North Far North Efforts Keep K-12 Career Ed on the Calendar
It would be easy to forgive K-12 educators for keeping the first few weeks of summer vacation sacred.
Instead, teachers and administrators are trading their “me time” for “CTE time,” keeping the torch lit for career education in the North Far North. Bolstered by Strong Workforce support, programs like the “Summer of CS” workshops – hosted statewide throughout June and July – help CTE-centric projects maintain momentum through the summer break, while keeping participants connected along the way.
“Summer workshops are vital for educators,” says Dr. Heidi Baynes, Coordinator for Educational Technology for the Riverside County Office of Education. “They offer intensive sessions for professional development [to] foster networking, inspire fresh teaching approaches, provide new resources, and ensure ongoing support and connection within a collaborative community.”
Part of the year-round “Seasons of CS” professional learning program, “Summer of CS” invites K-12 educators to attend regional workshops covering custom topics relevant to computer science instruction. The program, now in its sixth year, is set to serve a record 1,050 educators this summer, including elementary, middle and high school teachers from San Diego to Redding.
“It’s a chance for educators to connect with equitable strategies through professional learning,” says Jared Amalong, Director of Computer Science and Digital Learning for the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE). “[Summer of CS] equips them with some of these tools.”
Beginning the first week of June and extending through July 26, Summer of CS supports 48 in-person and virtual workshops across California, with sites chosen to accommodate the largest possible contingent of rural and suburban educators. Experiences span three to five days, each drilling down on a specific aspect of STEM CTE – everything from coding to data science to AI.
“We want to make sure students have access to the physical technology plus rigorous and relevant curriculum,” says Amalong. As one of the North-region facilitators, Amalong celebrated his first week of summer break side-by-side with K-12 educators and administrators at the summer’s first Far North workshop in Redding. The director says that while California school districts may be “tech-rich,” they “don’t necessarily have the curriculum and prepared staff.”
Workshops are customized by topic and target audience, offering unique experiences for educators in the elementary, middle, and high school “bands.” The 2024 edition kicked off in the North Far North region with a workshop titled “Elementary 4 CS Year 2” in Redding, affording K-5 educators the opportunity to build on their Summer 2023 experience. Later in the month, the Mendocino County Office of Education hosted the Year 1 version, aimed at integrating computer science education into the K-5 curriculum.
“We can’t ask a teacher from Modoc to drive to Fresno,” says Amalong, who credits 2024’s record participation to the expansion of in-person workshop sites.
With more educators involved than ever before, the 2024 workshops strove to cover a similarly broad range of computer science topics, including brand new programs debuting this summer. Unique experiences included a three-day deep-dive into the possibilities of the “micro:bit” pocket computer, as well as a five-day institute titled “CS Discoveries,” which explored creative computer science applications made possible by the free code.org platform. Both programs exemplify the “philosophy of fun” essential to broadening access and interest in CS education.
” When teachers have fun and enjoy the content, they are more likely to bring that enthusiasm back to their classrooms, making learning more engaging for their students,” says Baynes. “Fun experiences also make it easier for teachers to grasp new concepts and feel confident in teaching them, ultimately creating a more dynamic and effective learning environment for everyone.”
With costs covered by a combination of Educator Workforce Investment Grant (EWIG) and Strong Workforce Program (SWP) funding, the biggest commitment for educators is the commute. That’s no small burden for those in rural counties like Plumas and Lassen, who traveled up to 150 miles to take part. Thanks to a series of “boot camp” orientation sessions held previously in the year, however, K-12 participants were able to hit the ground running, getting the maximum value from their time investment.
“The purpose of running those was to encourage people to take a deeper dive into a summer workshop, which is a big commitment,” says Amalong, who estimates that 30 percent of session participants ultimately signed up for Summer of CS. “It’s been pretty neat to see [educators] saying ‘this is great content – we’re putting it to use’.”
Like many educational initiatives spanning the pandemic era, Summer of CS has toiled through peaks and valleys. This year’s record success comes on the heels of years of rigorous effort, particularly in adapting to the remote and hybrid models necessitated by COVID-19.
“We were full steam ahead,” Amalong recalls. “The world changed.”
Having already planned and paid for in-person workshops for CTE administrators and K-12 teachers in 2020, the program was thrown for a loop by the onset of the pandemic. After weathering the storm with a mostly virtual model through 2022 – adding support for elementary and middle school participants along the way – the program regained its stride in 2023, scaling up with the help of a $5 million EWIG grant. Last year’s Summer of CS workshops served 750 educators statewide, a record that would be shattered just a year later.
The aims of the Summer of CS workshops dovetail with broader efforts to bolster access and equity for traditionally underserved students. Technology’s potential to accelerate these goals, meanwhile, gives educators like Dr. Sonal Patel hope for a bright future.
“There’s data that shows that not all students across California have these opportunities in computer science education,” says Patel, Program Manager in Digital Learning and Computer Science for the San Bernardino County Superintendent. “The benefit of participating is that educators’ capacity will be built in equitable computer science educational opportunities.”
Having been involved with “Seasons of CS” from the beginning, Amalong is proud of the program’s progress, and hopeful for its continued growth in the coming summers. Meanwhile, he’s keeping a close eye on his colleagues, looking to stay connected to successful summer initiatives focused on raising the profile of career education statewide. In particular, he cites “fun, inclusive spaces to explore other pathways” such as Humboldt County’s TESI career exploration summer camps.
“[There are] a lot of programs funded through SWP that allow for student-serving summer experiences,” says Amalong. “I’m excited to hear about the results of those [projects] – I love to learn what others are doing.”
June 2024
