Northern California
Our partners at California State University-Chico and North State Together are supporting innovative programs connecting new teachers to rural communities.
California State University-Chico School of Education - Hub Lead
Our Northern California Regional Hub is anchored by rural-serving Chico State University. Karen Schreder, Regional Faculty Fellow at California State University-Chico serves as a primary contact for the Northern California Regional Hub.
Serving a geographically and culturally diverse region the size of Ohio, California State University-Chico is a higher education institution dedicated to ensuring the voices of all students who come to campus are heard and empowering, including rural students. The North State region of California holds the distinction of being almost entirely rural, more so than many of the places in the central or southern parts of the state. “Our region is vast,” shares Karen Schreder, “We have a national park in our region, lakes, forests, and agriculture is a dominant economic driver.”
Pride of place is something that Chico State has dedicated itself to encouraging and cultivating among its students. Along with a rural student affinity space in the library and the work of the Chico Student Success Center to support rural students’ needs, Karen details that Chico’s School of Education offers “several teacher residency programs that specifically serve rural schools. Chico State is tirelessly committed to serving the rural people and communities of far northern California, and offers a suite of teacher pathway programs, such as the CLASS Program, to realize that vision.”
North State Together - Hub Lead
North State Together is one of the largest geographical collectives in the United States, covering 10 counties and over 31,000 square miles. It provides direct resources, data, and research support to the ten counties that comprise the region. Susan Schroth, Operations Manager and GRAD Partnership for Student Success Director for North State Together, serves as a primary contact for the Northern California Regional Hub.
The North State region of California is fortunate to have an engaged network of local organizations dedicated to ensuring the future prosperity and success of their local communities. Unifying these pockets of good work toward a common goal of collective impact and student success is North State Together. Through the generosity of local organizations, rural community activists, and the McConnell Foundation, North State Together was created through Shasta College as a backbone organization providing essential data, operations, and collaborative support to the region.
Northstate Together is a Participant of Rural Schools Collaborative's GRAD Partnership For Advancing Student Success, a national initiative to explore alternative achievement metrics. North State Together is partnering with RSC to bring support grants to 10 rural high schools in the Northern California region. To read about these schools, in addition to other invigorating programs and updates from across northern California, explore below.
North State Together Promo
Grants in Place Feature
Uniting Community in California
Pictured: 2021 Grants in Place awardee, Jan Mathews.
Jan Mathews, a science teacher at Sycamore Middle School in Gridley, CA, noticed that students didn’t have a comfortable place to eat outside. She launched a place-based project with students using grant funds to make a lasting change.
After hearing about RSC's Celia B. Godsil Grants in Place Fellows program, Mathew's decided to apply. Her interest and determination wound up bringing not only the students together to take initiative on the project, but also the community. The Grants in Place program is funded through the generous support from Celia and Mark Godsil in honor of Celia's career as a public school teacher and their belief in the importance of classroom teachers to rural communities. The Fellows program is limited to teachers who teach in public schools that are located in the geographic regions of RSC Regional Hubs.
More news and stories from our Northern California Regional Hub:
GRAD Partnership Intermediary Spotlight: North State Together
North State Together, one of Rural Schools Collaborative’s far Northern California hub leads, was recently named a national intermediary spotlight for the GRAD Partnership for Student Success.
GRAD Partnership Names North State Together a Spotlight Intermediary
Network of Northern California Cradle-to-Career Organizations Helps Schools in the Region Adopt Student Success Systems
GRAD Partnership Rural School Spotlight: Redding, CA
The RSC GRAD Partnership team had an amazing tour of the Redding School of the Arts and learned more about their Early College High School expansion plans.
GRAD Partnership Rural School Spotlight: Shasta County, CA
The RSC Team visits the innovative Gateway to College program at Shasta College.