• CA Core Advocates

    California Core Advocate network consists of a community of educators from across the state with a multitude of experiences around instructional advocacy. As a network of educators, we have extended our expertise in various ways - we work at the school-, district-, and state-level. We also collaborate nationally, leading fellow educators to raise student achievement.

    We invite all CA educators who wish to learn more about our work or become involved to take the Core Advocate Survey and reach out to the state Core Advocate captain.

  • Our Mission

    CA Core Advocates believe in the power of networking and engaging with other educators to move instructional practice towards alignment with the Shifts. California Core Advocates are important avenues through which we move the work. We attend and present at local, state and national conferences that include NCTM, NCSM, CMC, ASCD, and CTA. Our mission is to deepen the content and pedagogical knowledge of educators in California by utilizing, sharpening, and developing tools and resources that enhance student achievement and to build a strong network of educator support across the entire state. 

    We believe that building a strong network of educators will provide a venue for developing leaders to share information and resources; to collaborate and grow. We believe that all students deserve a quality education and that by working together, we can create viable and reliable resources that can be used across the state. Our purpose is to: 

    • Support new and developing educators by providing vetted resources to enhance student achievement.
    • Create networking and professional growth opportunities for California educators.
    • Provide access to high-quality tools that will enhance student achievement
  • Our Work

    Standards-Related Challenge in our State: 

    California’s standards related challenge in ELA/literacy students across all grade levels (K-12) have too few opportunities to utilize the speaking and listening standards, limiting their access to complex texts. In math center around students’ gaps and/or differences in their mathematical understanding make it difficult for them to engage with grade-level content.

     To address the math challenge teachers will build their understanding of coherence (how Standards are connected within and between grades), allowing them to address gaps and/or differences in student learning through grade-level content.

    To address the ELA/literacy challenge teachers in all subjects will leverage the speaking and listening standards to help all students access complex texts.

  • Who We Are

    California Core Advocate Co-Captain - Jody  Guarino 

    A former National Board Certified classroom teacher, Jody is a Mathematics Coordinator with the Orange County Department of Education where she supports teacher and student learning. In addition to her work with Student Achievement Partners, Jody is a lecturer at the University of California, Irvine and she works with Illustrative Mathematics.

    California Core Advocate Co-Captain - Sarah Ledon 

    Sarah is the Executive Director (California and Nevada) with the Achievement Network and has served as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and school improvement administrator. Sarah has been engaged in the work of the standards in both California and Nevada for several years and continues to be a strong advocate for equity in education. In addition to her work with Student Achievement Partners, Sarah has worked with EdReports on reviewing ELA curriculum and with Open Up Resources. Sarah currently lives in the Bay Area with her husband and four children.

  • Stay Informed

    Interested in the work of California Core Advocates? 

    Request information from the state captain at cacoreadvocates@studentsachieve.net

    Follow us on Twitter: @ca_coreadvocate