Best-selling author Tara Westover links extracurriculars to school engagement and student well-being at AEC

Why, after never having set foot in a public school, did Tara Westover leave the only life she’d ever known to work so hard to enroll at Brigham Young University? Because, she told the audience of the Third General Session in defense of extracurriculars, she […]

Student mental health is a significant priority for school board members

School board members consider student mental health one of the most pressing issue facing schools and youth today, according to a national survey of trustees released Jan. 25 by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) USA, a program administered by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. […]

New interactive report gives county-level detail on children’s well-being

The California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being delivers a current and comprehensive picture of children’s health, education and welfare in all of California’s 58 counties. This online tool created by Children Now provides county-level data mapping, tracking key indicators of child well-being across counties, over […]

Berkeley USD increases supports for African American students

Berkeley Unified School District recently ramped up work to understand and resolve the “uneven and unacceptable” outcomes of its Black students via its African American Success Framework (AASF), a three-year plan “to disrupt the equity gaps with a systematic process and approach of assessment, planning […]

Efforts continue to expand broadband access

A Jan. 9 brief released by the Pew Charitable Trusts details the goals, requirements and other considerations for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, an ambitious federal investment in high-speed, affordable internet. BEAD dedicates more than $42 billion to construct broadband networks, offers […]

CSBA webinar explores the basics of trauma-informed education

Trauma is a complex subject and the events or conditions that cause it or how it will manifest itself vary by individual.   During CSBA’s Feb. 21 webinar “Trauma-Informed Education: What governance teams need to know,” attendees learned about principles and strategies of equity-centered, trauma-informed education […]

New California cybersecurity laws impacting education

California was among 18 states to adopt laws related to cybersecurity that directly or indirectly apply to the education sector in 2022, according to the report “State and Federal Education Cybersecurity Policy Developments 2022,” published by Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) in January. “Cyberattacks are […]

New requirements promote access to drinking water in California schools

California will now require all newly constructed K-12 public schools, as well as any undergoing modernization, to provide water bottle filling stations. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2638 (Bloom, D-Santa Monica) into law on Sept. 29, 2022, after it received unanimous approval in its […]

New studies examine underlying causes of disproportionate discipline

State and district efforts to limit the use of suspensions for minor infractions and adopt nonpunitive strategies such as restorative justice have helped to reduce the overall out-of-school suspension rate from 6.9 percent in 2010 to 3.8 percent in 2018. Yet African American students, who […]

Cultivating recruitment, retention and school climate to increase teacher diversity

Research demonstrates the cyclical relationship between school climate and teacher recruitment and retention. A positive climate can improve a school’s ability to recruit and retain qualified, diverse educators, while having these educators can improve school climate. That’s why it’s so critical that local educational agencies […]