• 8/14-16: Camp CSTP. Register Now!
• Record your interest in 2024-25 CRE Residencies HERE.
• Starting October 2024: National Board Component Support: Online and Olympia In-Person

Camp CSTP: Regular Registration is Open!

This summer CSTP is hosting two sessions in-person at the Rainbow Lodge Retreat Center in North Bend, WA. Bring your colleagues and teammates! Register here. The regular rate is $220.00 per session, with discounts for attending both. A total of 7 clock hours are available for each session as well as an opportunity to be guided through the Professional Growth Plan documentation to earn 25 clock hours.

August 14-15: Communication and Collaboration for Equity-Focused PLC

In this session, participants will utilize the Teacher Leadership Framework as a tool to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to lead PLCs and Learning Teams toward collective efficacy, while developing a common understanding of high functioning PLCs. Participants will build capacity for effective teams through exploration of tools to support communication and collaboration while co-constructing a definition of equity for your team and context.

August 15-16: Transformational Advocacy

Come create a message for an issue you are passionate about. In this time of what seems like constant budget cuts and competing priorities we support educators and leaders in defining their audience, what thresholds to consider, and what data or anecdotes to include. We will also address how positionality and identity play a role in advocacy and equity messages or movements. Participants will leave the session having a better awareness of how to advocate for the issues at hand be at the individual student, classroom, or even state level.

Our intimate sessions are limited to 24 attendees and focus on connecting educators while diving into important topics. These sessions are an excellent jump start for educators getting ready for the new school year with options to register for one or both learning sessions. These are great opportunities for individuals, and bringing teams is highly encouraged. Grab your colleagues and come learn at camp.

Read more and register here. Register by July 29!

Interested in CRE Residency Experiences? Let Us Know!

Pending funding, we will again offer the CRE Residency Experiences with Dr. Stembridge during the 24-25 school year. If you are interested in applying for a spot, please fill out this form. Those who fill out the interest form will be notified as soon as our applications are open! Initially, we will prioritize schools and districts that have not yet hosted a CRE Residency.

For more information and FAQs about CRE Residencies, see our website.

CSTP's National Board Component Support is Open for Registration

Registration is open for two CSTP-sponsored National Board Component Support cohorts, with potentially more on the way.

For the 2024-25 school year, we are partnering with the following facilitators:

• Online cohort: Ranice Innocent. This will be Ranice's 6th year facilitating and supporting National Board Candidates/Cohorts. Foundations and all four components will be offered, with 12 clock hours available for each section. Read more and register here.
• In-person cohort for music teachers: Stacy Brown will be hosting an in-person cohort for music teachers in the Olympia area. Components 2 and 3 will be offered in 24-25, with components 1 and 4 offered the year after, with 12 clock hours available for each section. Read more and register here.

Partner with CSTP to Offer Clock Hours at Your Next Training

Are you running a course, professional development or book study and want to offer Washington State clock hours? CSTP is an approved Washington State clock hour provider and can approve your courses for clock hours. It is free for the instructor to apply for the course with participants paying a nominal fee.

Learn More and Apply for Clock Hours

CSTP's 20th Anniversary Monthly Giveaway

Career Connected Learning with CSTP

CSTP recently won the bid to serve as the State Sector Lead with Career Connect Washington (CCW). CCW is a statewide network of business, labor, education, and community leaders creating work-based and academic programs for young people in Washington to explore, prepare, and launch themselves into college and careers.

As the designated Sector Lead for Education supporting this work at the state level, we are tasked with developing the Sector Strategy and providing the key recommendations to enhance the number of Career Connected programs within Education in coordination and collaboration with the different regions across WA. The core mission of our work will be to develop more robust, accessible, and equitable pathways for aspiring educators that prioritize opportunities for BIPOC teachers and high-needs endorsements throughout the state and their pathways toward certification.

We are excited to connect and collaborate with programs aiming to expand or build programs that serve these goals, and invite people to reach out to learn more about CCW as a potential funding resource and networking opportunity with other industries. 

See the CCW website here.

WSAC: Financial Aid for Aspiring Teachers

The Washington State Educator Workforce Program (EWP) provides financial aid to attract and retain teachers to work in subjects or locations of high need known as shortage areas.

EWP includes options for current teachers, student teachers, paraprofessionals, and non-educators hoping to move into the teaching field. Most are conditional scholarships that encourage individuals to pursue teaching in subjects or locations of high need, also known as "Shortage Areas," in return for funding received.

Applications that are open now:

• Educator Retooling Conditional Scholarship
• Pipeline for Paraeducators Conditional Scholarship

Read more here.

WEA National Board Jump Start - Registration is now open!

WEA's National Board Jump Start is a comprehensive, multi-day seminar designed to provide National Board candidates with important information about the certification process, time to examine component and Assessment Center requirements, the opportunity to plan how to meet requirements, and time to collaborate, gather resources and information needed to pursue certification. All this happens in a supportive, constructive and collegial environment.

There are a total of six (6) training modules that will be offered each training week. Registration fee is $75 and open to WEA members only. Foundations I is a required entry course. Select as many of the remaining 5 modules (C1, C2, C3, C4, Foundations II) as you like for the flat $75 Registration fee. Up to 30 WEA Clock Hours can be earned for attending all 6 modules. Open to WEA Members only.

Use the links below to register for our Summer 2024 National Board Jump Start Sessions!

• June 24-June 28, 2024 Register for this session here. Registration closes on Monday, June 17th (Choosing this week allows you to take Modules in June and August) 
• July 29-August 2, 2024 Register for this session here. Registration closes on Monday, July 22nd

WEA National Board Facilitator Training

To ensure consistency across the state, NBCTs are asked to participate in Facilitator Training prior to hosting a cohort group. Additionally, OSPI will only approve cohorts that are facilitated by trained facilitators. This training hones facilitation knowledge and skills, provides a deeper understanding of the revised National Board process, as well as develops skills in working with adult learners. Typically, OSPI co-locates Facilitator Training with WEA Jump Start sessions during the summer. Due to the ongoing pandemic and safety concerns, Facilitator Training will be hosted online this year.

OSPI's Regional Coordinators lead Facilitator Training.

Current Training Options:

Training is entirely online and free of charge.

Clock hours are free through OSPI. Facilitator Training will also include a virtual Pre-Training component that is required for all attending the in-person event. The purpose of the Pre-Training is to equip facilitators with a baseline of prior knowledge to avoid the sit-and-get structure and provide more time for discourse among participants during training.

Register for 2024 Facilitator Training

• June 24-26, 8:00 AM-12:30 PM (12 Clock Hours)
• August 5-7, 8:00 AM-12:30 PM (12 Clock Hours)

For any questions about Facilitator Training, please contact Steven Mueller.

National Board Candidate Informational Sessions

Are you considering earning your national certification or working towards your renewal? National Board for Professional Teaching Standards offers free informational webinars.

• 6/13, 4:00 pm: Arts Integration

OSPI: Universal HSBP Platform Apparent Successful Bidder selected + graduation toolkit

OSPI Selects Apparent Successful Bidder for Universal HSBP Platform!

OSPI is excited to announce that SchooLinks, Inc., has been selected as the Apparent Successful Bidder for the SB5243 Universal HSBP Platform! Implementation planning will begin once contracts are finalized and will be communicated to school districts in conjunction with the legislative report due Oct. 1, 2024. Currently, OSPI is projecting that the earliest districts would be expected to use the universal HSBP platform in Fall 2025. OSPI will partner with districts to determine the statewide onboarding schedule and provide extensive training, resources, and support to ensure a smooth process. Read the full announcement + a message from OSPI here.

The Class of 2024 Graduation Toolkit

OPSI has published their Class of 2024 Graduation Toolkit, the Toolkit FAQ, and an updated High School and Beyond Plan template. For more information, check out the OSPI Graduation Webpage for comprehensive resources about graduation requirements.

Ready WA: Student Resume Packet

Calling all students! Do you need a resume for college or internship applications? Ready WA Storyteller, Izzy, developed this resume packet, which includes three different resume templates for students applying to college, considering an internship, or eyeing an extracurricular activity.

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month!

From the Library of Congress: "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. In the United States the last Sunday in June was initially celebrated as "Gay Pride Day," but the actual day was flexible. In major cities across the nation the "day" soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events. Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

In 1994, a coalition of education-based organizations in the United States designated October as LGBT History Month. In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months. National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the first "March on Washington" in 1979, are commemorated in the LGBTQ community during LGBT History Month."

Read more and find more resources here.

Join us for fun facts, obscure knowledge, and exploration of physics, genetics, etymology, art, and more!

A Pride of Purple Hues

Happy LGBTQ+ pride month! Let’s talk about lavender.

The use of different purple hues as a symbol of queer identities dates all the way back to the Greek poet Sappho, circa 600 BCE. Writing from her home on the island of Lesbos, Sappho’s poetry is so focused on relationships between two women that her very name and place of birth are now synonymous with the feminine queer.

Sappho’s work often referenced violets and other purple flowers as a symbol of attraction to women. When Sappho’s poetry became more well known in the 1900s, violets and lavender flowers were adopted by gay and lesbian communities as an outward, but subtle, symbol to others in the community.

Eventually, the mainstream caught onto the connection between lavender and queer identity, giving rise in the 1950s and 1960s to what scholars call the “lavender scare” in the United States, a parallel to the anti-communist red scare and McCarthyism that was happening at the same time.

“Lavender” was often used as a pejorative–usually in reference to gay men–in hearings and rulings barring queer people from many roles and positions within government. These restrictions were not removed until the mid-1990s.

This use of lavender as an insult only drove people to reclaim it even more strongly as a symbol of unity and pride. By late 1969, especially after the Stonewall riots increased visibility, lavender was used as a symbol of empowerment and defiance.

This did not stop the use of the color as a potential insult, but it did diminish its impact. When lesbians in the feminist movement were labeled as a “Lavender Menace” in the 1970s, they adopted that term as a group name and a rallying cry for protest.

These days, though not as popular as it once was, lavender can still be used as a symbol of visibility and support for various LGBTQ+ identities.

The history of queer rights is not always a happy one, but it is because of this that we celebrate pride month at all. Those words and symbols that people use as insults, the queer community will take back and use as strengths. Be sure to wear your lavender (and every other color) with pride, this month and all other months!