Conditions of Children
Attendance rates improve when a school develops meaningful family engagement, and when students feel safe and have positive relationships with peers and teachers. According to new research from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, these positive factors of school climate have become especially impactful since the pandemic.
About 40 percent of high schoolers now report persistent sadness or hopelessness, which is why nearly all public schools currently provide some form of mental health support. However, despite the desire of local educational agencies to provide students the resources they need, many leaders report that limited staffing, unclear roles and crisis-driven demands make it difficult to deliver timely, effective care to every student who needs it.
The 2026 California Children’s Report Card, developed by Children Now, is a comprehensive report on children’s well-being in the state. It grades the state on its ability to support better outcomes for kids, from prenatal to age 26, across 30 key children’s issues, including health, […]
The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) team and leadership at Avalon Elementary in the Val Verde Unified School District adopted a simple change to the school’s morning routine that has led to positive shifts in student behavior and campus culture.
Eighty-five percent of California schools considered in a recent study experienced tree canopy loss between 2018 and 2022.
Anxiety continues to be a common struggle for adolescents, according to the report Key Substance Use and Mental Health Indicators in the United States: Results from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
As 2026 begins, a new fact sheet published by the Public Policy Institute of California on California’s K-12 student population provides insights that can help inform local educational agencies on statewide trends.
Livingston Union School District (LUSD), a small, high-need district in California’s Central Valley, invested in a collaborative, equity-driven counseling model that has helped to boost student outcomes across several crucial metrics, according to a case study from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. Through sustained funding, strong leadership and clearly defined counselor roles, researchers found that the district can serve as a model for how comprehensive, equity-centered school counseling can drive meaningful outcomes for diverse student populations.
Strong family engagement at schools can support student achievement and help combat chronic absence. Yet, too often, parents are sidelined in their student’s education, according to Centering Families in the Future of Education: Insights and Perspectives from 10 Years of Research, a recent report from Learning Heroes.
Recent gains made across California to reduce the number of homeless youth and provide support to children may see a reversal due to proposed funding cuts for safety net programs that support aging foster youth and other young people facing housing instability, according to a […]
