Like most states in the nation, California is experiencing a teacher shortage. Teacher recruitment has largely been led by the 1,000 individual school districts in the state, and the California Department of Education historically has not engaged in direct teacher recruitment or support. That is […]
Author: Kimberly Sellery
Preparing for ethnic studies implementation
The California Department of Education held a webinar, “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Train the Trainer Certification,” on Aug. 2 to review the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC), district implementation guidance, instructional guidance, sample lessons and topics, and resources developed by local educational agencies. Assembly Bill […]
Schools play an important role in immunization awareness
National Immunization Awareness Month provides the opportunity to review student vaccination records at “check point” grades According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), reported kindergarten and first grade immunization rates in 2021–22 decreased slightly from before the pandemic. The proportion of kindergarten students […]
COVID relief aid and district spending
A July 11 webinar examining how districts are using COVID relief funding featured CSBA Senior Director of Research and Policy Development Mary Briggs in a panel discussion. The webinar, hosted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), accompanied its new report, District Spending of […]
Supreme Court rules against affirmative action
The spring edition of California Schools magazine included an article detailing the United States Supreme Court’s history on affirmative action and described two then-pending cases that sought to undo 45 years of judicial precedent, and consequently make affirmative action practices illegal in United States colleges’ […]
California policies support student civic engagement
A September 2022 Annenberg Public Policy Center survey found the first drop in six years among adults who could identify all three branches of government, and declines among those who could name the First Amendment rights. An April 2023 report from the Learning Policy Institute, […]
Safe and supportive school climates can save the lives of LGBTQ youth
The research is clear — much of the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are in trouble, struggling with suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem and a lack of social-emotional support. According to The Trevor Project, suicide is the second leading cause of […]
School segregation exacerbates opportunity and achievement gaps
A May report from the U.S. Department of Education on school diversity cites a body of research that links achievement and opportunity gaps between student groups to how racially isolated a school is. The State of School Diversity in the United States examines the benefits […]
CDE webinar highlights school programs attracting enrollment
School districts across the state are experiencing a high level of declining enrollment, as evidenced by California Department of Education data released in April. Even before the pandemic, many California communities were observing population drops and corresponding enrollment declines in K-12. The pandemic exacerbated declines […]
Testing result disparities spark intense discussion in Commission on Teacher Credentialing meeting
In the June 15-16 meeting of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the commission approved the transmittal of the second annual report to the Legislature on implementation on Senate Bill 488, which eliminates the Reading Competence Instruction Assessment (RICA), and had an impassioned discussion on […]