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  • From Fresno Unified to Fresno State: Bob Nelson finds another way to serve

    From Fresno Unified to Fresno State: Bob Nelson finds another way to serve


    Bob Nelson, outgoing superintendent of Fresno Unified School District

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    In almost seven years of superintendency, Bob Nelson focused on “grow-our-own” initiatives that include 18 teacher pipeline programs for Fresno Unified students, aspiring teachers and current educators. 

    Seventy-nine percent of new teachers joining Fresno Unified come through one of the district’s teacher pipeline programs, but there is no “similar thing on the leadership side,” said Nelson, the district’s outgoing superintendent. There’s no pipeline program to recruit, retain or support educators or school leaders hoping to become district administrators.  

    In summer 2023, a cohort of 19 district leaders, most of whom are people of color, graduated from the doctoral program at San Diego State — a result of collaboration between the university and school district which has ignited Nelson’s vision to develop a “grow-our-own” administrator program in the Fresno and broader Central San Joaquin Valley area. 

    Nelson says that the cohort of administrators graduating from San Diego State is one of the highlights of his superintendency as well as the reason for leaving Fresno Unified for a tenure-track position at California State University, Fresno. 

    Fresno Unified’s outgoing Superintendent Bob Nelson and interim Superintendent Misty Her
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Fresno State offers a doctoral program in educational leadership, but Nelson wants to strengthen it to draw more Fresno and Central Valley leaders into a Fresno-centered program that can develop administrators for the region.  

    “I feel it’s my responsibility to go and try and build a cadre of leaders here locally that can come and lead Valley schools,” Nelson said in a sit-down with EdSource in May.  

    On May 3, the Fresno Unified school board appointed Misty Her, the district’s deputy superintendent, to lead the district on an interim basis while a national search for a permanent replacement is conducted. Her started the interim superintendency on May 8 with Nelson moving into an advisory role until his last day on July 31.  

    Ahead of his last day, Nelson talked about his seven-year tenure as the leader of the state’s third-largest district and the importance of the new role he’s about to embark on. 

    Why leave now? 

    “I’m leaving because I feel really comfortable leaving the district in the hands of my deputy (Her). (I’m) stepping aside so that the first woman in 151 years can come and lead the district,” Nelson said. “It’s time. Leaving on my own volition feels good; I mean, that’s powerful.”

    ‘Pinnacle of my career’

    “Serving as the superintendent in the district where I initially taught elementary school and first served as a leader has been the pinnacle of my career thus far,” he said in his Jan. 22 resignation announcement. 

    Prior to his appointment as superintendent, Nelson had served the district for over 23 years, holding various positions, including teacher, vice principal, principal, human resources administrator and chief of staff, according to the school district. 

    What is greatest accomplishment as superintendent? 

    Nelson said he is most proud of the “visible changes” across the district, including career technical education (CTE), a guaranteed college admissions program, an increase in district-sponsored scholarships, more diverse staff and the pace of student growth. 

    CTE pathways

    “When I came into the district, people were running for the board on a platform that there were no college/career options for kids,” he said. “I think that’s changed demonstrably.”

    The changes, he said, include: the heavy truck and diesel maintenance facility and the pharmacology school at Duncan Polytechnical High School, opening the sports medicine complex and setting up an agriculture pathway at Sunnyside High School, and buying land at Chandler Air Force Base to train private pilots and to teach people to fix planes, making the public service pathway — police, fire, EMT — out of Roosevelt High School.

    Other accomplishments Nelson mentioned include: offering heating, ventilation and air conditioning certifications at Fresno High School; building teacher pipelines at Hoover and five other high schools, opening a law pathway at Bullard High School, and expanding social justice at Edison High School.

    “Kids have access to more than they’ve ever had over the course of seven and a half years,” he said.

    Bulldog Bound

    Nelson developed a partnership with Fresno State to offer Bulldog Bound Guaranteed Admissions, which provides students college and career prep throughout their entire high school career as well as a guarantee that, once they graduate, they’ll have a spot at Fresno State. 

    “I was on the front end of authoring the Bulldog Bound initiative in collaboration with Fresno State, making sure every single one of our kids has guaranteed enrollment,” he said.

    A foundation

    During Nelson’s tenure, Fresno Unified also established the Foundation for Fresno Unified Schools, which now has a $20 million endowment that funds up to $800,000 in scholarships annually — “which is more than we’ve ever given away,” he said. 

    Diversity

    Nelson recalls that in 2017, only two of district’s nearly 100 schools were led by Black principals — although African American students made up at least 8% of the student population. That’s no longer true. Now with over 10 Black principals, school leadership is a more accurate representation of the student enrollment. 

    Nelson’s senior leadership team is much more diverse, he said, pointing out a rise in Hmong and Latino leaders as well.

    “It’s true diversity,” Nelson said. “Every single year of my tenure, and actually several before I got in, the staffing is more reflective of the students that we serve. In every respect — teaching staff, leadership staff, professional staff, including classified personnel — it’s all more indicative of the students that we serve.” 

    Based on 2022-23 state data, more than 92% of Fresno Unified students are minorities. 

    “Kids need to see visual images of people who look like them, talk like them, sound like them, have their lived experience,” Nelson said.

    A faster pace

    Nelson said he is thankful for student academic growth, which outpaces the state’s. 

    Based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards statewide improved by 6.87% in English and 6.07% in math from 2015 to 2019.

    While Fresno Unified is still below state percentages in students meeting standards, from 2015 to 2019, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards outpaced the state’s improvement — by 11% in English and 11.85% in math.

    “If you only look at the bar of proficiency, we’re always behind,” Nelson said. “But we’re always gaining distance from standard at a rate that’s faster than other people across the state.”

    Because of the pandemic, students statewide, including those in Fresno Unified, experienced learning loss that dropped test scores. 

    Following the pandemic, from 2022 to 2023, there was a statewide decrease in students meeting or exceeding English standards and a 1.24% increase in math.

    Fresno Unified scores increased by 0.96% and 2.49% in English and math, respectively, meaning students are again improving at a faster rate, as they were before the pandemic. 

    “The same thing (a faster pace of growth) is happening right now with chronic absenteeism (when students miss 10% or more days in one school year),” Nelson said. “Like we’re closing chronic absenteeism at a rate that’s faster than anybody.” 

    From the 2021-22 school year to the 2022-23 school year, Fresno Unified reduced chronic absences by 14.9% in contrast to the state’s 5% reduction. 

    “I’m really proud of that,” Nelson said.

    Were all his goals met for the district? 

    “Our kids have needs that are greater (because they) come from abject poverty; you start from a different starting line,” Nelson said. 

    According to 2023-24 district data, 88% of students are living in disadvantaged circumstances.

    “So, the level of systemic change that is needed to help kids thrive is just a higher, deeper, more robust level of change,” he said. “Did I crack that nut in its entirety? No. There’s always room for improvement.” 

    What does Misty Her inherit?
    Fresno Unified’s outgoing superintendent, Bob Nelson, during his tenure, launched a literacy initiative aimed at getting every child to read by first grade.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “What I am leaving, hanging over, is I launched this literacy initiative, wanting every child to read by first grade,” Nelson said.

    In late May, the school district finalized the Every Child Is a Reader literacy plan, a comprehensive five-year plan to achieve first-grade reading proficiency for students, according to a media release. 

    “The actual digging in and observing the curriculum around that initiative is going to be left for my successor. That is something that’s being held over (for Misty Her),” Nelson said.“I think she is a stronger academic leader and will help move the literacy work in ways that I have not. (As an early learning teacher), she knows very clearly what it takes for kids to read, understands all the complexities of the science of reading — is it phonemics or is it whole language —and balancing those approaches to make sure that kids have what they need.” 

    How does superintendent experience help at Fresno State?

    Nelson will join the educational leadership division at the Kremen School of Education and Human Development. Although he’s leaving K-12 education as a leader, he’ll take his experience and knowledge into the role at Fresno State, which, this year, accepted 2,150 Fresno Unified students — the highest number ever accepted.

    If all the accepted students were to attend, Fresno Unified graduates would make up around 20% of the university’s enrollment, based on Fresno State enrollment data that shows over 2,800 FUSD alumni. 

    “Higher ed needs to better understand what’s going on in Fresno Unified,” Nelson said. “Understanding who we are and what we represent and what we’re trying to do, I think, is critical.”

    In applying for the role at Fresno State, Nelson had to teach a lesson, in which he demonstrated his ability to bridge the gap between Fresno Unified and Fresno State, he said. 

    “I compared their mission, vision, core values and statement of purpose against the lived experiences of the district that they serve (Fresno Unified) and said, ‘If you’re going to say these things, then that has to mirror the lived experiences of the districts that you’re in,’” he said. “’I think I can help you get from here to here. I can bridge that gap.’”

    Nelson’s responsibilities at Fresno State?

    A tenure-track position will give Nelson the opportunity to continue serving Valley educators. 

    “I have master’s degree students who are probably teachers, working full time every day, that want to become vice principals and principals and then, potentially, district leaders and on and on … and then helping master’s students get their master’s projects completed too,” he said of the position. 

    Why back to the classroom? 

    Before becoming superintendent of Fresno Unified, Nelson taught at Fresno State and “loved every minute of it.”

    “I’m really, really excited to just go back to teaching,” he said. “Almost every school counselor that we brought in our system (Fresno Unified) were my former students from Fresno State. You find the best leader, siphon them out and then try to get them into the places in the Valley where they can serve kids.”

    What about the goal of a local ‘grow-our-own’ administrator program? 

    In 2021, Fresno Unified won an $8.2 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to develop and support a pipeline of equity-centered leaders with which the district developed a collaborative relationship with San Diego State. This led to the district’s first cohort of leaders matriculating through the doctorate program. The partnership allows Fresno Unified leaders and faculty — who model what the graduate students are looking to become — to teach the courses in Fresno.

    Many of the district leaders who obtained their doctorate from San Diego State in 2023 are now teaching the new cohort of Fresno Unified administrators coming up behind them at San Diego State.  

    “San Diego State has a really robust infrastructure to take leaders and help them kind of go to the next level,” Nelson said. “Most of what San Diego State is doing is they’re taking existing leaders and getting them their doctorate, and those leaders are ending up in district positions. I’m not sure Fresno State is there yet.”

    Nelson’s goal: grow and develop administrators through Fresno State in a way similar to the partnership at San Diego State. 

    Fresno State has a doctorate program for educational leadership in preK-12 schools and districts, community colleges and universities. 

    Prior to 2018, Fresno State allowed Fresno Unified leaders and instructors to teach graduate-level courses to prospective leaders, according to Nelson. Now only Fresno State faculty can teach the courses. 

    “The tenure-track faculty members at Fresno State — the vast majority of them have an emphasis on higher ed, so perpetuating other collegiate leaders,” Nelson said. 

    “Meanwhile, there’re 150 districts that are all clamoring to find leaders.”

    A local program geared toward leadership of K-12 schools and districts is also important to create a collaborative space for them, Nelson said. 

    “There’s people that I deeply respect in the Valley who also sit in the superintendency,” Nelson said. “I think of Todd Lile in Madera. I think of Yolanda (Valdez in Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified). And there’s no space for us to be together to jointly plan or even talk or collaborate because we’re in three different counties.” 

    That’s a problem, he said. 

    “There needs to be a structure by which people who are on the same journey in the same region can collaborate with one another,” he said. “I think Fresno State is uniquely positioned to be able to bring those leaders together. … If you’re in a cohort of people who are on the same journey and have the same goals and you’re trying to strive together, (such as) in your doctoral program, it matters.”

    His goal to strengthen the program at Fresno State doesn’t quite fit into his role as professor, but he wants to build and support an effort to reach that goal. 

    “Fresno State has what’s called the Welty Center for Educational Leadership, and they organized that with the intent of doing exactly this work as a collaborative space for leaders across the Valley,” Nelson said. “(I’m) trying to use that Welty Center as a jumping off place to just provide support for leaders across all of the 150 districts that feed into Fresno State.

    “There’s just a high degree of need, and the focus cannot be solely on higher ed. It has to focus on the K-12 experience.”

    Is there interest in joining district leadership? 

    EdSource found that there’s been a rise in the number of California superintendents leaving the job, with many blaming stress, threats and politics. 

    “I am not going to cop to that. I think that (narrative is) what I’m out to fix,” Nelson said. “I actually think leadership is not only critical, it is a wonderful blessing, and I need people to understand that. We have to change the counterculture narrative that leadership is not possible or not sustainable or a dead-end thing. 

    “Finding superintendents who actually want to serve is harder than it’s ever been, and there’s a lot of reasons why that’s a factor, but we have to actually push back against that.”





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  • U.S. Supreme Court Splits 4-4 on Oklahoma Religious Charter School, Meaning No

    U.S. Supreme Court Splits 4-4 on Oklahoma Religious Charter School, Meaning No


    The U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 on the Oklahoma religious charter school issue. St. Isadore of Seville Catholic School applied for public funding to sponsor an online religious school. The tie decision means that the last decision–which ruled against the proposal–stands.

    Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself because of a previous relationship with one of the school’s founders.

    The decision was unsigned, but one of the Court’s conservative Justices voted with the three liberal Justices to produce a tie vote.

    Remember, this is a Court whose conservative Justices claim to be originalists. Their decisions on matters of church and states indicate a flexible, if not hypocritical, application of “originalism.” Over more than two centuries, the U.S. Supreme Court has struggled to maintain separation of church and state. They have found exceptions to Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation, allowing public funds for textbooks and state-mandated services, but over the years the courts attempted to avoid the state paying for tuition or teachers’ salaries.

    Yet this Court seems to laying the groundwork for tearing that Wall down completely. In previous decisions, the conservative majority has ruled that failure to fund religious schools was a denial of religious freedom.

    Such a conclusion does not align with Originalism. No matter how hard Justice Clarence Thomas or Justice Sam Alito scours the historical record, they are unable to build a case that the Founding Fathers or the Supreme Court want the public to subsidize the cost of religious or private schools.

    The only thing “original” about their recent decisions requiring states to pay tuition at religious schools in Maine and Montana and capital costs at a religious school in Missouri is their conclusion. They invented a right out of whole cloth.



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  • As we expand universal preschool access, let’s ensure teachers mirror their students’ ethnicity

    As we expand universal preschool access, let’s ensure teachers mirror their students’ ethnicity


    Preschool students build a structure from plastic interlocking tubes.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Author’s original hed: As Universal Preschool Access Expands to Reach More Families of Color, So Do Inequitable Practices Such as Racial Bias, Exclusionary Discipline and Lack of Cultural Representation, Leading to a Crisis for Black Boys

    As California progresses toward universal preschool access, the need increases for training, hiring and retaining early childhood male educators who are racially and ethnically representative of the children in their classrooms. A study examining preschool teachers’ implicit biases and expulsion rates found that teachers spent significantly more time watching Black children, especially boys, than other-race children when anticipating problematic behaviors. Further, researchers found that public preschool teachers’ systemic use of exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately impacts Black children, with Black boys being expelled more than anyone else.

    In efforts to reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions, last year the California Department of Education released a bulletin announcing new requirements for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP) that no longer allowed contractors to suspend, expel, or coerce parents and guardians to pick children up early from school due to their behavior. This is a step in the right direction. However, not all California preschool programs are funded by the state program and, therefore, many do not have to abide by those guidelines.

    The good news is that the positive effects of ensuring that students have teachers of the same race as them can happen across all programs, despite their funding sources. I propose that schools and agencies recruit and train male educators who match the racial and ethnic background of the communities they represent.

    As a Black woman and a credentialed early childhood educator for more than 15 years in San Joaquin and Sacramento counties, I’ve witnessed Black children aged 3 to 5 years old be sentenced to in-school or out-of-school suspension because a teacher lacked the necessary skills or cultural competencies to work with them. I would often be the one who other teachers would send their children to when they were struggling. Though I did not have any extra or special training, I was often able to successfully help children reset and return to their classrooms at peace. Once, I worked with a Black male teacher who was more effective than I in this aspect, especially when dealing with boys.

    Overall, our success was evidence of the mutual understanding and respect that the same-race teacher-child dynamic has. Perhaps from the child’s perspective, there’s a familiarity in our looks or mannerisms. Whatever the reason, such experiences speak to why Black children need educators who they can identify with.

    As it stands, in many places the public preschool curriculum, like that of the public K-12, has long ignored Black history and culture. The state preschool curriculum framework developed by the California Department of Education in alignment with the K-12 Common Core State Standards attest to this. Writers of the California Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 3, History-Social Science admit that “the developmental research on which these foundations are based is full of studies of English-speaking, middle-class European American children” and that “fewer studies focused on children who speak other languages or come from other family, racial, or cultural backgrounds.”

    Training and hiring teachers and staff who represent the racial and cultural communities they serve is beneficial because they connect better with the students through incorporating culturally relevant pedagogy, which is generally not offered in typical school curriculum. This was my approach upon opening a child care facility specifically for Black families. I found that children engaged more with the learning content when they could relate to it. For example, children expressed an increased interest in reading materials and spent more time in the classroom library browsing through books when they saw characters they could identify with. And the boys in my program took a special liking to my teenage son.

    Findings from a 2023 early childhood longitudinal study observing more than 18,000 students in the U.S. suggest that children in the classroom with a teacher of the same race performed better academically, in math and reading, and on working memory tasks. Besides the increased positive benefits of race-matching teachers and students, a decrease in negative outcomes has also been observed. According to scientists from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University who analyzed 10 years of data, Black students were less likely to be suspended when they had a teacher of the same race.

    We cannot ignore the fact that Black children are disproportionately suspended and expelled from preschools. It’s also true their communities are underrepresented in the curricula and with regard to same-race educators. For better social and academic outcomes for this vulnerable group, early childhood educational spaces need more Black male teachers.

    This is a call for state agencies and schools to put resources into the community by training and hiring educators who reflect the student population they serve. This is a call for families and community members to volunteer their time at local preschools and early childhood centers.

    With universal preschool access becoming a reality in California, the rest of the country is sure to follow. To support all preschool children, diversifying the teaching workforce is of the utmost importance right now.

    •••

    Sajdah Asmau is owner of an African-centered child care facility. She is in her first year as doctoral student in education student at UC Davis and serves as a Public Voices fellow on Racial Justice in Early Childhood with the OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • A healthy work-life balance can prevent college student burnout

    A healthy work-life balance can prevent college student burnout


    Jazlyn Dieguez in the newsroom at San Diego State University, where she spent some of her non-studying college time.

    Credit: Jazlyn Dieguez / EdSource

    I am a workaholic, and naturally, I made this realization at 4 on a Sunday morning.

    I had been working on a 15-page research paper on artificial intelligence in hopes of making more progress before the approaching deadline. But instead of working in study-friendly silence, I was engulfed by the sound of Pitbull’s “Time of Our Lives” blaring from my neighbor’s backyard.

    Amid the sound of friends laughing and singing together, I paused to reflect on how I felt.

    My eyes were groggy and sore, my mouth was dry, and my body had fused to the living room couch. Not only did I feel physically sick, I also had a lingering sense of stress and anxiety that inhibited me from taking a break from my classwork.

    This lingering feeling robbed my life of joy. It pressured me to say “no” to spending time with friends and loved ones out of fear of falling behind in school and extracurriculars. 

    And I know I am not alone in these sentiments.

    According to a Gallup survey of more than 2,400 college students at four-year U.S. institutions, 66% reported experiencing stress and 51% reported feeling worried in the spring 2023 semester. 

    It’s difficult to witness many of my peers struggle to cope with these emotions. I have also experienced this struggle by pouring too much of my time and energy into school-related activities: joining new clubs, taking on editorial roles, starting ambitious group projects, and more.

    While achieving these milestones brought temporary satisfaction, the pressure to overachieve intensified my anxiety, ultimately leading to mental exhaustion throughout the year. It was a clear case of burnout, a state of feeling fatigued and overwhelmed by ongoing pressure at work. 

    In a study examining psychological distress and burnout among first-year college students, reports found that 27% of students who reported psychological distress in their first semester were at increased risk of depression, depersonalization and higher levels of burnout.

    As a first-generation college student, there’s something I wish I knew before starting college: how to find a work-life balance. It’s taken my whole college experience to realize that I am at fault for applying so much pressure on myself to achieve more. But, recognizing this was the first step toward making a positive change.

    Here are some strategies that have helped me improve my work-life balance as a student:

    1. Reduce screen time: Use specific app features to control and monitor screen usage. This approach can help enhance work productivity and physical well-being by reducing eye strain and improving sleep quality. Additionally, scheduling designated times for phone use can minimize aimless time spent online.
    2. Embrace social opportunities: Say “yes” to quality time with friends, or communicate your interest in spending time with others. Swapping study sessions for casual dinners, coffee dates or game nights nurtures emotional and physical well-being through meaningful social interactions. This approach motivated me to attend my first San Diego State University basketball game — although not until my senior year — and enjoy more concerts in San Diego.
    3. Set clear goals: Identify three to five realistic daily goals using a to-do list application or a notepad to track progress. Setting short-term goals can provide focus and motivation, further guiding individuals toward achieving personal and academic milestones.

    As I began to wrap up my time at San Diego State, I wanted to make the most of my college experience before I walked across the graduation stage. I refused to be consumed by the stress and anxiety of pending coursework; I wanted to remember college for the memories shared with people I care about, not the late-night study sessions spent alone. 

    Implementing these methods helped me remove the pressure I place on myself and gain a stronger sense of control over my responsibilities. Knowing that I can progress toward my goal through these small adjustments brings me relief.

    I’m most proud of myself for making this change, as I have been able to experience more in the last few months than in previous years. 

    Incoming students embarking on their college careers need significant support to navigate through intensified stressors. But it’s important to remember that a life beyond academics is a life set up for success. It is possible to have the best of both worlds.

    •••

    Jazlyn Dieguez is a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps. She graduated in May with a journalism degree from San Diego State.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Q&A: Centering the college aspirations of foster youth

    Q&A: Centering the college aspirations of foster youth


    As California expands services needed to grow the number of foster youth enrolling in college, more work is needed to help those students graduate.

    Julie Leopo/ EdSource

    Foster youth are seldom top-of-mind in efforts to promote broader college access, but many would aspire to attend and have the skills to thrive there, argues Royel M. Johnson, a tenured professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, in his forthcoming book.

    The book, “From Foster Care to College: Navigating Educational Challenges and Creating Possibilities,” features the stories of 49 current and former foster youth nationwide who have enrolled in college, often by relying on the skills they gained while navigating the foster system.

    The idea for the book developed when Johnson was a professor at Penn State University, where his research largely focused on youth impacted by the foster care and criminal legal systems.

    Royel M. Johnson is a tenured professor in the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, with a courtesy appointment in the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.
    Photo Credit: Royel M. Johnson

    “I’d been building an area of work, a program of research around system-impacted populations who are not always thought of as college material, and not always even just centered in national efforts to promote college access and post-secondary success,” he said in a recent interview.

    Johnson was raised on the west side of Chicago in the Garfield Park neighborhood. It is a predominantly Black community with a decadeslong history of disinvestment that has resulted in high unemployment and shorter life expectancy rates.

    “By way of that, you get exposed quite early to systemic inequities, whether it be policing, child welfare policies, education,” he said. “My own lived experience became the lens through which I developed my curiosity for research and trying to understand better the pathway and structural disadvantages and opportunities that some folks have and other folks do not.”

    While studying political science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Johnson met and studied alongside graduate students enrolled in the university’s doctoral program for educational policy.

    They inspired him to remain at the university to pursue educational policy. He earned a master’s degree in the subject there and, ultimately, a doctorate in higher education and student affairs from Ohio State University.

    Johnson, whose book will be published in October, recently made time to discuss how the book project came together and what he learned from the foster youth he interviewed. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

    Where did the inspiration for this book come from?

    Too much of the work on young folks in foster care is sort of around, ‘What explains the failure?’ We need to understand why some students don’t succeed. But there’s also a lot that we can learn from young people who do succeed, and that becomes the model we sort of move from. I wanted to do asset-based work and resiliency-based work versus deficit-oriented work.

    Your book features the stories of 49 college students and graduates with experiences in the foster care system. How did you meet and interview them?

    Around 2019, I launched a national study working with folks who run programs for young people in foster care at colleges and universities. We contacted administrators at universities and asked them to recommend students to participate in the study, we shared fliers and recruited on social media.

    We paid students a stipend to participate. My team and I interviewed them, on average an hour or so each for two to three interviews, to get really comprehensive insights, from their time in foster care to their preparation and transition to college, to the realities of what it’s like to be a college student in foster care. Many of them were young people who were currently in college. Few had graduated, even fewer were graduate students.

    We wanted to cast a wide net of folks who were diverse in racial and ethnic backgrounds because it’s mostly youth of color who are disproportionately impacted, specifically Black youth and native and Indigenous youth. We wanted to oversample those who identified their sexual orientations beyond heterosexual. And diversity in the time spent in care: we know that those who age out of the foster care system are most vulnerable to experiencing homelessness, contact with the criminal punishment system, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, etc. We were really intentional in building a robust cohort of students to learn from.

    Once we started interviewing, many of them recommended their peers to participate in the study, in part because, for so many of them, what they shared is that they have so few opportunities to give voice to their own experiences.

    What did you learn from the students you interviewed?

    One of the things that we learned is that many of the young people in the book choose college through a framework of belonging: ‘How do I identify in institutions that demonstrate value for me and my identity as a young person in care?’ Institutions that have college access and support programs for young folks in foster care — they see that as a signal that that’s a place that they might be able to find community and belong.

    We also see that navigating the transition to college can be difficult, especially when you don’t have familial support moving you in and buying you all the things that you need, so they rely on a really broad constellation of kinship networks — their chosen family. They’re savvy in developing supportive and authentic relationships with not just their peers who become family, but former social workers, former teachers and educators. That familial capital becomes a resource for them in accessing college.

    What did you learn about students in California?

    Going Deeper

    Guardian Scholars is a chapter-based organization on college campuses that helps support former foster and homeless youth. The program supports students with financial aid, basic needs resources, mentorship, career advising and more.

    Guardian Scholars was founded at CSU Fullerton in 1988 and has since expanded to all CSU campuses in addition to community colleges and other universities statewide.

    The national recognition of the Guardian Scholars program and that being so visible is an attractive motivator for young folks in care because it signals to them that that’s a place where there’s going to be people like me and that I won’t be stigmatized in the way that I might be at a different place.

    Most student affairs administrators who work at a college or university may not know about federal funds or state-specific policies and resources that young people in care might qualify for. Those who work in and lead Guardian Scholars programs are keenly aware of those kinds of resources and of many of the challenges that young folks in care experience.

    You include concepts such as “aspirational capital” and “resistant capital” in your book. What do these terms mean in the context of youth in foster care?

    One of the frameworks that I draw on is what’s called community cultural wealth. This is a framework that Tara Yosso wrote about in 2005. What she argues is that people of color naturally have what she says is community cultural wealth, and these are the various undervalued, underrecognized forms of capital that we often use to navigate systems that weren’t designed for us.

    One of those forms of capital is aspirational capital: How is it that people of color are able to maintain such high aspirations in the face of such structural failures?

    Navigational capital is where the experience that we get navigating systems that weren’t designed for us becomes a resource to us, whether it’s navigating the bureaucracy of the welfare system or local politics, or even inequities in school. Being able to strategically manage and maneuver across these systems becomes a resource to us as we get into different situations, like applying to college and persisting in college.

    Community cultural wealth is a framework that lots of scholars of color who are doing work on communities of color have found a lot of value in trying to contextualize the experiences of people of color in education.

    How is it that we successfully navigate this system and structure that isn’t designed for us and that continues to fail us? I think community cultural wealth offers some language for the strategies, resources and work repertoires we draw on in order to maneuver.





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  • California college students find creative solutions to manage graduation costs

    California college students find creative solutions to manage graduation costs


    Students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Green Campus team promote the university’s graduation gown reuse program. Students who borrow regalia from the program can return it in bins after the ceremony or return it by mail.

    . Cal Poly/Courtesy

    As college students across the state prepare to graduate, they are sometimes surprised by the costs associated with this rite of passage.

    Besides the cost of regalia, graduating at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also requires a $120 commencement fee, charged for each Cal Poly degree or credential program. Students at California State University, Dominguez Hills, will pay a $90 graduation application fee.

    The cost to apply to graduate at San Diego State University is $112, while students at California State University, Fullerton, pay $115. 

    CSU spokesperson Amy Bentley-Smith explained that each Cal State campus “sets its graduation fee. The fee covers the evaluation process to determine if the student has fulfilled the course requirements to earn a degree and graduate, as well as costs associated with the printing and mailing of the diploma.” 

    Added Bentley-Smith, “Portions of the fees can go to support putting on commencement, but it’s not the primary purpose of the fee.” 

    Beyond the fees, every student who wants to participate in the ceremony itself — commonly referred to as “walking” — is required to wear the campus’ approved regalia. 

    For example, at San Jose State University, where there is no graduation application fee, the SJSU university store sells its most basic regalia packs — cap, gown, degree-colored tassel, stole (also called a sash) and souvenir tassel — for $131.50. 

    The cost and one-time use for most students of this graduation attire — those with careers in academia often use regalia again —  has spurred grassroots solutions to pop up across Cal State campuses. 

    With its simple all-black gown and cap requirement, CSU Dominguez Hills makes it easy for undergraduate students to opt out of purchasing their regalia from the student bookstore, with Amazon.com and third-party sellers a more popular option. It’s easy to find black caps and gowns online for $20.

    Students also turn to Reddit and other social media platforms to find alumni and peers offering used caps and gowns at discounted prices or even for free.

    “It just doesn’t make sense,” said Kenneth Lopez, a graduating senior majoring in business administration. “How is it that Amazon (is) selling it for cheaper and we’re getting maybe double or triple that (cost)?” 

    Lopez said that one way to defray these costs comes from the Latino Student Business Association, or LSBA, which is among several CSU Dominguez Hills organizations working to help students save money by partnering with local businesses such as Chick-fil-A, Panda Express and Shakey’s Pizza.

    Lopez explained that the Latino Student Business Association, where he is the vice president of finance, reached out to local businesses all over Carson to set up fundraisers. The money, raised from a percentage of product sales, was put toward graduation stoles — a sash typically in the school’s colors with embroidery of the school’s name and year of graduation, costing about $50 — to give seniors a personal memento of their achievements. 

    Sonoma State University does not charge students a fee to graduate. The commencement gear, required for the ceremony, is sold through outside vendors, with a basic bachelor’s degree cap and gown set costing $95. 

    Aurelio Aguilar, a graduating senior at Sonoma State majoring in communications, found a more affordable alternative through the campus store: renting regalia. While it’s not well-advertised, he explained, he was able to rent the gear. “It came out to about $80 for the cap and gown, and the (tassel) they gave us for the top of the cap.” 

    At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, one grassroots program aims to fight the problem head-on. The university’s Grad Gown Reuse program has gained in popularity, offering students a sustainable solution to the one-time-purchase model. 

    Started in 2022, the program allows students to donate their graduation gowns instead of having them hang in their closets collecting dust.

    Carina Ballek is a senior environmental earth and soil science major at Cal Poly and is also an intern with the Green Campus team at Cal Poly. Ballek and her team worked with Cal Poly’s Educational Opportunity Program to kick-start the program, receiving a donation of 90 gowns. 

    “Our gowns are so popular that they are signed out in two days,” Ballek said, highlighting the need for more donations. 

    “There has been more demand than there is supply,” said Amy Unruh, a sustainability and waste specialist within Cal Poly’s energy utilities and sustainability department. She believes that getting the word out could help draw in more donations. 

    Since the program’s start, hundreds of students have benefited from reusing regalia. Logistically speaking, the Gown Reuse program sets up a table outside of commencement so graduates can easily drop off their gowns directly after the ceremony. Recent graduates can also drop off their gowns at the office of sustainability, or mail them in.

    “It’s important because, on a sustainability level, we’re saving lots of gowns from going to landfills,” Ballek said. She also noted that “graduates don’t have their full-time jobs yet and would rather not spend $90-$100 on a gown.”

    San Diego State University student Maren Hawkins, a journalism media studies major, estimated that regalia cost was “$135 or $145, and buying it (meant) not buy(ing) food for two weeks.” 

    Added Hawkins, “I’ve talked to other students about how … it’s unreasonable, the amount of money we have to put in to graduate.”

    Instead, Hawkins turned to people whom she could rely on: alumni friends.

    “I was embarrassed to ask my friends to borrow their (cap and gown),” Hawkins said. “We’d never talked about not being able to afford graduation. Now, I’m grateful that I’m not spending this money on it, because I know they’d sit in my closet for the rest of my life.”

    The only item Hawkins purchased was her stole for $35. 

    Another San Diego State student, interdisciplinary studies major Lizeth Garcia, felt similarly. She and her housemate, Abigail Polack, found ways to avoid the costs.

    Garcia and Polack worked at San Diego State’s Aztec Market since junior year, and both continued working there because students who work for Aztec Shops can apply to receive free regalia.

    “Might as well keep working there so they can pay for my (regalia),” Garcia said. She said that free regalia was her primary reason for working, adding, “We already knew that we had to pay for graduation.”

    At Cal State Fullerton, a program to help students with regalia costs comes from a partnership between Basic Needs Services and Titan Shops. 

    Created in 2022, Cal State Fullerton’s Academic Regalia Support provides regalia to students experiencing “recent unanticipated hardship,” according to Victoria Ajemian, director of Basic Needs Services..

    The program offers 100 bachelor’s degree regalia sets that students register to reserve starting in April. Not all of the requests are filled due to high volume and limited supplies.

    Business administration major Tiffany Lo’s friend, Azurine Chang, applied. “She barely got it last month,” Lo said.

    Lo didn’t need the program herself — she’d gotten regalia from alumni. “There was no question when I asked,” Lo said. “They’re like, ‘Hey, you can have it — it’s collecting dust in my closet.’” Lo, who is saving money to study abroad, only purchased the CSUF stole.

    Lo also directed friends to Facebook Marketplace, where she saw offers for regalia from past years for $35 — tassel and all.

    “My friend didn’t buy the tassel for 2025,” Lo said. “She was like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna just use the 2024 tassel. No one’s gonna notice when we’re all gonna go walk.’”

    Layla Bakhshandeh is a graduating senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, majoring in journalism and graphic communication; Marc Duran is a graduating senior at Sonoma State University, majoring in communications; Stephinie Phan is a graduating senior at California State University, Dominguez Hills, majoring in journalism; and Joshua Silla is a graduating senior at San Diego State University, majoring in journalism and media studies. All are members of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.





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  • What happens now that West Contra Costa school board failed to pass budget?

    What happens now that West Contra Costa school board failed to pass budget?


    West Contra Costa Unified’s Stege Elementary School in Richmond.

    Photo: Andrew Reed/EdSource

    Most school districts across California have already approved budgets for the upcoming school year along with a required planning document that gives a road map on how funds should be spent. It’s a routine process that by state law must happen by June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

    But what happens when a board fails to approve both by the deadline?

    After the West Contra Costa school board last month voted down the planning document, better known as the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), Contra Costa County Office of Education officials are stepping in to support the district as it works to secure approval. The board didn’t get to vote on the budget at the June 26 meeting because the LCAP must be approved first. 

    The accountability plan, which also includes district goals to improve student outcomes and how to achieve them, and the budget are linked; one cannot exist without the other. There’s $64.8 million of funding in the LCAP that can’t be used until the plan is approved by the board.

    “You have to adopt the plan first before you can adopt the budget,” said Michael Fine, chief executive officer of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).

    “The budget becomes subsidiary to the plan in that it just becomes a supporting role to the plan, it’s one of the mechanisms that facilitates getting the plan done and implemented.”

    Although the West Contra Costa Unified School District doesn’t currently have an adopted accountability plan or budget, the district is using its $484 million 2024-25 proposed budget in the interim to pay salaries and general operating costs, said Marcus Walton, director of communication at the county office of education. Previously, district officials thought they would revert to using the 2023-24 budget, but that has since changed.

    At the June 26 meeting, district officials and some board members had the same concern — that rejecting the 203-page LCAP and not voting on a budget would mean losing local control. At the time, district staff didn’t have all the answers about what would happen next because they had never dealt with this situation. One district consultant even asked the board to consider voting on the LCAP again because without one, it would put the district in an unprecedented situation.

    West Contra Costa is not losing local control.

    The county office of education isn’t taking control of the LCAP or budget, confirmed Lynn Mackey, the county superintendent of schools. Since the vote, Mackey said she’s spoken with district Superintendent Chris Hurst, and the county and district’s LCAP teams have met. But there are no plans to re-create the LCAP or budget for the district, she said. 

    This isn’t a scenario where a district would need to be taken over, Mackey said. That happens when a district goes insolvent and runs out of cash. 

    “The LCAP can be a very complex document, it’s a beast,” Mackey said. “They’re (district staff) doing a great job, and they have done a great job. We will be meeting with them and supporting them as it goes back to the district for a vote.”

    The next board meeting is set for July 17, but it’s unlikely the accountability plan will be brought back for a vote then, Mackey said. Key West Contra Costa staffers who work on the plan have been on vacation and are just starting to return. There won’t be enough time to post the LCAP before the meeting, which is a requirement, Mackey said. Neither the budget nor LCAP are currently on the agenda to be discussed or voted on at that meeting.

    What happens if the board rejects the LCAP again? 

    “Unfortunately, the California education code does not address what happens when an LCAP is not adopted by a school district,” Hurst said in his message to community members. “This is an unprecedented event in the state of California.”

    Mackey said she would need to confer with state officials for next steps.

    In a message to the community, district Superintendent Hurst said the county has advised the district to pass the accountability plan by Aug. 15, the county’s deadline to review LCAPs. After school boards pass them, the county must make sure the plans comply with the requirements, then give final approval.

    The county then has until Aug. 30 to respond to districts if they have questions or need clarifications on the documents, Mackey said.

    If the board approves the accountability plan and the budget by the Aug. 15 deadline, Mackey said, it signals to the county that major revisions aren’t necessary. However, the county still needs to impose that budget because it wasn’t passed before the June 30 deadline required in the state education code. 

    The county could bill the district for helping it get the LCAP and budget approved, Mackey said, but the county has no intention of doing that.

    What happens if the board does not pass a budget? 

    Mackey said the county would review the proposed budget, and as long as it meets all requirements, that budget would be imposed by her office. 

    It would be “foolish” for the board not to approve a budget, Fine said. “They need to approve the budget because that would give the county superintendent information, plus, then the district owns its budget. And that’s important.” 

    Passing the LCAP

    Between now and when the accountability plan will return for a vote, district officials are working to get it to a place where the board will approve it.

    The two district board members who voted down the LCAP — Leslie Reckler and Mister Phillips — said a major problem for them was the lack of transparency in the document. Board President Jamela Smith-Folds was the only “yes” vote. Otheree Christian abstained, and Demetrio Gonzalez Hoy was absent. 

    Many parents and other community members addressed the board during the June 26 meeting, asking the board to reject the LCAP and the budget, saying community input wasn’t reflected in the document. Public commenters said there was a lack of transparency in both proposals, that neither met student needs, and that they disenfranchised low-income students, English learners and students of color. Some speakers questioned whether the accountability plan complied with the law. 

    It’s rare for districts to turn in an accountability plan that fully complies with the law, Mackey said. However, when a board approves it, the county can work with districts to bring the documents into compliance. 

    Trustee Phillips said community concerns and not having a balanced budget were other reasons he voted down the LCAP. 

    “I want to be very clear: The community needs to be heard,” Phillips said. “That’s not me saying everything the community wants should be put in there, but they are supposed to be heard, and I don’t feel like that happened.”

    Some trustees have called the vote a failure of the board, but Phillips said that’s not accurate. 

    “It was an opportunity for me to put brakes on another unbalanced budget. That’s why I did what I did. But it was not a failure,” Phillips said. “It was a conscious decision, I did it on purpose.”

    District officials are projecting a $31.8 million budget deficit over the next three school years, with about $11.5 million in shortfalls projected for the upcoming school year. The plan was to use reserve funds over three school years to make up the deficit, which is a typical move, Fine said.

    West Contra Costa has been in “financial distress for quite a while,” Fine said. “They were deep in distress, and they are working their way out of that hole.”

    In an emailed statement, Reckler said the district should now “retool their presentation to the board and public and re-present it, tailoring it to specific questions” raised by board members and the District Local Control Accountability Plan Committee (DLCAP), which consists of parents and members of community organizations.

    The board can then give district staff comments and direct it to take any additional steps, Reckler said.

    Christian also said he abstained from voting on the accountability plan because the document lacked transparency and failed to include parent feedback. He said the document should plainly state how money is being spent to meet district goals and how programs are benefiting students, which hasn’t happened. 

    “Those who get paid the big bucks should be the ones to make sure this stuff is done right,” Christian said. “Let’s do it right, let’s make it right, let’s not have hidden agendas, and let’s spell it out.”

    If there are substantial changes to the LCAP, it could mean big changes to the budget. It’s too soon to know what kind of changes are being made, but Mackey said even if money needs to be shifted around, it doesn’t appear there will be major revisions.

    “It’s challenging,” Mackey said. “As much work as you do on transparency, I do feel like there’s always going to be somebody who doesn’t feel the LCAP is very transparent.”

    Even if the accountability plan meets all the state requirements, some boards want more or for staff to go “above and beyond, which is understandable,” Mackey said.

    “My hope is that they (board members) don’t hold it hostage for things that you can’t go back and fix,” Mackey said. “If they want something different in the future, set that up now so as the LCAP writers are going forward, they know exactly what is expected so this doesn’t happen again.”





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  • Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s War on Science Is Damaging Our Economy and Our Future

    Fareed Zakaria: Trump’s War on Science Is Damaging Our Economy and Our Future


    If someone asked you which of Trump’s policies was the most catastrophic, what would you say? His personal attacks on law firms that had the nerve to represent clients he didn’t like? His unleashing of ICE to threaten and arrest people who have committed no crime? His efforts to intimidate the media? His assault on free speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom? His blatant disregard for the Constitution?

    All of these are horrible, despicable, and vile.

    Yet one of his grievances burns deeper than the other. This is his contempt for science.

    His first show of irrational hatred for science was his selection of the utterly unqualified Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. He is a conspiracy theorist with no experience in science or medicine. RFK has been a one-man wrecking crew.

    Then he used his authority to close down university research centers. These centers are working on cures for the most intractable diseases: cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s, and more.

    Why does Trump hate science? Is it another facet of his ongoing hatred for knowledge, the arts, culture?

    Fareed Zakaria of CNN gives a good overview.

    Watch.



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  • Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. to step down

    Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. to step down


    Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson, Jr.

    Resigning Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr.

    California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

    Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. will step down on Aug. 11 following a spring semester that saw calls for his resignation after the university responded to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus by sending in police.

    The Northern California campus was among many this spring that experienced student-led protests calling for an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Jackson faced criticism for the decision to use police to quash campus protests and to close the campus for the final weeks of the spring semester.

    The incidents of the spring overshadow the end of Jackson’s five years at the university, a period of transformation in which Humboldt was transformed into the state’s third polytechnic institution. During Jackson’s tenure, the university upgraded laboratory space, expanded broadband, renovated buildings and launched new majors focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), buoyed by a $458 million investment from the state.

    The polytechnic overhaul has been credited with boosting new student applications and turning around the university’s financial prospects at a time when many campuses have experienced declining student headcounts.

    In a written statement, Jackson called the university “an amazing place with special people” and urged colleagues to remember that their work “makes a positive difference for our students.”

    A Cal Poly Humboldt news release said Jackson “has been consulting with the CSU Chancellor’s Office to ensure an orderly transition since early spring semester.”

    The spring marked a pivot point in Jackson’s presidency. In April, hundreds of students occupied the university’s Siemens Hall, joining a wave of campus protests calling on universities to sever financial ties with Israel.

    The San Francisco Chronicle reported that protesters used “furniture, tents, chains and zip ties” to block the entrances to the buildings.

    The university responded by calling in law enforcement to remove protesters from the hall. The Appeal reported in June that police arrested 32 people. 

    The police response prompted Cal Poly Humboldt’s university senate to pass a vote of no confidence in Jackson, arguing that he and chief of staff Mark Johnson mishandled the protests by summoning “armed, non-university police officers.” The resolution said that action “created unnecessary escalation resulting in physical assault on students and faculty and injury of law enforcement personnel.”

    The university ultimately closed campus on April 26, citing protesters’ attempts “to break into multiple locked buildings with the intention of either locking themselves in, vandalizing or stealing equipment.”

    The university continued classes remotely through May 10, the end of the spring semester.

    The backlash to the university’s response to the protests continued. Subsequent university senate resolutions called on the Humboldt County district attorney, Stacey J. Eads, to drop charges against students and faculty and asked the university to drop the interim suspensions of 69 students. The senate also sought an investigation into the events and decision-making that followed the April 22 protest.

    A group of 320 faculty and staff ultimately signed a letter calling for both Jackson and chief of staff Johnson to be removed from their positions.

    Becoming president

    Jackson was appointed to the university presidency in May 2019, becoming not only the first Black president in Humboldt’s history, but also its first Filipino and Native American president, according to Cal State. Jackson previously served as president of Black Hills State University in South Dakota and vice president for student affairs at the University of Louisville and Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

    At the time of his appointment in 2019, undergraduate enrollment was falling steeply. Undergraduate enrollment peaked at 8,242 students in 2015 but had dwindled to 6,443 by fall 2019. With the Covid-19 pandemic, it hit a low of 5,199 in 2021.

    Declining enrollment threatened to have serious consequences for the university’s financial future. Under a multiyear agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, campuses in the Cal State system are on the hook to increase enrollment in order to receive increases in state funding.

    A polytechnic future

    Becoming a polytechnic campus appeared to improve Humboldt’s outlook. Newsom set aside nearly $500 million to turn Humboldt into a STEM-focused campus with new majors like mechanical engineering, marine biology and fire science management. The university is about to start construction on a new engineering building, according to a news release.

    The name change from Humboldt State to Cal Poly Humboldt became official in January 2022. The rebranded university enjoyed a record-setting application season for fall 2023, fielding almost twice as many applications as the previous year.

    The transition was not without its growing pains.

    In early 2023, the university announced that many sophomores, juniors and seniors would be housed in hotels and other off-campus options rather than on-campus residence halls to make way for new students. Hundreds of students protested the change. An online petition demanding “fair student housing” got more than 5,000 signatures.

    New housing projects will help to meet the demand. EdSource reported in 2023 that a new 950-bed housing complex, the Craftsman Mall, was expected to open in 2025 and that a second, 650-bed project would open in 2026. Ultimately, campus leaders want to add about 4,000 more beds.

    In fall 2023, the university’s undergraduate enrollment ticked up 2.2% to 5,419 students.

    The news release announcing Jackson’s plans to step down promoted the university’s financial turnaround, saying Humboldt has balanced budgets after carrying a $25 million deficit. The university is also bringing in more than $67 million annually in research grants and contracts, according to the release, and attracted more than $50 million from a fundraising campaign. Budget data from the Chancellor’s Office shows the university’s revenues exceeded its expenses by $117 million as of 2022-23. It also touted the university’s work with the region’s Tribal Nations, cooperation with the two-year College of the Redwoods, expanded international programs and a bachelor’s degree program at Pelican Bay State Prison.

    Looking ahead

    Jackson will “retreat” to a tenured professorship at the College of Professional Studies and the College of Extended Education & Global Engagement.

    “We do the very best we can every day, trusting the faculty, staff and students to do the same,” Jackson said in the statement.

    Cal State Chancellor Mildred García praised Jackson’s leadership in establishing Humboldt as a polytechnic institution, saying in a statement that the transition “inspired significant state funding to expand academic offerings, facilities and campus services, and enrollment growth.” She also thanked him for “his lifelong dedication to student success and educational equity.”

    An interim president will be appointed shortly, according to the news release, followed by a national search for a replacement within the next year.





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  • Fresno’s first female leader vows to address the needs of each student

    Fresno’s first female leader vows to address the needs of each student


    Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, Misty Her

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Since assuming the role of interim superintendent of California’s third-largest school district, Misty Her has been doing two things that she hopes will shape her tenure: listening and learning. 

    Despite being in the school district for over three decades, she’s conducting what she calls “listening” sessions with those in the Fresno Unified school community. In the two months since taking over, she’s held 16 sessions with students, district leaders, principals, retired teachers, graduates, parents, city officials and other community members, with more scheduled for next week and in the new school year. 

    Interim superintendency

    On May 3, the school board appointed Misty Her, previously the district’s deputy superintendent, to lead the district on an interim basis during a national search to fill the permanent position. She started the interim superintendency on May 8 with outgoing superintendent Bob Nelson moving into an advisory role until his last day.

    Misty Her has met with Fresno Unified district leaders to set expectations for her tenure as interim superintendent.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “People have been asking me ‘Why are you doing that?’” she said. “They were like, ‘You’ve been in the district for 30 years. Why would you still need to go listen and learn? Shouldn’t you already know a lot about the district?’” 

    Up until May, Her’s entire career in Fresno Unified, not including her time as a student, encompassed roles as a bilingual instructional aide, teacher, vice principal, principal, districtwide instructional superintendent and, in 2021, deputy superintendent, when she became the nation’s highest-ranking Hmong leader in K-12 education. 

    “My role, now, is different,” she said, “so I’m really intentionally listening and learning.” 

    She’ll continue the sessions throughout her tenure and expects to make changes as progress is made, she told EdSource in a sit-down interview. 

    What she believes, even now, is that knowing and identifying each student “by name” and “by need,” much like she did as a classroom teacher, will define her time in the role. 

    “Sometimes when you step away from the classroom, people don’t see you as a teacher anymore … because they start to see the title,” Her said as she talked about her journey, her interim superintendency, the “teacher within” and her focus on students – first and foremost. 

    “At the heart of who I am, before anything else, I’m always going to be a teacher.”

    First woman to lead district

    When the Fresno Unified school board named Her as the interim superintendent, she became the first woman to lead the district since its 1873 inception. 

    “I’ve walked this hallway a thousand times,” she said about seeing her picture on the wall of the district office. “It took 151 years in this district, as diverse as this district (is), before a woman’s face got on that wall.”

    Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource
    Lasherica Thornton/EdSource
    Misty Her, Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, is the first woman to ever lead the 70,000-plus-student school system.
    A Hmong leader

    According to Her and the Hmong American Center in Wisconsin, Hmong people, an indigenous group originally from parts of  China and other Asian countries, have continually migrated, first to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam with many eventually coming to the United States, settling in states such as California and Minnesota, so “we don’t have a country.” 

    Based on 2019 data from the Pew Research Center, Fresno has the country’s second-largest Hmong population, after Minneapolis-St.Paul in Minnesota. 

    “The reason why Hmong people came here to the U.S. was because of the Vietnam War,” she said.

    The CIA recruited Hmong soldiers for the “secret war” in Laos to prevent communism from spreading further into Southeast Asia. Congressional investigation and other events eventually brought the war to light. 

    “It was secret because no one knew that we existed, and no one knew that we were used to help the Americans fight,” Her said. “When the war ended, all the Hmong people were just left to die because (following their victory), the communists started coming after anybody who was helping the U.S. That’s actually how my family ended up here.” 

    Her face on that wall – and as the face of the district – embodies the fact that she is the first woman at the helm of the district as well as its first Hmong leader. 

    Born in a prisoner-of-war camp in Laos, Her’s family escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand after the end of the Vietnam War before coming to the United States and moving to Fresno when she was a young child, according to a district statement announcing her appointment. That firsthand experience and her understanding of the challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds have shaped her into a passionate and effective leader, the district’s statement said.

    Of the more than 92% of Fresno Unified students who are from ethnic minority groups, around 6,500 are Hmong. Behind Spanish, the Hmong language, which was only developed in written form less than 75 years ago, is the second most common home language of Fresno Unified’s English learners with over 10% speaking Hmong. 

    “Having someone that knows our kids, looks like our kids — that representation matters,” Her said.  

    Still, she wants to be in classrooms, constantly gaining a better understanding of the district’s students. 

    Classroom-centered, kids-first approach

    With a mindset that keeps classrooms and kids first, Her started the listening and learning tour by seeking out student perspectives from elementary, middle and high school students. 

    “Our students … can teach us a lot about our system,” she said, “the things that we’re designing for them — what’s working, what’s not working.”  

    And she has gained insight from those conversations. 

    Among the students’ comments and questions that have stuck with Her: “We want to be engaged in classrooms” and third graders asking, “What are you and our teachers preparing us for?”

    “I started with kids first because I wanted to put their voice in the middle of designing my 100-day plan,” she said.  

    Her drafted the plan for the district in May and June, following the initial listening sessions. 

    The crux of the plan: Focus on student results. 

    Goals and plans for interim superintendency

    Fresno Unified students
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    “Student outcomes is priority,” she said. 

    Based on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP tests, most Fresno Unified students failed to meet the state’s standards in 2023: 66.8% failed to meet English language arts standards, and 76.7% failed to meet math standards. 

    For third grade — the school year believed to be pivotal in determining reading proficiency and predicting future success — just 29% of third-graders are at grade level, a GO Public Schools 2023 student outcome report for Fresno Unified showed. 

    Her plans to implement, measure the effectiveness and monitor the progress of the district’s recently launched literacy initiative to achieve first-grade reading proficiency for students, two years before third-grade, when future success is predicted. 

    The Every Child Is a Reader initiative includes literacy plans to address students’ unique needs. The plans embrace high-quality instruction, interventions and parent and community partnerships, according to the initiative description. 

    “Every Child Is A Reader is a groundbreaking initiative that will lead our district to better instruction of reading for our youngest learners and ensure far better academic outcomes for our students,” she said. 

    Based on the 2023 GO Public Schools report, only 20% of seventh graders are at grade level in math, an indicator that most students are not prepared for algebra. 

    Her said the kids she has talked to reaffirmed the need to focus on those student outcomes, but also challenged her to reshape how student comprehension and application are taught.

    “I was talking to (a) group of students and they said, ‘Don’t just teach us how to read and write and do math, but teach us how to apply that,’” she said.

    An eighth grader told her his test scores indicate that he’s on a sixth-grade proficiency level. 

    “He said, ‘I’m so much smarter than that. I can do this, this, and this, but it’s just that, in my home, I never got books. I don’t have a tutor that comes in to help me. I rarely see my mom … because she works two jobs. My test shows that I should only be in sixth grade, but there are things that I can do. Can you guys use what I know to help me get me there?’” Her said. 

    “It really shifted what I thought would be goals for us to what are goals that can resonate with our students.” 

    Improving student outcomes

    Her said she wouldn’t be leading Fresno Unified, based on what her test scores showed, if not for the support of teachers and mentors. 

    “If I was just measured by my proficiency level when I was a kid, then I probably wouldn’t even be here,” she said. “A lot of people poured into me because I had counselors who said, ‘You can go to college.’ Coming from a home where no one knew how to fill out a college application, my counselor filled out the application for me.

    “But why do we reach some students and not others? That’s my question. (My brother) and I had some of the very same teachers, but there was an investment in me and not in him.” 

    That lingering question guides her. 

    To improve student outcomes across the entire district, she said, “We have to get everybody across the finish line” of proficiency.

    “The goal is to get them there in whichever way works for them,” she said. “That’s really going deep to understand every single child by name, by need.”

    Fresno Unified’s interim superintendent, Misty Her, adopted a 100-day plan for the school district.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    As part of Her’s 100-day plan, Fresno Unified gathered state, district, school and student data to identify and prioritize ways to enhance learning for each child while also focusing on historically underserved student groups, such as English learners and students with disabilities, who have significant achievement gaps compared with other groups. 

    This upcoming school year, educators will be able to adapt teaching and leadership strategies based on real-time data via a district dashboard, according to Her’s plans. 

    “And, then, how do we provide the appropriate scaffolds and interventions so that we do get them there,” Her said, “but that we never take away their grade-level rigor that is needed for them to excel.”

    Identifying student needs: ‘It’s ‘personal’

    Her knows all too well the importance of providing such intervention while still offering challenging, grade-level content. 

    “This is very personal for me,” she said. “I remember when I was in first grade … I was put in a remedial class, pulled out for like three hours a day, missing core instruction,” she recalled. “There was no way I was ever going to get caught up.” 

    At the time, the young Her was learning English as a second language as she primarily spoke Hmong. 

    “And so if we keep doing that with our students, we’re actually doing them a disservice,” she said. 

    Challenges in leading Fresno Unified

    Fresno Unified interim Superintendent Misty Her and district leaders talk about about her goals and set expectations for her interim role.
    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    There is no “silver bullet… to fix this,” Her said, so “I think people have to be open to new ideas that may be unconventional.”

    This week, she and the district leadership team were at Harvard University for the Public Education Leadership Project meant to foster greater educational outcomes.

    While employing new ideas and methods may be key to reaching her goals, there will be times when she must say “no.” 

    Fresno’s teachers union leadership has criticized the district for initiating programs just for the sake of expanding, rather than implementing the programs well. 

    “We are a district that says we want to do a lot of things,” Her said. “I am going to say no.” 

    But not without noting ideas that can work — at some point. 

    “Everybody knows I have a for-later folder, and it’s pretty thick right now,” she said, laughing. “So, as people bring really great, wonderful ideas, I just have to say, ‘Let me put it in my for-later folder.’” 

    Quality over quantity: Top priorities first

    To Her, the district has had so many objectives that it impacts the quality of the goals. She spent weeks narrowing down those goals to what will be the most important for the entire district: improving student outcomes and achieving operational excellence. 

    “When a kid enters our system, we have to be able to say to our parents, ‘These are the … goals we’re working on. These are the guarantees that we can give you.’”

    Student outcomes

    • Identify and focus on the needs of each child
    • Implement and measure the district’s first-grade literacy initiative 
    • Empower educator autonomy, but with accountability measures
    • Adapt teaching and leadership strategies based on real-time data
    • Visit schools to observe the goals in action

    Operational excellence

    Her characterized operational excellence as each part of the Fresno Unified school system working together instead of in isolation. 

    “I think that sometimes we’ve created this very complicated system for our parents to figure out, and we need to simplify … for people to understand,” she said. “I took a call from a parent. By the time the parent got to me, the parent had gone through four different calls” because her English wasn’t strong, and people didn’t know what to do with her.

    “I finally got on the phone; she’s like, ‘I just need my child’s homework, but I need it modified.’ And it was as simple as that.”

    Holding interim position impacts chances for permanent role  

    The interim superintendency is an opportunity for Her, board members, students, staff and the community to see if she’s the best person to lead the district. 

    “It could go either way,” she admitted. “If I can’t get results, then, I shouldn’t be the superintendent.

    “I just want it to be a win for our students.”

    A change in perspective because of the search

    So far, the search process has been engulfed in community angst over an alleged lack of transparency and accusations that the process had been tainted by politics, EdSource reported. 

    The school board in April said it would broaden its search — a shift from its initial decision to interview district employees first. Community outrage spurred the changes. 

    The district employees at the center of the search, including Her, faced racial harassment and threats.

    “Having gone through the challenges of the search, it really has strengthened me. It’s given me resilience that I didn’t think I had,” she said. “I describe it as (being) in a tornado, and you don’t quite know what you’re going to get hit with. Then, you start to get centered.” 

    That centering moment was in April when the search stalled.  

    “I just got up and said, ‘Cancel everything on my calendar for this week. I want to be at schools,’” she said. “I spent every moment with kids. I read. I did recess duty. I did lunch duty. (I told teachers), ‘I’ll teach your class for a little bit.’ I had to go find myself again. I went back to being a teacher and that got me centered (and) saved me in every way.

    “I started to … dig deep to really understand why I want this job.” 

    ‘More than a test score’

    “I want to be superintendent because … I’m tired of people defining them by a test score at the end of the year,” Her said. “I want to find a holistic way in which we can still get our students there, but that our students feel valued and they feel important and they feel like they’re a part of something greater than just that proficiency level that is given to them.”





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