NorCal Educator's Digest
March & April 2022Grant Support for Ed Leaders!
NorCal ELC is recruiting leadership teams for our 2022-2023 program. We invite you to join our region’s growing network of school and teacher leaders working together on local problems of practice to create improvements for students. All educational professionals—at school, district, and county levels -- are welcome to apply to participate in our yearlong professional learning and other support services.
Want to learn more? Attend a virtual info session from 4–5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 26 via Zoom.
NorCal ELC serves and connects educators in Butte, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties. Supports for professional learning include:
- Developing leadership capacity
- Enhancing continuous improvement practices
- Meeting participant-driven needs based on a local Problem of Practice (PoP)
- Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) expansion pathway
- Equity and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
- Winter and Summer Leadership Institutes
Can’t attend? View future info session dates on our website!
See the NorCal ELC Overview (Google Doc) for more information on what we do and how.
Chico Unified “Improving” its Way to Meaningful Civic Engagement Opportunities for Students
Submitted by Sandra Azevedo
After 19 years of teaching AP Government, Chico Unified School District teacher Beth Burton is passionate about students working to earn the State Seal of Civic Engagement.
The Seal can be awarded to a student and affixed to their transcript/diploma/certification of completion by a district when the student has demonstrated:“..excellence in civics education and participation, and an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government.” Introduced in 2020, the seal, for individual students, provided a pathway for Beth and her colleagues to engage junior and senior students in civil discourse and meaningful civic engagement.
With the need identified: “We believe that civic engagement and civil discourse are lacking in our nation and are vital for the future of our Democratic Republic'', Beth and her team with the NorCal Educational Leadership Consortium (NorCal ELC) began iterating their way forward. More information on how Chico Unified began work to make the seal available to students can be seen here in this article by LEADE (Leading Equity & Access in Democratic Education).
A key recent achievement for Beth’s NorCal ELC team was crafting a rubric to ensure consistency across Chico Unified School District in awarding the seal. The rubric can be viewed here (Google Doc) and illustrates the thoughtful and rigorous criteria students must demonstrate in order to earn the seal. The five criteria are:
- Be engaged in academic work in a productive way
- Demonstrate a competent understanding of U.S. and California constitutions; functions and governance of local governments; tribal government structures and organizations; the role of the citizen in a constitutional democracy; and democratic principles, concepts, and processes.
- Participate in one or more informed real-world civic engagement project(s)
- Demonstrate civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions through self-reflection
- Exhibit character traits that reflect civic-mindedness and a commitment to positively impact the classroom, school, community, and/or society.
Seniors in the Class of 2022 will be the first students who have the opportunity to earn the seal. Chico is viewing this as a pilot with the goal to quickly expand. They are still exploring how students will showcase their work and are considering a presentation at a social science fair. It will be exciting to watch Chico Unified students develop as they practice new dispositions and engage in thoughtful projects that address important school or public issues.
For more information about Chico Unified’s Seal of Civic Engagement project, contact Beth Burton at bburton@chicousd.org.
Rural Teachers Cultivate Community Leaders
Jan Mathews, a middle school science teacher in Gridley, CA shares her experience cultivating the next generation of community leaders for this episode of the “I AM A RURAL TEACHER” Podcast.
Listen and/or read the full story.
Research Practice Webinar: School Leaders Learning to Lead for Equity
- Tuesday, April 19th, 2022 @ 3:30-5 PM
Dr. Aki Murata and a panel of school leaders will share the emerging findings from the interview study conducted with California school leaders (21CSLA Community of Practice participants) on how they find professional support and network to lead for equity. They will illustrate how and why the overlapping support systems are essential for school leaders' continuous work to create educational access where needed.
Ethnic Studies 101 - FREE Offering for Far North Partnership
- Thursday(s), May 12th & 19th, 2022 @ 9-11 AM
All county, district, and school-level administrators in the Geolead Far North Partnership are invited to a two-part series, Ethnic Studies 101 for AB 101 support. These sessions will be provided by the UC Davis History Project. Sessions will include an overview of AB 101, an explanation of Ethnic Studies, an overview of the Model Curriculum, and support in creating a process for course design to meet the requirement. If you have questions contact Kendra Tyler at the Glenn County Office of Education, at 530.865.1267 x2108.
California MTSS 2022 Professional Learning Institute
- July 12th - 14th, 2022 in Anaheim, CA
The theme of the California MTSS 2022 Professional Learning Institute is “Hear Us, Together We Rise” and the goal is to inspire and uplift educators with three days of speakers and interactive breakout sessions that focus on supporting the adults in the system and the needs of the whole child by leveraging the CA MTSS framework to meet the academic, behavioral and social-emotional and mental health needs of our youth. The event will be held in-person, with some streaming and recorded options, at the Anaheim Convention Center, next to the Disneyland Resort!
NorCal ELC Webinar Series
We’ve sponsored a series of webinars that focus on increasing equity in education and social and emotional learning. The upcoming webinar will be held live cast on Zoom.
NorCal Equity Community of Practice
With Lily Chang - Coordinator of Continuous Improvement, BCOE
- Thursday, May 19th, 2022 @ 3:30-5 PM (Session 4 of 4)
Achieving equity in education is necessary to improve the outcomes for students and staff, especially those who have been historically marginalized. It’s imperative that educators come together to prioritize equity as it relates to race and culture, address systemic racism, forms of oppression and exclusion, and identify unfair practices and policies that contribute to inequitable outcomes. Participants will deepen their learning and awareness, share resources and tools, collaborate and network in order to move to action.
Contribute a Northern California School Picture
Would you like to see a picture from your school on our NorCal ELC website? We love the almond picture on our website, but our project is about P-12 educators and their students, schools and communities in Northern California. We invite you to send us a picture so website visitors can see our fantastic school and students. Since these pictures will be made public you must have district permissions in place for their publication.
Send pictures to Blanca Estrada, NorCal ELC’s Website Developer.