Content Area Support Provided by the Curriculum and Instruction Team
Our content specialists are here to support all schools and districts in Santa Cruz County in the following areas.
English LanGuage Arts
The Santa Cruz COE supports the school districts in the county with Readers and Writers Workshop training and facilitation. While we do not have an English Language Arts Coordinator, we can offer trainings needed by districts, including early literacy, guided reading, writing strategies and more. We also offer a free college essay application writing service to all high school students every fall. In order to support districts with the CAASPP ELA assessment, we offer trainings in formative and summative assessments throughout the year.
Contact Information
Barbara Huebner, Multilingual Achievement Coordinator
(831) 466-5807 or (831) 515-9504
Visual and Performing Arts
The Santa Cruz COE values the Visual and Performing Arts and the education of the whole child. The Arts Coordinator for the Santa Cruz COE focuses on issues of equity and access to the Arts as well as the great importance of the Arts on social and emotional learning. Working with many local and state-wide Arts organizations in addition to our districts, she collaborates to bring high quality, systemic, standards-based Arts residencies and programs to our students. The Santa Cruz COE Arts Coordinator also leads three different communities of practice to bring practitioners together in the areas of Visual Arts, Music and Theater Arts.
Contact Information
Audrey Sirota, Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator
(831) 466-5827 | Email
Multilingual Education
At the Santa Cruz COE, the Multilingual Coordinator supports districts and schools to strengthen programs and services for students to develop proficiency in multiple languages. She serves as the county’s representative at the statewide Bilingual Coordinators Network and is responsible for disseminating information on state policy for English learners. She facilitates the Instructional Coach Network and Communities of Practice to support EL RISE for Elementary ELD, Dual Language Programs, and Secondary ELD. She also started and coordinates the county’s Language Ambassadors student recognition program to promote and celebrate multilingualism as an asset for all students. She is passionate about students developing their abilities to advocate for themselves and their communities. She appreciates opportunities to partner with schools and districts to develop ongoing professional learning opportunities for teachers in pursuit of this goal. She provides training in Designated ELD, dual language programs, Spanish language arts and collaborates with her content area colleagues to provide Integrated ELD training.
Contact Information
Barbara Huebner, Multilingual Achievement Coordinator
(831) 466-5807 | Email
Environmental Literacy
The Santa Cruz COE is committed to supporting teachers, administrators and community partners to build the environmental literacy of all students in our community. Connecting learning to the local environment inspires students to develop the vision, skills, and motivation to create healthy communities and a healthy planet. We offer environmental education programs, resources, and professional learning experiences that help districts to use environmental themes—natural systems, climate, sustainability—to engage students in real-world, relevant studies that develop strong science, language, and math skills and prepare students for civic engagement and career paths. Resources include:
- Santa Cruz County Environmental Programs Hub
- Outdoor Science School
- Science Outside Program
- Teacher Networks for Science and Environmental Literacy and for History and Environmental Literacy in partnership with UC Santa Cruz History and Civics Project
- Customized professional learning programs, including sustainable school planning, nature connection for social-emotional learning, NGSS-based outdoor science, nature journaling, and outdoor teaching.
We are increasing access to impactful environment-based learning for all K-12 students!
As a partner in the California Environmental Literacy Initiative, Santa Cruz COE maintains a Community-Based Partner Hub that promotes environmental literacy by building educator awareness of community-based partners (CBP) and their products and services and fosters educator-CBP relationships for increased student enrichment and engagement. The goals of the Hub are to increase the visibility and access to environmental education community-based partners and be a reliable central repository for districts, schools, and teachers to identify programs that align with their local needs and meet educational standards.
Contact Information
Amity Sandage, Environmental Literacy Coordinator
(831) 466-5711 | Email
Mathematics
The Santa Cruz COE works with school districts and schools to support math instruction in many different ways. We have a partnership with the Silicon Valley Math Initiative (SVMI) and we offer professional development and support for teachers in powerful math instructional strategies. In addition, for the past two years, the COE has supported a Math NIC (Networked Improvement Community) to encourage collaboration, data analysis, and cycle of improvement work in schools. The math coordinator provides specialized professional development, assessment support, math walk-throughs and math programs/competitions for students.
Contact Information
Anney Fagan, Math Coordinator
(831) 466-5821 | Email
Science
The Santa Cruz COE supports science instruction that is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The science coordinator supports districts and teachers with the equitable implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards. The coordinator is also the director of the Santa Cruz County Science and Engineering Fair which serves all students in the county who wish to participate in the Science Fair. The coordinator collaborates with the Region 5 lead on the statewide Science CISC Subcommittee. The science coordinator works in collaboration with the Environmental Literacy coordinator to support teachers in Outdoor Science Education, with professional development and resources.
Contact Information
Heather Wygant, Science Coordinator
(831) 466-5727 | Email
History/Social Science
The Santa Cruz COE works in conjunction with different organizations to support teachers in History/Social Science. We support the work of the History Project at UC Davis, and Monterey COE History/Social Science initiatives. Although we do not have an official History/Social Science Coordinator, our Environmental Literacy coordinator does disseminate information about conferences, networks and professional development opportunities.
Contact Information
Amity Sandage, Environmental Literacy Coordinator
(831) 466-5711 | Email
INTEGRATING SOCIAL EMOTIONAL ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) collaborates closely with school districts and schools to foster explicit and integrated SEAD practices through a systemic approach to Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), rooted in CASEL’s five competencies and Transformative SEL Focal Constructs: Identity, Agency, Belonging, Curiosity and Collaborative Problem Solving. The COE facilitates local SEL Communities of Practice for educators devoted to strengthening adult SEL and promoting SEAD for students in collaborative environments. Additional offerings include access to Kelvin Education SEL surveys for gauging students and staff well-being; daily, audio-guided, mindfulness practices to develop stress management for students and staff; and curated resources on the SEL & Wellness Website.
Contact Information
Suzanne Denham, Social Emotional Academic Development (SEAD) Coach
Email