News & Announcements
2021-22 CCEE Independent Study Professional Learning Network (ISPLN)
Join CCEE and participating districts for solution-oriented discussions focused on a problem of practice around independent study.
- Learn more about the ISPLN meetings.
- Here is a sample Master Agreement problem of practice discussion.
Community Engagement Initiative
Interested in enhancing and expanding your district’s community engagement efforts? Applications to join the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI)’s Cohort III Peer Leading and Learning Network (PLLN) are due next week, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 by 9:00am. This is the last time this initiative will be bringing on a Cohort of new district teams!
Interested districts can view FAQs, detailed application instructions, and a recorded information session at CaliforniaEngage.org/Cohort3.
Unable to join but still interested? Make sure you follow us on Twitter for news, updates, and resources!
Looking Ahead
California Elementary Literacy Conference – The Sacramento County Office of Education, California Department of Education, and CCEE are coming together on June 16th, 2022 to share evidence-based early literacy instructional practices.
Reflection Brings Rejuvenation – As the end of the year is approaching, take some time to reflect. This National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) blog offers tips on how to reflect and rejuvenate while protecting your mental health.
In Case You Missed It
System of Support Updates (May 2022)
Learning Acceleration Evaluation The CCEE and its Administrative Agent, the Marin County Office of Education (MCOE), issued a Request for Proposals for Independent Evaluation Services for the Learning Acceleration System (LAS) Grant on January 31, 2022. On April 4, 2022, the CCEE posted a Notice of Intent to Award identifying Education Northwest as recipients of grant funding.
May Resources
California AfterSchool Network training webpage – Explore this Expanded Learning opportunity happening Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 9:00am – 3:00pm. Visit their webpage for additional event and registration details.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month – Find ready-use lesson plans, student activities, guides, and research aids in this selection of resources for teachers.
Jewish American Heritage Month – The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who helped form the fabric of American history, culture, and society.
Haitian Heritage Month – Learn more about Haitian culture and history on National Today’s website celebrating Haitian Heritage Month.
Mental Health Awareness Month – National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) supports and educates the public on mental health.
CDE Mental Health – CDE’s mental health page provides various resources for mental health support.
Center for Safe and Resilient Schools and Workplaces – During times of stress and crisis, they provide training and consultation to promote safety, resilience, and recovery.
National Foster Care Month – Learn more about foster care and find resources on the Children’s Bureau and Child Welfare Information Gateway website.
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
Making School Transformation Happen!
School transformation is expensive. It costs time, resources, and funding to turn around a school, much less a district. People ask, “How much time does it take to turn around a school?” The answer is: it takes as long as it takes. The Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC) is charged with addressing school transformation by advising and assisting school improvement. The TLLC is also overseeing the Learning Acceleration System Grant, an initiative to disseminate evidence-based learning acceleration strategies to educators across California. If you have a school/district that needs support or simply wants to learn about the Systemic Instructional Review (SIR) process and Learning Acceleration, then you are in the right place. To find out more, read this May newsletter from TLLC.
Sincerely,
Matt J. Navo
Executive Director, CCEE
Journey to Systemic Improvement with CCEE
Finding Coherence with CCEE Improvement Coaches
By Dr. Stephanie Gregson, Deputy Executive Director of the Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center, CCEE
Executive Director, Matt Navo, said it well, school improvement takes as long as it takes. Our team within the Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center at CCEE works in alliance with local educational agencies to understand their assets, needs, and aspirations to begin the journey of effective school improvement and positively impacting students’ experiences. Within Direct Technical Assistance or our Facilitated Instructional Review process, a road map is co-created through an instructional review process. Our team are trained improvement coaches that will work with your team in understanding the process of how to get better at getting better. We utilize Fullan and Quinn’s elements from their Coherence Framework as the foundation of our work: focusing direction, creating a collaborative culture, securing accountability, deepening learning, and building leadership at all levels.
Throughout this newsletter there will be examples of elements highlighted through the Direct Technical Assistance and Systemic Instructional Review process. You will learn how recommendations and resources can be connected together through the quality improvement process. You will also hear from our partners in the Learning Acceleration System Grant, a grant to build a statewide infrastructure of professional learning in literacy, language development, and mathematics. We are all working together towards an educational experience where every student is inspired and prepared to thrive as their best self in the world.
Salinas Union High School District
Engaging in Improvement through Direct Technical Assistance
By Alma Pio-Garcia, Special Projects Director, Salinas Union High School District
Salinas Union High School District (SUHSD) has partnered with CCEE since 2019. The district focuses on these students groups:
- English Learners
- Students Experiencing Homelessness
- Students with Disabilities
Below, Alma Pio-Garcia shares SUHSD’s experience collaborating with CCEE.
The Salinas Union High School District is committed to creating environments within our organization where families/caregivers feel like they belong and their voices matter. During the past five years, we have increased parent participation in workshops, conferences, and committees, and yet based on our 2019-20 Systemic Instructional Review (SIR) recommendations, this was not enough for parents to feel like they were true partners. Thus, we were thrilled to be selected to be part of the Community Engagement Initiative (CEI) along with 18 other CA school districts so that we could learn about the best researched-based family engagement practices.
As a result of being part of this cohort, our CEI team has been able to identify a problem of practice through the Plan-Do-Study-Act process that is in direct alignment with our SIR recommendations. Our team engaged in a fishbone activity to identify our problem of practice: focusing on increasing ongoing, authentic communication with parents/caregivers, which will support their sense of belonging. Our journey has just begun, and we will continue working with the various educational partners representing our diverse community to increase genuine family engagement. We are currently working on identifying our research-based strategies and developing metrics to measure our implementation. The alignment between CEI and the SIR recommendations has been critical to us building coherence for our families.
Contact SUHSD
Introducing the Learning Acceleration System Grant Team
By Stacey Wedin, Assistant Director, CCEE
Section 152 of Assembly Bill 130 (2021) appropriates funding to the CCEE to administer, in partnership with selected county offices of education, “…evidenced-based professional education for educators that can support learning acceleration, particularly in mathematics, literacy, and language development.” The CCEE is honored to be partnering with Lake COE, San Diego COE, and Santa Clara COE as selected grantees under the Learning Acceleration System Grant. Each county has partnered with institutes of higher education to build or expand professional learning across content areas to benefit educators and students. Below, our partners reflect on opportunities and aspirations as this important work begins.
Learning Acceleration System Grant-Mathematics
Kim Ferguson, Grant Lead, Lake COE
“Learning Acceleration is based on inclusivity and the foundational idea that all students can become powerful math learners. Learning Acceleration allows every student to increase their mathematics proficiency through asset-based high-quality instruction, engaging open-ended tasks focused on the Big Ideas in the Common Core State Standards, and targeted interventions.”
Contact LCOE
California Literacy Elevation by Accelerating Reading (Project CLEAR)
Dr. Shannon Baker, Senior Director, San Diego COE
“Project CLEAR is built on the premise that learning acceleration for diverse student populations will occur through the implementation of Reading Recovery or Descubriendo la Lectura as the content and pedagogy in the course focuses on supporting educators to teach the skills that help them reach grade-level literacy outcomes.”
Contact SDCOE
California Collaborative for Learning Acceleration (CCLA)
Dr. Yee Wan, Project Director, Santa Clara COE
“CCLA is honored to collaborate with regions across California to build educator capacity through evidence-based professional learning in the areas of mathematics, literacy, and language development. Our collective goal is for every TK-12 student to develop their content knowledge and agency within their learning environments to accelerate their learning.”
Contact SCCOE
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.
Meet Our TLLC Team Members!
Stephanie and Rocio are valued leaders on our TLLC team! Read more on them below.
Stephanie Gregson, Ed.D.
Deputy Executive Director
Stephanie leads the Teaching, Learning, and Leading Center (TLLC) overseeing TLLC’s efforts focusing on school turnaround centering on improving teaching and learning within districts and schools aimed at equitable access, opportunity, and outcomes for students.
Fun Fact: Stephanie has recently completed over half of the California section of the Pacific Crest Trail showing that women, and not just people like Bear Grylls, can take on the wild.
Rocio Gonzalez-Frausto
Assistant Director
Rocio provides Direct Technical Assistance support to district, charter, and county teams where they engage in continuous improvement practices to enhance instructional practice and strategy, so they can positively affect student outcomes. Internally, she collaborates and provides guidance on the implementation of the Direct Technical Assistance process.
Fun Fact: Rocio is a level 2 archery coach.
