[audio logo]

Announcer: OTAN-- Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

Hillary Estes: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for all the support that you've given us over the past two years. We're Torrance Adult School. This is Ryan Whetstone, our esteemed principal. This is our esteemed TOSA teacher in our English as a Second Language Department. And I'm Hillary Estes-- a teacher and TOSA in our high school diploma. We call it ABE/ASE department. And we want to start by giving a shout out to all of you in the room.

[applause]

Thank you [laughter] us. Thank you for the leaders with the [muffled voice] both in this room, in this program, and especially back at our site. A special shout out to Dr. Wayne Dileo, our director, who sent us here, who gave us the encouragement and support both to apply and during the last two years. We really, really appreciate it.

Also thank you for funding all of the professional development that we've done with staff. We appreciate that as do they. Thank you to our extended DLAC team, our whole leadership team back at Torrance, specifically Armando Chavez and Ryan de La Vega, our department heads. We call them resource teachers in our ABE/ASE and ESL department. And finally, shout out to Susan Coulter back there with her camera, our DLAC coach, who has kept us on track and guided us through these last two years.

So all of the leaders here, we are so excited to be here with you, and thank you for the support you've given us. Also most importantly, thank you to our families back home. You might see some cameos in our slides, so see if you can spot us.

[laughter]

All right. So today, we will give a little introduction about who we are. We'll talk about the goals that we created during our first site plan. We'll talk about how those changed during our DLAC journey, and where we plan to go from here because it gives us deep, deep anxiety to think about doing all these two years of work and then not continuing it. So we also really would love to hear your feedback about our next steps will be.

So we are from Torrance Adult school, medium to large apparently size adult school in Southwest Los Angeles. We have about 3,000 students. A little more than half are ESL. About 10% are in our career technical education, and the rest are our high school equivalency students. We have a pretty diverse campus.

OK. So if we think back, way back machine-- right-- to our first year of DLAC, we knew that we didn't want to go back to the Dark Ages after COVID, and so we signed up for the lack with the encouragement of our fellow leaders and peers at our campus. And we created this site plan. We learned a lot about leadership, and it really helped us clarify our digital integration plan.

It helped us think about what the needs were on our campus and what we can do to meet the needs of all our stakeholders, students, and our staff. We developed collaboration skills. We learned so much from Dr. Porter about leadership and from all of you, as we learned about your journeys. And we really-- one thing that really stood out to us among all the frameworks and great ideas that we got was the strength-based communication-- strength-based implementation plan.

We continue to come back. We put these away, and then we bring them back and realize that they tell us so much about our personality. I like to learn a lot of stuff that's strategic. Ryan is super balanced, so he can do anything that you ask him to do. And Meredith has a good balance of the learner stuff that I know and being gentle and wonderful with people.

So that's how we work together. And then we were like, that's what we think, but Meredith thought maybe we should put it into AI because that's the world we live in, right? So a couple days ago she put it into ChatGPT and asked it, how should we work together? And thankfully, we're like, what if we were doing it wrong this whole time?

But large language model that has learned itself on the internet has told us that we are-- actually these strikes actually are informing the things that we've been doing, so we're OK.

Audience: Answered that question in AI?

Hillary Estes: I did [interposing voices]. Yes, smartly Meredith asked ChatGPT if it knew what question was before she did this, so that was good, and it did. Yes, so we know it's not some, like, sketchy thing that Dr. Porter made up. So that's--

[laughter]

So as we look, we're learning about all these things, standing in our strengths, thinking about how to, like, positively reframe, like, all the annoying stuff that happens in our lives and in our school. We came up with some goals, where we thought we were going. So most importantly, we wanted to keep our digital integration going.

We didn't want to go back to the Stone Age, and we wanted to make sure our students that were preparing to go out in the world and the staff members were keeping with us and working with every day had a strong digital resilience because as we all know, when you're trying to do technology stuff, it always, always breaks, and that's OK.

And we wanted to be able to-- our video didn't work when did our PD presentation. Just say, hey, digital resilience practice, and we wanted to build that attitude throughout all the work that we were doing, and we wanted to make sure it was-- back to the Stone Age. We we're like, how do we do this?

So we learned about all these great tools and all these opportunities for using digital stuff in the world. And we looked at what we were doing, looked at where we were, and realized that many of our stakeholders, like our students, but also our staff members maybe didn't have all the digital skills that they needed in order to access those tools effectively.

So we thought, all right, before we go, I am the one who wants to, like, jump into like-- let's go to the moon. Let's go this space station, like, in our classroom. Let's go right now. And then, like, Meredith was like, no. Like, people don't know how to use the computer on, so let's start there. And so we decided to use the North Star digital literacy curriculum across our campus with our staff and our students.

So for those of you who have not heard us talk a thousand times, North star Digital Literacy is a program. It's quite comprehensive. It has both public and more things that you can do if you sign up as an agency. It has online lessons and online assessments, and they also have a really nice, really well-designed curriculum that teachers can use in the classroom that's designed for ESL students intermediate and above.

And we also had some other things in our plan. We had a HyFlex program in our ABE/ASE department. We wanted to keep that going, do some professional development around it, and maybe pilot it in ASK. And we knew that, like, many of you, the learning management system Canvas was coming. And in order for our students to really be ready for our local community college and other higher-Ed opportunities, we wanted to start getting this going on our site.

So we weren't sure exactly what to do, but we said we wanted to have some kind of [muffled voice]. As we move into the second year, we had our idea 102 class, which gave us an opportunity to really reflect on our plan, on what we had learned, what we were doing, and hear some great advice from all of our colleagues here.

So it helped us reflect on what we were doing, answering others questions, and we got really great advice for which we thank you all and continue to thank you all about implementing Canvas at our site. Now, Meredith is going to talk about some of our accomplishments. That's right--

[interposing voices]

Meredith Tait: So I believe we do have some great accomplishments to share and to celebrate. And so thank you, baby.

[laughter]

So a lot of the focus in the last year's really now on going digital journey has involved this stuff, as Hillary has explained.

Audience: Get a little closer to the mic.

Meredith Tait: Definitely.

Audience: Good.

Meredith Tait: --has invoked our North Star pilot after we found out about it at DLAC. Well, think about the pilot. We decided to explore that more, and after some initial some activities with our staff, we realized that we really have potential for developing or ensuring foundational skills for the staff, certificate and classified, as well as all the students, so school-wide initiative.

So in full, we kicked it off, and then in winter '23, we became an agency, which gave us access to all the curriculum and the tracking assessment features, which really opened it up for us. We really committed to it. Then in winter-- sorry, spring and summer. We initiated our tech cafes. We brought that back-- a very successful program of regular Friday, paid two-hour sessions, where staff could work on their own schedule in their own time towards the goal.

And the goal was to complete four units-- selected units by the end of June. Computer basics, internet basics, email, and Google Docs because we're a little old school. We also had training in June [muffled voice] for one of the on-site visits. We had quite a few. Thanks to ourten.

And you know, that was great. We made a training for 30 teachers and instructional aides. [muffled voice] want to reiterate Louie said that we've had fantastic support from everybody throughout the admin, Dr. Murillo, Principal Ryan. Our staff really stepped up. OTAN came. Destiny, Dr. Paul-- we really felt supported, and it's been great.

So here are a couple of stats just to show how our staff did-- all of the 48 staff, who in that first year did complete and pass basic computer skills. I have to admit the last one just finished a couple of weeks ago, but we finished.

[applause]

Those who know that was the goal. We met that. Nearly all the staff completed the four required units. More than half of the staff completed the proctor training, which is really great. It's really implemented the second year in the classroom. Everybody knew about it, and having the instructional aides with that was really great. They have been foundational assets, I have to say-- really supportive and work well with everybody.

So in the second year, we focused mainly on ESL. That's our largest population, and levels three to six called Snow Stones, written [muffled voice] so that maps onto levels three to six in. So with the assessments, we focused on them. Levels one and two was optional. Up the teacher how to include the curriculum, the lesson and how they can adapt it.

So we have a few statistics for how that's gone. In the first term, which was the longest term-- fall-- and that's significant really for ongoing goals. 83% passed in winter. 82% passed, and right now with our email topic, it's still underway. They're just completing the proctored testing now, and it's looking good.

It must be an easier topic or we really got this down, but so far, the numbers are [muffled voice] in a sense so far. We also have one pilot IET class with one blue credentialed teacher and [muffled voice] experimental doing different units and one tech related co-op.

I'm not going to play the tape. We're just going to talk about Esmeralda. Her story is very representative of our students. So you know, when she came in she was scared of computers, anxious, nervous. Didn't really want to do anything with it. But with the teacher's encouragement and lots what's practice, she began to learn things and her confidence grew, and she gained self esteem.

And then she could see the value of it in her personal life and also outside civic work, and that story is true for a lot of students and even some staff. So it really confirmed for us the value of the North Star. While we were doing most of our Canvas goal-- our Canvas journey was also ticking along.

And in fall last year, we had OTAN training. And again, in winter-- so thank you again to OTAN for showing up for us. And now, we have one pilot ESL class. The teacher has taken everything from a Google site to Canvas, and she's running through that and she's developing it more and more, and she intends to continue that in fall.

And our leadership team has committed to expanding the Canvas licenses. In ABE/ASE there's math and reading skills pilot that's under construction, and that is going to start in fall. With high flux, we maintained our modality, but we decided not to put more energy into that and instead we made the big pivot to AI-- surprise.

That has really got everyone's attention, and this slide represents a lot of the tools that our staff are using for themselves or with students. And we do have one pilot episode in two years of courses. So that wasn't one of our original goals, but it has become one. And I would just like to say that our DLAC experience has really given us really good skills, we feel, for navigating the whole AI world. It's not quite so scary and intimidating. We feel we can do this with your support, so thanks again.

Hillary Estes: But it turns out that we did face a few challenges on this road to getting all these things done. I know. Shocking, right? So some of the main things that we dealt with were managing our expectations, communication with staff. Do you have to do Northstar? How much? When is Meredith going to come and help you right now in the middle of class? All those things.

Balancing the needs of our more reluctant and more enthusiastic staff members, and managing all these projects, similarly to what many of our other colleagues are working on. So what are some of the lessons we [interposing voices]? Remember that in every group, somebody is going to be really excited about a new technology. Somebody is like, I'll experiment with that. I don't know.

Some are a little more skeptical, and some will throw themselves down in the rain and cry. But you get them there. You get them to stand back up, and they pass it [muffled voice].

[laughter]

Yes. All right. With this whole process, some of the lessons we're taking away is we're finishing up these two years and getting ready for the future of the project. Is that we need to go slow and steady to win the race. Again, coming back to our cuts and strengths and our personalities. Some people had to be telling some other people this a lot.

We have to take baby steps, and we have to celebrate them. And that sometimes less is more. The world is full of so many cool digital tools that you just want to do right now, and sometimes just focusing on the things that people really need to make their lives better rather than everything that might be cool to me.

And through this, our persistence leads to progress, and sometimes all of our new folks, who are thinking about life. Sometimes you just need to jump right in, sign up for DLAC, commit yourself to doing something big. And now, our esteemed administrator, Principal Ryan, is going to tell us about where we're going, how we're not going to give up on all the work that we've been doing the last two years.

Principal Ryan: Thank you, Dr. Hilary. OK. I know our time is winding down, looking at the timer. So you can see where we're going, and I think the biggest piece I can say is that we have a very solid plan. And participation in DLAC has really given us a framework to move forward.

They brought us tools. They brought us financial support, access to programs, opportunities to pilot, training to do all of this. And it laid a foundation for this plan moving forward. So you can see we're moving forward with Northstar. That we're moving forward with Canvas and shifting in the AI. I saw everybody move forward when they saw the AI slide. So that's where you can see where everybody's interest is as we're moving forward.

With Northstar, it is fully integrated. I cannot commend Meredith and Hilary enough for how they brought forth Northstar to our campus. That was every staff member-- certificated and classified-- that did the Northstar curriculum. So to get 100%--

[applause]

--I wasn't going to keep them. That was really powerful that all of our teachers used those lessons, and now, we're going to this space, where every teacher will do at least one module of Northstar next year, and we're looking to dig deeper into how we can align Northstar by lessons and elements into the civics curriculum so teachers can pick, and choose, and fully integrate Northstar into their regular instruction. So it's very powerful for us as we move forward.

OK. Canvas-- so as the state goes, so goes Torrance. And we did jump on last year to be part of that pilot, that program to get the licenses through OTAN for Torrance Adult School. And we've been piloting it with our teachers now, and we have one that's really into the weeds-- several into the weeds of it right now. And we expect them to be our trainers going forward.

Thank you to the trainers that came to us-- Karen, Christina, Christy Reyes that came out to our site. Anthony Burke as well. Anthony, we're just woven with Anthony.

[laughter]

But just awesome. Awesome. So I see Torrance being one of the trainer of trainers moving forward-- the way we're looking to go. So you can see our plan that within five years, 80% of our instructors will have Torrance integrated as the LLMs for their classes, and we see not only the potential of it but the reality of it.

And thanks again-- I have to say it-- to OTAN for their financial support moving forward because there was a project, where they can cover it for the next two years. That's going to our board Monday night for approval. So we're looking forward to that right there. OK. I hear music-- my timer telling me to shut up.

But no, the support needed-- I just talked about the support. So you can see that all those pieces are there. I have to circle back to Dr. Wayne Buglio, our director of adult education for Torrance Adult School, Torrance High School district. That he said go for this and supports us every step of the way. Really wants to bring the best to our students that we serve, especially through technology and integrating it into the digital culture of our school.

So we'll continue with our support. The financial support is going to be there. We will make the financial investments to carry any of the tools forward, work with those OTAN for the trainings, and this gathering, this opportunity for professional development has been invaluable for us.

We always say that there is so little adult training for adult educators compared to the K-12 side of the house. So we have to take every opportunity to participate when we can, and we cannot miss this. So DLAC has helped us strengthen our skills.

You can see where we're going. We have our vision for our future. They already talked about it. Our first year basically gave us the tools. We learned the foundation fully integrated for the second year and really let us know that we can move forward, so Thank you all-- OTAN, Ginetta, Reneé-- the entire staff that has just worked with us. Susan, just with us every step of the way that we will remain connected with OTAN and all of you as colleagues to continue to move our practice forward.

And if I could just make my pleas to you all-- it's to continue to dig deep and move forward to support our adult educators. My former principal is here, and it's just-- it makes me feel-- I can't even describe how much it matters that you stay involved, and you keep growing your campus, and supporting your teachers, and your staff, and growing yourself, and taking advantage of every opportunity.

And if you're not leaders right now become the next generation of leaders for adult education. So she looks at me, and I was her teacher, and now, I'm here. And I look at you, and I say, please, continue to advance the practice and keep it going strong, so thank you, OTAN. And DLAC team members, reach out to us. We'll connect with you. Thank you all.

[applause]