Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/882783
impact on teaching, learning The Learning Policy Institute is conducting case studies of several ILC teams. ILC members from a few of these teams describe how their work has made an impact: ILC member Ma Bernadette Salgarino, a National Board Certified Teacher who works at the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and her ILC team focus on the new standards in math. She remembers that in pre- vious years, well-known math education leaders would come speak on the topic at annual symposia. Teachers were left inspired but unclear how they could implement the strategies that were shared. Now, Salgarino and her team incorpo- rate videos of ILC-sponsored professional development into symposium programming, and schedule follow-up sessions. The result is that participants see the new standards being implemented in colleagues' class- rooms, try them out in their own classrooms, and come together again to share and learn from their successes and challenges. "I value the opportunity to build capacity among [these teachers] to lead their departments, school sites, and school districts to focus on the most important thing — student learning and supporting all learners to maximize their potential to succeed in life," Salgarino says. ILC member Aba Ngissah, Inglewood Teachers Association, presents workshops on teaching about the environment and climate change, incorporating content from the California Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI). Through these workshops Ngissah forged connections with EEI, which led to her securing a $30,000 grant from Norris Foun- dation to work with students in her district. The funding helps mitigate severe challenges in Inglewood Unified School District, which deals with constant turnover in leadership and ongoing fiscal uncertainty. Ngissah says ILC has brought a level of respect to educators. "It has given educators a platform where they are viewed and treated as professionals. Colleagues, district officials, administrators, communi- ties, legislators are now being forced to view teachers in a different light — we know much and are willing to share, collaborate and con- tinue our own learning." She adds, " Treat us with respect, value what we offer, and we will all witness an amazing change in education." " Instead of 'I do, [then] you do,' it's 'Let's do it all together and go deeper.'" — ILC MEMBER YOLANDA MUÑOZ, UNITED TEACHERS OF PASADENA " Treat us with respect, value what we offer, and we will all witness an amazing change in education." — ABA NGISSAH, INGLEWOOD TEACHERS ASSOCIATION traction: "ILC's Karen Sher works with the South Coast Writing Project at UC Santa Barbara — th e ILC model i s embedded in their work. Inglewood and Lenox are examples of two districts working together, sharing resources and doubling the impact of educators educating educators." Goals for Phase Two P h a s e Tw o of I L C a i m s t o e x p a n d a n d deepen partnerships to create and sus- tain self-supporting models of educators educating educators. Partly, this means geographic expansion into rural areas his- torically underserved by other providers, deeper training with teachers, and stron- ger partnerships. "If you look at a map, ILC members are where population is, which makes sense," Snyder says. "But what about kids in Cres- cent City, deser t areas, S hasta? We are adjusting our model so we can help kids who don't have access to nearby colleges, where there are lots of kids and teachers who have talents and skills that we want to help develop." In Phase Two, educators will participate in multisession experiences, which will allow them to come back and reflect upon what worked and what didn't. "We need to provide more in-depth training than we did the first time," says Snyder. "We met with teachers a few times at most, which is better than one shot. But we can do better." In addition, ILC will strengthen its work w ith par tn ers such as scho ol di stricts, county offices, the California Department of Education and higher education organi- zations to develop sustainable partnerships. This could be ILC member -led training as part of a district's LCAP or a chapter's 57 O C T O B E R / N O V E M B E R 2 017 Ma Bernadette Salgarino Aba Ngissah