With this group comprised of district leaders, Mills Teacher Scholars is supporting the Executive Director of Professional Learning to build a robust inquiry community for leaders and designers of adult learning as a method to improve the school-based professional learning community (PLC) work across Oakland Unified.

The Newcomers Group includes both newcomer-only teachers and mainstream teachers with newcomers in their classes. The group focuses on how best to use GLAD strategies to improve their teaching to meet the particular needs of newcomer students.

The Computer Science teacher scholars are developing a shared understanding of what indicates student success in Computer Science within and across grade-levels, especially in the areas of problem-solving and technical writing.

The Social Emotional Learning Group is in their fourth year of partnership with Mills Teacher Scholars and are continuing to investigate the intersection between academic learning and social emotional learning. Through their inquiry work, these K-5 teachers leaders from five Oakland schools are developing their capacity and confidence to support both student and teacher learning at their own school sites.

Teachers and after-school leaders in our W3 Group are using collaborative inquiry to better understand how they can support students throughout the whole day.

Berkeley Music Department is in their fourth year of using inquiry to investigate how all students, particularly students of color, can feel engaged and successful in learning to play an instrument. They are exploring how to support a higher percentage of students of color in pursuing musical education beyond the elementary years.

Berkeley Unified Early Childhood is in its first year of partnership with MTS. Teacher leaders from across the district are developing their understanding of adult learning and their skills leading collaborative inquiry, so that they can facilitate meaningful adult learning at their own sites.