Northern California

Our North California hub is a vehicle for organizing and sharing the transformational work being done in the region by a partnership between Chico State and North State Together. Through the hub, the Rural Schools Collaborative works with these partners to create, fund, and share innovative work and activity.

Ann Schulte, RSC advocate, recognizes the importance of these kinds of collaborations. "It's vital that California State University Chico engage with regional partners in order to support the recruitment and retention of rural teachers. The partnership with

North State Together is essential to not only "growing our own" teachers, but it also lends support to an increase in educational attainment and college going culture overall."

The Chico State-North State Together partnership includes two signature and exemplary programs that align perfectly with the Rural Schools Collaborative mission to build rural sustainable communities through a keen focus on place, teachers, and philanthropy.

Chico State's CLASS Program is teacher residency that differs from traditional student teaching in significant ways. CLASS Residents begin working with their mentor teachers prior to the opening of the school year and work full-time, four days per week at the school site for the entire academic year.

Residents assume responsibility for co-planning and co-teaching with their mentors from day one, and participate with their mentors in a variety of classroom-, school- and district-related activities. They are, in effect, additional faculty members in the classrooms and at the schools where they are assigned. CLASS is supported by a federal grant, and it replaces the former RiSE program.

North State Together was established in 2016 as a regional collective partnership. The effort was launched with support from The McConnell Foundation. As a result of the progress that has been made in the region, North State Together (NST) was awarded an 8 year multi-million dollar grant renewal by The McConnell Foundation. The grant allows NST to continue to develop our regional “Cradle to Career” partnerships, where leaders from education, business, philanthropic, nonprofit, civic, and faith communities join together to improve educational success for every child through a data-driven, collective impact approach.

North State Together is one of the largest geographical collectives in the United States, covering 10 counties and over 20,000 square miles. North State Together will continue to provide direct resources and data and research support to the ten county networks, including: Reach Higher Shasta, Expect More Tehama, Advancing Modoc Youth, Trinity Together Cradle to Career Partnership, and Cradle to Careers for Siskiyou. North State Together will support these partnerships with the goal to increase educational outcomes at all levels with ultimate impacts on the overall health and economic well-being of our communities.

The shared work in northern California is augmented by RSC's Grants in Place program, which supports rural teachers in California as they implement innovative, place-based efforts within their schools.

Dr. Kevin O'Rorke, Assistant Superintendent and Vice President of Student Services, Shasta -Tehama-Trinity Joint Community College District, and Dr. Ann Schulte. Graduate Coordinator, School of Education, Faculty Fellow for Rural Partnerships, California State University, Chico (pictured above), serve as the primary contacts for our North California Hub.