Blog Archives

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: An Acrostic… because, you know, we’re teachers.

10/26/2015

About two months ago we welcomed our new and returning students, staff, and families to our school sites… and then we blinked and found ourselves here, at the end of October! Time has gone by quickly, but we have accomplished a TON in these first couple months of school. Here are a few of the things we’ve been up to so far:

...and so much more! We have an impressive, innovative, inspirational team this year!

As we push through October, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on all that you’ve accomplished already, and celebrate the successes that you and your students have found so far this school year. Let your students and co-workers know what you’ve noticed them doing well. Then add a comment on this post to share these successes so we can celebrate with you!

Keep on keepin’ on!

Blog post written by:
Alli Guilfoil, Director of Academic Intervention

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OUR EVOLVING PARTNERSHIP WITH LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS

10/26/2015

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I will take this blog post as an opportunity to update you about an exciting new project that is extending the Unconditional Education (UE) program model to meet the needs of school partners in an innovative way. Leadership Public Schools (LPS) is a local charter management organization (CMO) that operates four Bay Area high schools, located in Richmond, Oakland, Hayward and San Jose. For the past several years, All-In has had a relationship with LPS as an Education Related Mental Health Service (ERMHS) provider at the LPS Richmond and San Jose campuses. Through this modular type of the partnership, there are several All-In Clinical Intervention Specialists who are doing great work serving students with mental health needs connected to their Individual Education Plans (IEPs), Tier III level services. Shout out to our LPS CISs Sue, Braegan and Stephanie!

This program year we are expanding our relationship with LPS to include training and technical assistance implementing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports PBIS and specific parts of the UE program model. This evolution of the partnership will allow us to share the UE program in a way that will benefit the whole LPS community and positively impact many more students. As the program lead for this project, I am working directly with a team of Response to Intervention (RTI) Coordinators who are based at each LPS campus. The RTI Coordinator is very similar to our UE Coach position, focused on managing the school’s multi-tiered systems of support. My role is to serve as a coach and source of professional development support for each RTI Coordinator. We meet one to one on a monthly basis to develop and implement a project plan for each campus based on identified school and student needs. For instance, the project at the LPS Oakland school site is focused on creating and implementing a Coordination of Services Team (COST). At the Hayward school site, I am supporting the RTI Coordinator to further develop Tier II behavioral and social emotional interventions, starting with a peer-mentoring project.

Another part of this project is to bring the LPS RTI Coordinators together several times throughout the school year to provide more intensive, full day professional development workshops that focus on components of the UE model. This is also an opportunity to further build out our Unconditional Education professional development workshops designed to support our partner school staff.

This is a just a snap shot of some of the new ways we are working with our partners at LPS and a good example of how the UE model is expanding to serve schools from a different angle. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions and ideas to share.

Blog post written by:
Lilly Green, Director of School Partnerships

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BEHAVIORAL STRAND UPDATES: FBAs/BIPs & SAN Services

10/19/2015

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“Because you believed I was capable of behaving decently, I did.”
- Paulo Coelho

Hi All-In! Unconditional Ed-U-cators!!!

We are so excited to bring you the first UE blog strand update, featuring the This year has been a busy year thus far, especially for the behavioral strand and we are thrilled to be able to share with you all our work thus far in the “World of Behavior”:

FBAs/BIPs
As you know, we conduct Functional Behavior Assessments in order to provide more information about students’ behavior, to help identify factors regarding behaviors that may not be obvious, to provide data trends and patterns, to help identify the root causes, functions, and reinforcers of behaviors, and to provide data for developing an appropriate and effective behavior plan. Implementation of individualized behavior intervention plans provides more intensive intervention and monitoring, increases support around student(s), provides an individualized plan for success, addresses specific issues in a specific manner, involves teachers, support staff, the student, and parents actively, and helps teachers to address behaviors and issues consistently across subjects, rooms, sessions, etc. You all have been doing a great job in identifying students who are in need of FBAs and BIPs in order to better serve them and ensure their needs are met and our Behavior Intervention Specialists (the fabulous Eva and Devina) are up and running with these assessments and plans.

SAN Services
As we expand our behavioral strand of the program, we are embarking on a new journey with the development and growth of our newest program, “Services as Needed” program in which we provide behavioral services, such as consultation, trainings, professional learning communities, behavior intervention services, observation, etc., ‘as needed’ for schools that are full partnerships and not. As we grow we are also building new relationships with new schools, including Silver Oak Montessori High School, Aspire Golden State Prep, Aspire Lionel Wilson Academy, Leadership Public Schools Oakland, Vincent Academy, our Seneca programs in Marin and Orange County and last but certainly not least, Seneca’s James Baldwin Academy, Pathfinder Academy, and our MACSELPA school-based programs. We are super excited to expand the behavioral strand to serve students and schools in this way and can’t wait to see what our future holds in this area.

P.S. We would love to come up with a new name for our SANs program so if you have a catchy name or acronym, please pass it along my way. We want the name to encompass the work we do within All-In.

Thank you all so much for your tireless work, dedication, and effort day in and day out!!!

Blog post written by:
Amber Fretwell, Director of Behavioral Intervention

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EQUITY & INCLUSION FOR ALL: OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

10/19/2015

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How does the work we do in the All-In! program fit within the context of Oakland Unified School District? Check out a quote from Antwon Wilson, Superintendent of OUSD, in his Equity & Inclusion bulletin:

“For too many years, students with special needs, both in Oakland and around the country, have not been afforded the opportunities that many other students take for granted. To be frank, these students have often been excluded…..

That is the culture of the past, which separated students and divided them from their peers. In the Oakland Unified School District, we are moving away from this history of exclusion to a new era of inclusion...

An Inclusion Policy is the next step in our effort to better serve the needs of all of our students…..A policy change is just the beginning - the real change comes as we shift our attitudes and preconceived notions about students with disabilities.”

How are you helping to shift attitudes and preconceived notions about students with disabilities?

For the full bulletin, check out this link:
http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CAEDUOUSD/bulletins/1151da1

Blog post written by:
Celina Zins, Director of School Partnerships

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A WORD FROM ROBIN: WELCOME!!

10/12/2015

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After much anticipation, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Unconditional Education Blog! We hope that this blog will be a place to share updates with our team and partners about what’s happening in our program, and serve as a hub for news and resources relevant to our work. Each week, we’ll curate content including program highlights, updates from members of our leadership team, staff perspectives, and links to relevant news sources and resources.

The idea for this blog was born last spring based on your feedback and desire to be more connected to the big-picture work of Unconditional Education and to each other. We hope this blog will spark conversations and serve as forum to discuss some the issues that impact our mission for Unconditional Education. Special thanks in the creation of this blog goes out to our Blog Design Team, but especially to Dana Wolfenbarger who has provided much guidance in the technical set up and design of this project!

Each week you’ll receive an email update with the week’s new content, but if you use a RSS Feed app, you can subscribe to the UE Blog to get posts directly to your reader. You can also read new posts, peruse the archives, or find important topics using the Categories links on the right side of the page by linking directly to www.unconditionaleducation.org.

Over the next few months we’ll be refining the content and feel of this blog. Until we perfect the flow, we’re hoping to limit its audience to our staff and key school partners. When we’re ready for it to be shared widely with the expanse of the full internet audience, we’ll be sure to let you know!

CALLING GUEST BLOGGERS!
We’re currently seeking member of our team to share a perspective on the work for upcoming posts! This could be an opportunity to highlight a successful practice or tool you’ve been using at your site, share a success, or explore a related thought, issue or idea. We hope you’ll consider contributing! If you’re interested please contact our Blog Master Cate Hunter.

WHAT’S NEW?
Each week we’ll also be adding links to news articles, reports and resources relevant to the world of Unconditional Education. To see our first set of links be sure to visit the NEWS + RESOURCES tab above. If you run across a great resource to share with the team or have another idea on how to improve this blog send it our way!

As we launch this new blog it seems fitting to celebrate the ongoing innovation and ingenuity that you all have shown as we’ve begun this new school year. It has been truly impressive to hear about the breadth of your start-of-year successes from your school and partner leaders! From creative support plans for our most struggling students to innovative approaches to transforming school practices, I am honored to share in this work with such a creative and compassionate team!

Thanks for all that you do!!!

Blog post written by:
Robin Detterman, Executive Director of School Partnerships

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Welcome

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: An Acrostic… because, you know, we’re teachers.

OUR EVOLVING PARTNERSHIP WITH LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BEHAVIORAL STRAND UPDATES: FBAs/BIPs & SAN Services

EQUITY & INCLUSION FOR ALL: OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

A WORD FROM ROBIN: WELCOME!!

Authors:

We're Hiring!

Categories:

Archives

Welcome

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: ﻿An Acrostic… because, you know, we’re teachers.

OUR EVOLVING PARTNERSHIP WITH LEADERSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BEHAVIORAL STRAND UPDATES: FBAs﻿/BIPs & SAN Services

EQUITY & INCLUSION FOR ALL: OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

A WORD FROM ROBIN: WELCOME!!

Authors:

We're Hiring!

Categories:

Archives

ACADEMIC STRAND UPDATE: An Acrostic… because, you know, we’re teachers.

BEHAVIORAL STRAND UPDATES: FBAs/BIPs & SAN Services