|
Upcoming events
Alliance Convening
October 12th
Long Beach, CA
|
|
 The Linked Learning Alliance is a statewide coalition of education, industry, and community organizations dedicated to improving California's high schools and preparing students for postsecondary education and career.
The Linked Learning Alliance is going green!
The Linked Learning Alliance has decided to "go green." Instead of printing thousands of pages, all materials for the upcoming Linked Learning Alliance Convening will be available digitally. You will be able to use your laptop or tablet to access materials uploaded to the web prior to and during the convening.
Unable to attend? Make sure to check our November newsletter for the best place to download supplementary materials and view videos of the convening, filmed and edited by the Jordan Media and Communications pathway located at Jordan High School in Long Beach.
Last Chance Convening Registration:
Linked Learning Alliance Convening
October 12th, 2011
8:30am-4:00pm
The Grand Event Center
Long Beach, CA
Register Now
|
|
|
Linked Learning in Our Schools: How can the convening benefit your district?
|  Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathon Raymond explains why he plans to attend the convening in Long Beach
|
| |
Alliance Spotlight:
Join us at the Linked Learning Alliance Fall Convening
|
 | | Linked Learning Alliance Executive Director Christopher Cabaldon discusses the upcoming Fall Convening |
|
|
|
|
|
Event Spotlight: Draft of Career Practicum document released for Linked Learning Alliance member feedback
The Linked Learning Alliance Pathway Development Working Group has created a new career practicum document designed to increase understanding about work-based learning and expand work-based learning opportunities for students. The Linked Learning Alliance wants your feedback to make this document as useful to the field as possible. Please review this draft document and use the survey below to provide edits or comments,
Excerpt from Career Practicum
"Work-based learning is a continuum of educational strategies stretching from kindergarten into adulthood that are intentionally designed to help students extend and deepen classroom work and make progress toward learning outcomes that are difficult to achieve through classroom or standard project-based learning alone."
Click here to view a copy of Career Practicum: A Work-Based Learning Strategy
Feedback will be accepted on Career Practicum through Monday, October 31st.
|
|
Alliance Member Spotlight: Linked Learning Teacher Training Institutes at California State University and University of California
Interested in learning more about Linked Learning teacher training institutes? Make sure to sign up for the Linked Learning Alliance Fall Convening site visit to CSU, Long Beach. Register now!
Led by the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University, seven of California's public universities have joined a growing network of teacher training institutions across the state that are implementing a recently updated, state-approved teaching credential program designed to prepare teachers for the unique classroom environment they will encounter in Linked Learning schools.
The CSU system is responsible for training more than half of the state's public school teachers. This program is a revision of the existing state teaching credential. Its expansion has helped lead to successful implementation of the Linked Learning approach in many high schools.
The updated credential program adds a Linked Learning "lens" to existing teacher-training courses. It was created in 2008 at San Diego State University's (SDSU) School of Teacher Education after faculty members began hearing from administrators in Linked Learning pathways that teachers needed additional knowledge and skills to participate fully in the growing number of career academies being established in California's high schools. Since then, SDSU has led a wide-ranging effort to find new ways to strengthen the participating campuses' teacher preparation practices to include the "lens."
With support from the James Irvine Foundation and technical assistance from ConnectEd, San Diego State first redesigned its own credential program. Particular attention was given to elements that had not previously been addressed in teacher preparation, but have proven to be critical components of teaching in the Linked Learning environment, including work-based learning, teacher collaboration, and developing integrated curriculum across disciplines.
After San Diego State retooled its own teacher training methods to incorporate a Linked Learning "lens" in their existing curricula, the school received a grant to create a replicable model of this new system that could be used in other universities as well. In the past two years, five other schools in the CSU system, one in the UC system, and one private university have begun the work of adding those elements to their teacher training curriculum.
Since 2008, more than 300 teachers have received their teaching credentials from these programs, with many moving into teaching positions at the growing number of Linked Learning schools.
The university campuses that currently offer teacher credentialing programs with a Linked Learning lens include the following:
· CSU San Bernardino
· CSU Fresno
· CSU Sacramento
· San Diego State University
· CSU Long Beach
· CSU East Bay
· Claremont Graduate University
· UCLA
Visit the School of Teacher Education website here.
|
|
In the News
'Linked learning' will help ensure employers can find skilled workers
By AJ Thomas
Appearing in the Mercury News
As a human resources professional for a high-tech company, I am responsible for screening applicants for jobs in an industry that is growing ever more competitive.
Potential hires need more than a solid education; they need work-ready skills and experience. Unfortunately, many candidates lack these prerequisites.
According to a new report from the business leaders organization America's Edge, even at the height of the recession and with 2 million Californians out of work, only 38 percent of the state's workers had appropriate training for 47 percent of California's jobs in middle-skill careers... Click here to read the article.
Broad-based coalitions are needed for California to reclaim leadership in education
By Donald Gill
Appearing in the Contra Costa Times
If California high school education is examined closely, there are clear indicators that the system is not working for a majority of our students. State Superintendent Tom Torlakson acknowledged this challenge within weeks of his election last November. In January, recognizing a need for broad-based stakeholder involvement, Torlakson convened a 59-member transition team co-chaired by Linda Darling-Hammond, Ducommun professor of Education at the Stanford University School of Education, and David Rattray, senior vice president of Education and Workforce Development, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, to provide innovative and strategic advice.
UC turns career tech ed-friendly
By John Fensterwald
Appearing in TOP-Ed
A decade ago, 258 career technical education courses counted toward satisfying requirements for admission to the California State University or the University of California. Today, the number has grown to 9,079 courses, closing in on the 2012 goal of 10,000 courses that the Legislature set several years ago.
The numbers reflect a dramatic shift in the mindset toward CTE by the University of California, whose faculty determines which courses meet A-G, the 15 subjects that all students must pass to apply to a four-year state university... Click here to read the article.
| |
Policy Watch
Common Core: The SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), is one of two assessment consortiums that is working to develop new assessments for Mathematics and English Language Arts that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards and help prepare students for college and careers.
SBAC has released detailed content specifications for Math and English Language Arts and are seeking public comment.
The SBAC content specification documents describe the extent of the Consortium's current development to specify claims about student learning that are derived from the Common Core State Standards. When finalized, these claims will serve as the basis for the Consortium's system of summative and interim assessments and its formative assessment support for teachers.
The full draft content specifications are available here.
Legislative Watch: Governor Jerry Brown has until midnight on October 9 to act on hundreds of bills that remain on his desk, include several that could have on impact Linked Learning, including:
AB 250 (Brownley) establishes a structure for the implementation of the common core state standards by developing and adopting curriculum frameworks and professional development opportunities that are aligned to the common core state standards.
AB 790 (Furutani) establishes a Linked Learning pilot program, to be administered by the California Department of Education.
SB 547 (Steinberg), which will evolve the Academic Performance Index (API) into an Education Quality Index (EQI) that would consist of a State Assessment Index, a Graduation Rate Index, a College Preparedness Index, and a Career Readiness Index.
SB 611 (Steinberg) establishes in statute the University of California Curriculum Integration Institute.
SB 612 (Steinberg) adds a career education focus to the California Subject Matter Projects.
SB 650 (Lowenthal) gives enrollment priority at the Long Beach Community College District to students Long Beach Unified School District students as part of the Long Beach College Promise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
