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4 EDCAL December 3, 2018 Transitions Lancaster School District has an- nounced five new additions to the leader- ship team. Rose Juarez is the new director of the Welcome and Wellness Center; Region 7 CEL dinner Solomon DeFrancis is the principal of Piute Middle School; Juanita Kelley is an assistant principal at Amargosa Creek Middle School, Mary Thurston is an assistant principal at Monte Vista Elemen- tary School; and Joe Nosik is an assistant principal at New Vista Middle School. n n n ACSA-member news for Transitions can be sent to EdCal Editor Cary Rodda at crodda@ acsa.org. Million dollar violence prevention and mental health training grant Region 7 CEL Council and cabinet members: Back row, L-R: Roberta Cheney, Denise Wickham, Mary Ann Sanders, key- note speaker Mike Robbins, Claudia Vicino, Adrianna Cortes Solorio, Nora Hana, Kelly Gilbertson. Kneeling, L-R: Jeff Winfield and Daryl Camp. Keynote speaker Mike Robbins offered a motivational talk. Regional classified event inspires Continued from page 1 cally unnecessary,” said Kate Walsh, NCTQ president. “We’ve known for decades what needs to change. Educational trends and priorities ebb and flow. Our responsibility to children should not.” Although many states maintain teacher preparation program standards that require the science of reading to be part of the elementary and special education teach- er curricula, standards alone have proven insufficient to ensure that these teachers are prepared to teach the science of reading, generally because they are hard to enforce. NCTQ’s review of program practice in The CDE will partner with Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit led by family members who lost loved ones in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, to implement the Project Cal- STOP training initiative. “We are pleased to receive this grant and to partner with Sandy Hook Promise on the joint mission to keep students and schools safe,” Torlakson said. “These funds will allow us to provide the training and support to those districts battling high rates of violence and suspensions. Our goal is to The ACSA Region 7 Classified Educational Leaders held their annual Fall CEL Dinner on Oct. 23 in Modesto. Keynote speaker Mike Robbins, author and motivational speaker, inspired nearly 700 classified employees and admin- istrators about “Bringing Your Whole Self to Work.” The event – the only one of its kind in the state – was a success and the largest crowd yet to attend the annual dinner. READING Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced that the Cali- fornia Department of Education secured $1 million in grant funding under the federal STOP School Violence Act. The funds will be used to provide violence prevention and mental health training to students and staff in school districts that have been the most affected by violence on their campuses. all states reveals that a majority of teacher preparation programs do not meet those standards. While there has been some im- provement among programs in the past few years, still only 37 percent of elementary and special education programs can provide evidence that they teach scientifically-based reading methods to their teacher candi- dates. “If states want to use standards as their primary mechanism for delivering well-pre- pared teachers, they have to be prepared to also provide constant monitoring and enforcement. Few states have shown them- selves to be so inclined,” Walsh said. “The most efficient means available to states are strong tests backed up by annual reviews of how successful programs are preparing their candidates to pass this test.” The National Institutes of Health spent 40 years examining best practices for how children and adults learn to read. These findings were recently updated and affirmed by the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The research concluded that if teachers and schools properly implemented instructional practices regarding scientifi- cally-based methods of literacy, then all but a small percent of students could learn to read. To help provide all students with the support they need to become competent and confident readers, NCTQ recommends the following: •  All states should require elementary stop acts of violence on campuses and allow schools to be what they should be – safe places for students to learn and thrive.” According to the 2015-17 Califor- nia Healthy Kids Survey, 30 percent (or approximately one million) of secondary school students were bullied, victimized or depressed. Sixteen percent of secondary school students reported having suicidal thoughts. Over a three-year span, the Project Cal-STOP initiative will train district administrators, school staff, and students on violence prevention strategies and train district and school staff to respond to related mental health crises by expanding CDE’s current Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings. Local educational agencies will be invited to participate in the Proj- ect Cal-STOP trainings, and the training sessions are free. and special education teacher candidates to pass a rigorous test in reading knowledge that is aligned with the scientific findings about how to produce the highest numbers of successful readers. •  When states adopt an assessment serving multiple purposes – that is, one that tests knowledge of other subjects along- side reading knowledge, it must report a separate subscore on a candidate’s reading knowledge. •  States should increase transparency by reviewing their teacher preparation pro- grams and making information reflecting programs’ success in preparing candidates available to the public. WORKING EXCELLENCE ACSA Superintendents Symposium | January 29-February 1, 2019 Monterey Convention Center 2019 Keynote Speakers: Adam Steltzner NASA Engineer/Author Colonel Arthur J. Athens Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership Sabba Quidwai Education Development Executive, Apple #casupts This annual event brings school leaders from around the state together for an invaluable two and a half days of professional learning, networking and advocacy. This is the best time to look at the governor’s budget and for superintendents to get together to review the state-of-the-state and the state-of-the-district. More than ever before it is time for superintendents to lead a movement to restore California schools to their once-held rank of the best in the nation. A focus will be on integrating technology into curriculum and professional development in a digital world. Register today at https://goo.gl/e2MLRT