CTA Training Teachers and School Administrators at UCLA Seminar on Quality Education Investment Act

CTA-Sponsored Law Targets Our Public Schools of Greatest Need

LOS ANGELES – Starting today, several top education experts will join CTA for its annual week of dynamic training at UCLA for more than 110 dedicated teachers and public school administrators on teams involved in improving student learning at lower-performing schools in Los Angeles County and across the state. The teams are from some of the nearly 500 California schools getting vital extra resources from a CTA-sponsored law, the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) of 2006.

The state law (SB 1133) provides $2.9 billion over eight years to reduce class sizes, hire additional counselors and provide quality training for teachers and principals. Co-presented by CTA, the Association of California School Administrators and the California Staff Development Council, the QEIA training focuses this year on shared school leadership techniques that improve student learning to close achievement gaps and prevent dropouts. Other teams also will join participants from struggling schools in “Program Improvement” status, under No Child Left Behind rules. “This remarkable week of cutting-edge training is clear evidence of our commitment to making sustainable changes to some of California’s public schools of greatest need,” said David A. Sanchez, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association.

For more information about QEIA, go to www.cta.org/Issues-and-Action/QEIA/QEIA.aspx. The training workshops stress building community efforts to improve student achievement and are part of CTA’s annual Summer Institute at UCLA this week for 1,000 teachers and education support professionals. These keynote speakers are offering the latest theories on effective reforms:

• TODAY: Michael Fullan, recognized as an international authority on education reform, will deliver a keynote speech this morning titled, “Motion Leadership: The Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy.” He speaks 10 a.m. to noon today, Monday, Aug. 2, in the Northwest Campus Auditorium at UCLA. (see UCLA map at www.ucla.edu/map/ to locate event sites.)
• WEDNESDAY, Aug. 4: Anthony S. Muhammad, author of the book “Transforming School Culture: How to End Staff Division,” will speak from 9 a.m. to noon in the Grand Horizon Ballroom, on the third floor of Covel Commons.
• THURSDAY, Aug. 5: A dynamic presentation titled “Seeds of Change – Issues in Education” will be given by Patricia Rucker, a CTA legislative advocate for CTA’s Governmental Relations division, and Michael Bossi, a former national distinguished principal for California. Bossi is now director of leadership coaching for the Association of California School Administrators, where he is the elementary executive. Time is 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Grand Horizon Ballroom, Covel Commons.

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The 325,000-member CTA is affiliated with the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.