Spotlight 2022
SCOE 21CSLA is just completing a very successful first half of the year with our Fall Professional Learning opportunities wrapping up in the next week. We offered ten communities of practice and four localized professional learning opportunities. Our Academy is currently recruiting for Spring 2023 Professional Learning opportunities across the 14 counties we serve and invite other leaders across the state to join us if they are interested. As part of our ongoing efforts to create awareness of 21CSLA and our work as a regional academy, we have been working on rebranding our academy and creating a formalized marketing plan. We highlight one of our Area 6 opportunities and our new marketing campaign below.
Highlight: The Early Learning Academy (Area 6)
The Early Learning Academy kicked off with a group of Sacramento area site and district leaders joining together at the Sacramento County Office of Education to explore the complex concept of building a preschool through third grade (P-3) continuum through knowledge and skill- building activities. Three virtual community of practice sessions followed the full day in-person gathering. With play-based instruction at the core, they began with a hands-on professional learning experience to process critical information around stress impacts on the developing (birth to age 7) brain through the “brain architecture game.” The premise of experiencing hands-on learning themselves continued throughout the day with discussion and activity bringing the 21CSLA leadership elements together with Six Competencies for leading early learning and early grade programs (National Association of Elementary School Principals, 2021). Grounding equity and leadership was highlighted in the Equity Position Statement recently distributed from the National Association for the Educating Young Children (2021) which states “All children have the right to equitable learning opportunities that help them achieve their full potential as engaged learners and valued members of society”; therefore, the group examined the critical nature of a high-quality, developmentally-informed whole child approach to teaching and learning. Discussion was anchored by preschool and kindergarten video observations with protocols such as a See-Think-Wonder to elevate reflection regarding the observed and connection to participants’ own programs.
Many were new to early learning pedagogy and foundations, although several were directors or coordinators of preschool programs, allowing for rich discussions and questions among colleagues. This diverse group of leaders focused on key domains such as language, literacy, and social and emotional development; and inquired about best practice in assessment and inclusion.
In addition, participants received multiple resources to dive deeper to lead P-3 learning communities including the current Preschool Learning Foundations, books, articles, and tools for effective support, supervision, and evaluation of programs.
SCOE 21CSLA Rebrand
In our continuing efforts to create awareness of SCOE 21CSLA as the premier leadership development resource in the Placer-Sacramento Region, and to connect our work to the larger 21CSLA work happening across the state, we have been undergoing a rebranding of our program logos, marketing materials, and marketing pathways.
Our goal is to create marketing and recruitment materials customized by location (rural, suburban, urban), by demographics (Gender/ethnicity), by role (teacher, site, district leader) and by marketing format (social media, email, In-Person, etc.). Working with the SCOE Communications team, we have begun reimagining our marketing tools and have developed a future-focused marketing plan. We have created separate tools unique to the geographic market and format they will be used within. In December, we are starting a social media campaign through Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram targeting specific demographics and roles to support recruiting more diverse leaders from across the region. Additionally, we are working to develop metrics to know how each of our campaigns is working. We look forward to providing updates to the 21CSLA community as we learn and refine our campaign.
For more information, visit our website at www.scoe.net/divisions/school_of_ed/21csla.