Curriculum & Pedagogy

Current & Upcoming

Practicing Authentic Humanity in the Age of AI

Jun 14, 2026 4:00PM—Jun 15, 2026 1:30PM

Midland School | Los Olivos, CA

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Across two-days, educators will practice intentional habits that help students and adults alike “listen deeply, speak truth with dignity, risk failure, build belonging, and see the whole student.” Participants will leave with concrete strategies ready to bring back to their schools and classrooms, ensuring that humanity remains at the heart of teaching and learning in the age of AI.

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Learning and Leading in the Age of AI: New Tools, Skills, and Strategies

Jun 15, 2026 4:00PM—Jun 18, 2026 12:00PM

Midland School | Los Olivos, CA

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This three-day, in-person institute invites educators and school leaders to develop the mindsets, skills, and practical applications needed most in this rapidly changing landscape keeping human relationships at the center. With Eric Hudson as our core facilitator, this collaboration between CATDC and Midland School combines hands-on learning with thoughtful dialogue, ensuring participants leave with technical know-how and a clear vision for how AI can enhance the human elements at the heart of education.

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Teaching Foundations (Southern California)

Jul 28, 2026 9:00AM—Jul 31, 2026 12:00PM

Marlborough School

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The Teaching Foundations program is designed to support the growth and success of all teachers—particularly those in their early years at independent schools—by focusing on foundational areas of teaching.

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Teaching Foundations (Northern California)

Jul 28, 2026 9:00AM—Jul 31, 2026 3:00PM

Head-Royce School | Oakland, CA

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The Teaching Foundations program is designed to support the growth and success of all teachers—particularly those in their early years at independent schools—by focusing on foundational areas of teaching.

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Transforming Teacher Evaluation: A Growth-Oriented Approach

Jul 28, 2026 9:00AM—Jul 30, 2026 3:00PM

Jewish Community High School | San Francisco

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Join us for this dynamic 3-day Summer Institute to transform teacher evaluation from a compliance-driven task into a meaningful, growth-oriented process. We will explore how to reimagine evaluation as an act of “tending the ecosystem,” a collaborative and continuous practice rooted in equity, well-being, and professional growth. Participants will engage with research-based tools for assessing instruction and classroom culture, receive practical, easy-to-adapt frameworks for their school sites, and leave with a clear road map for collaboratively designing an evaluation system that better supports the flourishing of both educators and students at their schools.

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From Curiosity to Connection: An Artful Approach to Belonging and Foundational Literacy in Early Childhood

Aug 03, 2026 9:00AM—Aug 04, 2026 3:00PM

St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano, CA

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The early years are critical for building the foundational reading and writing skills that set students up for long-term academic success. Facilitated by Rebecca Bellingham and Veronica Scott, authors of The Artful Approach to Exploring Identity and Fostering Belonging, and The Artful Read Aloud, this interactive experience highlights how purposeful play activities, storytelling, community poems, expressive movement, and “artful read-alouds” can bring early literacy to life—honoring children’s identities, amplifying their voices, and fostering the belonging that underpins joyful learning and academic excellence.

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Neurodiversity in Practice: Building Executive Functioning Skills to Support All Learners

Aug 03, 2026 9:00AM—Aug 06, 2026 3:00PM

Campbell Hall School

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Campbell Hall and CATDC are partnering to co-create a two-part professional learning experience that centers educators’ intentional development of students’ executive functioning (EF) skills across grade levels and disciplines. Grounded in a neurodiversity-affirming framework and led by expert facilitator Lindsay Astor Grant, founder of Learning Redesigned, the program positions executive functioning as a universal set of skills that strengthen academic engagement, emotional regulation, collaboration, and lifelong learning for all students.

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Southern California School Visit Program

Oct 01, 2026

Participating Schools

APPLY HERE

This school visit program is an offering to CATDC member schools invested in building community with fellow educators, cultivating their educational practices, and supporting the continued growth, reflection, and evolution of best practices within their school communities. The program focus for 2026-2027 will be differentiation in mathematics and sciences. There will be two cohorts of 4-5 schools each: one for early childhood and lower school educators, and a second for middle and upper school educators.

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Making Thinking Visible: 4 Key Practices to Support Learning

Oct 15, 2026 3:30PM—5:00PM

Virtual

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Drawing on the book The Power of Making Thinking Visible, this interactive workshop with author and educational leader Ron Ritchhart will provide participants with the chance to learn how teachers at all levels can make students’ thinking visible through 4 key strategies: thinking routines, documentation, questioning, and listening. The effective use of these practices can transform classrooms into cultures of thinking.

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Foundations in Practice: Tools and Community for Assistant Teachers

Oct 20, 2026 8:30AM—Apr 20, 2027 10:00AM

Virtual

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This virtual ongoing program offers practical tools and strategies to enhance the work of assistant teachers in the classroom, with a focus on effective collaboration, student engagement, and responsive support. In addition to skill-building, the ongoing sessions will provide a space for assistant teachers to share experiences, ask questions, and build a strong sense of community with colleagues throughout the state.

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From Identity to Impact: A Book Study on Identity Consciousness for Educators

Oct 22, 2026 3:00PM—Feb 11, 2027 5:30PM

Virtual

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Grounded in Liza Talusan’s The Identity-Conscious Educator, this ongoing book group invites independent school educators into structured, reflective, and actionable exploration of identity and its impact on professional practice. It approaches identity as formative and centers educator growth as a pathway to belonging and culture shift in independent schools.

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Partnering with Teachers: Connections & Strategies for Instructional Impact

Nov 03, 2026 9:00AM—Mar 09, 2027 2:00PM

Drew School

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This 5-session series focuses on the unique role and responsibilities of educators who support classroom teachers directly and indirectly from positions outside of senior administration. These professionals inside schools—curriculum coordinators, learning specialists, instructional coaches, assistant teacher program directors, and others—who inhabit the space between classroom teachers and administrators often work within this context and without the power to change the overarching systems.

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Past | Archive

Southern California Teaching Symposium

Apr 06, 2026 9:00AM—3:30PM

Flintridge Preparatory School