration focused on student results.