National superintendent survey highlights the importance of summer learning

Local educational agency leaders believe summer learning programs play a critical role in achieving district goals, despite ongoing challenges with funding and more, according to a survey of K-12 superintendents across the U.S. AASA, The School Superintendents Association, along with Gallup and the National Summer […]

New fact sheet provides snapshot of chronic absenteeism in California

Despite recent improvements in attendance, chronic absenteeism rates remain stubbornly high throughout the state, according to a March fact sheet released by the Public Policy Institute of California. Absenteeism peaked in 2021–22 when nearly 1.8 million California TK–12 students (30 percent) were considered chronically absent. […]

How LEAs can prepare for extreme weather events

More than 725,000 students were affected by the wildfires that devastated Southern California communities in January. As blazes become more frequent and destructive occurrences across the state, a new report by EdTrust and UndauntedK12, The Impacts of the Los Angeles Wildfires on Students: Lessons for Schools Nationwide, offers a look at the repercussions that the fires had locally and provides proactive recommendations for education leaders.

Survey illustrates benefits of Medicaid reimbursements for schools

Physical and mental health issues can affect children’s ability to succeed at school. Among low-income children with special healthcare needs, about 85 percent do not receive the medical care they require, primarily due to financial constraints and limited access. School-based healthcare services help to fill […]

Panel: Partnerships are important to support students post-pandemic

Even as federal pandemic relief funding runs out, education leaders will need to continue to act on strategies that are working to address learning recovery and students’ social- emotional needs post-pandemic, according to panelists at EdSource’s March 27 webinar, “Five years after COVID: Innovations that are driving result.”

Follow-up report finds more drastic action needed to address educational opportunity gaps experienced by Black students

A decade ago, Education Trust-West released Black Minds Matter, which traced the trajectory of education policy affecting Black students — from fugitive slave laws banning Black children from attending California schools in 1852, through the state’s dismantling of affirmative action in the 1990s, to disjointed […]

Sonoma COE uplifts the voices of incarcerated youth in new magazine

“I feel happy when I finish a test in school. I am happy that I am going home this year. I feel happy about all the things I am learning and got taught while being locked up. I feel happy that I am going to finish high school this year,” wrote one student whose words were featured in the inaugural edition of Sonoma County Youth Voice magazine.  Released in January by the Sonoma County Office of Education, the 82-page literary magazine includes dozens of poems from students at the local juvenile justice center where the COE operates the educational programming for grades 7-12. 

New research on established education workforce housing projects signals need for proposed CSBA legislation

CSBA and education workforce housing (EWH) research partners from the University of California, Los Angeles’ cityLAB and UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools released a follow-up to the 2022 report that was used as a launching point by California Department of Education officials and […]