One of the primary missions of Unconditional Education and our All-In Partnership Program is to build the capacity of school teams in serving all students, particularly those experiencing the most challenges at school.
In the school partnerships where we have embedded Seneca All-In! staff, we build this capacity in many ways. We support schools in enhancing overall culture and climate, including strengthening staff relationships to create more cohesive, connected, and resilient communities. We lead professional development sessions and targeted teacher coaching to develop and deepen the practices of school staff. We facilitate student-focused consultations to coordinate the services Tier 3 students receive from their school-based support teams.
In the school partnerships where we have embedded Seneca All-In! staff, we build this capacity in many ways. We support schools in enhancing overall culture and climate, including strengthening staff relationships to create more cohesive, connected, and resilient communities. We lead professional development sessions and targeted teacher coaching to develop and deepen the practices of school staff. We facilitate student-focused consultations to coordinate the services Tier 3 students receive from their school-based support teams.
In addition to the work our embedded staff provide, the Training and Capacity Building (TCB) branch of our program gets frequent requests from schools, organizations, school districts, and charter networks. Some of these requests are for a single training, some for more comprehensive training series spanning a year or longer. As UE receives more national exposure and interest, we’re getting more opportunities to partner with organizations in other regions of the country and I’d like to highlight two such partnerships.
Based in New Orleans, the Special Education Leadership Fellowship (SELF) has the mission of “improv[ing] the quality of special education programming by developing highly skilled special education leaders in schools.” They carry out this mission through an innovative two-year fellowship program where participants develop their core leadership and technical skills to implement best practices in the field of special education. SELF Executive Director Aqua Stovall learned about UE and knew she wanted her fellows to get a grounding in the foundations of our approach . Since 2018, All-In! Leaders Amber Fretwell, Toshia Mears, and Darrell Burns have been traveling to New Orleans to deliver the UE TCB modules “Trauma Informed Education” and “Understanding & Responding to Challenging Behaviors” to every new cohort of SELF fellows. Since we know that transformation of practices requires understanding and buy-in from all levels of school leadership, we’re grateful to have the opportunity to train and inspire future New Orleans SPED leaders in UE principles and practices, and we look forward to continuing and deepening this partnership in the future.
In the summer of 2017, the Founder/CEO of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Southwest Family Guidance Center & Institute’s CEO Craig Pierce found the book Unconditional Care by Seneca’s Clinical Director John Sprinson and CEO Ken Berrick. In a state that struggles greatly with child poverty and domestic violence, Southwest had developed a number of programs to support youth and families, including providing trainings to school staff on Trauma Informed practices. A next step in their mission was to deepen their collaboration and consultation with schools, so several of their organizational leaders came to Oakland in September 2017 and again in February 2019 for UE Train the Trainer series led by Sara Moses. During their recent visit, they had a chance to meet with veteran UE Coaches Anna Sciano, Jenna Evans, and Keri Stewart for a panel discussion at Verde Elementary in Richmond. They were also able to tour our partnership at Horace Mann Elementary in Oakland. Between their visits to the Bay Area, Sara and I connect with Southwest’s leaders for monthly consultations where we focus on implementing new practices, aligning with school leaders, and effectively coordinating services for students and families.
These UE TCB partnerships are exciting opportunities for us to share our UE practices and principles and to learn from other strong organizations whose missions connect with our own. Looking forward to continuing our partnerships with SELF and Southwest and to fostering more nation-wide partnerships in the future.
These UE TCB partnerships are exciting opportunities for us to share our UE practices and principles and to learn from other strong organizations whose missions connect with our own. Looking forward to continuing our partnerships with SELF and Southwest and to fostering more nation-wide partnerships in the future.
Blog Post Written by: Jason Keppe, Director of School Partnership and Training Director
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