[AUDIO LOGO] SPEAKER: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. SHANNON WOODS: All right. Thank you, Neda. [APPLAUSE] We are very, very glad to be here today. Before we give our presentation, I do want to have a moment to thank some very special persons that help make this possible on our end. So thank you very much to Mr. Patrick O'Neill, Dr. Ruvalcaba. They are part of the cohort four that have been instrumental in our success. And all helping through Office of Correctional Education, our regional area superintendent, Hilary Iserman, our Superintendent, Genevie Candelaria, our Warden, Joseph Tuggle, Chief Deputy Warden, Elton Serrano, our AW, Steve Jimenez, and all of the admin and staff at Greystone Adult School. And we especially want to say thank you to Jay Sullivan, who is part of our team but is not able to be here with us today. He's been instrumental as well. All right. Let's take it away. So this is the Greystone Adult School team, and we're going to go ahead and introduce ourselves. KAREN MCKINNEY: I'm Karen McKinney. I'm an ABE1 instructor. CARLOS HERNANDEZ: Hi. I'm Carlos Hernandez. I am a CRT instructor-- CT. SHANNON WOODS: I am Shannon woods. I'm the principal of Greystone Adult School. RACHEL KRAYLEVICH: And I'm Rachel Kraylevich. I'm an AB2 instructor. And you'll see Mr. J. Sullivan, who is not able to be here, but he's been a very important part of our team, too. SHANNON WOODS: So Greystone Adult School is housed within Folsom State Prison. We have approximately 2,600 incarcerated persons. We individually work with about 1,700 participants in our different educational programs. We offer adult basic education from 1 through GED, high school diploma. We have an expanding peer literacy mentoring program. We offer nine different programs in CTE-- for CTE certifications. We have a robust community college Sac State BA program. And this spring, we are celebrating 25 BAs from Sac State and two masters from Dominguez Hills. [APPLAUSE] We also have a dynamic and statewide-recognized PE program that helps to-- about 750 per week participate in that program. KAREN MCKINNEY: OK. So IDEAL 101. We are so happy that we got to be part of this DLAC cohort and get to work with IDEAL 101. It helped guide our team and our group discussions through this-- with a thoughtful process. It gave us the roadmap we needed to set up our site plan, which is creating a blended learning environment, and a successful rollout of our one-to-one laptop initiative. Though IDEAL 101 was not designed for correctional education, and all the security measures that we have to deal with, we were able to adapt it to our needs. It worked out just well. It also allowed our DLAC team to build our capacity and expertise in digital literacy and strategic technology planning and supporting our teachers throughout this process. RACHEL KRAYLEVICH: So we've had some big achievements over this last year. We have our site plan in place. We are going to be rolling out one-to-one laptops to all of our students. And as you can imagine, with safety and security on top of using laptops, this is a big project. So we do have our site plan in place with SMART goals that continually change based on everything that we've come up against, but at least we have that ready to go. We've successfully completed the Canvas summit training last week through OTAN, and it gave us a really great place to launch and really guide the next steps in our site plan. We presented at TDLS at Long Beach School for Adults. Thank you for hosting us. And we were able to try to connect our students that are leaving the institution with schools like you and helping them continue their educational journeys. We've been able to have a very protected, dedicated meeting time. We meet once a week for an hour. Our principal, Mrs. Woods, has been very good about ensuring that we've been able to meet together. And that's really helped our communication and a balance of everybody's ideas and opinions. You can tell in our summary and our site plan, it wasn't created by one person. It was definitely a collaborative effort, and we appreciated that dedicated meeting time. SHANNON WOODS: OK. So we've been very strategic with our use of the Gallup StrengthsFinders that we learned here through DLAC. We were able to identify our strengths and to help each of us grow in those strengths and to use them to help us through our project, but also to support them in any identified strengths that they wanted to learn and to grow in for themselves. So they were able to work towards that. We have a very positive school culture of team building. And even kind of tied with when we started DLAC, we had started with initiatives of improving our climate and culture through team building. We brought in special speakers, and we've carried through that theme through the entire year. And having the combination of our strengths with our team building has helped our communication. So we have monthly staff meetings, much like everyone, and at that time, we also have time for our DLAC team to present where we are in the process so our entire school has been informed and kept up to date as to our successes, or where we're stalled out, or where we need better support. And it's been a really amazing journey in that way. KAREN MCKINNEY: OK. So barriers, challenges, and setbacks. So just due to the nature of working in a correctional institution, safety and security are our top priority. We came to the DLAC cohort already aware of our unique challenges that we were going to have. But we are very accustomed to being flexible and adaptable because of that. That's part of everyday life for us. So we just took everything in stride. Our biggest challenge is probably all technology has to go through multiple layers of approval due to CDCR, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, their rules and regulations. So we always have to put things through a rigorous approval process before we can allow access to our students. So, developing our site plan through DLAC, it allowed us to foresee potential barriers, challenges, and setbacks such as this lengthy approval process, our multi-department collaboration that we have to do, and to get in front of these aspects before they become roadblocks. SHANNON WOODS: So there are lots of changes in our future. So we were able to get a better idea of when our laptop delivery date would be, which sped up our process and changed some of the things that we had to do so that we could be ready for when the delivery is there and we could roll it out. We started a collaboration with our in-site IT. We gave a satellite office in a closer proximity to our education rooms so that students with technical issues that we couldn't handle within the classroom, they'd be able to have someone go and take care of them without it taking a few days of getting their equipment back and forth. A lot of our thing is identifying where potential challenges are going to be. And especially in terms of our team, how do we take care of our team, who are maybe not in the first jump on board the bandwagon? How do we help them to become more comfortable with this idea and move through the process? And as we know, change is scary, and so we want to make it as palatable and as accepting as possible. We also have a lot of plans in place, and that's also given us an ability to have some predetermined solutions so that-- it kind of tames the chaos for us. So if this happens, we do this. And then we have a lot of debriefing and reflecting that we do to help us in our going forward. RACHEL KRAYLEVICH: All right. So where we're headed from here. We just took the Canvas OTAN summit training. So the way that our site plan is put together is we're training teachers first. We really want to onboard, make sure our teachers are comfortable and ready to launch before the laptops make it into student hands. So now that we have an idea of what parts of Canvas are going to be most important, we're going to be working on putting together our Canvas teacher training, utilizing OTAN and ourselves to make sure that we set up our teachers for success. And we are just starting out with our GED and high school diploma teachers. We're going to do that as phase I. So once those teachers are ready, we also need to get laptop distribution procedures in place as well. How do we get laptops to each of our students? How do we monitor where they're going? What happens if a student leaves? Who's collecting the laptops? What are all those procedures? And just making sure that all that is in place before we send those laptops out into the abyss. And then once we have all that in place, we're going to roll out laptops to our GED and high school diploma students. And we know there's going to be a lot of modification. A lot of things are probably going to change, and we're going to have to adapt. But that'll be our first phase. And then the next phase of our teacher training will be our AB3, and we'll do the same process going to AB2, down to AB1. So a slow rollout, hoping not to overwhelm anyone. And then we're just going to continue to modify. SHANNON WOODS: So some of the things that have helped us and supported us along the way is, of course, OTAN and their amazing team with Neda and Dr. Porter. Our coach, Marian, has been an amazing asset for us. We've been able to connect a lot with our IT. We cannot do anything technologically without them, and so we're so grateful that they're on board with this idea and the concept of what we're doing. We also appreciate our Office of Correctional Education. That's what OCE stands for. Sometimes we get into our teacher talk-- our prison teacher talk. But they've been really instrumental in saying, why not, right? Like, so here's the resources, let's put you in that driver's seat, let's get you going, and let's really move you through these ideas and processes. And then, of course, you as our DLAC schools, we really appreciate all of your support in making sure that you're there to answer our questions and give us examples of things that you guys have done. And then we go, hmm, how do we do that too? And so this is our team and how you can reach us. We thank you for joining us today. [APPLAUSE] NEDA ANASSARI: Perfect. And questions. All right. Great. I'm going to start over here with Elena. ELENA GOMEZ-LECARO: You mentioned that you're going to roll out Canvas and that you went through the training. I took that same training some time ago, but I did realize that I had to also understand the administrative part of Canvas. Have you talked about that? Who's going to do the administrative part of that Canvas? Because I know that's been-- we reached out to our district IT team and they're like, oh no, no, no, no, no, you are on your own. And so I guess we're working with that. SHANNON WOODS: So we're working through some of those assignment kinds of things. A lot of that will probably start off with top-down and then distribute out. And so those are part of the site plans that are going to get modified and that kind of thing. But ultimately, I do anticipate that it is going to be of wholly a school thing. It won't be up to our IT department to enroll students or to do that. That's going to be the work of us. Excellent question. Thank you. AUDIENCE MEMBER: I have an easy question. So I'm just curious. I know you're getting laptops for the classes and whatnot, but when individuals are incarcerated, do they get to take the laptop and work maybe in the recreational area on their assignments or how does that work? I'm just curious. SHANNON WOODS: That's a great question. We don't often think about what it looks like, is it only a classroom thing? Many years ago when I was in public education, we started off with the only-- you had access to a computer, but it was only in the classroom. And now everybody has them. So our classes are equipped with desktop computers. And their online procedures are a lot different than what you would expect, but when the rollout happens with a one-to-one laptop, we have experienced that with our college right now. So they have a one-to-one laptop rollout and that laptop is assigned to them and they carry it around just like they would carry a textbook. They can do their assignments at any time. They upload just like they would use regular Canvas. And so that is the expectation for our GED and all of the rest of our ABE learners, that those laptops would be then assigned to them. And when they do their work outside of their in-class time, they gotta manage their time just like anybody else. Thank you. NEDA ANASSARI: We will take an online question, and then we have one in-person question. So Penny, if you want to unmute. PENNY PEARSON: Good morning. Can you hear me? NEDA ANASSARI: Yes, we can hear you. PENNY PEARSON: Good morning. First and foremost, what a wonderful presentation. And I have to say, from my perspective of seeing how far the corrections has come, it's just enthralling and amazing. And I just wanted to wish you all of the best of success and to give kudos out to your coach Marion, and to your program developers and everybody else who's basically giving you perhaps not free rein, but a very loose rein in order to bring these services to your learners, because they're the ones that-- we don't want to see them back, right? So give them the tools that they need in order to fully function in society when they're released. And so just congratulations. Great job. SHANNON WOODS: Thank you. [APPLAUSE] NEDA ANASSARI: Thank you, Penny. Sarah. SARAH: Hi. Sarah from Long Beach School for Adults. I might have missed it, and I apologize if I did, but you-- the Canvas and laptop program is rolling out with ABE one-- one, two, three? Three, two, one. KAREN MCKINNEY: GED. SARAH: OK. And is there any also plan for your wonderful CTE programs to do some of that too? Is that in the works? SHANNON WOODS: In terms for Canvas? SARAH: Yeah. And the laptop. SHANNON WOODS: That has not been part of the plan right now. It may be a future plan. And then we can rely on this type of rollout or example to get us started in that if that's ever something that we are able to do. NEDA ANASSARI: Other questions. I want to take a moment and acknowledge that Hillary, Genevie and Patrick are on the line supporting their team. Hello. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for the support. Do you want to say anything? PATRICK ONEILL: Well, I do. This is Patrick O'Neill. I had the distinct pleasure of being part of the first CDCR DLAC. And then, after we concluded, I had the pleasure of visiting a number of our sites with Mama Marian or Marian Thatcher and Neda Anassari. And as we went around, we saw really good things happening in the field, but then when we got to Folsom, it's like it exploded. Shannon had a really well formulated vision and the nuances of a plan. And then as we met with her folks, it wasn't just her. It was infectious throughout the entire institution. So it made sense for Folsom to be the next one up from our schools. And y'all don't disappoint. I'll just put it out there. Great job. I'm very proud of you all. Keep it up. Set that bar good and high. Thank you, thank you, thank you. [APPLAUSE] SHANNON WOODS: Thank you. HILLARY: Hey, everyone. I would like to thank the warden and chief deputy warden at Folsom State Prison, because without their leadership and willingness to move through this next chapter in CDCR, I don't think it would be possible. So shout out to that team there. I'd also like to really highlight the things that Folsom Adult School is doing there. They're really taking not only the culture and climate, but they're really continuing to focus on student learning in every decision that they're making. And so between the vision and trying to make that vision work within CDCR, as well as-- PENNY PEARSON: Did you like that little treat this morning? HILLARY: Thanks, everyone. SHANNON WOODS: Thank you, Hillary. NEDA ANASSARI: All right. Thank you so much, Hilary, Patrick and the support team, the administrators from CDCR. Thank you so much. Penny, did you have other comments? PENNY PEARSON: No. I'm sorry. I think I unmuted by accident. NEDA ANASSARI: All right. Thank you, Penny. GENEVIE CANDELARIA: Hey. Good morning. This is Genevie Candelaria. I'm having trouble with my Zoom. Because of our correctional environment, sometimes they put some things on our computers that prevent us from using them. But I think that was a wonderful presentation. I'm so proud of Folsom. There's such a great team. Shannon has been there with her predecessor, but just side by side with the teachers, wanting to see them be successful to support their students. So thank you for your leadership, Shannon. Thank you to everyone there participating, finding opportunities, using technology, sharing those talents with your peers. That's what makes it successful. It's not always easy in our environment, as they said, but we're getting better. And like Hillary mentioned, it's our custody partners that are willing and wanting to explore these options to allow our students to feel comfortable, learn in different modalities and be the best service to them to be successful. So kudos to this team. Thank you for all that you do for our students and staff. SHANNON WOODS: Thank you, Genevie. KAREN MCKINNEY: Thank you. NEDA ANASSARI: Amazing. Thank you so much. And it really is the path that you are paving for this group to be able to continue to do this work, so thank you so much to the administrators. All right. Thank you so much, Greystone Adult School. Good job. Amazing. Blown away. Fantastic.