Unlock the potential of absolutely every learner
Welcome to The Core Collaborative’s newsletter, where we share professional learning insight, highlight our community, and keep you in the loop about upcoming events.
Keep reading to discover how to use learning dispositions for a strong start to 23-24, the story behind one school’s successful PLC reboot, and an opportunity to develop your leadership skills!
The Core Collaborative Professional Learning
Many schools have expressed that their PLCs have struggled to bounce back in the wake of the pandemic. This is not surprising considering the number of directions educators have been pulled in over the last three years.
Help your PLCs refocus on what matters most; student and teacher ownership and agency.
See how the team below has collected formative evidence of learning, analyzed this evidence for roots causes of proficiency, and agree upon a high-leverage action to take in order to move student learning forward.
Connect with us for more information about enhancing team ownership and agency of professional learning.
Back to School
Create a positive learning identity for students from the get-go.
One way to start the year off right is getting to know students and helping them think about themselves as learners is to get everyone thinking about learning habits, or dispositions.
Download the Learning Habit Interview guide from the book Amplify Learner Voice through Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Assessment to guide your discussions. This tool includes a brief overview of learning habits as well as directions and questions for interviewing students and for students to interview members of their family and community.
We hope you have an amazing start to the year!
Leading for Racial Equity
Leading for Racial Equity in schools requires so much more than technical proficiency in instruction and school operations. We must develop the ability to analyze how race and identity influence the experiences of our community and our student’s learning. We must explore how our perceptions of equity, racial dynamics, and schooling inform our decisions and discourse. Ultimately, we must apply our understanding and convictions to develop actionable plans to address persistent and racialized opportunity gaps in our schools and classrooms.
Space for Leading for Racial Equity is limited, If you are interested in joining the inaugural cohort, don’t delay; enroll today. During our time together we will:
- Connect with other equity-minded educators
- Analyze how race influences and shapes our leadership
- Develop our racial literacy and racial identity
- Design equity action plans for our schools and classrooms
Our Unique Network of Passionate Educators
The Core Collaborative Partner School Spotlight: Amos Alonzo Stagg High School
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School rebooted their PLCs in the fall of 2022 with collaborative inquiry. Each team spent time identifying their students strengths and struggles, as well as their teams’ instructional strengths and areas of growth prior to settling on one problem of practice to tackle during the school year. By the late fall of 2022, all teams agreed upon an inquiry question that they would work to answer throughout the school year. Teams identified multiple sources of evidence that they would collect to evaluate their impact on student agency and ownership of learning.
Throughout the school year, teams used their PLC time to dive into their collaborative inquiry. They researched their formative assessment practice, analyzed evidence of student learning, and determined high-leverage responsive actions to take in the classroom. In May, teams shared their learning journey, including the impact on student performance, with their larger departments.
This year Stagg’s PLCs will engage in another round of collaborative inquiry. Join us on October, 4th at an IL ASCD event to hear more about their school-wide effort to participate in inquiry that advances student and teacher agency.
The Core Collaborative Partner Consultant Spotlight: Dr. Michael De Sousa
The Question: What are three words to describe Michael De Sousa?
The Answer: Unique, passionate, and enthusiastic!
Dr. Michael J. De Sousa is the son of Azorean immigrants, Gisela Paz and Jose Antonio. He was the first in his family to attend and graduate college. Since then, Michael has been committed to building equitable schools and communities. Over the past 23 years he has served as a teacher, school leader, leadership coach, community organizer, executive leader, and researcher. A family man, Michael loves music, cooking, and hiking with his wife and three children in the Oakland hills. His enthusiasm is never more contagious than when he is partnering with other educators as he is doing in our upcoming series on “Leading for Racial Equity”!
Click here to learn more about the upcoming series on “Leading for Racial Equity.”
Upcoming events:
August 3, 2023: Greater Ozarks – Cooperating School Districts Innovation Summit 2023
September 12, 2023: Leading for Racial Equity with Michael De Sousa
September 21, 2023: Excellence Through Equity Conference 2023
September 28, 2023: COSA: Oregon Educator Equity Summit
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