Supporting Student Attendance

Shasta County schools continue to focus on reducing high chronic absenteeism rates as we have navigated the past two unique school years, which is defined as missing 10% or more of the days for which a student is enrolled in school. When a student is enrolled for the entire school year, being chronically absent is missing 18 days or more (the equivalence of two days every month). Having an engaging school climate and positive relationships with students and families goes a long way toward developing a partnership that is supportive of great attendance.

Since the initial restructure of our System of Support for Attendance during the 2019-20 school year, a wide variety of county representatives continue to partner and support in a variety of ways to continuously improve attendance and the quality of life for our students and the families we serve.  The graphic below highlights a few of our major support partners this school year:

The plan of support developed and refined over the last two years includes but is not limited to:

• Positive Attendance Messaging - Schools and districts will continue to build a culture among all school staff with positive messages about the importance of attendance along with a variety of strategies for promoting good and improving attendance while building and strengthening relationships.

• School Attendance Review Teams - The goal of school site level attendance teams is to identify students and families who are in need of support at the earliest possible opportunity to stop the progression of absences and improve challenging situations for families. Sometimes, families are faced with a challenge that is beyond what support the school can provide. When this occurs, the school site can immediately refer families to our CommunityConnect Case Coordinator who partners with the family to connect students and their families to county and community resources and provide support early in the absence cycle.

This data led to many productive and resourceful conversations and partnerships with our county agencies and community partners resulting in improved alignment and greater accessibility of services for our families and students.

•  Shasta County School Attendance Review Board (SARB) - Shasta County Office of Education has continued an ongoing commitment to both local and county School Attendance Review Boards (SARB). County and local SARBs were established by Education Code 48321 in order to:

• maximize the use of all available resources and services

• avoid unnecessary duplication of resources to resolve attendance and behavior problems; and

• divert students from the juvenile justice system with school-related problems.

The Shasta County Office of Education County SARB provides services to all local school districts to support the reduction of truancy and behavior problems within the elementary, middle school, and high school students. Our goal is to return students to positive attendance and behavior through an early intervention process utilizing positive messaging, sending letters, making phone calls, utilizing local community resources, and parent meetings to find solutions to resolve the issues hindering school attendance and behavior. Our four local grade level SARB boards require all available interventions to be held prior to bringing a student to the SARB Board. A School Attendance Review Team (SART), Student Study Team (SST), Student Success Team (SST), and Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) and a referral to CommunityConnect are some examples of pre-SARB meetings held to offer all available services to the family prior to SARB.  Once invited to SARB, families are offered targeted case management through CommunityConnect which provides follow up support to families with SARB contracts. Out of the 52 cases heard, 50 families were offered and accepted the follow up support and are actively engaged with their targeted case manager on a weekly basis or more frequently as needed.

•  Shasta County SARB Board consists of individuals from the Shasta County Office of Education, law enforcement, District Attorney’s Office, Probation, Health and Human Services, youth community based service center, Public Defender’s Office, and members of the community.

The SARB process serves students by recommending changes in the school program, recommending the student and/or family to counseling, connecting them to community resources, tutoring if needed, alternative teacher assignments when appropriate, education, and support in navigating roadblocks creating the attendance or behavior problems and ultimately referring to the court system if the attendance problem is not successfully resolved.

Ed Code 48321 guides the work of the County SARB. According to the California Department of Education’s website, “although the goal of SARBs is to keep students in school and provide them with a meaningful educational experience, SARBs do have the power, when necessary, to refer students and their parents or guardians to court.”

(5) (A) If a county school attendance review board exists, the county superintendent of schools shall, at the beginning of each school year, convene a meeting of the county school attendance review board for purposes of adopting plans to promote inter agency and community cooperation and to reduce the duplication of services provided to youth who have serious school attendance and behavior problems. (f) A county school attendance review board may provide guidance to local school attendance review boards. The Shasta County SARB met to provide training to Local SARB Chairs, Co-Chairs, and any SARB panel members also able to participate. Data from the local SARBs are reviewed to determine if additional resources are needed to meet the needs within the county, whether those resources are for a student group, an intervention gap in the system of support, or for a district/school who is sending a much greater percentage of students forward to SARB. County SARB hears local SARB appeal cases-If a parent/guardian appeals their SARB hearing at their local SARB and due process is not followed, the County SARB Chair reviews the appeal and if granted, County SARB hears the appeal. Appeals are not heard on the basis of dissatisfaction with the outcome, only if it appears there was a breach of due process. County SARB will provide the local SARB Chair and the school with recommendations to rectify the situation if a breach of due process is verified.

• Truancy Court - When student attendance has not improved with all previous efforts, students and their families are summoned to court, along with at least one representative of the school or district with each student. We are grateful for our continued partnership with our Juvenile District Attorney and our Juvenile Court Judge for their regular attendance at collaborations with partners as we strive to improve our system of support for families at all levels.

Since 2020-21 was the first year in this new model, we have continued to analyze data with teams throughout these past two school years to learn about the students referred to CommunityConnect and the impact this support is having across the system, as well as needs for additional support, service, and/or intervention from county/community partners beyond what is currently available. Our desire is to continuously improve this strength-based model to support families early in the absence cycle and to change patterns of behavior before they are firmly set. We look forward to increasing services and support to our families identified through the school teams which is made possible by our dedicated school site teams and our community agency partnerships.
 

The CAPEs include:

• Visionary Leadership

• Instructional Leadership

• Management and Organizational Leadership

• Family Engagement

• Professional Learning and Ethics

• School Improvement Leadership.

A new requirement to the program is the California Administrator Performance Assessment. This assessment is taken in three parts and must be passed prior to the preliminary credential being granted. In the past nine years our program has served over 200 candidates in earning a Preliminary Administrative Service Credential. We have over a 50% job placement rate for those administrators actively seeking positions.

Association of California School Administrators / SCOE

Tier 2 Induction Program

Shasta County Office of Education’s Tier 2 Induction program, in partnership with Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), is designed to provide new administrators the opportunity to clear their preliminary administrative credential through a job embedded induction experience. Upon acceptance into the two year induction program, preliminary administrators are paired with trained, veteran administrators who serve as their coaches, in a process that is designed to be highly individualized and tailored to build on strengths. Through on-site observations and one-on-one meetings, the coach and candidate develop and implement an Individual Learning Plan (ILP). Additionally, these candidates will attend professional development classes and will collect evidence that demonstrates they have applied the California Professional Standards for Educational Leadership (CPSELs) in their daily work. Shasta County Office of Education, in partnership with ACSA, serves new leaders in the longest running coaching-based Clear Administrative Services Credential program in the state. This work continues to be led by Dr. Kim McKenzie. Our program is designed to support and accelerate school leadership practice to positively impact student learning. Through targeted coaching and timely and ongoing professional development, our program participants build capacity to develop positive and collaborative school cultures. Currently, we have 55 candidates enrolled in our induction program with 30 administrator coaches. We have two enrollment periods, fall and winter, for candidates to enroll in the program.

“Hope is the belief that your future can be brighter and better than your past and that you actually have a role to play in making it better.” -Chan Hellman

The 2020-21 school year began the journey of creating a culture of Hope between community and educational partners in Shasta County.  An initial conversation that solidified an on-going partnership was had with Dr. Chan Hellman, Professor at University of Oklahoma Tulsa, Director of the Hope Research Center in Tulsa and co-author of Hope Rising: How the Science and Power of Hope Can Change Your Life.  Dr. Hellman spent a week collaborating with school administrators, superintendents, community members, partners and leaders to provide an awareness of and begin the planning stages of how to nurture hope in the middle of trauma initiated or deepened by wildfires, homelessness, political divides, and the pandemic.  It was agreed that our initial focus would be to nurture the Hope of the adults in order to better nurture Hope in the students we serve. Through our better understanding of the Science and Power of Hope, 200 educators and community agency partners have been trained as Hope Navigators through a 16-hour initial training with Dr. Chan Hellman and monthly check-ins this past year.  Why Hope? Why Now?

“The findings about Hope are amazingly consistent from study to study.  Hope is not just an idea. Hope is not simply an emotion.  It is far more than a feeling.  It is not a wish or even an expectation.  Hope is about goals, willpower, and pathways.  A person with High hope has goals, the motivation to pursue them, and the determination to overcome obstacles and find pathways to achieve them.” -Chan Hellman

Hope is linked to positive outcomes and important assets including: Well-Being, Education, Attendance, Engagement, Grades, Graduation.  Hope is a cognitive process which  means it can be taught.  We look forward to our continued journey of creating and nurturing a culture of Hope in Shasta County.

Reach Higher Shasta

REACH HIGHER Shasta is a local initiative that works to create clear pathways from our children’s first day in the cradle to their first day on the job. We strive to ensure they are ready for kindergarten, motivated and supported through elementary, middle, and high school, and assisted in the transition to career training or college. Along the way we connect them to caring adults and generous business partners who serve as mentors, guides, and coaches. We collect data that measures what’s working and what needs to change. We believe every student deserves every option open for their future following high school, and we know that their success will change the future of our community.

The mission is:  “Working together as a community to provide all students with all options for education and training after high school to pursue a successful, fulfilling career.”

At the Shasta County Office of Education, we truly believe that bringing all schools and districts from across Shasta County together around a single focus helps us to improve outcomes for students collectively. Because of this opportunity to support all schools through this work, we have heavily invested our staff in the work of the Reach Higher Shasta Initiatives.

School Counseling Collaborative 2021-22 School Year

Purpose:

• Build/enhance relationships of K-12 school counselors by providing opportunities for learning and sharing of innovative practices in a safe and comfortable environment

• Build/enhance leadership skills of K-12 school counselors

• Build/enhance relationship with SCOE School Counseling Coordinator and increase awareness of SCOE support

• Updates from county (COELSC) and RHS Secondary, state (CASC), national (ASCA) & (CASEL)

Who:

• School counselors K-12 and Shasta College counseling department liaison

• Administrators working with school counselors

• Student Services Personnel

This year the school counseling collaborative meetings were held virtually on a monthly basis.  School counselors from K-12 schools are all invited as well as Shasta College representatives to help build community between institutions and truly support our students cradle to career.  Within these meetings we share a variety of updates nationally and from the state that will affect our schools and districts.  We collaborate on common practices as well as highlight successful programs within our local schools.  This collaborative has allowed counselors from all over the county to build capacity and build a network of support as many of our smaller schools only have one school counselor.  This collaborative provides a team of support to be able to turn to and problem solve around common problems of practice.

COLLEGE & CAREER SIGNING DAY - MAY 11, 2022

Reach Higher Shasta:  College & Career Signing Day

This is an event sponsored by RHS to highlight and spotlight a sample group of high school seniors from Shasta County high schools who have made plans to pursue some type of post high school training and/or education.

Why it is important: We often see athletes get recognized at their “signing day”.   Following this signing day tradition, we want to recognize students who have made plans for continuing education and training, wherever that may be.  This event is meant to bring some recognition and encouragement to Shasta County students who have made plans to improve their quality of life through college and/or career education.

Goals of the event:

• To make high school students and their families aware of the myriad of opportunities available to them

• To demonstrate our willingness to celebrate future plans with students from all walks of life and from all high schools, large and small, in our region

• To celebrate the diversity of post high school choices being pursued by Shasta County seniors

• To inspire underclassmen to put some thought into their own post high school plans

Students to be honored – how students are chosen:

• At least one male and one female student from each Shasta County school that is sending a student to post high school education

       • We invite all high schools, home school, privates, independents and charters to participate.

• We try to get at least one student of every post high school institution that is represented by our 2022 senior class

• Below you can see how many students were nominated and the variety of post-secondary institutions they are attending.
 

Social, Emotional & Academic Learning Community of Practice

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Shasta County Office of Education team members were intentional in their efforts to support schools and districts to meet the social, emotional and mental health needs of students, families, and staff members. Staff and student well-being became the focus of the work. Due to prior professional development provided by Shasta County Office of Education around Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma Informed Practices, educators across the county already had a strong knowledge-base regarding the impacts of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), as well as the benefits of protective factors and trauma-informed practices in the school environment. Student well-being and mental health had declined through distance learning and extended isolation.  Families were experiencing heightened levels of stress and anxiety due to the myriad of challenges as a result of the pandemic. In response to this state-wide and national crisis, the California Department of Education (CDE), Sacramento County Office of Education, Orange County Office of Education, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency formed a Social Emotional Learning Community of Practice with all county offices across the state to provide foundational support through both financial allocations and implementation resources.

Through this partnership, Shasta County Office of Education is able to host an ongoing community of practice for educators, paraeducators, administrators, counselors, community partners, and outside service providers from across the county. This results in financial support for educators and increased capacity for social and emotional competencies and crisis response in all Shasta County school districts. Within this community of practice, members learn from one another while bright spot schools are highlighted. The latest research, best practices and curriculum resources are provided by CDE, and are then shared at the local level. Representatives from school districts then take these resources back to their school sites to improve the well-being of all staff, students, and families.

During the spring of 2022, five schools were selected through an application process to be focus schools and to partner with Shasta County Office of Education’s SEAL team (Social, Emotional & Academic Learning). These five schools will meet monthly with Shasta County Office of Education’s team and will be provided with funding and coaching support to implement systemic practices and programs to improve the well-being and mental health of their staff, students and families. These models will then be shared with the larger group and school leaders across the county.

Additionally, the SEAL team has been able to offer mini grants to schools throughout the county for implementation projects and school-wide improvements. An evidenced based social emotional program is also being provided for all sixth-12th grade students through the 2022-23 school year. For school staff and clinicians a unique training opportunity is being offered through The Center for Mind Body Medicine. This training will provide strategies for stress regulation and mitigation of the impacts of trauma. The intention is to provide educators with the tools to down-regulate their own stress response systems in order to be models for and teachers of their students with these same mental health tools and calming practices.

Support for COVID (liaisons, test kits)

Shasta County Office of Education in partnership with Shasta County Public Health Department (SCPH) provided ongoing support to all school districts (public, charter and private) and child care facilities in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Shasta County Office of Education hosted meetings twice a month with the schools COVID liaisons and SCPH. During these meetings questions were answered and updates on most current California Department of Public Health’s guidelines reviewed. In addition, Shasta County Office of Education received three different  orders of over-the-counter COVID tests to be distributed to school districts for their students and staff, the first delivery was for the return from winter break.

Computer science for norcal (CS4Norcal)

CS4NorCal is a unique five year regional research and innovation project sponsored by the California Small School Districts’ Association to create K-12 computer science pathways in small rural schools in northern California. The goal of the project is to ensure that our children have the chance to become proficient in computer science and thus setting them on a trajectory to greater career options, closing the digital divide and leveling the playing field. Even though most students will not pursue careers as professional programmers or computer scientists, developing (computational) fluency with coding is valuable for everyone. As students create their own stories, games, and animations with code, they start to see themselves as creators, developing confidence and pride in their ability to create things and express themselves with new technologies.

Here in Shasta County we have started our second year of implementation, adding elementary teachers to the new cohort. The summer workshops were completed on June 17th with 18 teachers, administrators, or counselors in attendance from eight different schools in the county. The courses offered ranged from Elementary for Computer Science, Computer Science Discoveries for Middle School, Exploring Computer Science for nith and 10th graders, Computer Science Principles for 11th and 12th graders, Bootstraps for returning teachers, Computer Science for California Administrators and Counselors for Computing. Teachers will participate in additional professional development throughout the school year, supporting them as they implement the nationally-validated, standards-aligned CS curriculum, provided by the grant, into their programs.

Here is a quote from Brian Selke, Redding School District. He is just starting his second year in the grant.

“CS4NorCal has impacted my teaching by giving me the opportunity to develop meaningful standards-based lessons with concrete assessments and reflect on best practices for inclusive instruction. It is a wonderful professional development program aimed at providing Computer Science resources and instruction for teachers and administrators. The facilitators and community of teachers were great to work with and the lessons on Code.org and teacher resources were very engaging, informative, and rewarding.”

Each year we will add another cohort of teachers, administrators and counselors to the grant, as we grow our county’s capacity to offer high quality computer science pathways.

SCHREDER PLANETARIUM

Imagination and Understanding of Worlds Beyond!
As an educational outreach of the Shasta County Office of Education, the planetarium captures the passion and curiosity of the universe from space to Earth. We continue to offer double-feature public programs every two weeks. Since reopening in May 2021, Schreder Planetarium has had record high attendance for both school field trips and public programs.  Contact: (530) 225-0295

School Field TripsEven grade levels that do not learn about space can find value in our programs for K-8th grade. Every grade gets more than pre and post lessons; they receive a unit of study rooted in the New Generation Science Standards (NGSS). For example, second graders discover in their classroom how to build towers, bridges and roofs, exploring different materials and structures. In the show they see the ultimate building challenges involved in flight, from the early days into the future. Register for field trips at www.shastacoe.org/planetarium.

Friends of Schreder PlanetariumThe Friends of the Planetarium, our nonprofit support group, worked tirelessly to raise funds to replace our old projection system, to purchase new shows this year, and to provide  most of the funds for a new exhibit. Shasta County Office of Education is grateful for their amazing support. If you love Schreder Planetarium, consider joining the Friends of Schreder Planetarium.

SCHREDER PLANETARIUM DIGITAL THEATER
Shasta County Office of Education • 1644 Magnolia Way, Redding, CA 96001
www.shastacoe.org/planetarium