Educational Services Update – August 2022

It has been a busy time for the Ed Services team. We are supporting our schools with professional development and gearing up for a new year. Our science coordinator facilitated an event sponsored by Synopsis, in which free science supplies were given out to new teachers. New Teacher Project has been meeting with their mentors in preparation to support our new teachers in the county this year. The Grading for Equity Project continues to move forward, with new teams joining the project this year.

We received a grant from the CA Arts Council to continue our implementation of the Artist Teacher Partnership Program specifically targeting our students at-promise. This program matches a teaching artist with a classroom teacher from our alternative education program. Together, they create a unit with a series of lesson plans that integrate the arts with another content area such as literature, history, science or mathematics. This year, many of the artist- teacher partnerships are creating a unit using the adopted English curriculum called Reading with Relevance. The materials for this first quarter revolve around exploring self-identity. We are tracking data such as academic and social-emotional growth during the unit of study.

NOAA has funded our three-year grant to launch the Every Classroom a Green Classroom Teacher leadership institute for Sustainability. The program will begin in January 2023. As with our previous Teacher Leadership Institute for Science and Environmental Literacy, we are partnering with districts to strategically recruit a collaborative TK-12 cohort of teacher leaders representing all 10 districts in the county. Participants will:

  • Engage as learners in deepening understanding of UN Sustainability Goals, California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts and NOAA’s Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences Framework in connection to their content area of expertise
  • Define environmental issues relevant to students and schools and identify connections to classroom curriculum and assignments in their content area focus
  • Collaborate with local environmental education partners to support field trip programs and stewardship action projects
  • Engage students in taking action on an environmental issue relevant to their classroom community as part of the pilot “Every Classroom a Green Classroom” recognition program. Participants will share their green classroom profiles at the final showcase in April.
In addition, our COE has taken on the role of Co-Lead for the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI) County Office of Education Innovation Hub. The COE Innovation Hub leads a statewide community of practice for COEs and is launching an Environmental Literacy Fellowship for COE leaders. We will also be presenting a session, COEs as Catalysts for Climate Ready Schools, at the California County Boards of Education (CCBE) Annual Conference.

Migrant Head Start is focusing on supporting Mixteco families and culture, with outreach and communication. At the apex of the program, saying goodbye to current students and recruiting for the winter season.