TREC is a group of educators committed to supporting meaningful teacher professional development in the Tucson Region. We want to build professional development capacity, increase teacher retention, and develop teacher leaders.
Our mission: TREC brings together the region’s educators, resources, and partners to support their evolving professional growth.
Our vision: A collaborative community that cultivates a thriving teaching profession.
Current Efforts
Communities of Practice
The 2023-2024 Communities of Practice (CoPs) are up and running! These CoPs reach across districts and bring together educators (birth – 12th grade) to broaden their professional learning and build upon their knowledge and expertise. To learn more about these CoPs click here.
Through the different CoPs TREC offers, educators will build community while deepening their knowledge, understanding, and expertise to better support their passion for the teaching profession and student success (adapted from Wenger, McDermott, and Synder, 2002). Each of the CoPs offered are listed below.
Educator Emotional Resilience
This Community of Practice is focused on educator emotional resiliency and uses the book Onward, by Elena Aguilar. With the wellness tools and the relationships they develop with fellow educators, participants will have an opportunity to grow their resilience over the course of the school year.
Early Childhood Math Literacy
This Community of Practice will be run in partnership with Project Echo and will engage early childhood educators in mathematics content and practices. The end goal of this CoP/Echo is to create “mathpacks” for your students and their families to bring their math learning home!
Equitable Grading
This Community of Practice will challenge traditional approaches to assessment and strategize to use equitable grading in a traditional grading setting. Participants will explore equity issues related to grading and how to overcome them in your classroom and/or school.
Mentoring
This Community of Practice will support current mentors or those who want to become mentors. Teachers with 3+ years of experience interested in mentoring and/or currently mentoring are encouraged to join.
If you have additional questions about joining a TREC Community of Practice, please email TREC Project Coordinator Alicia Durbin adurbin@arizona.edu
2022 Virtual Gratitude Wall
Ben’s Bells, TREC, SAZAEYC, and TVT have teamed up to create a Virtual Gratitude Wall again this year!
Expressing gratitude carries benefits for both the giver and the receiver! Submit a message of appreciation or note of thanks to help us let educators know how much the community values their work and dedication. If you’re an educator yourself, we know it’s also important to hold up other educators and recognize each other’s work. We invite you to shine a light on your colleague(s) and add to this Gratitude Wall too!
Check out the messages of gratitude here: https://padlet.com/liz329/Fall2022
Presentations at Schools
We would love to share TREC resources and our updated website with more educators! We can join you at your school for a brief 10-minute intro to TREC or a longer PD (30 min. to 1-hour) on Educator Resiliency! Please complete this form if you are interested.
Social Media and TREC:
Join and follow us on our social media! Use our hashtag and post your favorite TREC photos on our pages.
#TRECAZ
TREC 2021 Impact Report
In 2021, we held 12 TREC webinars attended by over 600 educators, on our website hub the TREC PD Partners have listed over 500 additional PD Events, Programs, and On-demand resources for teachers, and we have had over 11,000 users (mostly educators) visit the site since it was created. Through our Communities of Practice and Teacher Leader Program, educators have earned over 900 hours of professional development. Check out our full 2021 Impact Report!
September 2021 Teacher Survey
In September 2021, TREC conducted a survey that was answered by over 1,000 educators. Given the many changes since our original 2019 survey, we determined it was time for another data collection effort to ensure that TREC’s work is aligned with the current teachers’ needs. We are excited to share the 2021 TREC Teacher Survey Report.
A new survey will be going out in the Fall of 2022 to assess educator needs and PD gaps in the region. Stay tuned!
TREC officially launched JULY 2021!
We are excited to share our TREC video with you!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped launch TREC:
- Thank you to everyone who started in the planning phase (2018).
- Thank you to everyone who were integral in building capacity.
- Thank you to our partnering schools and districts, PD providers, community organizations, educational agencies, funders, and all who have engaged with our organization.
- Thank you to the TREC Teacher Leaders
- Thank you to everyone who continues to spread the word to colleagues!
We connected educators with professional development resources, celebrated teachers, and came together both virtually and in-person to think big picture about the state of education in Arizona.
You can watch a video of the TREC Launch here!
TREC in the News
KOLD News 13 reports: “Tucson teacher support program launches as in-person learning resumes.”
KGUN 9 On Your Side reports: “UA launches new program to support Southern Arizona teachers.“
Additional TREC Efforts
GRATITUDE WALL:
TREC continues to partner with Ben’s Bells, Tucson Values Teachers (TVT), and the Southern Arizona Association for the Education of Young Children (SAZAEYC) to create Virtual Gratitude Walls! People share messages of thanks and gratitude to let educators, staff, and/or colleagues know the community appreciates their vital work. Take a look at those messages here.
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- December 2022: https://padlet.com/liz329/Fall2022
- December 2021: https://padlet.com/liz329/Fall2021
- Spring 2021: https://padlet.com/liz329/SpringGratitude
- December 2020: https://padlet.com/liz329/Gratitude
JUNE SUMMIT:
TREC JUNE SUMMIT 2022: Celebrating and Sharing Successes
TREC was thrilled to host the inaugural, in-person June Summit: Celebrating and Sharing Successes on June 4th, 2022! We hosted 104 educators, provided 676 PD hours, and indirectly impacted 4,450 students. We also held a Resource Expo with 12 PD providers and made some great connections.
98.9% of attendees found the sessions applicable to their classroom, the presenter engaging, and learned something useful!
Make Sure to Save the Date for Saturday, June 3rd 2023 for another full day of professional learning and connecting with fellow educators, birth – 12th grade!
Professional Development Spotlight Events!
The PD Spotlight webinars featured 12 different Professional Development (PD) providing organizations. Each organization presented for 10 minutes about the resources they offer educators. Follow the link below to view the recording of the webinar or click on the individual organizations to learn more!
TREC PD Provider Spotlight (July 27)
Tucson Regional Educator Collaborative
Working together to support meaningful professional development of teachers in the Tucson region.
We believe that teachers are professionals and should have more opportunities to advance their careers. Our rationale is built on acknowledging that no single entity can do it all. This is why we have chosen to bring in a number of partners that will invite innovative ideas and collaborations across stakeholders to go beyond individual district’s or school’s professional learning efforts.
The University of Arizona College of Education is uniquely positioned to launch TREC due to its expertise and resources.