December 7, 2015
Collaboration works on Common Core
The following article was written for EdCal
by Fullerton SD teacher Tricia Hyun.
Six million students; 300,000 teachers;
one Common Core. Common Core is the
overarching bridge that 6.2 million students
in California must cross not only to gain
access to college and careers but to sustain
opportunities in life.
Administrators, principals, teachers, parents and even students have, for several
years now, used the two words “Common
Core” as the pretext for educational decisions and actions. Quickly, it became quite
uncommon for the public to believe that
districts throughout the state were ready for
Common Core. Especially when leading
educational experts agreed school districts
were only 20 percent to 80 percent prepared.
The hidden implications of using
Common Core became clear as articles and
blogs focused on its deficiencies.
The California Teachers Association,
Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy
in Education (SCOPE), and the National
Board Resource Center at Stanford
University (NBRC) have collaboratively partnered to create and sustain an
Instructional Leadership Corps. These
experts provide professional development
to public school educators throughout the
state as they work to change the way
California students are taught and tested.
At its inception in 2014-15, the ILC
consisted of 183 teachers and 24 administrators with the purpose of reaching 50,000
educators over three years.
The ILC’s professional development sessions focus on instructional and leadership
shifts that support implementation of the
California Standards for English Language
Arts/English Language Development and
Mathematics and the Next Generation
Science Standards.
As the largest training effort in the state,
the ILC holds core values in the following
areas:
• Professional learning is practitioner-
FROM THE
Executive
Director
To be the bold and
authoritative advocates
our members deserve, we have
intentionally and strategically worked
to be “at the table” for important
conversations and decisions impacting California public education. I am
pleased to report that ACSA has not
only been invited to the table recently, we have been offered a seat at the
head of the table.
Left to right: Teacher Tricia Hyun, Principal Sherry Dustin, Teacher on Special Assignment Jason Chong,
Fullerton SD Superintendent Robert Pletka, and Fullerton Teachers Association President Kristin Montoya.
driven: educators teach educators.
• Cross-role collaboration enriches learning opportunities.
• Local union and school/district leaders
are critical partners in the work.
• Local capacity for implementation of
new California Standards/NGSS grows
through repeated, intentional practice and
reflection.
• ILC activities connect to and enhance
local initiatives and funding sources.
In September, an ILC Fall Convening
designed specifically for superintendents,
principals, union chapter presidents and
CTA staff took place. To provide participants with a broad understanding of
the purpose and the operation of the ILC,
as well as to provide a forum for discussion with other district leaders, the cohort
met at CTA headquarters with Stanford’s
Linda Darling-Hammond as the keynote
address.
As a participant in the Fall Convening, it
was one of the most rewarding experiences
to see my own school district, the Fullerton
School District, accept the ILC’s invitation
to attend. The convening was, in one sense,
designed to open communication lines, and
that is exactly what it did.
As a teacher, I felt so proud to stand
next to not only my principal, but also my
superintendent, to advance the work of the
ILC. Working alongside my superintenSee CORPS, page 4
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