Category Archives: Uncategorized

by Alicia Rozum Jared, a high school Junior had been acting different. Typically an excellent student, he started falling asleep in class or putting his head down on the desk. He seemed “out of it”, his chemistry teacher wrote, referring Jared to his high school’s comprehensive mental health program. As the school social worker managing this program, I too saw reasons to be worried about Jared’s well-being. Dramatic changes in classroom behavior, even among moody and unpredictable teens, can signal...

by Katie Brackenridge Summer learning programs are popping up all over the state. School board members and superintendents are replacing traditional summer school programming with a more interactive and engaging approach called summer learning. Using a combination of funding streams, including Local Control Funding, these school leaders are finding that the benefits – in student engagement, Common Core preparation and staff development – far outweigh the costs. A recent analysis of 50 Local Control Accountability Plans found that 76 percent...

by Hilary McLean, Linked Learning Linked Learning is an approach to college and career readiness that integrates rigorous academics, sequenced technical training, work-based learning and personalized student supports that is most often provided through high school career pathways. The approach continues to grow in prominence across California because of its positive impacts on student engagement, achievement and post-secondary success. Linked Learning also provides the ideal platform for cross-sector collaboration and policy development on an array of topic areas that focus...

By Jesus Mendoza, Jr., Regional Administrator of USDA Food and Nutrition Service Please join us in creating a healthier future for our children through both celebrating National School Breakfast Week and implementing or expanding the School Breakfast Program. Economic hardship, hectic mornings for families, and inadequate nutrition education make receiving a healthy breakfast difficult for many of America’s children. Utilizing innovative United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) School Breakfast Program approaches, many schools are successfully providing students the initial daily...

by Teri Burns, Sr. Director of Policy & Programs We are less than a month away to the enrollment deadline for Covered California, our statewide health insurance marketplace, and schools across California are taking action to connect families to affordable health coverage. ALL IN For Health, a project of The Children’s Partnership, is working with education leaders to inform all eligible families about and enroll individuals in health coverage options. Schools touch the lives of millions of families every day...

by S. Todd Stolp, Tuolumne County Health Officer In 2004 the Institute of Medicine defined health literacy as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.” But today the term includes much more. In a world with an unlimited number of confusing messages complicating our efforts to make responsible personal health decisions, health literacy has become a critical part of survival. As we update...