ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
KALW Wins Big at NorCal Society of Professional Journalist Awards
by Ben Trefny, KALW Interim Executive Director
KALW News reporters, editors, and engineers were recently recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California for their Excellence in Journalism Awards in three audio/radio categories and with one student award across all media.
Here are the producers and stories that were recognized:
ARTS & CULTURE (radio/audio): Jenee Darden of KALW for episodes of “Sights and Sounds” about a best-selling trans author who grew up in Oakland, another local author who is the producer of a live-action Marvel show, and students connecting to history through the hit musical “Hamilton.”
EXPLANATORY JOURNALISM (radio/audio): Andrew Stelzer, Sarah Shourd, Lisa Morehouse and Gabe Grabin of KALW for “Criminalizing Mental Illness” Part I and Part II.
ONGOING COVERAGE (radio/audio): Holly J. McDede, Sona Avakian, Chris Egusa, Alice Woefle, and David Boyer of KALW for “The Progressive Prosecutor” a series looking at San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s first year in office.
STUDENT SPECIAL PROJECT (all media): Chosang Tenzin, Hannah Ni, Zara Ahmed, Avery Dauer, Masiyah Edwards, Maddie Johnson, and Ava Richards of KALW for “tbh,” a show by, for and about teenagers, for episodes on criminalizing student behavior, in-school segregation, and sexual assault and relationships.
We also want to congratulate SPJ award winners who are graduates of our training programs: Marisol Medina-Cadena, Jessica Placzek, Asal Ehsanipour, Christine Nguyen, Sukey Lewis, Sandhya Dirks, Danielle Venton, and Laura Klivans.
SPJ NorCal’s 36th Excellence in Journalism Awards Ceremony will be held virtually on Thursday, February 17 at 6pm.
A gathering of current and former KALW newsroom reporters and trainees on Dec. 4, 2021.
ACE Learning Center Personnel Support Their Schools and the Current Art of Education
By Martha Sessums, President, ACE
Remote learning during the 2020/2021 pandemic school year was a challenge for everyone. It used internet-based Zoom-style software to deliver video and audio to home-bound students. Teachers delivered classes from their homes while students had to find a computer device to watch the classes along with space in a sometimes-crowded home. It was particularly difficult for families with students in a variety of class levels. Attendance and focus were challenged, as was learning – and teaching.
But it was the right thing to do for the time. The ACE Learning Centers did their best to continue to deliver their classes as we learned from past ACE Spectrum blogs.
This 2021/2022 school year started out different as everyone was typically back in the classroom. But with the fast-moving omicron variant and new ways to deal with it in schools, safety became paramount. Today, the schools are taxed due to limited supplies such as testing kits and face masks, increased teacher and student absentees due to high quarantine or illness rates and not enough substitute teachers. Just read the news headlines, or part of an email I received from Irene Kim, Vice-Principal at Oakland International High School (OIHS), that hosts an ACE Learning Center.
“It’s been quite a whirlwind at OIHS,” Kim wrote. “Unfortunately, we’ve been short-staffed and having to juggle normal operations… This is all to say that it has been no easy task. As you can imagine, we have been stretched to our limits.”
According to the various headlines, the schools, school districts and communities are grappling with the decision to keep schools open or return to remote learning. The safety demands of both students and teachers are strong. Consensus seems to be difficult right now.
But the ACE Learning Centers are doing their best to support the “stretched” schools and their communities. Staff at the ACE Learning Center (Alpha Parent Center) at Alpha Public Schools are helping fill in personnel needs either in the classroom if they have teaching credentials or administrative jobs. This includes giving Covid quick tests to students and luckily, to date, there are plenty of tests at Alpha. The International schools are doing the same – providing creative support for their educational colleagues where needed.
Once again, challenges are high. Juggling operations and education becomes an art form. The goal is to keep educating students while keeping students, teachers and school administrators safe and healthy. There is no “normal,” it’s just what works daily. Stay tuned for stories illustrating the strong spirit of the ACE Learning Center partners and how they support their schools, co-workers, students, local communities and the current art of education.
ACE Learning Centers Focus on Making the Learning Experience Stronger
By Martha Sessums, ACE President
There’s a meme I recently shared with some friends – Before 2020, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. After 2020, what doesn’t kill you mutates and tries again.
Okay, it’s my habit to find humor in life, especially in our current time. The pandemic isn’t over yet. Delta and omicron abound. But we are hopefully better protected and prepared than when covid first hit the world in early 2020. The ACE Learning Centers have been a part of that preparation process, working to find safe paths for teachers, administration and students and continue to respond to evolving situations. They have also maintained their focus on education and engaging students in learning in these challenging times.
I have either visited or connected via Zoom with staff and students at the ACE Learning Centers and they all insist on everyone wearing masks properly and maintaining a safe distance from each other. Vaccinations and boosters are encouraged by management or supported by the school districts.
More importantly, they each try to maintain learning as usual but be supportive of students who are having learning issues after a year of virtual classes. Plus, they keep focused on doing a great job of teaching to move students forward to success. The new meme: when learning mutations try to kill you, The ACE Learning Centers mutate faster to make students and their learning experience stronger.
Here are some of their programs for the first part of the school year in 2021 that made learning experiences stronger:
San Francisco International High School has special mentors helping students where they need the most help, whether it’s language, math or getting into and through college.
Oakland International High School is focusing on students that had a difficult 2020 virtual learning year and are helping them get back into the rhythm of learning in person.
Alpha Parent Learning Center is working to create a mentor program with best practice advice from the International High Schools.
KALW Audio Academy is teaching community news reporting skills both online and in person in the newsroom, but the number of people allowed in the newsroom at any one time is limited. That means a lot is done with small mentor groups. The focus continues to be reporting about the Bay Area community and the Audio Academy ’22 Fellows are quite busy.
ACE shares the best practices of the ACE Learning Centers and will continue to do so in 2022. The ACE Spectrum blog will focus on students, their challenges and how these educational institutions do their best work confronting challenges in 2022.
ACE management and the ACE Board of Directors wishes each person involved with ACE Learning Centers the very best for this New Year of 2022. Please continue to be smart about and stay safe from covid. Thank you for being great ACE Learning Centers that make us all stronger.