Excerpt from the Article on “Big Picture Learning”

Source: Article by Mary Makela

Just prior to the pandemic and the closing of in-person instruction, the Alternative Education school site, which includes Noyo High School [a continuation high school], Lighthouse Community Day School, and Shelter Cove Community Day School, had shifted to a whole new way of teaching and learning, called Big Picture Learning. This education model is based on students discovering what they are interested in, through a process of self-inquiry and reflection; students then work with their advisor to put together a small team (other school staff, friends, community members, family etc.) to create a Learning Plan.

They then explore their chosen topics, working on projects, culminating in an exhibition (occurring quarterly) they present to their Learning Team. Older students progress to job/career-based learning; students find a local person in the community to work with as their mentor, as they learn a specific job or skill that interests them. This real-world style of learning fully engages students as they see the relevance of what they are learning first-hand. Our hats are off to the Alt. Ed. staff!

Article: “FBUSD board gives thanks to staff, community for help during pandemic” in the Fort Bragg Advocate-New, by author Mary Makela. Find the full article here.

The post Article: Alternative Education Models During the Pandemic appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.

Become a Model School: Open Now!

The Model School program is still on this year. Application dates have been changed slightly. Intent to submit is due by Oct. 15th. Submit an application to become a “Model School” for 2020- 2021, sponsored by the California Department of Education.

Application Timeline:

• October 15, 2020 — “Intent to Submit” survey due.
• October 22, 2020 — Applications due.

Application 2020-2021 | Download forms (apply now)

2021 CCEA+ Conference: April 15 – 18 in San Diego

Registration is now open for the 2021 State Conference in San Diego. Enjoy three amazing days of workshops, seminars, student art shows, awards celebrations, and a model school visit.

To celebrate the combination of two years of schools and awards, we’ve booked the historic USS Midway aircraft carrier for a gigantic dinner celebration on the water. Get $40 off right now!*

* If purchased before March 17th (online only)

USS Midway historic aircraft carrier on the water – CCEA Plus Model School Awards event venue

Model Schools Awards Gala: Friday, April 16th

The dinner will be held aboard the historic USS Midway. Transportation is provided to and from the hotel venue at no extra charge. At the Gala dinner, newly-selected Model Schools from both 2020 and 2021 will be awarded and recognized. Get tickets

Exemplary Programs and Professional Awards Lunch: Saturday, April 17

From 11:45 – 1:45PM @ Harbor Island Ballroom, Sheraton San Diego (the Conference venue). Lunch with keynote speaker Jack O’Connell, including awards for personnel, essays, art, region basket, vendor’s raffle/auction prizes. Both awards from 2020 and 2021 will be featured. Get tickets

Did You Know?

Schools and leaders: the CCEA conference can be subsidized by utilizing Comprehensive School Improvement (CSI) monies delegated to your respective sites. Bring your team to the conference and grow in all areas related to increasing academic achievement and student performance. Talk to our reps for help

CCEA+ 2021 Recognition Opportunities

There are amazing things happening at all our California schools and in alternative education! We need to get the word out and share what we are doing and recognize our dedicated staff and students.

  Nominate a Colleague for an Award

Honor the hard work of your fellow educators, admin and support staff. Make a nomination

  Exemplary Programs Award

CCEA Plus celebrates outstanding programs and projects that support “at-risk” students. Submit a program

  Call for Conference Presenters

Are you doing great things in alternative education? Submit your proposal for a workshop, or consider leading an academic open forum discussion in your content area. Sign up

  Student Essay Contest

The purpose of this contest is to recognize our outstanding students and their writing. Please consider entering your top student’s essay. Submit an essay

Time to Renew Your Membership!

Renew your membership for the 2020-2021 school year! If you’re not a member yet, now is the time to get involved.

New to CCEA Plus: Community Day Schools

In our efforts to expand support for alternative education in California, CCEA Plus now supports and advocates for Community Day Schools. We’ll be developing new programs, content and professional development for the 2020-2021 school year. Come to the Conference, create a seminar, or tell us about your program! Get in touch to learn more

A Special Message from Dan Sackheim, CDE Program Consultant and Liaison for Continuation Education and Community Day Schools:

Many of you may already know me, as educational options educators often wear multiple hats. I am honored to have been the CDE community day school program consultant from nearly the inception, being hired as soon as the position was authorized in 1997. One of my first steps in that role was to find strong field experts, with whom I built the Community Day School Network (CDSN) professional association, to ensure that we all benefited from a collective wisdom. In recent months, the CDSN was invited and merged into CCEA to form CCEA Plus. Soon after, I was assigned as the CDE program consultant for continuation education.

I am still learning, but am not fully new to continuation education, having served as a member of review teams for Model Continuation High Schools. Additionally, at times, I have been the CDE program lead for many other types of educational options schools and programs share the same concerns and supportive methodologies for supporting our students, including opportunity education, county court and community schools, alternative schools of choice and independent study. I also share leadership at CDE regarding asset-based behavioral strategies and supports, and for addressing absenteeism and barriers to attendance.

I look forward to meeting you at conferences, in workshops and webinars, through my email and listserve, and any other way I can learn from and promote your wisdom and make resources and information available to you.

Webinar from AltEd advocacy:

K-12 Politics and Tech Update: October 1st 2020

The post Last Chance to Apply to be a Model School, Conference Updates, New Opportunities and More: Fall 2020 Newsletter appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.

Last updated: September 22, 2020
Published: August 31, 2020

Dear friends and colleagues,

Due to recent COVID-19 State and Federal mandates, and for the safety of our members and attendees, the 2020 Conference has been postponed to the weekend of April 15 – 18, 2021, at the same location, the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.

2020 Conference postponed to April 2021

In this exciting “double” Conference, we will honor both our 2020 Model Schools and our upcoming 2021 Model Schools at the evening Gala on Friday, April 16th. To celebrate the combination of two years of schools and professionals, we’ve booked the historic Midway aircraft carrier for a gigantic dinner celebration on the water.

Two years of Professional awards and Exemplary programs will be presented at the Awards luncheon on Saturday, April 17th, in the Harbor Island Ballroom. The Conference workshops, speakers, presentations and programs will still be a part of a packed weekend of events during the new dates, and everyone will have the ability to participate safely. Event details and registration

All purchases credited to the 2021 Conference automatically

All registrations, tickets and tables purchased in 2020 will be honored and credited automatically for the new dates, with no further action needed. There will be no increase or change in cost to those that have pre-paid, including the awards celebrations and meals. If previously registered for the Conference, you will receive an all-access badge to the 2021 dates.

Visit the new Conference page (coming soon) for more details about re-booking hotel reservations, the tentative schedule, nominations for the upcoming 2021 awards, and more as it is announced.

New to CCEA Plus: Community Day Schools

In our efforts to expand support for alternative education in California, CCEA Plus now supports and advocates for Community Day Schools. We’ll be developing new programs, content and professional development for the 2020-2021 school year: Become a member

Become a 2021 Model School: submit intent by Oct. 15th

The Model School application process will continue during 2020 with a revised deadline schedule, per CDE. To become a 2021 Model School, please submit your “intent to submit” survey by October 15, 2020. The new application schedule and forms for prospective applicants are up now with an instructional webinar.

Be safe and healthy,
Jerry Abrica, President
On behalf of the CCEA Plus Board

Want to Get Involved?

Find ways to support CCEA Plus:

Become a member — join us as a professional member, or have your school join together as a group. CCEA Plus now supports both continuation schools, as well as community day schools.

Join a committee — we are organizing into new committees for this school year to run events and support programs. Send us a message if you are interested in participating.

Donate today — as an educational nonprofit, we count on our members and affiliates to fund our programs that support and advocate for alternative education. Please consider giving to CCEA Plus!

The post COVID-19 Update for September 2020 appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.

Just wanted to give a shout-out to our CCEA+ team for providing great insight into the challenges our students face along with alt. ed. schools during this time.

Here’s the link if you haven’t had a chance to read it:

  Alternative schools’ ‘relentless’ fight to keep track of students during pandemic | View article
Teachers working long hours to engage students most likely to drop out during campus closures

–Jerry

About the Feature

The EdSource article, written by Caroline Jones, features CCEA Plus members and schools, including Amistad Continuation High School and Principal David Gustafson. Quotes from the article are included below to showcase our members’ contributions. Please support Caroline’s article by reading it and commenting here!

“The effort was relentless,” said David Gustafson, principal of the public school in Indio, near Palm Springs, that serves students who’ve been expelled or are at risk of dropping out of traditional schools. “Our staff was working seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, to keep these kids connected to school.”

Our Board was also featured:

Amistad High is typical of California’s 430 alternative schools in its commitment to keeping track of students during the pandemic — students who are at especially high risk of dropping out, said Gerardo Abrica, president of the California Continuation Education Association and a math teacher at an alternative school in Tulare County.

Although they serve a small portion of California’s 6 million K-12 students, alternative schools play a crucial role in educating students who might not otherwise graduate from high school. And as campus closures continue into the new school year, that role is heightened, Abrica said.

“As educators at alternative schools, we work with some of the most at-risk youth, and we want to make sure our kids are not forgotten or marginalized,” Abrica said. “Our drive and sense of duty to our kids is revealing itself during these extraordinary times… Our fear is without adequate support during this pandemic, we could see a large number of dropouts in the next few years.”

Joe Antonelli, assistant principal at Orange Grove alternative school in Corona in Riverside County, said alternative schools are often a refuge for students facing myriad challenges, including abuse, trauma and poverty. Even more than at traditional schools, alternative schools are where students eat their meals, get mental health counseling, learn and plan their futures, he said. Essentially, it’s a place of stability and hope, he said.

“For a lot of our students, coming to school has been an escape from a stressful home environment,” Antonelli said. “But now they have no escape.”

At Antonelli’s school, staff has tried to check in every day with students during the pandemic. If a student doesn’t respond to texts, emails or phone calls, teachers will try to track down the student’s siblings or friends.

So far, the school has lost contact with about 20-25% of its students, Antonelli said. He expects that number to rise this fall, but anticipates an explosion in enrollment when campuses reopen as more students in traditional schools fall behind academically or have discipline problems related to trauma or stress.

“I find I don’t sleep very well,” he said. “I am really concerned about the well-being of the kids.”

And, our very own Jamie Alarcon and Daily Continuation High School:

At Daily continuation high school in Glendale, teacher Jamie Alarcon has tried hard to maintain the personal relationships she’d developed with students and their families before the pandemic. She has called every parent and regularly emails her 80 students and their families. When she realized some parents don’t know how to use email, she sent a video tutorial. She sends out class newsletters in English, Spanish and Armenian, a common language in her district just north of Los Angeles. And when the spring quarter started, and she had new students, she made a personal welcome video introducing herself.

“It’s a whatever-it-takes mindset,” Alarcon said. “We don’t see it as saving one student. We see it as helping an entire community, because when one of our students stays in school and graduates, it’s a win for the entire city.”

By the end of the 2019-20 school year, the dropout rate for Daily school was about what it’d be normally, around 7.5%, she said. And some students actually seemed to prefer online learning, because the school environment had been stressful for them.

She’s been gratified that so many students made the effort to finish the school year despite significant obstacles. But she’s not sure what to expect when school begins.

“Do I worry? I worry about my students all the time,” she said. “That’s something that hasn’t gone away.”

According to the article, about 133,000 students in California attended alternative schools in the Fall of 2019. The state hosts 430 alternative schools. CCEA Plus proudly promotes, supports and advocates alternative education for continuation schools and community day schools.

Want to join our efforts?  Become a member!

The post Alternative School Challenges During the Pandemic appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.

One of our members, Bryan Love, shared his school’s graduation during the pandemic. Bryan is lead teacher at the New School Community Day High School. Principal Rafael Ramirez and his day school have been a part of CCEA Plus since 2018, while Bryan’s been with us since 2016.

Here’s their graduation experience this year (quoted):

The motto of New School Community Day School in Watsonville, CA is “Never Give Up!” So, when New School’s “Drive Through” graduation event had to be postponed from June 4, they rose to the occasion.

All eleven members of New School’s graduating class of 2020 were met by New School’s complete administration, teaching, and classified staff, as well as Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees President, Daniel Dodge Jr. and Assistant Superintendent of Secondary and Alternative Education, Kristen Shouse, in the school’s decorated driveway on Monday, June 8.

Unphased by the rescheduled event, New School graduate and winner of New School’s Attendance Award and Watsonville Rotary Scholarship stated that:

“Moving to New School was one of the best decisions of my life. I love it, and I am so sad to have to move on. In my twelve years of school I have never seen a teacher actually care about their students as much as every member of New School’s staff cares about every student. New School is more like a second home than a school. New School has so many opportunities. It was definitely a life changing experience for me.”

Graduates drove through yesterday’s honoration with friends and family.

About New School:

New School Community Day School was founded in 1994 to keep displaced high school students off the streets of Watsonville. Students typically come to New School with truancy issues, credit deficits, disciplinary records or with stipulations of their probation to attend. Today, New School serves 55 students, that are 100% Latino/Latina, 80% English Language Learners, 90% of whom come from families that qualify as low-income.

Most of our students are here for credit recovery. Prior to admission, they must acknowledge responsibility for their mistakes and commit to changing unproductive habits. Our goal is to help our youth correct behaviors so that they can become more productive at school, at home, at work, and in the community.

Check out New School’s website.

More About Community Day Schools

Community day schools are operated by school districts and county offices of education. Community day schools serve mandatory and other expelled students, students referred by a School Attendance Review Board, and other high-risk youths. The 360-minute minimum instructional day includes academic programs that provide challenging curriculum and individual attention to student learning modalities and abilities. Community day school programs also focus on the development of prosocial skills and student self-esteem and resiliency.

Community day schools are intended to have low student-teacher ratios. Students benefit from learning support services that include school counselors and psychologists, academic and vocational counselors, and pupil discipline personnel. Students also receive collaborative services from county offices of education, law enforcement, probation, and human services agency personnel who work with at-risk youth.

View CDE’s page

Graduation press statements and photos provided by CCEA Plus member, Russell Bryan Love, lead teacher at New School Community Day School in Watsonville, CA.

The post Graduating During a Pandemic appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.

With the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affecting all of our lives right now, we sincerely hope this finds you, your family, colleagues, students and friends safe and healthy. Our deepest sympathies go out to those suffering from the disease.  

Letter below last updated: April 8, 2020

Dear friends and colleagues,

First and foremost, I hope that all is well with each of you in these trying times. I know that each of you is trying to navigate not only your individual life, but that of your family life and professional careers.

As CCEA+ navigates through these uncharted waters, know that we do so with your best interest in mind. After much consideration the board has decided to postpone the Conference until October of this year. We have been in much communication with the many partnering organizations that help make each annual conference a great success. As you can imagine, each of our partners is trying to navigate their own uncharted waters and so it’s been a lengthy process.

As we move forward, our aim to make this year’s conference as successful as possible by recognizing and honoring the hard work that students, staff and districts have put forth to impact the community they serve. At this point in time, the conference will run as planned but at a later date. The conference is now scheduled to run from October 2 – 4, 2020, with early registration on the evening of October 1st. We believe the new dates allow members, state representatives, district personnel, presenters, and vendors to have sufficient time to make appropriate arrangements.

Our partners have been very helpful in providing alternatives and remaining flexible in these unprecedented times. With that being said, ALL conference purchases and Model School Gala reservations will be honored and no further action is required by our members and school districts. However, all May hotel reservations have been cancelled, and will need to be re-booked for the September 30 – October 4th timeframe. To make this easy, the Sheraton has setup our group block and special rate at this online booking portal. Or, call the hotel at (619) 291-2900 (the hotel recommends using the link for ease and convenience).

CCEA Plus is excited for the upcoming conference. We know as we move forward there will be a renewed sense of community and unity.

Be safe and healthy,
Jerry Abrica, President
On behalf of the CCEA Plus Board

The post Important Conference 2020 Update appeared first on CCEA Plus - California Continuation Education Association Plus.