Author: Alisha Kirby

New research offers recommendations on how to boost literacy rates among older students

The old adage, “students learn to read, then read to learn,” focuses on ensuring that students achieve literacy proficiency by third grade, at which point, the curriculum becomes more difficult and their reading skills are put to use to learn the material. However, since the pandemic, fewer students are proficient readers even into their middle and high school years, where teachers are not prepared to equip students with the basics. The Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), a national nonprofit organization, recently released a report that provides research-backed recommendations for supporting older readers.

AAPI month spotlight: How one trustee’s own education journey impacts her special ed advocacy

One day while driving her son to school, Julie Chau Diep heard the song “Colors of the Wind,” a classic from the Pocahontas film soundtrack, when one specific lyric moved her to the point of tears. “How high does the sycamore grow? If you cut it down, then you’ll never know.” Diep, a trustee of the Anaheim Elementary School District, is also president and executive director of the OC Autism Foundation where she oversees a speech therapy clinic, disability advocacy center and community integration program.

Education leaders identify strategies for improving school climate in new report

With local educational agencies facing growing challenges related to issues like chronic absenteeism and student mental health concerns to political tensions around curriculum, funding, staffing shortages and teacher burnout, a new report from ThoughtExchange explores the role of a positive school climate in alleviating the difficulties education systems are facing.

Research finds transitionary periods are particularly difficult for foster youth

More than 30 percent of California’s approximately 30,000 school-aged youth in foster care regularly experience some of the highest rates of chronic absence and exclusionary discipline. A new brief from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) details how changes in foster youth classification status impacted attendance and discipline rates in four of California’s CORE school districts — a group of several of the state’s larger school districts that test improvement theories at the school and district levels to provide the infrastructure for multi-district collaborations.

GAO report explores challenges and tips for exiting comprehensive support

The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on March 12 examining the national landscape of school improvement and strategies that helped schools exit comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) and the challenges they faced. Under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, states are required to measure the performance of their public schools. They must also identify three categories of low-performing schools for support and improvement, including those that need CSI — representing the lowest-performing schools in the nation.

Survey findings show parents and students agree on many facets of AI-use, but split on several areas

Results from a recent Common Sense Media survey of children aged 12 to 17 and parents found that families are trying to balance the benefits and threats around artificial intelligence (AI), while young people are already using the technology more than their parents realize.

Research emphasizes professional development needs for assistant pre-K teachers

A new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) explores state preschool policies related to assistant teacher qualification requirements, strategies to meet those requirements, compensation policies, and professional development (PD) supports available to, and required for, assistant teachers.