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CEC lives our mission by providing open access to key resources for building collaborative cultures. We invite you to browse our collection of videos, podcasts, self-guided courses, reports, briefs, and other materials to support your improvement journey.

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Podcast: Becoming More Trauma Informed

Podcast: Becoming More Trauma Informed

In this podcast, CEC interviewed Dr. Tali Raviv with the Center for Childhood Resilience about how schools can become more trauma informed and on how the entire school community can help students who are in need. Dr. Raviv co-authored a book recently released titled...

Podcast: Social Emotional Learning

Podcast: Social Emotional Learning

In this podcast focusing on social emotional learning, Mary McDonald, the Senior Director of Regional and National Work with Catalyst for Educational Change, speaks with Ruth Cross and Gail Capps. Ruth is a retired teacher, principal and assistant superintendent and...

Podcast: Angela Jerabek: Building Assets, Reducing Risks

Podcast: Angela Jerabek: Building Assets, Reducing Risks

This installment of the podcast series "Voices from the Field" features a discussion with Angela Jerabek, executive director of the BARR Center. Angela talks about her experience helping schools meet the academic, social and emotional needs of all students using the...

Podcast: Teacher Wellness and Student Achievement

Podcast: Teacher Wellness and Student Achievement

In this installment of the podcast series "Voices from the Field" features a discussion with Loukia Mastrodimos, a former teacher and administrator who now runs Erini Yoga and Wellness. Shelley Taylor, a senior director from the Catalyst for Educational Change, digs...

Video: Partnership for Resilience: An Emerging Partnership

Video: Partnership for Resilience: An Emerging Partnership

Part one in a new series highlighting the emerging work of the Southland Initiative, which focuses on the damaging effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It wasn't until a backyard barbecue that siblings Audrey and David Soglin realized they had been...

Report: Finding the Power in IL-EMPOWER: Talent Management

Report: Finding the Power in IL-EMPOWER: Talent Management

In order for school improvement efforts to be successful, schools need teachers and leaders who are willing and able to execute the improvement strategy (Player, Hambrick Hitt, & Robinson, 2014). That is, low performing schools must have the ability to recruit,...

Sparking School Design Thinking

Breaking the Cycle: How do you really make change?

Breaking the Cycle: How do you really make change?

Through the last five blogs, we delved into the complexity of our educational system, and the systems and structures that make sustainable, meaningful change so difficult.  School systems and structures are under regular scrutiny, and undergo constant efforts with...

Coherence & Change Efforts

Coherence & Change Efforts

In our last blog post, we focused on the reasons it is so compelling to do things the way we’ve always done them, while still wanting very different results from what we are getting currently, and often using measures that either don’t fully address or provide...

Yes, Schools are Political.

Yes, Schools are Political.

In today’s schools, we have created a system where learners learn despite the system, not as a result of it. Many of our institutions utilize a structure that sorts and selects students (e.g. Advanced Placement courses, Gifted & Talented Education, Special...

Learning is Complex. Teaching is Complex.

Learning is Complex. Teaching is Complex.

As we outlined in our last blog, the education system is incredibly complex. This edition focuses on learning and teaching in this complex system.  Learning: a process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences....

What is so complex about education?

What is so complex about education?

Teaching and educational reform are topics that easily spark engagement with all stakeholders. Most citizens care deeply about this topic and have opinions on the role of the educational system in the United States. Horace Mann is arguably the founding figure of...

SEL, Resilience, and Trauma-Informed Practices for Schools

Podcast: Becoming More Trauma Informed

Podcast: Becoming More Trauma Informed

In this podcast, CEC interviewed Dr. Tali Raviv with the Center for Childhood Resilience about how schools can become more trauma informed and on how the entire school community can help students who are in need. Dr. Raviv co-authored a book recently released titled...

Podcast: Social Emotional Learning

Podcast: Social Emotional Learning

In this podcast focusing on social emotional learning, Mary McDonald, the Senior Director of Regional and National Work with Catalyst for Educational Change, speaks with Ruth Cross and Gail Capps. Ruth is a retired teacher, principal and assistant superintendent and...

Podcast: Angela Jerabek: Building Assets, Reducing Risks

Podcast: Angela Jerabek: Building Assets, Reducing Risks

This installment of the podcast series "Voices from the Field" features a discussion with Angela Jerabek, executive director of the BARR Center. Angela talks about her experience helping schools meet the academic, social and emotional needs of all students using the...

Podcast: Teacher Wellness and Student Achievement

Podcast: Teacher Wellness and Student Achievement

In this installment of the podcast series "Voices from the Field" features a discussion with Loukia Mastrodimos, a former teacher and administrator who now runs Erini Yoga and Wellness. Shelley Taylor, a senior director from the Catalyst for Educational Change, digs...

Video: Partnership for Resilience: An Emerging Partnership

Video: Partnership for Resilience: An Emerging Partnership

Part one in a new series highlighting the emerging work of the Southland Initiative, which focuses on the damaging effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It wasn't until a backyard barbecue that siblings Audrey and David Soglin realized they had been...

Webinar: SEL and Mindfulness are Keys to a Healthier You

Webinar: SEL and Mindfulness are Keys to a Healthier You

You are an educator. You are on duty 52 weeks a year. You have a demanding job, as well as personal responsibilities. You are on constant overload. Being an educator can be a very emotionally taxing job. You are not immune to the effects of stress. This webinar shares...

Webinar: Creating Equity and SEL in Schools

Webinar: Creating Equity and SEL in Schools

Educators have a duty to establish an even playing field so that all students have opportunities to maximize their learning potential. Social emotional learning is a vehicle for creating equity in our classrooms and schools. This webinar describes how the...

Webinar: The Foundations Every Teacher Needs to Know

Webinar: The Foundations Every Teacher Needs to Know

Today’s classrooms are expected to be more interactive, collaborative, and rigorous than ever before. Research has shown that when educators attend to the social emotional needs of the students and offer instruction in the skills necessary to successfully engage with...

Building Strong Collaborative School Culture

Blog: Tips to Engage Stakeholders and Build Commitment

Blog: Tips to Engage Stakeholders and Build Commitment

Arlana Bedard teamed up with CEC partner Envisio to create a blog on ways to develop a strategic plan that has staying power.  Use the link below to find Arlana's ten tips on how to engage stakeholders and build commitment in your school district strategic planning...

Podcast: Conflict Resolution with Mannu Sikka

Podcast: Conflict Resolution with Mannu Sikka

In this podcast, Beginning Teacher Wednesdays host Jen Hawkins interviews CEC Consultant Mannu Sikka to discuss Mannu's experiences as a beginning teacher and learn strategies that all educators can use when faced with conflict. Listen to the podcast via Apple...

Video: The Impact of Labor-Management Collaboration

Video: The Impact of Labor-Management Collaboration

Dr. Saul Rubinstein, Rutgers University, and his colleague Dr. John McCarthy, Cornell University, have been leading a national research project to investigate the impact of labor-management collaboration (LMC) on student learning. The research is based on the idea...

Video: Labor Management Collaboration: Rockford’s Journey

Video: Labor Management Collaboration: Rockford’s Journey

Learn how Rockford Public Schools had positive impacts on the district’s culture and student outcomes through a comprehensive partnership approach with the Catalyst for Educational Change (CEC). Rockford Public Schools and CEC partnered on new approaches to...

Podcast: The Power of Labor-Management Collaboration

Podcast: The Power of Labor-Management Collaboration

In this podcast, The Power of Labor-Management Collaboration, CEC sat down with leaders from Batavia School District to discuss the impact of labor-management collaboration can have on a system and ultimately students. Batavia has been a partner in their...

Podcast: The Power of a Listening and Learning System

Podcast: The Power of a Listening and Learning System

CEC is working across the country with administrators and union leaders to build success in a labor management approach in districts. Ann discusses the impact when districts create a "listening and learning system" that includes a District Leadership Team (DLT),...

Collaboratively Navigating the Impacts of COVID-19

Report: A Nation at Hope

Report: A Nation at Hope

CEC strongly supports the recommendations released on Tuesday, January 15th by the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. “From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope” asserts that our nation is at a turning point: We now...