About Us
With the passage of Senate Bill 182 in 2017, Oregon committed to centering educators' voices and experiences through the Educator Advancement Council (EAC) as a way to better support them through their professional lives. The EAC became a product of a bill that aimed to rethink the way we support educators from recruitment to retirement.
In Fall 2019, the EAC launched 10 Regional Educator Networks (RENs) to facilitate a networked continuous improvement process; the RENs do not organize around a solution, but rather around improving systems of support for educators along the educator advancement continuum.
Established in 2019, Region C became the Western Regional Educator Network (WREN), serving 28 school districts and two education service districts located throughout Lane, Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties.
The WREN uses a continuous improvement model to improve the processes, systems and projects that enhance the teaching experience. By prioritizing teacher voice, the WREN supports projects, or change ideas, that will increase the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers who reflect the faces of our students. WREN support includes coaching, professional development opportunities, networked improvement, and funding.
Contact us to learn more and get involved.
Our Mission & Aim
WREN Mission
The WREN is an educator-led, improvement-focused network that elevates and embraces teachers' voices by emphasizing the Oregon Equity Lens to interrupt historical patterns of inequities and support educators through every stage of their career from recruitment through retirement by creating more inclusive and empowering school cultures.
WREN AIM
We will create more inclusive and equitable school cultures in order to increase the percentage of teachers of color in the region from 9.8% to 14.3% by June 2023.
Our Theory of Change
The Focus of Our Efforts
Rather than making haphazard changes, improvement science asks us to develop a working theory of improvement first. This theory provides our network with an overview of hypothesized solutions while allowing us to narrow our focus on high-leverage areas.
The Driver Diagram below illustrates the WREN's change objective (Aim Statement) and the theory of how that improvement will be realized (Primary Drivers and Secondary Drivers). Download a copy of the WREN Driver Diagram
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Human Resources
Hiring committees mitigate implicit bias and embrace equitable and inclusive practices
Connections
Teachers of Color will have a sense of belonging to a regional support group with other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) educators
Future Educators
Aspiring teachers have access to the resources and support needed to become an educator
School Leadership
Building and district leaders will be committed to equity and creating a culture of belonging and inclusivity
Structures & Systems
Systemic support for meeting the social-emotional needs of BIPoC staff