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Oakland Unified School District's long-standing community schools initiative offers lessons for districts implementing a community schools strategy, illustrating an approach focused on integrating whole child educational practices and providing sustained support through centralized district infrastructure.
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Exclusionary discipline (suspension and expulsion) increases risks of student misbehavior, dropout, and incarceration—and Black students are 4 times more likely than White students to experience such discipline. An alternative to exclusionary discipline, restorative practices address root causes of misbehavior and can improve academic, disciplinary, and school climate measures and reduce racial disparities.
Susan Kemper PatrickLinda Darling-HammondTara Kini
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While high-quality preparation is critical for an effective and stable teacher workforce, only 58% of newly credentialed California teachers in 2020–21 were fully prepared in teacher preparation programs. Surveys of 60,000 California teachers who completed programs reveal who receives preliminary teaching credentials, how prepared they feel, and what factors contribute to their perceptions.
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High-quality civics education supports students to be informed, active, and engaged citizens throughout their lives. In the face of declining civics knowledge in America, a growing number of states are implementing policies that support a new approach to civics education that engages students in inquiry, reasoning, and action.
Aneesha Badrinarayan Linda Darling-HammondMichael A. DiNapoli Jr.Tara KiniTiffany MillerJulie Woods
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While the Every Student Succeeds Act presented promising possibilities for innovative state assessments, the path to realizing these opportunities has proven cumbersome and restrictive. Several possible federal executive actions could better enable states to design assessment systems that support deeper learning.
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California has committed to expanding universal prekindergarten to all of the state’s 4-year-olds by 2025-26. An analysis of responses to a 2022 survey by 1,108 local education agencies provides findings on how they are addressing key areas for expansion, including instruction and assessment, workforce development, facilities, and transportation.
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To help address long-standing social inequities, a growing number of states are investing in community schools. Community school initiatives in eight states point to three potential approaches other states can use to support community schools.
Karin GarverG. G. WeisenfeldLori Connors-TadrosKatherine HodgesHanna MelnickSara Plasencia
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Policymakers in Alabama, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia have worked to expand public preschool to meet growing demand. Researchers examine one of the biggest challenges they face: coordinating preschool providers that operate in very different contexts and settings and need different kinds of supports.
Daniel EspinozaMichael GriffithDion BurnsPatrick M. Shields
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In 2019–20, 1.3 million U.S. students were identified as experiencing homelessness, yet efforts to support them are underfunded and inaccessible—for example, most districts serving these students don’t receive federal funds to assist them. Policy changes can help remove barriers and provide these students with the equitable education they deserve.
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Findings from hundreds of studies indicate that evidence-based SEL programs improve students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes at all grade levels and for all students. To successfully implement SEL, schools and educators need support by state and district infrastructures that advance whole child development.
