Three members of our COE team, along with four cabinet members from Live Oak School District, attended a two and a half conference on Improvement Science (held at the Madera COE). Improvement Science is “the application of small, measurable, and individualized changes to address specific issues in an educational setting and help uncover the root cause of problems.” These practices are used in successful schools and districts, and the COE staff also use them for Differentiated Assistance Support.
Members of our team are busy preparing to support districts with their August Professional Development days. To kick off the school year and all the professional development trainings, we will be hosting an 2022 Administrator Kickoff featuring Ken Shelton as the keynote speaker.
On August 3rd, 70 educators will be hard at work on the Grading Taskforce. They will be revising grade books, reviewing assessments, and updating rubrics to establish more equitable standards-based grading at schools across the county.
Our VAPA coordinator, Audrey Sirota, had a really successful Summer Arts Integration Institute with 36 attendees and 8 who attended virtually. They met from Monday through Thursday for 5 hours each day at Harbor High School (in June). There was representation from every county in our Region: Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey. Audrey is already hard at work planning next summer’s institute!
Here are some quotes from the participants:
- “I did not want the week to end. The blend between learning how to do arts integration and engaging in the arts disciplines with a focus on self-care was perfect. I came away with lots of activities, strategies, and ways of thinking to integrate into my teaching.”
- “I had never before experienced a successful IRL and virtual event. This was the best experience I have had over the past 3 years. Having the Santa Cruz COE Arts Coordinator be our personal tour guide through the whole week made it work. She made sure we were connected to the folks in the room. She pushed us to create our own individual installations at home. The sharing on Thursday was moving because everyone focused on self and community care.”
- “I feel so much more confident and comfortable integrating the arts into my classroom. It is quite easy when I realized that it is a mindset change.”