In This Issue County Superintendent hosts new TV series

Strong Start delegation advocates for early learning AED receives WASC accreditation New TV series: Spotlight on the Long-term trends show incremental increase in county grad rates SCCOE focuses on education STEAM Engine rolls into the SCCOE Recent board activities This month, the Santa Event paints picture of student talent Clara County Office of Awards ceremony honors students Education (SCCOE) SCCOE launches Teacher PSA series launched a new monthly Upcoming events television series, hosted by Jon R. Gundry, County Superintendent of Schools, to help inform the local community about the latest happenings in K- 12 education. Young Artists' Showcase Spotlight on the celebrates 20th anniversary SCCOE features Superintendent During the 20th Gundry and annual Young different guests Artists' each month Showcase discussing celebration on important issues May 24 at the affecting Santa Clara education. The first episode, "The Teacher Pipeline," County Office of features Mr. Gundry, Dr. Kip Téllez, an education Education professor at University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), (SCCOE), a and Philip Gordillo, Chief Human Resources Officer at picture was painted of how the arts are a critical the SCCOE, discussing the rising teacher shortage in component of a well-rounded education. The event California, particularly Santa Clara County. was held to honor 38 students whose art was chosen from more than 1,000 submissions to the annual Spotlight on the SCCOE targets community members, competition, open to public school students, grades parents, and educators alike, with important and timely kindergarten through 12th grade, in Santa Clara K-12 topics. County.

In addition to being available on the SCCOE YouTube page, Spotlight on the SCCOE will air at 6:30 p.m. on Sundays on CreaTV Classrooms, Cable Channel 28 in San Jose and Campbell, and at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays on Bay Voice TV, starting Monday, May 23. Bay Voice TV airs on Cable Channel 27 in Atherton, Campbell, Cupertino, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Stanford University, and Sunnyvale. New episodes will air each month.

Strong Start delegation advocates for early learning at State Capitol

A delegation of 16 Silicon Valley community and education leaders representing the Strong Start Initiative, including County Superintendent of Schools Jon Gundry, County Board of Education members Grace Mah and Joseph Di Salvo, The entry was one of 38 selected art pieces chosen Evergreen School District Superintendent Kathy Gomez, from more than 900 submissions to the Santa Clara and school district trustees Ellen Wheeler and Bonnie County Office of Education's (SCCOE) 20th annual Mace, visited California legislators on May 25 to Young Artists' Showcase. It won first place in the advocate for increased support of early learning Digital Painting category for the high school programs in the upcoming state budget. The delegation division. The SCCOE honored the award winners met with legislators from Santa Clara County, the Chair during a celebration on May 24 at the Ridder Park of the Legislative Women's Caucus, staff from the office. legislative leadership, the Governor's office and the State Board of Education, and with the State "We are thrilled to Superintendent of Public Instruction to discuss Gov. celebrate the Brown's May revisions to the state's proposed 2016-17 creativity, talent, budget. passion, and ideas of our students "The decisions made regarding early childhood whose work will be education should be made as part of the legislative entered into the process, not determined as an item in the annual budget county's permanent process," said Superintendent Gundry. collection," said Esther Tokihiro, Legislators and their Visual and staffs were largely Performing Arts receptive to the Coordinator with the SCCOE. Strong Start delegation's support County Superintendent of Schools Jon R. Gundry talked for restoring funding about his support of the arts during a keynote to early learning address. programs, particularly the "I just love being surrounded by the creative genius of proposal from the students in our midst," Superintendent Gundry said. Legislative Women's "So I would like to start by saying thank you to all the Caucus to increase young artists here today." funding by $800 million, and to reject any proposal that eliminates Transitional Kindergarten or moves it away from its current funding model based upon attendance.

For more information, read the full News Release. In particular, Mr. Gundry shared Alternative Education his gratitude for Cindy Nguyen, a Department receives WASC seventh-grader at Sylvandale Middle School in the Franklin- accreditation McKinley School District, because he recently chose a copy of The Santa Clara County Cindy's piece "Koi Fish Pond" to Office of Education's display proudly in his office. "So Alternative Education I'll be reminded every day when I Department received six- come to the office of the talent we year accreditation status have here in this county," he said. by the Western Association of Schools Cindy was among the winners and Colleges (WASC) this whose art was framed and put on month. display for attendees to view at the event. It will be added to the "Six years is the best that more than 1,000 framed art pieces you can get," said Yvette Irving, Director of Alternative in the permanent, ever growing collection that began Education. "This is not only validation but a wrapping the hallways and three floors of the Ridder compliment to the program that we provide at the Park building when the contest began in 1996. County Office of Education." For more information, read the full News Release. She added what is especially "unique" is that both the high school and middle school programs will carry the WASC accreditation seal.

Because of the accreditation, students from the county's AED schools are now eligible to apply directly to the California State University and University of California Ceremony honors students with systems for admission. WASC accreditation also allows special needs, retiring director those students who participate in AED for a limited amount of time to return to their home districts with Holden Pence was one of 11 students honored as the credits that can be applied to local graduation Class Worker of the Year during the Workability I requirements. Awards Ceremony on May 17 at the Ridder Park office.

WASC accreditation is bestowed upon schools that Through a grant from demonstrate the capacity, commitment, and competence the California to support high-quality student learning and ongoing Department of school improvement. The granted accreditation was Education, the SCCOE based on testimony and supporting data in its Special Education application, and a visit from the WASC committee in Workability I program March. assists students aged 16 to 22 with the transition from school to work by providing comprehensive vocational training and Long-term trends show work experience. The celebration is held incremental increase in county annually to honor students in Special Education who participate in graduation rates WorkAbility.

The graduation rate "This year, 80 students participated in day training," for students in said Nancy Guerrero, retiring Director of Special Santa Clara County Education Projects. "The students are trained by their (SCC) has classroom staff, then job training specialists, and incrementally then eventually to other employees in a place of increased over the business. ... Over 200 students participated in work- past six years, as related activities, such as a job club, career fair, or has the percent of transition fair. graduates completing the A-G After the students were acknowledged for their hard requirements. Between 2009-10 and 2014-15, the work and persistence, Cynthia Valadez, Special graduation rate increased by 3.1 percentage points to Education Program Coordinator, surprised Guerrero 83.6 percent while the percent of overall SCC grade 12 with recognition as the Worker of the Year. Valadez graduates completing the A-G requirements increased reflected on the last 25 years she has spent working by 4.7 points to 53.6 percent, according to statistics with Guerrero. released May 17 by the California Department of Education. "It's been truly my pleasure to In the same time frame, the dropout rate for students in work with Santa Clara County has declined by 2.8 percentage WorkAbility all points. However, there was no change from last year these years; see and, for the first time, the dropout rate for California all these (10.7 percent) inched lower than the county's (11.1 students get percent). jobs," she said. "I started to be "Any improvement is positive, but we know there are a WorkAbility still many needs," said County Superintendent of teacher Schools Jon R. Gundry. "One of the ways we are because I was addressing student needs in this area is through concerned programs like our new Opportunity Youth Academy that about where affords 16- to 24-year-olds an opportunity to earn their our students went after they left our wonderful high school diploma through an individualized programs. ... So I worked with the program for all these program." years to help develop options for students to move on and lead that productive adult life." Begun this academic year, there are now four Opportunity Youth Academy (OYA) sites throughout the county. More than just a credit recovery program, OYA pairs students with staff who SCCOE marks National Teacher build positive, on-on-one relationships with them and Appreciation Day with PSA series work to map out a path for each student's individual academic and career goals. The Santa Clara For more information, read the entire Santa Clara County County Office of Office of Education analysis. Education marked National Teacher Appreciation Day 2016 (May 3) by launching STEAM Engine rolls into the a series of SCCOE Teacher PSAs, titled "Why I Teach." Each video highlights three 2015-16 teachers of the What do you get when you combine science, technology, year from around the county, who share just a few engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)? A train. thoughts about why they find teaching so rewarding. Well, for the time being. All the teachers honored during the SCCOE's 2015 Teacher Recognition Ceremony last fall in Campbell The Santa Clara will be featured in the series. County Office of Education (SCCOE) is The PSAs, which showcased a STEAM will be rolled Engine in the out every week Learning Multimedia until the end of Center at its Ridder June, are part of Park office through a wider the end of May. The countywide train is a fully integrated, creative sculpture initiative to demonstrating science, technology, engineering, arts, address the mathematics, and their interconnectivity. Originally teacher designed for the Curriculum & Instruction Steering shortage. A few months into last school year, there Committee of the California County Superintendents were still almost 4,000 teaching positions open in the Educational Services Association Conference in Monterey back in February, and later displayed at the state of California. 2016 Inaugural STEAM Symposium at the SCCOE last month, the STEAM Engine is a traveling display. The SCCOE is working on recruiting and developing the next generation of excellent teachers through many Both a whimsical train and an interactive musical means, including its upcoming Instructional Assistant sculpture, the STEAM Engine is part xylophone and part Job Fair on June 11 and Step into Teaching: oscilloscope. When you strike the xylophone's bars Opportunities in Silicon Valley Public Schools Event with a mallet, a computer program converts the sound on June 18. This inaugural event will help candidates waves into light frequencies creating a colorful who may have never considered teaching see projected light display. The engine's cab shows sine themselves in the position by helping them learn and waves of the music, transforming the music's art, into prepare for the joys of a teaching career. its math and science components. The STEAM Engine teaches students about perspective, measurement, and Check out the entire series on the SCCOE YouTube audio frequencies. playlist or watch them by clicking on the individual videos below: After being displayed at Ridder Park, the STEAM Engine's creators - SCCOE Science Coordinator Sandi Yellenberg Episode 1 and Harry Dill, a former NASA scientist and teacher on Episode 2 special assignment at Saratoga Union School District - Episode 3 hope to roll it out to different school sites. Episode 4 Episode 5

Updates from the County Board of Upcoming Events Education

Here's a summary of actions taken by the Board at its Below are some of the many upcoming events supported by the Santa Clara County Office of recent meetings. Education. Check the "Events" column of our website for regular updates: May 18:

Pablo Diaz was recognized as the Student of the Year for Migrant Education; Stacey McCabe (Substitute Alternative Education Teacher) and Eugenio Rillera (Substitute Special Education Assistant) were honored as the Santa Clara County Office of Education Substitutes of the Year; and Each year at the request of the California Department of Education, the County Instructional Assistant Job Fair [June 11]: The job fair Superintendent invites submissions from county is designed for candidates interested in employment districts for the state "Classified School Employee of the Year" program. A Santa Clara as instructional assistants with the Santa Clara County Office of Education committee reviewed County Office of Education. On June 11, registered all submissions and selected one employee from candidates will be tested and/or interviewed for each job classification. Instructional Assistant positions. Please register for The following nominees were honored: Keli the job fair by submitting an online application by DaSilva of Gilroy Unified School District for June 3 and submitting copies of your qualifying Child Nutrition; Adan Barajas of Oak Grove documents. Elementary School District for Maintenance, Operations and Facilities; Omar Gutierrez of East Side Union School District for Office and Technical; Victoria Santiago of Morgan Hill Unified School District for Paraeducator and Instructional Assistance; Eva Chesnut of Moreland School District for Services and Security; and Jesus Contreras of Campbell Union School District for Transportation. Step into Teaching [June 18]: Step into Teaching: May 4: Opportunities in Silicon Valley Public Schools will Nine parent leaders were honored, who have help attendees learn about and prepare for a teaching assisted the Curriculum and Instruction team career. The day will begin with a keynote speaker who with their Parent Engagement Initiative; and is an expert in the education field. Participants will The Employee of the Month, Holli Gritter, was recognized. She is from the Special Education also hear about how to navigate the credentialing Department. process, opportunities with potential employers, compensation and retirement. Registration is required, The Board of Education is the elected governing body of and is currently open. the SCCOE. Its seven members serve four-year terms and are elected by different regions of the county. Learn more about the members, and view their meeting 2016 Inclusion schedule, agendas, and minutes. Collaborative State Conference [October 27- 28]: The SCCOE will host the Inclusion Collaborative State Conference, sponsored by the California Department of Education- Special Education Division and First 5 Santa Clara County, from October 27-28. Meet with other education professionals and learn, create, and enhance inclusive practices for from birth to 12th grade with and without disabilities. Participants can obtain two CEUs through the University of the Pacific and received a certificate of completion. Registration for the conference closes October 7, or when filled. Don't delay! Register here.

Since 1852, the Santa Clara County Office of Education has provided vital services and resources to the county's 31 K-12 public school districts and more than 250,000 students. The SCCOE strives to provide advocacy and leadership on education issues, student programs that are models of excellence and indispensable services to schools and community partners. The SCCOE is committed to serving, inspiring and promoting student and public school success.