Posts By: Chad Blair
CCCL Substitute Application
Our three CITY Center for Collaborative Learning schools are accepting applications for substitute teaching. We are looking for smart, caring, patient, collaborative people to add their talents to our learning community. We pay our subs $150 per day, $75 for a half day, or $25/hour for time less than a half or full day. A […]
CCCL Schools: ASBCS Dashboard
You can access important information about CITY Center for Collaborative Learning schools using the ASBCS Dashboard. Click on the links below to learn more about the performances of each of our schools. City High School Paulo Freire Freedom School – Downtown Paulo Freire Freedom School – University
Enroll Now: City High School and Both Paulo Freire Freedom School Campuses Accepting New Students for This Current Year
Each of our three schools still have a limited number of spaces for new students. If you are interested in enrolling in City High School or either Paulo Freire Freedom Schools, complete a short online enrollment form. If there are open spots at your grade level, you can be enrolled right away. If the grade […]
CCCL Schools Accepting New Enrollment For The Current School Year
City High School and Paulo Freire Freedom Schools both accepting new students
COVID-19 Documents and Resources
Student, Family, and Community Resources Procedure for a Student Positive COVID-19 Test or Student Exposure to Someone with Symptoms Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 at Home After Exposure or a Positive Test OSHA Guidance on Safe Workplaces CITY Center for Collaborative Learning Distance Learning Plan CITY Center for Collaborative Learning On Site Learning Plan CITY […]
City High Students Recognized as Finalists for National NPR and NYTimes Podcast Awards
This week, four City High School students were named as finalists in The New York Times Student Podcast Contest. The students, listed below, created their podcasts in Sarah Bromer’s Radio Production class, where students learn how to write, record, edit, and produce their own radio stories. The class publishes a monthly podcast called “City High Radio.” Stay posted—The New […]
Protests, Activism, Justice, and Equity
The murder of George Floyd last week by a Minneapolis police officer is not just the result of one single police officer, it is the result of the ongoing, deep-seated racism in our country. The images swirling on our tv’s and through our social media feeds show a devastatingly aggressive militarized police force. Peaceful protests […]
CITY Center Announces New School Leadership
It is with excitement that we announce the new administrative team for the three CITY Center for Collaborative Learning schools. Our new leaders are an extraordinary group of educators who are committed to the mission and vision of our schools and our organization and will also use their experience and wisdom to push our thinking […]
Open Enrollment for 2022-23
It’s open enrollment at all 3 of our schools. Applications close February 1st, 2022. The links below will take you to each schools’ enrollment form. City High SchoolPaulo Freire Freedom School – DowntownPaulo Freire Freedom School – University After the end of the Open Enrollment period (after 2/1/22) each school will conduct a lottery at […]
Fall Film Screening – Paper Tigers
CITY invites Tucson to join us at our downtown campus for a screening of Paper Tigers, a film that follows a year in the life of six students at an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to supporting students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty and […]
How to avoid data-based mistakes.
by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.D., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement Positive Behavior Interventions and Support is what schools implementing PBIS call the systems, practices, and data they use to support positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes for students. Systems are the routines and procedures to make clear what staff are supposed to do. Practices […]
Five concrete ways schools can support homeless youth
by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.D., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement While finding an exact number is difficult, in 2002, the Department of Justice estimated that there were 1,682,900 homeless and runaway youth living in the United States. As Dr. Eve Rifkin and colleagues found in their study, students who lack stable housing are often […]
Five resources to support teaching social skills like we teach academic content.
-by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.D., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement. FTeaching students to be well-regulated, good human beings is as important as content mastery. Here are five resources that might help educators integrating social skills instruction into their practice. Milwaukee Public School’s Social and Academic Instructional Group Curriculum Milwaukee Public Schools has develop a […]
Why are we always talking about self care?
Certainly, children who have experienced trauma have a right to know that that are loved and cared for when they are at school, and they have a deeper right to know that love for themselves and from themselves. And, while we can teach students to care for themselves, we have to know how to care for ourselves first.
Building transformation-centered professional learning communities: less spreadsheets, more connection.
The most powerful way to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in a school or district is to establish a transformation-centered professional learning community. And, the fastest way to ensure that a professional learning community decays into a stack of agendas, templates, and binders is to neglect the relationships at the center of our work.
When a school listens to the kids….and means it.
I’m grateful for the bravery of the teachers who sought their students’ candid feedback, listened to what their students said, and reflected on this conversation so powerfully. Building strong relationships with students means being vulnerable to our students and giving them a space to speak their truth. When a school listens to the kids—and means it—the likely result are systems, data, and practices that support all learners.
Teacher salary report, FY18-FY21
A message from the CITY board of directors and administrative leadership: In accordance with Arizona state requirements, we are again providing information on teacher salary levels and increases for CITY Center for Collaborative Learning, as reflected in the 2020-2021 proposed budget approved by the Board (the word board has this link https://cityccl.org/about/board/) on June 25, […]
How your PBIS team can develop effective behavior interventions
Building on the last Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) post, this article explains how to use precise problem statements to develop interventions that are highly likely to work for each school’s unique learning environment.
VIP Guided Tour of Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity & Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations
Join us on Friday, September 6 from 4:30pm to 7:00pm for a keynote speaker, VIP tour of Sorting Out Race: Examining Racial Identity and Stereotypes in Thrift Store Donations, and reception. This traveling exhibit provides an engaging opportunity to provoke discussions about race and stereotypes and what drives our perceptions of people who are different […]
Better data. Better decisions.
by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.D., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement Imagine that instead of reading and math, the AzMERIT assessment was a pull-up contest. Researchers, legislators, and school leaders worked together and decided that to be college and career ready, it was essential that every student, no exceptions, be able to do 5 pull-ups […]
Use data to upgrade Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports
Schools that collect student discipline information digitally have a powerful tool for identifying precisely what problem the PBIS team should solve, what measurable goals to set, what solutions are likely to align with the problem. One powerful protocol to move your PBIS from problem to solution in an hour or less is to:
-Use data that your school likely already collects to define a precision problem.
-Design solutions that match the problem that needs to be solved.
Elevate collaboration with the power of protocols
A protocol is a structure that creates space to have difficult conversations about root causes of problems. Everyone involved in teaching and learning is part of a complex relationship between variables we can control and circumstances beyond our influence. By talking about issues in ways that uncover root causes, name and validate feelings, and ensure that all involved completely understand the problem the team is facing, Professional Learning Communities can develop solutions that benefit their students.
A professional learning community can (and should) be about teachers.
by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.d., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement Schools often designate time for teams of teachers to meet as part of a Professional Learning Community. Usually, the purpose of this time is to develop a common understanding of what students need to learn, monitor student performance on different kinds of assessments, or […]
What does an environmentally based school look like?
-by Frank Dipietrapaul, Farm to School Coordinator at CITY Center for Collaborative Learning Imagine attending a school located on a farm from a young age. A school centered on environmental stewardship and a connection to the earth seems like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? Yet, some of the most pressing issues facing the world today […]
Board commends founder & executive director’s legacy upon announced departure
TUCSON, Arizona, March 7, 2019 – CITY Center for Collaborative Learning’s board of directors recently approved a resolution recognizing and appreciating the outstanding service and contribution of one of the organization’s founding principals and its executive director, Carrie Brennan. Brennan has recently accepted the position of Head of School at Thetford Academy in Vermont and […]
E.D. Carrie Brennan receives Woman of Influence award
Executive Director Carrie Brennan won the 2019 Woman of Influence Award in the education category. In this blog post, we share excerpts from Carrie’s nomination, written by board chair and vice-chair Jonathan Martin and Theresa Mary Fischer. For more than a quarter century, Carrie Brennan has had a deep impact on the Southern Arizona education sector and […]
Straight talk from substitute teachers
by Tim Grivois-Shah, Ed.D., Director of Professional Learning and Community Engagement and former substitute teacher. From time to time, teachers need to be away from their classrooms to care for their families and for themselves, to attend conferences and workshops, or to collaborate with their grade level teams. The substitute teachers who care for students […]