Wellness centers. Mental health counseling. Youth leadership development. These are examples of community schools initiatives in practice. With passage of a new contract that specifically endorses community schools, the West Contra Costa Unified School District is poised to become a...

California’s lowest-performing and most-segregated student group is at risk of being left out of one of the state’s most important education reforms — the unprecedented investment in community schools. At both the February and April 2023 California Advisory Commission on...

Entering a contentious debate over reading, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes that districts base literacy instruction on decades of research known as “the science of reading” as the next step to getting all children reading by third grade. In budget language...

When California children were stuck at home in distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and schools reopened unevenly across the state, raising equity concerns, frustrated parents demanded action from Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. But unlike other states, where...

Tony Thurmond could be California’s last elected superintendent of public instruction if a constitutional amendment introduced Monday is approved. ACA-9, introduced by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would give the governor the power to appoint the superintendent of public instruction, although...

The California Department of Education is making another historic investment in its educational leaders by awarding up to $12 million in additional funding over three years to the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy (21CSLA) State Center, a project housed...

Most newcomer students enter school with very low or beginning English language proficiency (ELP), but their language skills can develop rapidly under the right conditions, according to the first in a new series of briefs by Policy Analysis for California...

Distance learning in the COVID-19 context provides a unique challenge in that, in many cases, neither families nor educators chose to engage in this model of instruction, it is an opportunity provided due to circumstances beyond our control. It is...

While media attention has been focused on Washington, D.C., and the early moves of House Republicans (following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s messy election to become speaker), I’ve been reflecting a lot on an issue that’s closer to home. It’s the trauma...

For generations, public schools have struggled to equitably prepare all students—particularly those furthest from economic and social opportunity—to learn and thrive. This is not because they don’t know how. The science of learning and development shows that all children—regardless of...

Community schools—an education reform strategy—have been described as another way of thinking and acting and a new way of “doing” school. This type of school transformation is complex, involves change that can be uncomfortable, and doesn’t happen overnight. Starting in...

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences has awarded a $3 million research grant to a University of California, Davis-led research team to assess pandemic recovery efforts undertaken by the California Community Colleges. The goal of this three-year...

Community Schools are a time whose idea has come, a solution that was waiting for the perfect storm–and the perfect storm is here. In this final installment, we’ll look at the lessons learned from the community schools movement. What can...

A recent review of school guidance and communications from the Centers on Disease Control and Prevention argues that the federal agency failed often in its goal of providing timely, actionable information to states and districts around COVID-19 safety protocols. As...

One of the important lessons of the pandemic is that virtual learning is here to stay, but it has a lot of room for improvement. And teachers, principals, and district leaders should be thinking hard about how to make remote...

As Sacramento City Unified School District teachers and staff complete the second day of an open-ended strike, union concerns about ineffective leadership, staff shortages and COVID-19 protocols continue. And it’s also highlighting the pay rate of educators in the district...

According to the Community Schools Playbook, a project of the Partnership for the Future of Learning, “Many community schools stay open year-round, from dawn to dusk, and on weekends. The most comprehensive community schools are academic and social centers where...

Schools across San Francisco embody elements of community schools, which aim to assess students’ needs and bring in outside services ranging from dental care to Medi–Cal assistance to arts and music programming while building deeper connections to students and families...

Most educators and parents would agree that the sweeping virtual instruction thrown together overnight at the beginning of the pandemic wasn’t nearly as effective as in-person learning for most students. So, does that mean K–12 educators and policymakers should write...

n coming weeks, California will embark on a massive undertaking to convert several thousand schools in low-income neighborhoods into centers of community life and providers of vital services for families as well as students. Known as community schools, they will...

Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar provides an update on school reopening amid Omicron and updates on the district’s vaccine mandate ahead of its January 31st deadline.

The number of credentialed special education teachers in California has not kept up with demand, a shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Teacher Retirement System reported a 26% increase in teacher retirements in the last half of 2020...

The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) presented a six-part webinar series this fall that explored how public education can improve moving forward given the ongoing disruption of in-person instruction caused by COVID-19-inspired restrictions, as well as foundations of the system...