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Sanger Unified School District (USD) serves approximately 12,000 students in California’s Central Valley. Seventy-three percent are from low-income families, 70% are Latino/a, and 18% are English learners. By developing a culture of continuous improvement and an instructional regime of direct instruction, Sanger USD has become one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) educates approximately 72,200 students, 90% of whom are students of color, while 65% are from economically disadvantaged families and 15% are English learners. LBUSD employs critical practices and policies to promote learning, making it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
Taylor AllbrightJulie A. MarshEupha Jeanne DaramolaKate E. Kennedy
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Hawthorne School District (HSD) is a small district serving a working-class suburb of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Eighty-seven percent of students are from low-income families, 71% are Latino/a, and 21% are African American. HSD employs critical practices and policies to promote learning, making it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Gridley Unified School District serves more than 2,000 students in a small rural town in California. The median annual household income in Gridley is just over 60% of the state average. Located in a close-knit community, Gridley Unified has created a culture of support to promote student learning, making it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Clovis Unified School District (USD) serves about 43,000 California students, with sizeable groups of Latino/a and Hmong students and 40% of all students being eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Clovis USD’s unique culture and its specific approaches to supporting student learning have made it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) is California’s largest elementary school system with over 30,000 students, 90% of whom are students of color and over one third of whom are English learners. CVESD has made significant investments in capacity building and focused on continuous improvement, making it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Supporting the achievement of all students requires a strong commitment to equity, ensuring a stable high-quality educator workforce, providing access to professional development, and a focus on deeper learning and social and emotional learning. Seven California school districts provide examples of successful approaches to this work.
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A recent LPI study identified more than a hundred California school districts in which students across racial/ethnic groups are outperforming similar students in other districts on new math and reading assessments that measure higher order thinking and performance skills. Many of these districts also are closing the gap on a range of other outcomes, including graduation rates. The critical question is: How did they do it?”
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Well-implemented programs designed to foster social and emotional learning (SEL) are associated with positive outcomes, ranging from better test scores and higher graduation rates to improved social behavior. This LPI study examines San Jose State University's successful teacher preparation program and Lakewood Elementary School's in-service program that incorporate SEL instruction in an effort to inform policymakers, practitioners, and teacher educators about the components of strong, SEL-focused teacher preparation and development systems.
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Social and emotional skills, habits, and mindsets—such as self-awareness, self-regulation, communication, compassion, and empathy—can set students up for academic and life success. A new case study by the Learning Policy Institute looks at a preservice and inservice programs preparing teachers to integrate social emotional learning into instruction.
