Hardships exacerbated by the pandemic can be addressed through community schools model

Students, their families and educators continue to experience increased physical and mental health concerns, isolation and economic hardship as a result of COVID-19. To best serve their communities, many districts and schools will need to develop stronger systems of support to meet student needs. In […]

Officials underscore key considerations for nutrition services amid COVID-19

With the magnifying glass currently on when students and teachers may return to their classrooms, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to alter the jobs of millions of school classified and support service staff. For vital nutrition services employees, experts say that “prevention is the best medicine” […]

CDE outlines timeline and stakeholder engagement in Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan

This school year’s Local Control and Accountability Plan has been replaced by the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, as outlined in Senate Bill 98, the education funding trailer bill. The California Department of Education is holding a series of webinars to guide local educational agencies […]

New report highlights ways to focus on SEL during tumultuous year

With the dust now settling across California as to how teaching and learning will begin in the 2020–21 school year, guidance from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning provides education leaders with recommendations for how to prioritize safe, supportive, culturally sustaining and equitable […]

Pressure to close digital divide gains urgency; learning loss funds one piece of the puzzle

State officials are calling California’s digital divide an “all-hands-on-deck situation” considering the very short time available to equip 700,000 students with computing devices and another 300,000 with hotspots to connect to the internet. The matter — the focus of the California Department of Education’s Closing […]

New study finds Obama-era school meal policy contributes to decline in obesity rates for children in poverty

A new study examining the effect of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on children found that, since the policy was enacted in the 2012–13 school year, obesity rates for children in poverty decreased by 47 percent. While the study in Health Affairs, “Impact Of The […]

Preparing teachers for the Next Generation Science Standards

Elementary school teachers from the Elk Grove Unified School District, in partnership with the Sacramento Area Science Project, gathered last summer for four days of intensive and interactive professional development around the California Next Generation Science Standards. The participants, joined on different days by administrators […]

Waivers to reopen elementary schools explained, but questions remain

New state guidelines banning in-person instruction in counties on California’s monitoring list for coronavirus infections include a waiver provision that could exempt elementary schools, but little detail was provided by Gov. Gavin Newsom in announcing the regulations. Officials from the administration, the State Board of […]

CSBA webinar explores how districts can best deal with state budget deferrals

CSBA’s July 17 webinar, “Making sense of the budget: What do deferrals mean for school finance?” examined the 2020–21 state budget’s dependence on deferrals and its effect on how local educational agencies will finance expenditures for this year and beyond. Dennis Meyers, CSBA Assistant Executive […]

Disease experts caution that community spread must be addressed before letting students on campus

While laying out a few of the many considerations district officials will need to account for when they reopen schools for in-person instruction, infectious disease experts made one thing abundantly clear: schools cannot safely reopen until their communities reduce the spread of COVID-19 beyond the […]