Category Archives: Resources

Resources

Comprehensive special education report is a powerful resource for board members

25 Jul
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Special education plays a critical role as schools strive to increase equity and improve outcomes for California’s 6.2 million public school students. To help guide this work, CSBA recently released The Landscape of Special Education in California: A Primer for Board Members, available at www.csba.org/specialeducation. The report provides an extensive look at the state’s special education system, including its laws, structures and best practices. Q: California continues to struggle to meet the needs of many of its students with disabilities,...

Diverse consortium lays out policy priorities to boost English learner achievement

8 Jul
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A new policy priority report from The Consortium for English Learner Success finds that if California does not boost the achievement of English learner students, “it will lose the linguistic, cultural, social and economic assets of these students needed to develop a global, diverse and multilingual state and economy.” CSBA was among the more than 100 organizations and groups that participated in meetings and discussions to identity the five policy priorities aimed to improve access, quality and outcomes for English...

CCEE board meeting highlights successful district capacity building

10 Jun
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The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence’s board meeting on June 6 continued recent conversations about how the agency can play a key role in the state’s System of Support without the expectation of offering individualized assistance in every local educational agency’s time of need. A presentation from Vallejo City Unified School District shined a light on what that scenario may look like. The System of Support aims to assist LEAs and schools by promoting partnerships, building local capacity and focusing...

CSBA plays key role in development of air quality guidance tool for districts

5 Jun
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Last year, one of California’s most destructive wildfire seasons on record resulted in school officials hundreds of miles from the disasters making difficult decisions amid toxic smoke and unhealthy air, oftentimes without formal guidance or existing policies. Concerned parents and community members questioned whether schools were taking the proper steps to determine whether they should limit or cancel outdoor activities or close campuses altogether. As the state’s schools head into summer break and Californians brace for a new wildfire season,...

Keeping kids safe at school: DSSF’s Lock Don’t Block campaign

3 Jun
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Submitted by the Door Safety & Security Foundation According to The Los Angeles Times, there have been more than 180 shootings on school campuses that resulted in an injury or death in the U.S. since December 2012, when 20 children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, CT. Twenty-two of those school shootings have occurred in California since 2012. It’s clear that school shootings aren’t going away. Emotionally charged and complex issues surround the challenge...

Student data disconnect persists as California works to lower achievement gap

28 May
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An integrated data system to assess student performance and results is desperately needed in California, two researchers said at a May 10 talk in Sacramento. At the event, experts discussed key findings on data systems from the Getting Down to Facts II report and next steps. “California is falling short of other states [by not having] a comprehensive data system,” said Jesse Rothstein, director of the California Policy Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. “We have certain pieces but...

Report card: Districts must better implement laws supporting, protecting LGBTQ students

15 May
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A first-of-its-kind report card finds that many of California’s unified school districts must improve their implementation of LGBTQ-inclusive programs, policies and curriculum. The Equality California Institute surveyed and assessed 130 unified districts across the state to produce the 2019 Safe & Supportive Schools Report Card. While the institute reports that great gains and protections have been achieved for California’s LGBTQ students through the Legislature in recent years, policy implementation and management greatly varies at the district governing board level. Some...

Director-at-Large shares insights during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

13 May
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CSBA joins the nation in celebrating May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Of the 6.2 million K-12 students attending California public schools in 2018–19, 9.3 percent are Asian, 2.4 percent are Filipino and .5 percent are Pacific Islander. These populations are composed of students from many cultural backgrounds who are an important part of California’s fabric. They also each bring their own unique stories, aspirations and qualities to the state’s public schools. To help ensure representation for these students,...

Experts share insights on boosting California’s number of teachers of color

29 Apr
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Emphasizing the benefits they say all students and teachers could gain from the state having more teachers of color, experts shared their strategies and insights on moving forward at a recent event hosted by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. The April 24 forum at the California Department of Education was the second in a series on closing the achievement gap. “There’s research that has said that this will create a benefit for students,” Thurmond said of diversifying the...

Capitol briefing highlights CSBA’s charter school task force report

23 Apr
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Examining a critical issue facing California’s K-12 public schools, the California School Boards Association hosted an April 22 Capitol briefing outlining the association’s new charter school task force report. Uncharted Waters: Recommendations for Prioritizing Student Achievement and Effective Governance in California’s Charter Schools focuses on critical issues that, as primary authorizers, school district boards experience and oversee. “Given the package of charter school bills that are moving through the Legislature currently, there is renewed interest in our charter schools task...