Language, Alameda County, 2025, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Four elementary ELD educators at three schools in our district will pursue training in Guided Language Acquisition and Development (GLAD) strategies to enhance and revitalize our own teaching. During the second year of our project, we will co-plan content-integrated units with classroom teachers at our schools. This project will make our teaching richer and more interactive, and will enable students to learn science and social studies content as they learn English. It will also create more support for English learners in the general education classroom, meet a need for teacher collaboration, and amp up instruction for all students.
Alameda County, 2025, Reading/Writing, High School, Funded Projects
The Reading Department of Oakland International High School (OIHS) will use its LIGHT Award grant to deepen our instructional approach to reading for newcomer students. While we have established strong practices for teaching phonics and decoding (connecting the sounds and meanings of letter combinations), vocabulary, and word parts, we struggle to effectively teach syntax: the order of words to create meaning. We know that understanding how words work together is vital to the teaching and learning of reading, particularly for older learners and those with education gaps. Our project will allow us to receive training from experts (Strategic Inquiry). In collaboration with this consultant, we will learn new strategies, participate in inquiry cycles, and share widely with other educators at our school.
Sonoma County, 2025, Reading/Writing, Elementary School, Funded Projects
Our project was born out of a desire to acquire the necessary skills and tools to help our struggling readers. Orton-Gillingham’s multisensory training will provide our team of cross grade level elementary educators with the tools and protocols to deliver an effective Tier One and Tier Two intervention that will support students with dyslexia, multilingual students, and students struggling with foundational reading skills. We will work with an on-site consultant, share our learnings with site staff and district educators, and form a PLC to assist teachers who are learning how to implement these new strategies.
2025, Santa Clara County, Elementary School, STE(A)M, Funded Projects
Participating teachers will engage in course work focused on Cognitively Guided Instruction in Mathematics, trainings led by a math facilitator, and conferences designed to provide teachers with the necessary skill-set to tailor instruction to align with how students think. During release days teachers will design mathematical units of study, the cornerstone of each unit will be student work with a goal to progress conceptual understanding. Once participating teachers have mastered these skills they will lead Professional Development at both the site and district levels to share their learning.
Alameda County, Social & Emotional Learning, 2025, Middle School, High School, Funded Projects
This project will provide CVUSD Middle and High School Activities Directors (ADs) with dedicated collaboration and professional development time in order to build our own capacity as well as our students’ capacity for leadership and school connectedness. Because there are only 1 or 2 Activities Directors at each site, opportunities to collaborate and take part in meaningful professional development are limited. This dedicated collaboration and professional development will support our growth as a team and our ability to inspire and connect students to their schools. California Association of Directors of Activities (CADA) resources will add a new layer to our professional knowledge.
