Dateline Masthead
Contra Costa County Office of Educationsummer 2012
In this issue
Common Core Resources
Summer Leadership Institute
PEAK
11th Annual County-Wide Shelter-in-Place Drill
Mitchell 20 - Teacher Quality is the Answer
28th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day
Education Career Camps
Toshiba America Foundation
ING's Run for Something Better
The Warren W. Eukel Teacher Trust Fund
Start Smart
AAAS Assessment Website
Brightstorm.com
First Public Draft of the Next Generation Science Standards
Get Active!
Quick Links
Join Our Mailing List
Welcome to Dateline!
 
Greetings!

 

Welcome to the summer 2012 issue of Dateline.  This informative newsletter is for all those in Contra Costa County who work in education.  Please tell your fellow teachers and administrators, as well as your friends who would be interested to join our mailing list (click here, or the link button at the left column).

 Dateline will return in September.  Have a wonderful summer!  

Professional Development / Opportunities

Common Core Resources 

Common Core Resources are now on the CCCOE's website!  The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were developed through a state-led initiative to establish consistent and clear education standards for English language arts and mathematics that would better prepare students for success in college, career, and the competitive global economy.  In August 2010, the California State Board of Education adopted the standards, which will become the foundation for curriculum design, instructional practice, and formative, interim, and summative assessments used at the state and local levels. Our Web page offers transition documents, teacher resources, and County led presentations on the Common Core State Standards.

 

The Contra Costa County Office is Education is dedicated to supporting our schools as they begin their transition to the California Common Core Standards. Our goal is to support districts as they build capacity at all levels to best service teachers, students, and school communities. Please check the CCSS web page for ongoing updates and information.  

Summer Leadership Institute

Transforming Ourselves and Our Schools: What Works in K-12 Educatiois the title of this upcoming professional development program. Challenging times demand dynamic leadership. In this Institute, rediscover the importance of leadership in revitalizing schools. You will hear practitioners share their experience in transforming their schools and will participate in a powerful exercise to help you examine your own personal leadership challenges. There will be time to meet new colleagues from around the Bay Area through informal activities and guided break-out sessions.

Date and location: June 21, 9 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; St. Mary's College (Soda Center)Moraga

For info: Contact the  Summer Leadership Institute at (925) 631-4700 or visit their website
Fee: $50, $25 for St. Mary's College students, staff, and faculty
PEAK

PEAK is an award-winning, standards-based energy education program for 3rd-7th grade students. Through hands-on activities, students learn about the science of energy and are inspired to take action to create a more sustainable world. Participating teachers will receive free curriculum, interactive software, and a $100 stipend.

Date and location: June 18, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; Contra Costa County Schools Insurance Group, Pleasant Hill

For info: Contact Audrey Knox at (510) 444-5060, ext 15 or visit the workshop's Web page.

Upcoming Events / Field Trips

11th Annual County-Wide Shelter-in-Place Drill

Put this on your calendar today!  Community Awareness Emergency Response (CAER) invites all schools to practice and improve their site emergency procedures for shelter-in-place by taking part in this 10th annual county-wide exercise.  Guidelines for this program will be sent out to all districts and school principals in September.  Schools can use the time for training, running brief drills, or conducting more detailed emergency exercises.

Date: November 7, 11:00 a.m.

For info: Contact Lori McDonald at (925) 313-9296 or visit the CAER website 

Mitchell 20 - Teacher Quality is the Answer

The University of Phoenix College of Education, Bay Area is hosting the screening of Mitchell 20 - Teacher Quality is the Answer.  The documentary tells the story of sacrifice, commitment, leadership, and hope in a high-poverty school in the Isaac School District, located in urban Phoenix.  The film features Daniela Robles and the 19 teachers she inspired to work toward National Board Certification.

Date and location: May 11, 4:00-6:00 p.m.; Mt. Diablo High School (library), Concord

For info: Contact Liane Cismowski at (925) 682-4030, xt. 3402

Fee: Free

28th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day

California Coastal Cleanup Day is the premier volunteer event focused on the marine environment in the country.  In 2010, more than 80,300 volunteers worked together to collect more than 1,100,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, lakes, and waterways. California Coastal Cleanup Day has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the largest garbage collection" (1993).  Since the program started in 1985, over 800,000 Californians have removed more than 15 million pounds of debris from our state's shorelines and coast.

Date and locations: September 15, 9:00 a.m.-noon; various water sites

For info: Contact The California Coastal Commission at (800) COAST-4U or visit their website 

Education Career Camps

CCCOE and the Contra Costa Economic Partnership (along with numerous professional partners) will once again be producing three outstanding hands-on education career camps. Incoming high school juniors and seniors can now register.  The week-long camps are looking for teachers to support student learning.  Instructors will earn professional development hours and a small stipend for each camp, while also being exposed to a full range of industry experts.  The camps are scheduled for these dates: Engineering, June 18-22, Diablo Valley College, Pleasant Hill; Biotechnology, July 9-13, CSUEB, Concord; Environmental Sciences, July 23-27; CSUEB, Concord.

To register: Vist their website 

Grants / Scholarships
Toshiba America Foundation

Toshiba America Foundation is currently accepting applications from teachers who are passionate about making science and mathematics more engaging for their students.  Do you teach grades 6-12 science or math?  Do you have a wish list of instructional equipment that will make learning more exciting for your students?  If the answer is yes to these questions, Toshiba America Foundation would like to hear from you. Grades 6-12 applications for $5,000 or less are accepted on a rolling basis, throughout the calendar year. Grant requests of more than $5,000 are reviewed twice a year. 

For info: Contact (212) 596-0620 or e-mail, or visit their website

Deadlines: Applications for grants of more than $5,000 are due August 1st and February 1st each year.

ING's Run for Something Better

Working in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, ING will provide a minimum of fifty grants (up to $2,500 to each school) to establish a school-based running program or expand an existing one through the ING Run for Something Better program.  The program is open to elementary and middle schools (K-8) in the United States. Programs may be facilitated by a physical education teacher, coach, classroom teacher, or school administrator. Programs should culminate in a running event as a final test to help participants realize what they have accomplished.

For info: Visit ING's  website

Deadline: May 15

The Warren W. Eukel Teacher Trust Fund

The Warren W. Eukel Teacher Trust Fund annually distributes three separate $10,000 grants to outstanding teachers.  The Trust will select nominees who exhibit extraordinary commitment of personal time and energy on behalf of their students.  Teachers can self-nominate, or be nominated by an administrator, colleague, or student.  The award may be used in any manner the recipient wishes.

For info: Contact Peggy Toovey at (925) 945-0200 or visit their website

Deadline: May 24 (recently extended)

Resources / Contests

Start Smart

The California Highway Patrol (CHP), Contra Costa County Office conducts a two-hour driver safety education class called Smart Start, that targets new and future licensed teenage drivers (15-19 years of age) and their parents or legal guardians.  

Dates and location: Ongoing; CHP Office, Martinez

Fee: Free

For info: Contact Officer Fransen at (925) 646-4980

AAAS Assessment Website

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) website lets users create and administer online tests to their students and then compare their students' performance to national norms. You can assemble tests by selecting questions from more than 700 items that have been developed by AAAS Project 2061 to measure what students know in 16 key science topics.

Brightstorm.com

Brightstorm.com provides free video lessons in Math and Science. Click on the textbook link and select your math or science book. Videos are taught by teachers and broken down in chunks.

First Public Draft of the Next Generation Science Standards Available on May 11

The first draft of the Next Generation Science Standards is scheduled to be released this Friday, May 11. This first draft of the new science standards will be online for public comment for three weeks. The Next Generation Science Standards are based on the National Research Council (NRC) Framework for K-12 Science Education, which describes the major practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas that all students should be familiar with by the end of high school, and provides an outline of how these practices, concepts, and ideas should be developed across the grade levels.  Science educators, supervisors, administrators, in fact, anyone interested in the future course and direction of science education are encouraged to carefully read these new science standards and submit comments online to Achieve during the comment period.

Deadline: June 1 
For updates and to make comments: Visit this Web page 
Get Active!

The East Bay Regional Park District is calling for Contra Costa and Alameda County kids (12-18) to demonstrate how they Get Active! Participants can do so through poster art, rap/spoken word, or video/skit. There will will be more than $1,000 in cash and prizes awarded to the winning entries. Finalists will be promoted on the East Bay Regional Park District's website, as well as featured in the East Bay Regional Park District's Healthy Parks Healthy People Festival.  An additional exhibition is planned for fall 2012 in Tilden Regional Park's Environmental Education Center.

For info: Contact Allen Meyer at (415) 503-4170, ext. 114 or visit the contest website

Deadline: May 15 

CCCOE Logo

Published by the Contra Costa County Office of Education Communications Office
77 Santa Barbara Road, Pleasant Hill, California 94523
Joseph A. Ovick, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools
Editor: Peggy Marshburn; Writer/Layout: Jonathan Lance, (925) 942-3429;
Diane Morrell, Designer; June Stephens, Web Developer 
 
Dateline is distributed during the school year to all public schools in the county by the Communications Office. Information must be received by the first of the preceding month. Publication does not signify the Contra Costa County Office of Education endorses the event or program mentioned.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Lance
CCCOE