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Community schools have proved to be a successful approach to educate and support the whole child through family and community engagement, enriched and expanded learning, and integrated student supports. An important element for states to consider when investing in community schools is the provision of technical assistance, which can play a key role in supporting high-quality implementation.
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Early learning has the potential to support children’s learning and development prior to kindergarten. This study investigates the relationship between preschool quality in California and children’s learning and development. Children of almost all demographic groups enrolled in programs categorized as higher-tier showed more learning and development than those in lower-tier programs, though underserved children were less likely to attend the higher-tier programs.
Dion BurnsDaniel EspinozaJulie AdamsNaomi Ondrasek
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In California, the approximately 47,000 students who live in foster care face complex educational challenges. This report sheds light on the needs, characteristics, and outcomes of California students living in foster care and promising practices to better support them, including enhancing effective coordination and collaboration among agencies; building trusting relationships in schools; and providing targeted social, emotional, and academic services.
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Estimates show that California has a substantial, urgent need for new lead and assistant transitional kindergarten teachers. To meet this need, California must develop new teachers and draw upon educators currently in the workforce. State policymakers can take steps to stabilize, support, and expand the broader early childhood workforce and build pathways for racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse educators.
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An additional 12,000 to 15,000 credentialed teachers are needed to support California’s expanded transitional kindergarten (TK). High-quality early childhood–focused residencies, such as Fresno’s Teacher Residency Program and UCLA’s IMPACT Program, can help districts strategically build TK teacher capacity. These programs encompass coursework, university–district partnerships, clinical experiences, and resident and mentor supports and can lead to a more fully prepared and diverse teacher workforce.
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Following the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, there have, once again, been calls for armed teachers or security officers in schools. But research shows that more guns don’t make schools safer. Instead, there are three evidence-based strategies for increasing school safety: gun controls, reporting of warning signs, and school-based social-emotional and mental health supports.
Lorea MartínezLaura E. HernándezMarisa SaundersLisa Flook
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Social Justice Humanitas Academy is a teacher-led community school that advances student learning and development through its mission to support students on their journeys toward self-actualization, social justice, and postsecondary success. It maintains a supportive and inclusive learning environment, engages students in social and emotional development and student-centered pedagogical strategies, and provides access to integrated systems of supports.
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Because performance assessments surface examples of how students use their academic and nonacademic learning in authentic situations, they can help admission officers at higher education institutions more fully understand applicants. But a college’s abilities to effectively use reliable evidence of student learning in the admission process depends on how they frame the “ask” for these materials.
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More than 5 million children in the United States are living in deep poverty. Researchers suggest that deep poverty-responsive schools—for instance, schools funded according to fair school finance formulas, designed around community schools principles, and centered on whole child teaching and learning—can address the full range of children’s needs and help heal trauma associated with living in deep poverty.
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Education should provide opportunities for every student to learn and thrive, but the current U.S. system often falls short. Research from the science of learning and development points to whole child education as a method to transform systems to provide high-quality learning for all students. The Whole Child Policy Toolkit can help state policymakers and education leaders advance whole child policy and support schools, districts, and communities to meet the needs of every child efficiently, effectively, and equitably.
