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Professional Learning Day

Staff Sitting around a table.

Welcome to NVUSD Professional Learning Day

Date: Friday, October 9, 2026 | Time: 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM

We are excited for an impactful day of learning and connection! Based directly on staff feedback we received after our Professional Learning Day in March and our Strategic Plan, we are focusing our time on going deeper into key high-leverage practices:

  • Behavioral Strategies
  • Tiered Intervention
  • High Impact Instructional Strategies (HIIT)
  • Assessment
  • Trauma Informed Practices
  • College and Career Readiness

Our goal is simple: provide job-relevant, actionable learning and give you dedicated time for collaboration.

Full-Day Site Schedule

To protect your time and maximize collaboration, staff will stay at their assigned learning sites for the entire day. By eliminating mid-day travel back to home schools, you’ll have continuous, uninterrupted time to plan and apply new strategies with colleagues.

Explore the schedule below. We look forward to a fantastic day together!

Time Activity
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Welcome & Graduate Portrait Activity 
8:30 AM - 11:30 AM Content Specific
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Lunch
12:30 PM - 3:00 PM Collaborative Planning Time
  • Lunch: Panera salads provided by ISS and delivered to your assigned location  (vegan/vegetarian options available).

  • Staff will stay at their assigned location all day.

  • Childcare: Not available through NVUSD or the Boys and Girls Club.

  • Certificated Staff: If Professional Learning Day (10/9) is a non-work day, submit your timesheet to your home school Office Manager by the morning of Monday, 10/12, for timely pay.

  • Instructional Aides, Noon Duty, and Campus Safety Specialists: If 10/9 is a non-work day, complete the timesheet provided at training and turn it in to Instructional Support Services at the end of the session.

Napa Valley Unified School District

Elementary

We are excited to offer school-site selected sessions for elementary staff.  Staff will stay at the assigned location all day. You will be joined by your Principals. Lunch will be provided. All staff will deepen their learning and application through collaborative planning in the afternoon. Rooms will be provided in the afternoon to school sites at the assigned location.

Please note the following:

  • TK teachers will spend the full day (8:00 am - 3:00 pm) together at Browns Valley TK-8 School Library (1001 Buhman Ave, Napa).  
  • Elementary PE teachers will take part in PE specific professional learning with their secondary colleagues at New Technology High School (920 Yount St, Napa). 
  • ​Elementary Music teachers will take part in the visual and performing arts professional learning with secondary colleagues at Napa Valley Education Foundation [NVEF] (530 3rd St, Napa). 

Schools:

Browns Valley TK-8 School and Irene M. Snow Elementary School

Location:

A green roadrunner with yellow accents runs across a white background.

1130 Foster Rd, Napa, CA 94558

Content:

Instructional Planning Cycle: Applying ELA or Math Strategies (LETRS & HIIT): Building on our first Professional Release Day, this morning’s session begins with a check-in on your current instructional cycle to evaluate formative assessment data, 

Schools: 

Donaldson Way Elementary School and Phillips Magnet Elementary School

Location:

 

A cartoon dragon exhales smoke next to a dark blue banner that reads %22Donaldson Way ELEMENTARY SCHOOL%22.

430 Donaldson Way, American Canyon, CA 

Content:

Trauma-informed Practice: Led by school social workers, this workshop will explore how trauma and adverse experiences can impact a child’s development, relationships, behavior, emotional regulation, and ability to engage in learning. Teachers will examine student behavior through a trauma-informed lens and consider approaches for responding to students’ needs within the classroom. The session will also highlight strategies for building trusting learning partnerships, strengthening connection and belonging, and creating supportive classroom environments.

Schools: 

Bel Aire Park Magnet Elementary School, Canyon Oaks Elementary School, McPherson Elementary School, Napa Junction Magnet  Elementary School, Napa Valley Language Academy, and West Park Elementary School

Location:

 

A tall, dark evergreen tree stands in front of a yellow and blue letter %22R%22 against a white background.

3600 Oxford St, Napa, CA

Content:

De-escalation, Replacement Behaviors and Behavior Intervention Plans 101: This collaborative workshop equips school teams with unified strategies to move from crisis response to long-term behavioral success. Participants will master early de-escalation techniques and seamless teacher-admin "tag-team" hand-off protocols to maintain classroom safety. Once stability is restored, the focus pivots to proactive instruction using the science of Replacement Behaviors—identifying the root cause of maladaptive actions and teaching students functional alternatives.

Schools:

Alta Heights Magnet Elementary School, Northwood Elementary School, Vichy Elementary School, and Willow Elementary School

Location:

 

A purple %22M%22 with a light blue penguin is in the foreground, with %22NEW TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL%22 in light blue text on a purple background in the background.

920 Yount St, Napa, CA 94558

Content:

Deep Dive Into EduClimber: The revision of our MTSS Framework and the adoption of EduCLIMBER to continue to build our culture of data use requires professional learning for our teachers in MTSS. Every school is participating in two workshops that outline the new approach to MTSS across our district. This workshop focuses on the different tiers and teams associated with MTSS while using the many features of EduCLIMBER. With the additional time, we will explore EduCLIMBER with more detail including creating tags for students and running data charts for your students. The workshop can be individualized to meet the needs of the schools who would like to have these workshops presented for them on this day.

Schools:

Pueblo Vista Magnet Elementary School

Location:

 

The image displays the logo for Pueblo Vista Magnet School, featuring stylized leaf-like shapes in various colors and the school's name written in a bold font.

1600 Barbara Rd, Napa, CA

Content:

Pueblo Vista Magnet Elementary School Staff will engage in professional learning focused on HIIT Strategies and Student Clarity. This work will build on the foundation already established around Visible Learning and Success Criteria, while adding high-impact strategies to increase student engagement, thinking, and academic talk. The outcomes will support students in clearly understanding what they are learning, why they are learning it, and what success looks like. The goal is to strengthen Tier 1 instruction and provide practical tools that can be immediately incorporated into lesson planning and classroom instruction.

Schools:

Shearer Magnet TK-8 School

Location:

 

A stylized blue globe with a colorful S-shaped swirl in the foreground is next to the text %22SHEARER MAGNET SCHOOL%22 and %22TK-8 CAREER EXPLORERS%22 in the background.

1590 Elm St, Napa, CA 94559

Content:

Led by ConnectEd, teachers will explore strategies for integrating Career Exploration and develop criteria for high quality, rigorous, standards-based instruction.  Teachers will also review and plan for single-subject standards integration strategies.  

Secondary Content Teams

We are excited to offer content-specific sessions for secondary and specialized staff. Staff will stay at the assigned location all day. You will be joined by your Principals and/or Assistant Principals. Lunch will be provided. All staff will deepen their learning and application through collaborative planning in the afternoon at their assigned location. 

Career Technical Education (CTE)

Location:

 

An orange graduation cap icon sits to the left of the text %22NAPA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION%22 against a plain white background.

530 3rd St, Napa

Content:

The goal for professional learning day is to understand what makes a high quality CTE program and understand where our CTE programs can grow. 

Math

Location:

 

The foreground displays the words %22UNIDOS Middle School%22 in orange and maroon text, with a blue and tan globe replacing the letter %22O%22 in %22UNIDOS,%22 while the background is a plain white.

1850 Salvador Avenue, Napa

Content:

Middle School: Making the Formative Assessment Cycle Meaningful & Manageable


Building on our work with the Instructional Planning Cycle, this district PL day will focus on how that planning connects to the four PLC questions. We’ll explore how planning, instruction, and formative assessment create an ongoing cycle of identifying what students need to learn, gathering evidence of learning, and determining how to respond.


In the morning, we’ll return to the Know–Show Chart and Instructional Planning Grid and follow the cycle from planning through instructional response. Teachers will see how success criteria, direct modeling, and formative assessment connect, then use student evidence to identify a critical and common gap and plan a short, targeted reteach. We’ll connect this process to the four PLC questions and a meaningful and manageable rhythm for looking at student learning together.
In the afternoon, teams will apply the process to an upcoming lesson by refining success criteria and their direct model, identifying a formative assessment, anticipating potential gaps, and planning a short, targeted response.

High School: Building Shared Instructional Practice: Direct Modeling

This district PL day will build on our work toward common expectations for teaching and learning through the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRR) Instructional Framework. A small group of teachers across grade levels and content areas has been learning about and implementing strategies aligned to GRR. High school math teachers will engage more deeply with direct modeling, one strategy from this work, with a focus on supporting clarity, consistency, and building student independence.


In the morning, teachers will develop a shared understanding of the key components of direct modeling and consider how and when to use it intentionally, making connections to Carnegie Learning. Teams will also learn more about the direction of our common end-of-unit assessments and determine their next steps with assessment.

In the afternoon, teams will apply their learning by collaboratively planning an upcoming Carnegie lesson that intentionally incorporates a direct model.

English Language Arts (ELA), Science, History/Social Science 

Locations:

 

 

The image features the Grizzly mascot logo of Napa High School, with the school name prominently displayed in a bold, stylized font against a navy blue background.

2475 Jefferson Street, Napa | Little Gym

Content:

Writing, writing, writing! Writing is integral to learning in English, History/Social Studies, and Science. In this session, we will hear from NVC professors about current expectations at the college level. We’ll also look closely at how our students are expected to write for CAASPP performance tasks, and how NVUSD students performed last year. Learn a few simple approaches to incorporate writing across the curriculum in order to build students’ writing fluency and deepen their content knowledge, as well as prepare them for college & career.

Physical Education (PE)

Location:

 

A purple %22M%22 with a light blue penguin is in the foreground, with %22NEW TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL%22 in light blue text on a purple background in the background.

920 Yount St, Napa, CA 94558

Content:

In this collaborative workshop, K-12 Physical Education teachers will work together to build cohesive vertical curriculum maps that bridge learning across all grade levels. Participants will explore bankable learning experiences designed to help you teach any PE standard through virtually any sport or physical activity. Leave with practical strategies, aligned mapping tools, and fresh instructional ideas to elevate physical literacy system-wide.

Visual and Performing Arts

Location:

 

An orange graduation cap icon sits to the left of the text %22NAPA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION%22 against a plain white background.

530 3rd St, Napa

Content:

In this session, educators will re-anchor in the core "why" driving arts education and its vital impact on student success. Participants will explore and apply practical strategies to cultivate rich, engaging conditions for creative learning. Together, we will analyze content standards through the lens of system-wide priorities to ensure aligned, high-leverage practice. Finally, you will collaborate with peers to co-design instructional plans and share actionable classroom ideas.

World Language 

Location:

 

The image features the Grizzly mascot logo of Napa High School, with the school name prominently displayed in a bold, stylized font against a navy blue background.

2475 Jefferson Street, Napa | A3

Content:

This professional learning session aims to align secondary World Language programs by language, ensuring consistent and coherent learning experiences for students across all campuses through a Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC).

Specialized Support Staff

We are excited to offer content-specific sessions for secondary and specialized staff. Staff will stay at the assigned location all day. You will be joined by your Principals and/or Assistant Principals. Lunch will be provided. All staff will deepen their learning and application through collaborative planning in the afternoon at their assigned location. 

Counselors

Location:

An orange graduation cap icon sits to the left of the text %22NAPA VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION%22 against a plain white background.

530 3rd St, Napa

Content:

The goal of professional learning is to continue to discuss and refine our focus around College and Career Readiness and Health and Wellness. 

Instructional Assistants, Campus Supervisors, Noon Duty

Location:

 

Napa Valley Unified School District Logo

2425 Jefferson St. Napa, CA | Ed Center

Content:

This workshop helps employees recognize, understand, and respond to escalating behaviors in schools. It covers predictors, triggers, the seven stages of escalation, and effective de‐escalation tactics.

This is a half-day session. Lunch will be provided.

 

Social Workers

Location:

 

The image features the Grizzly mascot logo of Napa High School, with the school name prominently displayed in a bold, stylized font against a navy blue background.

2475 Jefferson Street, Napa | TBD

Content:

Social workers will engage in collaborative professional learning sessions that equip social workers with proactive behavior strategies and essential crisis intervention skills. Working alongside behavioral specialists, participants will enhance classroom management practices and strengthen multi-tiered support systems across all grade levels. Additionally, school mental health professionals will review evidence-based protocols for assessing student suicide risk, implementing safety plans, and navigating ethical crisis response. Attendees will walk away with actionable tools to foster safe, supportive learning environments and effectively respond to critical student needs.

Special Education

Location:

 

Napa Valley Unified School District Logo

2425 Jefferson St. Napa, CA | Ed Center

Content:

This dedicated professional development day for Special Education focuses on safety compliance (CPI and CPR for invited classified staff), evidence-based instructional tools (Goalbook and IXL), specialized support strategies (Language Accelerator for Speech-Language Pathologists), and practical de-escalation techniques (an optional session for classified staff).

Instructional Services

Monica Ready, ED.D.

Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services

Matthew Manning

Executive Director Curriculum, Instruction and Multilingual Learner Services

Terri Lynne Ricetti

Executive Director, Special Education

Rupi Bhatti

Director, Student Services

Mario Landeros

Director, College and Career Readiness

Liz Seabury, ED.D.

Director, Intervention & Prevention

Alejandra Uribe, ED.D.

Director, Multilingual Learner Services and Parent Engagement