NorCal Educator's Digest
December 2022
North State Together Expanding
A new Regional K16 Education Collaborative Grant allows North State Together to expand from 5 to 10 counties in Northern California. North State Together (NST) is a “Hub for Collective Impact'' that utilizes a rural approach to student, family and community success. The mission of NST is, “To increase community vitality by increasing educational access and success in the North State through local solutions within a regional support framework.” This emerges from the idea that “Economics and education are intertwined.” NST believes the problems in both can be solved when the community comes together. NST convenes 10 county-based collective impact teams composed of cross-sector partners representing education, business, community organizations, and local government to develop pathways in healthcare and education for North State students. These county networks strive to improve the economic and personal lives of community members who live and work in the remote North.
Billy Miller, Director of Planning and Development for North State Together shared about the recent expansion from the original network involving Shasta, Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity and Tehama counties, adding Butte, Glenn, Sierra, Plumas and Lassen counties to the five from the original network involving Shasta, Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity and Tehama counties. “We serve as the collective impact backbone for our county networks, providing funding, professional development and research support as they work to develop solutions that address local barriers affecting student outcomes. As the backbone team, NST maintains a delicate balance between the strong leadership needed to keep our counties united toward a common vision, and the invisible ‘behind the scenes’ role that lets each county network own and focus on their success. We give them the autonomy on how to focus resources in a way that best fits the needs of their region.” Another NST service is to capture regional data that allows counties to focus on key “cradle to career” indicators while building partner capacity and establishing shared measurement outcomes. NST collaborates to strengthen educational outcomes from cradle to career for ALL in far Northern California.
As the recipient of the $18.13 million Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant, NST aims to invest funding throughout the North State by reallocating sub-grants to its 10 county-based networks. The ten county networks will meet on a monthly basis to reach across county lines, share progress and best practices. The overarching aim will be to identify which pathways in healthcare and education currently exist within the region and how, collectively, these pathways might be streamlined and expanded. The hope is to fill an identified gap in the North State’s future workforce where students can obtain advanced degrees locally and ultimately be in a position to invest back into their own communities.
As well as building lasting partnerships across sectors and geography through its 10 county collaborative, North State Together will be utilizing strategies from a “Recovery with Equity: A Roadmap for Higher Education after the Pandemic (PDF)” that include:
- Cultivating inclusive, engaging, equity-oriented learning environments
- Retaining students through inclusive supports
- Supporting college preparation and early credit
- Providing high-tech, high-touch advising
To stay connected to updates from North State Together, sign up here. For more information, contact North State Together at nst@shastacollege.edu.
21CLSA Universal Preschool Activities
NorCal ELC and the 21CSLA State Center are planning sessions and modules to help educators prepare for expansion of Universal Transitional Kindergarten programs, P-3 curriculum alignment, and developing leadership capacity for early childhood education. Some sessions will begin in Spring 2023.
Add your name to our Universal Preschool mailing list today.
NewSchools Venture Fund - Grant Opportunity
“It’s a challenging time in education, but we are inspired by teams that are seizing the opportunity to improve and reimagine schools with a focus on excellence and equity. These schools help students develop a strong academic foundation along with the other mindsets, habits and skills necessary for success in life.”
NewSchools isnow accepting applications to fund the design of K-12 public schools — both district and charter — that bring to life an expanded definition of student success.
Grant recipients will receive three key sources of assistance:
- $215,000 to support a team’s planning
- Participation in a Community of Practice
- Management Assistance
Key Dates to Watch
- Application opens: November 7, 2022
- Webinar: November 30 at 9am PT
- 1:1 Coaching: Dec 12, Dec 14, Jan 9, & Jan 12 [Sign up here].
- (*This will consist of a 20 minute call where you can speak to a NewSchools team member)
- Application closes: January 27, 2023 at 5pm PT
See more information and application here.
February 2023 SF-CESS Equity Based iGroup Facilitator Institute
Interested in an Equity Based iGroup Facilitator Training? Check out this February 2023 in-person opportunity from San Francisco Coalition of Essential Small Schools (SF-CESS).
See location/date information and application here(opens in new window).
NorCal ELC Webinar Series
We’ve sponsored a series of webinars that focus on increasing equity in education and social and emotional learning. Join the NorCal Equity Community of Practice (PDF) even if you missed the first session. Upcoming sessions will be live cast and interactive on Zoom.
NorCal Equity Community of Practice 2022-23
With Lily Chang - Coordinator of Continuous Improvement, BCOE
- Session 2: Thursday, January 26th, 2023 @ 3:30-5 PM
- Session 3: Thursday, April 20th, 2023 @ 3:30-5 PM
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.
California School Dashboard to be Released in December 2022
What's changed and what data will be used?
According to the California Department of Education (CDE), Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) restricts the CDE to only use 2021–22 school year performance data. Thus, the 2022 Dashboard will only display Status data for each applicable state indicator. Note that Change (i.e., the difference from prior year data) and performance level colors will not be reported on the 2022 Dashboard due to the restrictions imposed by AB 130. LEA, school, and student group will receive one of five Status levels - (Very High, High, Medium, Low, and Very Low) for each applicable state indicator:
- Academic Grades 3–8 and Grade 11
- Chronic Absenteeism Rate, Grades K–8
- College/Career, Grades 9–12 (*not reported on 2022 Dashboard)
- English Learner Progress, Grades 1–12
- Graduation Rate
- Suspension Rate, Grades K–12
For more information, see California Department of Education's announcement here (PDF).
6 Research-Backed Reasons to Record Important Lessons
The research shows replacing or supplementing your lessons with instructional videos has a large impact on student learning.
Access the article from Edutopia’s “The Research Is In” column.
New WWC Resources for Educators: Tips for Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) just released a practice guide summary and an instructional tips sheet that showcase evidence-based practices educators can use when teaching literacy and other content to English learners in kindergarten through eighth grade. The summary and instructional tipsfor teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle school are both available on the WWC website.
These resources include:
- Instructional practices that can be used in whole class, small group, or one-on-one settings to improve English language proficiency and literacy
- Example activities to use during instruction, such as developing definitions with students
- A brief description of the evidence that supports the instructional practices
These resources are based on the 2014 WWC practice guide Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School. The summary introduces recommendations and supporting evidence for teaching English learners as described in the full practice guide. The instructional tips translate the recommendations into actions that educators can use with students at all levels of English proficiency.
Additional resources, such as the full library of practice guides, are also available for free on the WWC website.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment.
Reducing the Rural Digital Divide
On Tuesday, October 4, the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Humboldt County Office of Education celebrated the launch of a new high-speed internet system at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Fairhaven.
Read more on this celebratory event.
21CSLA State Center Newsletter
Interested in receiving statewide updates and learning what is going on around the seven California 21CSLA regions?
Subscribe to the new 21CSLA State Center Newsletter today!