
July 29, 2018
4:00 PM
Los Angeles
UCLA
The Janus decision is in. The Summer Institute will continue to prepare you for the new reality ahead. You will learn key strategies, tactics and approaches that will help you organize, bargain, recruit, retain and engage members.
The Summer Institute offers 11 different, concurrent programs which will prepare you to accomplish your leadership role in your local chapter and meet your professional development goals.
2018 Summer Institute Program Guide
This week-long event will feature hands-on activities to hone the skills needed to meet the challenges of the coming year.
The Summer Institute offers multiple strands or tracks of instruction. Here’s the list of available strands/tracks. (subject to change)
Full Week:
Participants register for the track of their choice. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Some strands/tracks fill up quickly, so it is important to register as early as possible. You may be wait-listed if your first choice is not available at registration. You will be given the opportunity to register for other available strands/tracks while you are wait-listed for your first choice.
Group Registration Process
If you are registering more than one person, please make sure you have all the required information before you begin.
Transportation
Those traveling by plane should fly into LAX or Burbank. United Airlines offers 5%-13% discount on internet fares for CTA members. Book online at united.com, and enter the CTA discount code, ZE5J654945, when searching for flights.
Shuttle from airport: Shuttle reservations should be made in advance through Super Shuttle. Call 310-782-6600 or visit supershuttle.com.
Parking at UCLA
Parking is limited. Please consider carpooling or using public transportation.
Public Transportation
Please visit metro.net for information on public transportation within the Los Angeles County.
Charter Educators Organizing and Bargaining Track
This track designed for charter union leaders and activists. The session is very interactive and will provide educators the opportunity to practice utilizing collective bargaining campaigns as opportunities to improve their teaching and student learning conditions while expanding school site union activism in a post-Janus world. As the movement of charter educators around the state grows, so does the need for increased coordination around organizing and bargaining!
Educators from union charter schools and leaders of local associations that represent charter schools are encouraged to attend and build connections with other union charter school educators from across California. Join us!
For more information contact Cheryl Coney at cconey@cta.org.
Economic Justice Track
The Economic Justice Track will support association leaders in becoming knowledgeable and persuasive advocates for economic justice and the education profession, especially in these times of political extremes. Participants will be prepared to be effective in defending against privatization, attacks to public education and in promoting a just, democratic and equitable society.
We will explore the growing economic and social inequality in the U.S., basics of the tax system, the California school funding system and how these subjects are connected. Special emphasis will be placed on strengthening leaders’ understanding of the issues, our unifying message on increasing school funding and how to successfully advocate our issues with credibility and ease. This training will prepare attendees to be eligible for participation in a presentation cadre on tax fairness and economic justice during the following year.
For program information, contact Angela Su at asu@cta.org.
Emerging Leaders Track
Intended for all CTA members who are beginning their activism in their local union, the Emerging Leaders Track is an intensive program designed to provide faculty/site representatives, association committee members and education advocates with the information, resources and skills needed to become effective organizers and future leaders of their local unions. Participants will acquire knowledge and skills in the basic concepts of unionism and advocacy, union history, union structure and effective relational organizing strategies. A variety of activities are designed to enhance the experience participants will have over the course of the week.
Members interested in obtaining bargaining or grievance representation skills should not attend this track. Additionally, potential participants should be aware of the targeted audience and the nature of this track before signing up to participate. Accurate contact information for individual participants is essential when signing up for the track.
For program questions, contact Rose Luna at rluna@cta.org.
Essential Bargaining Skills Track
Attendees of the Essential Bargaining Skills Track will participate in activities designed to build the skills of bargaining team members. The trainers will guide the participants using a “Ten Step” bargaining path to learn what the association and the bargaining team must do to be successful in bargaining. This is a highly interactive session utilizing true to life issues. Participants will form bargaining teams, bargain an agreement and work through extensive coaching and debriefing sessions to determine what strategies were successful. Lessons build on one another, making it essential for participants to attend every session.
Attendees will be expected to participate fully starting on Sunday afternoon through Thursday morning.
For program questions, contact Alva Rivera at arivera@cta.org.
Fundamental Skills for Bargaining Chairs Track
The Fundamental Skills for Bargaining Chairs track is designed for experienced bargaining team members who are the current or future Bargaining Chair. Participants must previously have completed Essential Bargaining Skills AND School Finance tracks at Summer Institute in addition to at least one year of experience on a local bargaining team. Those not meeting these prerequisites for this track will not be admitted.
This track will provide fundamental skills and knowledge for a Bargaining Chair, including team management, analyzing contract language, identifying key elements of a district budget, the bargaining process through impasse and beyond, and planning your bargaining from initial proposal to strike or settlement.
For program questions, contact Kris Dickson at kdickson@cta.org.
School Finance Track
The School Finance Track is designed for negotiators who have previously completed the Essential Bargaining Skills Track at a previous Summer Institute. Please note that those not meeting this prerequisite for this track will not be admitted.
This session is designed for association leaders and bargaining team members who want to become more knowledgeable about the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and school district budgets. The skills and knowledge obtained from this training will sharpen your skills to manage financial data and increase your confidence to handle the impact of the budget on bargaining. Training includes tracking the trends of budget priorities, calculating the cost of a bargaining proposal, determining a district’s ability to pay and developing comparability data to support bargaining objectives.
For program information, contact Dave Brown at dbrown@cta.org.
Communications Strand
The Communications Strand at CTA’s Summer Institute emphasizes storytelling, strategy and technology. Participants will learn why, when and how to use various communication tools for branding, education advocacy, member engagement campaigns and state and local elections. There will be skill-building sessions on creating and maintaining social media platforms, professional speaking, writing for print and digital, working with news media and creating digital content, like video, graphics and photography.
Connect with other CTA members and learn about how they mobilized members and the public to promote their student-centered agenda and to advocate for the profession. This session is great for communications committee chairs, those who are in charge of a local association’s digital presence -- social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and web, as well as those who are taking a leadership role and need to hone their public speaking and advocacy skills. Because many of the sessions will demonstrate how to advocate using your mobile device, participants need to bring their own smart phone, tablets and/or laptops.
For questions, contact Amy Feldman, afeldman@cta.org.
Community Engagement Strand
The Community Engagement Strand will develop the skills necessary to build collective power within our unions and communities to create the conditions for successful learning in our schools. Using time-tested organizing principles, we’ll work together to leverage the resources we have, turning shared values and story into strategy and action, to win real victories.
For participants to get the most out of this strand, it is highly recommended that locals send a team of at least three members already invested in community engagement. The local may wish to extend an invitation to non-CTA members such as a non-CTA classified staff, parent leader and/or community ally.
This strand requires active engagement and 100% participation. Each team will be required to submit a brief questionnaire to let us know about your team, goals and work you have already done in your community.
For program information, contact Wendy Dillingham at wdillingham@cta.org.
Instruction and Professional Development (IPD) Strand
The theme for this year’s Instruction and Professional Development (IPD) Strand is Growth Mindset: Using Brain-Based Research to Support Teaching and Learning. The strand will offer two keynote speakers and teacher-led elective sessions for grades preK-12, highlighting the importance of a growth mindset for students and educators.
Growth mindset, culturally responsive teaching, advocacy and continuous improvement are essential for our current educational context in California. To improve student success, we must also address the learning needs of the student based on what we know about the brain. This includes a growth mindset for students and educators.
We are very excited about this year’s strand as we combine what we know about the brain and provide specific tools and teaching strategies that make the research useful for classroom learning.
Participants will experience meaningful, highly interactive sessions while obtaining practical examples for developing curriculum, instructional practices and school and classroom environments that allow students to thrive and engage in their learning. Sessions will also focus on educators and specific ways to include brain research in their instruction and classroom environment. Sessions will also make connections to the LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula) Dashboard and LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) in advocating for more holistic elements beyond test scores.
Our strand is multi-faceted and designed for classroom teachers, school site administrators, curriculum coordinators, district administrators and other educators. District level or school site teams are encouraged to attend. All participants will delve deeper into:
All workshop electives are designed to be hands-on with ample opportunities for practicing what is learned while sharing experiences, insights and resources.
For program information, contact Jeremiah Hewitt at jhewitt@cta.org.
Member Benefits Strand
Use Member Benefits to Help Build a Stronger Chapter
There are many ways to build strong associations. An organizing tool you can employ is sharing the value of Member Benefits.
Leaders focused on membership engagement are invited to join Member Benefits experts to develop blueprints to strengthen your local’s foundations and shore up your organizing activities.
You’ll be the designer and we’ll provide the tools to construct a plan tailored to your local.
We’ll share tips to help you:
For program questions, contact the CTA Member Benefits Department at 650-552-5200.
Member Engagement Strand
Membership recruitment, retention and involvement is a priority for all CTA chapters. From one-on-one contact with new or potential members to keeping current members involved and informed about the value of their CTA membership, the goal is the same – strengthen member relations. To assist leaders in the development and implementation of their local’s member engagement plan, CTA has a totally new, week-long strand for Summer Institute 2019: Member Engagement - Recruiting, Retaining and Engaging Members in a Post-Janus Environment.
Designed especially for local Engagement Team Leaders/Members, Membership Chairpersons, local site reps, Rep Council Members and those concentrating on membership recruitment and retention, the Member Engagement strand is a dynamic and interactive training that will assist participants with the development of or fine tuning their local member engagement plan.
Some of the specific objectives of the training include:
Whether you already have an Engagement Plan or not, this new strand will bring together all of the resources available to locals to help them be successful in strengthening, growing and engaging their members in local and statewide activities.
For more information, contact Vicky Rodgers at vrodgers@cta.org, Dan Koen at dkoen@cta.org or Jonathan Goldman at jgoldman@cta.org.