National school board member survey details impact of COVID-era conflicts on education governance

Local educational agency trustees have always had to navigate conflicting opinions over school budgets, curriculum and more, but as clashes over pandemic-related school closures; masking and vaccine policies; programs supporting diversity, equity and inclusion and other topic went viral online, school board meetings throughout the country became more contentious, sometimes to the detriment of trustees’ well-being.

Survey findings show school staff burnout is caused by compounding factors

Nearly 40 percent of special education teachers and more than 30 percent of school-based nurses and counselors considered leaving their role in the past 12 months, according to a recent survey of 1,000 school employees across the U.S. conducted by Soliant Health, a healthcare staffing provider.

State Board of Education finalizes new assistance criteria and discusses alignment efforts for state support

Following months of discussion, stakeholder meetings and study sessions, the California State Board of Education (SBE) adopted new performance criteria for determining differentiated assistance (DA) eligibility during its July 8 meeting.

Small Schools, Big Ideas: Nuview Union SD Beyond the Bell

Nuview Union School District (NUSD) is a small local educational agency in Nuevo, an unincorporated area in Riverside County nestled between the City of Riverside, Palm Springs and Temecula. According to district leaders, NUSD serves about 2,200 students — 90 percent of whom are English learners, foster youth or are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. As the largest employer in Nuevo — a town of under 7,00 people — NUSD’s emphasis on its Beyond the Bell programming is even more valuable, as the district prioritizes hiring from within the community, thereby allowing it to invest back into the community it serves.

CTC approves steps toward system to address teacher misassignments

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) met June 26 and approved recommended staff actions related to teacher misassignment monitoring sanctions — a proposal for a new intervention system of school-level teacher misassignment identification, support and improvement to increase placements of fully credentialed teachers in their relevant credential areas — despite objections from CSBA and other organizations during public comment.