News Briefs | FYI | April 11, 2022

Association of California School Administrators

News Briefs | FYI

April 11, 2022

Series features Santa Clara COE student wellness centers

The latest episode of Inside California Education features student wellness centers inside middle and high schools in Santa Clara County.

The most recent episode of the award-winning public television series takes viewers inside the wellness centers, which are calming spaces where students can get a quick mental health break. The Santa Clara County Office of Education and schools have partnered to open 12 new centers across the county, which have helped to reduce anxiety and stress in students readjusting to being back on campuses following distance learning.

Based on input from students, the spaces feature calming colors, couches, plants, rugs and activities such as art, puzzles and yoga. Students are also able to seek professional help for mental health needs at the centers, which are open all day, including before and after school and at lunch.

“We know that children are 21 times more likely to access services and get them earlier when they are available on school campuses,” said Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Mary Ann Dewan, during an interview featured in the episode. “So we know that if we want to make a difference that the school campus is the place to be.”

Knowing the life challenges students face outside of school, students have said they want schools to be safe spaces that meet all of their needs, said Chaunise Powell, director of Youth & Wellness with the SCCOE Professional Learning & Instructional Support Division.

“Our young people, what we have heard them say is this is the first time that they feel like the school has cared about something outside of academic success,” she said during the episode.

The episode also features the history making all-Latina speech and debate team from Santa Ana, a “day in the life” for a paraeducator in Palo Alto, and an effort to inspire kids to become pilots in the small Central Valley town of Reedley. Watch the full episode at https://insidecaled.org/videogallery/video/full-episode-411-place-for-students/.

Teacher salaries decreasing amid inflation spike

Teachers’ salaries across the country are outpacing inflation in recent years, but districts may want to rethink their pay strategies given this current spike in inflation, according to a recent blog post from the National Council on Teacher Quality.

A recent issue of District Trendline looked at salaries in the largest district in each state to see if teacher raises have kept pace with regional inflation figures from 2017 to 2020.

“Notably, every district in this sample offered raises that outpaced inflation during this four-year time period,” writes author Patricia Saenz-Armstrong.

With the current inflation rate at 7.5 percent — a 40-year high — Saenz-Armstrong notes that available data in some of the sample districts reveals that teachers have experienced a net salary reduction due to the more recent inflation spike.

“Competitiveness remains a significant concern, and although more states and districts have implemented differential pay over the last years to better attract talent, school districts’ salary schedules still contain a fair amount of rigidity and are not often responsive to the teacher labor market,” Saenz-Armstrong writes. “If inflationary pressures do not subside, school districts need to consider stepping up their COLA raises, so as to not detract from their teachers’ wages’ purchasing power.”

Saenz-Armstrong suggests districts move away from step and lane salary schedules that reward teachers who earn master’s degrees, which research has shown does not contribute to teacher effectiveness.

Read the full post at https://www.nctq.org/blog/Are-teacher-salaries-keeping-up-with-inflation#.

FYI

CTC seeks input on draft literacy instruction guide

In preparation for the implementation of SB 488 (Rubio), the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has created a draft Literacy Instruction Resource Guide. This resource is intended to provide guidance for program planning in teacher preparation and for reference by future workgroups and design teams in the development of standards and teaching performance expectations, as well as the development of a performance assessment to replace the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment. In order to provide your feedback on this draft resource guide, all interested parties are invited to complete this survey at https://bit.ly/3NNv1Er after reviewing the most current version of the guide (rev. 03.24.22) at https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/el-docs/ksa-ela-literacy-eld.pdf.

Submit comments on math framework by May 16

The second 60-day public review of the draft Mathematics Framework began on March 14. A revised draft has been posted to the CDE Mathematics Framework web page, www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ma/cf/. The posted draft reflects input from California parents, educators, students and others who commented during the first 60-day field review period in early 2021 and during the Instructional Quality Commission’s May 2021 meeting. Also available are revised Frequently Asked Questions about the current draft. Comments will be accepted at mathframework@cde.ca.gov through May 16, 2022. All comments received will be forwarded to the State Board of Education, which is expected to take final action on the framework at its July meeting.