News
Building Capacity and Coherence in Napa Valley USD
The educators and administrators of Napa Valley Unified School District (NVUSD) embarked on an essential dual mission when they joined the On Track collaboration two years ago: to dramatically expand college readiness by strengthening the A-G pipeline, and simultaneously building an internal system that could learn, adapt, and drive continuous improvement. Their ultimate aspiration was […]
Grades Reinforce Learning as Process, Not an Event
When it comes to getting students on track for post-secondary opportunities, it’s important to inspect the role played by our grading practices. How do we actually measure and grade learning? We support teachers to ask questions like ‘Are my grading mechanisms sophisticated enough to capture when a student goes from not understanding to understanding? If […]
Collaboration, Curiosity, and Student Thinking Take Center Stage in Ukiah
The Ukiah PK-3 Coherence Collaboration (P3CC) is leading an exciting shift in how math is taught and experienced across their schools. Their goal is to make math a subject students celebrate and enjoy, where every learner feels confident sharing their reasoning and engaging in meaningful mathematical conversations. This transformation began with teachers’ willingness to try […]
Building Systems for Coherence and Rigor: The On Track Program Journey
One of the big gaps that we see over and over again is that students are not consistently exposed to grade-level appropriate material nor are they expected to perform at grade level. This not only compounds their chances of failure throughout high school, it also dramatically reduces their opportunities after they leave. Students who do […]
From Common Sense to Common Practice
I’ve been working with and in public school districts for a long time, 55 years to be exact, and I get to speak with dozens of superintendents every month. When I can support a district leader in staying focused on student learning, it is the best part of my day. I often find myself saying […]
Modesto City Schools on a Mission
Casey Peterson recognized a concerning trend when he began working in Modesto as an intervention specialist with struggling students. When ninth graders struggled at the beginning of their high school career, their challenges continued and compounded in subsequent years. Now, as a participant in Modesto’s California Education Partners On Track Improvement Team, Peterson has time […]
Lamont Leverages Improvement Teams to Learn and Scale
The Lamont Improvement Team is celebrating two years of powerful collaboration, learning, and growth that is shaping the future of math teaching and learning across their district. Their district’s Framework for the Future and their participation in Ed Partner’s PreK-3 Coherence Collaborative (P3CC) are guiding their strategy. From the very beginning, the team committed to […]
The Wisdom of District Improvement Teams
At California Education Partners, we’ve found that lasting improvement happens when solutions are designed collaboratively—bringing together the perspectives and experiences of educators, administrators, and district leaders. That’s why we structure our collaborations around cross-organizational district teams. By bringing together teachers, coaches, school site leaders, and district leaders, we ensure that multiple levels of the system […]
Great Ideas Need Great Systems
Let’s begin by acknowledging a simple truth: working at and running a school district in California today is one of the most challenging jobs, period. People say to me all the time, “If a school district would just do this or just do that, everything would come out great.” It’s not simple; many elements need […]
Administrators Gain Tools to Support Teachers of Young Children
This past summer California Education Partners partnered with Stanford’s Graduate School of Education to offer elementary school principals and district administrators a deep dive into the world of early childhood education. With the expansion of transitional kindergarten and the increased number of preschools on elementary school campuses districts now have more very young children in […]