Kern County Office of Education details countywide curriculum and STEAM supports, expands TK and bilingual teacher training

Kern County Office of Education (KCSOS) curriculum staff presented a broad set of countywide supports on April 8, 2025, describing work on early education (TK), bilingual/dual‑immersion teacher certification, literacy coaching and a new STEAM facility called the Steamyard.

At the board meeting, Dr. Cole Sampson, chief curriculum and instruction officer, said the county office provides direct support to 41 Kern County districts and five charters and runs centralized trainings and student events to supplement local instruction. He outlined recent and planned work in literacy, dual‑language programs, professional learning and STEAM expanded learning.

Why it matters: The Office’s programs are intended to raise instructional quality across the county by providing teacher coaching, wraparound professional development and student experiences districts may not be able to sustain on their own. The presentation highlighted scaling efforts for areas with high needs and the county‑level role in coordinating bilingual teacher pipelines and early childhood preparation.

Major program highlights presented - Scale and reach: KCSOS said it provided more than 2,600 contracted support days on site to district partners and runs more than 75 centralized networks, trainings and workshops. The office supports 88% of local educational agencies in the county. - Bilingual/dual‑immersion training: Under a regional push, KCSOS reported certifying 125 teachers to date and increasing capacity to certify teachers in Spanish and English immersion programs; the office said it subsidizes coursework and supports teacher recruitment with partner universities (Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly and others). The current grant work will add roughly 125 bilingual‑authorized teachers in Kern over the grant’s life, the office said; 25 certifications were added this year. - TK (transitional kindergarten) supports: Staff distributed 285 block sets to TK classrooms across the county and produced an asynchronous TK video series to provide model lessons in math, science and early literacy for TK teachers who cannot attend in‑person training. - Literacy and family engagement: The office described relaunching a Kern County Reading Project (currently 48 volunteers) and cited family literacy events in which Beardsley Elementary reported 81% family participation for lunchtime reading activities. - STEAM and Steamyard: The STEAM group runs after‑school and summer camps at multiple sites (CALM, Kern County Museum, Buena Vista Natural History Museum) and said it expects nearly 4,000 student‑days of participation in summer 2025. The Steamyard — a repurposed facility formerly used for teacher resources — is operating as a hands‑on lab and will offer field trips, training for teachers on equipment (3D printers, robots, drones) and take‑and‑go kits for classroom use; Chevron was cited as a partner supporting the facility. - Expanded learning and student events: The office reported running a math conference with more than 600 educators, a STEM Olympiad (over 1,000 students registered for May) and IgniteHER (a conference for female students in grades 4–8).

Quotes "We know that just showing up and giving a one‑day PD is never enough. Districts and teachers need sustained coaching, modeling and follow‑up," Dr. Cole Sampson said. "Our approach is a cycle of demonstration, classroom modeling and follow‑up coaching."

Speakers and roles - Dr. Cole Sampson, Chief Curriculum and Instruction Officer, Kern County Office of Education (led the presentation) - Lisa Vargas, Director of Humanities and Multilingual Education, KCSOS - Kyle Atkins, Director, STEAM Expanded Learning, KCSOS - Dr. Eddie Gonzales, Director, California Educators Together project (regional teacher training) - Lori Cisneros, Trustee (introduced the bus rodeo video)

What trustees asked and next steps Trustees asked how to find event calendars and where details would be posted; staff said event dates and locations are on the county office’s student events page and that a full calendar for 2025–26 would be provided to trustees by the next month. Trustees also asked how foster youth were selected for an early childhood support program; staff said an application process in coordination with the Dream Center identified 11 foster youth who opted into early childhood coursework, with the county paying class fees and providing laptops for participants.

Clarifying figures and program metrics - 2,600 contracted on‑site support days to Kern districts and charters (coaching, modeling and direct support) - 75+ centralized trainings and workshops hosted by county office; plans to expand offerings into North and East Kern - 125 bilingual teacher certifications targeted in Kern over the life of the regional grant; 25 added this year - 285 TK block sets distributed to every TK classroom countywide - Summer STEAM camps: operating three sites, 33 program days this summer and nearly 4,000 student attendances projected for summer 2025

Proper names and partners Project GLAAD; Cal State Bakersfield; California State University Channel Islands; Cal Poly; Kern County Museum; CALM (Center for ALS/learning museum); Buena Vista Natural History Museum; Chevron; Kern County Office of Education (KCSOS).

Searchable tags: ["curriculum","STEAM","TK","bilingual","dual_immersion","Project_GLAAD","Steamyard","summer_camps"]

Salience Overall: 0.65 — countywide instructional supports affect many schools and staff; medium local newsworthiness.