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برچسب: Better

  • ‘Bug’ professionals for better opportunities

    ‘Bug’ professionals for better opportunities


    “Double texting” and “spamming” are perhaps two of the most dreaded phrases in Gen Z lingo.

    It’s intimidating to send a friend or partner multiple messages without a response, but it can be even more terrifying to come across as overbearing to a professional.

    This fear, while coming from a good place of not trying to inundate recruiters, professors and professionals with messages, holds students back from advancing their careers.

    It’s better to be persistent than to be absent and miss out on valuable opportunities.

    If I hadn’t pushed back against my trepidation of being overbearing, I wouldn’t be writing this story for this publication.

    I saw a listing for EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps in April and quickly assembled a cover letter, resume and list of bylines. Over two days, I completed everything and went back to the website — but the post was gone.

    Unbeknownst to my scrambled, midterms-focused brain, the application deadline had passed and the opportunity seemingly vanished.

    While I worried that a last-minute email would fall into an abyss of similar messages, my friend Brittany pushed me to send my application regardless.

    I was pleasantly surprised to see a response less than 24 hours later informing me that although the cohort was mostly full, I still had a chance. After quickly submitting my documents and having a good phone interview with the internship coordinator, I was offered a position.

    Now in my second semester as a Student Corps member, the experience has been invaluable. And it never would have happened if I let my intrusive thoughts win.

    A quick survey through my emails reveals that I’ve sent the phrase “follow up” in some capacity to professionals or my co-workers 34 times. I should probably vary my rampant use of “follow up,” but the sentiment stands.

    Not once did I receive a response saying “stop emailing me” or “you’re bothering me.” Most of my emails yielded responses thanking me for following up and apologizing for the delay.

    Some of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had as a journalist came from spur-of-the-moment messages I sent. There were plenty of unread emails, but the ones that did receive responses helped me tremendously.

    I was able to attend and produce content at the 2023 Online News Association conference in Philadelphia because I applied for a scholarship opportunity I never thought I would win. At the conference, I connected with writers, editors and leaders from newsrooms I had long admired.

    Less than a year prior, I applied to cover the hip-hop festival Rolling Loud for San Diego State University’s publication The Daily Aztec. Walking through the campgrounds filled with eager fans and thrilling performances, I couldn’t help but think what would have happened if I never sent that application.

    Daniel Newell, executive director of San Diego State’s career center, works to connect students with jobs and internships during and after college. In his experience with recruiters, and previously working as one, he noted that persistence is a key quality for applicants.

    “Every recruiter likes to see genuine interest and passion,” Newell said. “I’ve met so many people where they didn’t have all the requirements for the job, but man, they were persistent and they were dedicated and they were passionate. I would take a passionate person who wants to learn and get the job done any day over someone who has the experience but isn’t really gung-ho about the position.”

    While these attributes are important for building connections, Newell said it’s also essential to maintain a respectable tone and demeanor when interacting with professionals.

    “When you’re talking to a professional or a recruiter, you’re always going to be professional,” Newell said. “Even if you don’t think they’re sort of assessing you or judging you, they are. Every interaction is important.”

    Instead of deliberating whether to send the follow-up message, students and budding professionals should focus more on how to deliver their messages. Being pushy and unprofessional can be a significant turn-off, but being persistent and professional can help you land a job.

    Students aren’t alone in their endeavors to network and reach out to professionals. And you don’t have to take advice exclusively from a 22-year-old like me. The New York Times published a guide on how to get email responses by being truthful, quick and direct. The Wall Street Journal also detailed tips and tricks for sending thank-you messages after a job interview.

    It’s perfectly normal to feel nervous when reaching out to people you admire or want to work with. I feel imposter syndrome all the time. But you never know what will happen when you reach out, and there’s only so much you can accomplish if you don’t ask.

    •••

    Noah Lyons is a fourth-year journalism major at San Diego State University and a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Teachers need a better way to ensure their curricula are culturally relevant

    Teachers need a better way to ensure their curricula are culturally relevant


    Credit: Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education

    In a 2023 survey, Educators for Excellence found that only 26% of educators nationally believe that their classroom curriculum is culturally relevant for their student population, and the truth is no different in Los Angeles Unified, where I teach. I have been in the classroom for 25 years, and I agree. 

    Culturally responsive education refers to the combination of teaching, pedagogy, curriculum, theories, attitudes, practices, and instructional materials that center students’ cultures, identities, and contexts throughout educational systems. What’s more, culturally relevant education increases the sense of community and builds trust and connection between educators and students, resulting in better academic outcomes. 

    This is important for students because we do not live in isolation. The world is growing smaller as we connect through different types of media and are constantly introduced to different cultures, beliefs and customs. A 2019 report shows that since 2000, classrooms in our country have become increasingly diverse, with the Latino student population growing from 16% to 25%. This is especially pertinent in LAUSD classrooms. 

    My classroom is made up of approximately 20% African American students and 80% Latino students. As a kindergarten teacher, my focus is on the social-emotional development of my students, and I try to build a strong cultural competency, where students become familiar with aspects of other cultures. This helps to expose students to the differences and similarities that exist within their identities, and therefore within our classrooms. One age-appropriate way I do this is by focusing on different holidays and cultural celebrations. I will bring in food or showcase dances, arts and crafts that represent various cultures and allow the students to immerse themselves with their senses, trying to expand their knowledge and understanding.  

    Unfortunately, I do not feel supported in my culturally relevant education efforts in the classroom. There must be ways to create more welcoming classrooms and foster understanding and appreciation among students for each other’s unique identities and backgrounds. I need more support to do this, more understanding of how to embed cultural awareness and relevance into my curriculum and teaching.

    That’s why I have joined a teacher action team with some of my colleagues and the help of Educators for Excellence – Los Angeles. This group allows us to come together to discuss ideas and put together a plan to help improve cultural relevancy throughout LAUSD. We’re calling for a public rubric to help the district succeed with its commitment to safe, inclusive learning environments. This rubric would list requirements for curricula to be culturally relevant and would be a way for schools to ensure that what they are teaching meets a predetermined district standard. 

    For example, over 50 of my colleagues and I from across LAUSD have evaluated our curriculum with a rubric developed by the New York University Steinhardt school. This process has allowed us to determine that our curriculum was satisfactory when it came to connecting the local community to the texts, but it falls short when it comes to the representation of LGBTQ+ and disabled identities, as well as in providing opportunities for students to bring their own community experiences to the classroom. If this rubric were used districtwide, we could improve our implicit-bias training, give teachers more support, and have a specific long-term vision for the type of curriculum we’re using in LAUSD, all leading to the achievement of the goals outlined in the district’s strategic plan.  

    Meeting these standards will not only give educators a guiding light in making their classrooms more inclusive, but it will also give students the opportunity to expand their knowledge and understanding of society. As I mentioned, I already incorporate diverse practices and lessons into my classroom. In return, I see students being more understanding of one another, and I see students from all backgrounds connecting to the material we are learning. It helps me to build a love of learning and a tolerance for others’ differences. 

    Having a higher level of cultural relevancy in our district-approved curriculum would allow students to meet their differences with an open mind and heart, and help them to build a foundation for acceptance and inclusion. Additionally, seeing themselves represented in the classroom allows students to connect better with lessons and demonstrate more interest in their academic success. 

    Even in a district as diverse and progressive as LAUSD, the long-term quality and inclusiveness of classroom curriculum is under attack. Efforts to attack student learning environments are no longer just distant issues that confront other districts and other states; it is here in California. This problem is not going away. LAUSD has already committed to increasing inclusion efforts in the classroom. My colleagues and I want to help this commitment come true. By collaborating with the district to develop a rubric that contains the cultural relevancy we are demanding, we are giving the district a recommendation directly from LAUSD classroom teachers on what needs to happen to improve our classrooms and create a more robust curriculum.

    Our schools need culturally relevant education to educate tolerant, understanding, knowledgeable and successful students. We need more educators on board with calling on the district to partner with us and update the curriculum in our classrooms. Speak up to your administrations, and collaborate with colleagues on a way to build more inclusive classrooms throughout LAUSD. Our students and our future generations deserve it.

    ●●●

    Petrina Miller is a longtime educator in Los Angeles Unified, and is an active member of Educators for Excellence – Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization of more than 30,000 educators united around a common set of values and principles for improving student learning and elevating the teaching profession.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Taxpayers deserve better performance audits of school construction bonds

    Taxpayers deserve better performance audits of school construction bonds


    Photo: Carol Davis/Flickr

    California public school and community college district voters approved $20 billion of construction loans in 2022, with more passing in 2023, using the Proposition 39 financing capability.  The California Association of Bond Oversight Committees (CABOC) estimates that a total of $197.8 billion of this type of construction loan now exists.

    Proposition 39 made it easier to pass bond measures, but it also created a new emphasis on vigorous taxpayer oversight of construction expenditures. Indeed, when Proposition 39 was presented to the voters, the Legislature created a quid pro quo scenario, reducing the bond approval level to 55% from two-thirds, but requiring extensive taxpayer oversight and public visibility.  

    This oversight includes a performance audit that “… shall be conducted in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States for financial and performance audits.”   Education code section 15286

    When a standards-compliant performance audit is not present, however, laws can be broken, crimes committed, and voters are left to conclude that their tax money is not being spent wisely.  A search engine’s worth of indictments, allegations and plea deals are discoverable on the internet, relating to school districts and construction. This is in addition to the traditional occurrence of excessive change orders, cost overruns and delivery delays.

    For instance, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) uncovered evidence of fraud, misappropriation or other illegal activities in 65% of the “extraordinary audits” it conducted between 2018 and 2023. While not all construction related, these cases were referred to law enforcement authorities. 

    In Santa Barbara County, an assistant school district superintendent and three construction company executives were charged with 74 counts of misappropriation of public monies, embezzlement of public funds, diversion of construction funds and grand theft. In San Francisco, a former school district facilities manager overseeing a district construction account pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion in an alleged scheme to divert $500,000 out of a construction escrow account.

    But the greater mystery may be when there is no oversight performance audit and wrong-doing goes unexamined.

    A statewide compliance survey released in October 2022 revealed that performance audits produced by most school districts fail to sufficiently comply with the required standards, according to a common sense, reasonable evaluation. Missing and non-standards-compliant performance audits deprive the public and those overseeing construction bond programs of valuable information that could be used to meaningfully evaluate the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds. 

    Many performance audits are just over two-pages in length, and include a single compliance audit objective. They typically fail to audit or provide information on program effectiveness and results, internal control or any prospective analysis of the construction program, which is usually the largest construction program ever undertaken by a school district.

    The comptroller general’s government auditing standards manual describes how government officials, such as school districts, should use a performance audit to assure the public that its money is well-spent. These standards describe the categories of audit objectives: program effectiveness and results; internal control; compliance; and prospective analysis. It also lists 32 examples of audit objectives, illustrating each of the four categories. This information provides objective analysis, findings and conclusions in order to improve program performance and operations, reduce costs and increase public accountability.

    School and community college districts engaging firms to produce the Proposition 39 performance audits should include audit objectives from a broad array of audit categories, so that the public truly understands the expenditure of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds.

    And taxpayers should carefully review the Proposition 39 construction bond program documents of their school and community college districts, including the performance audit, which are required by law to be posted on district websites.

    •••

    Bryan Scott serves on two citizens’ bond oversight committees in Brentwood, and in 2023 he was named the Member of the Year by the California Association of Bond Oversight Committees.  He is the creator of “Becoming an Effective Watchdog: A Necessary Primer for California School Construction Bond Oversight.”

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • We must redesign middle and high schools to serve students better

    We must redesign middle and high schools to serve students better


    Vista Del Mar Middle School in Chula Vista

    Credit: San Diego County Office of Education

    Tucked inside Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget is a kernel of hope for the future of adolescents in California: A $15 million investment to reshape the way students experience middle and high schools. It represents just .013% of total state education spending, but it represents an important commitment to serving students better.

    This investment will create a small cadre of middle and high schools to support students’ sense of belonging, to help prepare them for well-paying jobs in the future, and to personalize learning environments and supports so that those who need extra help can get it. Participating schools will also integrate more hands-on, experiential learning and lead the way in new and appropriate uses of technology for deeper learning. These are the learning opportunities and environments that young people are asking us to provide. 

    What might these schools encompass, and how would we approach this work?

    The San Diego County Office of Education works with districts, students, families and communities to address system- and community-wide issues and goals. We work with interested districts to build a portrait of a graduate, where leaders listen to students, parents, community members, and school and district staff to co-create a district plan built on the collective answer to: “Where do we want our student to be in 15 to 20 years when they graduate and what attributes and skill sets do they need to possess?” Through this process, we seek to create and strengthen our schools to be welcoming spaces for all students, with opportunities to be successful in school and life.

    The Secondary School Redesign Pilot Program (SSRP) is especially timely now, as California continues to chart a course toward improved outcomes and experiences for adolescents in our public schools. This state-level persistence in forward-looking policy is critically important amid federal-level backsteps and disinvestment in young people.

    Working as an SSRP network to learn and grow together, a group of secondary schools would be selected to receive state grants to support the reshaping of schools as places where all students feel known, understood and engaged in future-relevant learning. The two-year pilot would be evaluated, as all new programs should be, to identify redesign strategies for schools statewide and determine whether the effort should grow. 

    The program smartly builds upon recent, substantial investments in secondary schools by the governor and Legislature. These include new “community school” models that serve not just students’ academic but their health and social-emotional needs; dual-enrollment opportunities that allow high schoolers to experience and accelerate toward college; and the Golden State Pathways Program, which puts students on paths toward college and high-wage careers in economic growth sectors such as technology, health care, education and climate science/adaptation. 

    At a time of sharp ideological divides, we have been encouraged to see strong, across-the-board support among California voters for the importance of college and career education, social-emotional learning, student mental health and school environments where all students feel accepted. Public opinion research conducted by a bipartisan polling group earlier this school year bears this out. 

    As we prepare to celebrate our many high school graduates during this season of commencement, we remain focused on our most critical work ahead: to ensure that our public schools function effectively for all, especially those students who are furthest from opportunity and for whom our schools have not yet succeeded. 

    California has taken strong steps toward improving school experiences and outcomes for adolescents, particularly in this post-pandemic period when they are truly in need. The SSRP is another stride in that direction. To stay the course on preparing our young people for the future they deserve, we urge the Legislature to act favorably on the governor’s proposal.

    •••

    Gloria E. Ciriza, Ed.D., the San Diego County superintendent of schools.

    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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  • We must take better care of our home-based child care providers

    We must take better care of our home-based child care providers


    Credit: iStock / Christopher Futcher

    I retired from the practice of family child care last December after 29 years. That same month, I attended a funeral for Deanna Robles, an amazing family child care provider and early care and education advocate who was 53 years old.

    In January, I attended another funeral for another family child care provider in her mid-60s. Renaldo Sanders was not only a professional who had done this critical work for over 25 years, but also a dear friend. Both died from “natural causes,” but there is nothing natural about working 60, 70, or 80 hours a week for 20 or 30 years.

    These were women who worked in a field with little, no, or all-too expensive health care, who struggled to provide for themselves and their families on wages far below the minimum. These were women who couldn’t get a good night’s rest trying to figure out how to take pennies and create a million-dollar early learning environment within the walls of their homes. These were women who sacrificed and gave their lives to children and early learning. 

    The reality is, California’s 24,700 home-based family child care providers, 71% of whom are women of color, earn the least of the state’s early childhood educators. These small business owners typically work very long hours with little pay. Smaller programs with a licensed capacity of six to eight children earn on average just $16,200 to $30,000 annually, according to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley. Larger programs may enroll up to 12 or 14 children, yet these provider-owners earn on average just $40,000 to $56,400 a year. Many experience stress and depression and health issues, the latter often caused by the job’s need to constantly lift, carry, and keep up with several young children.

    There is no way those conditions did not contribute to my friends’ deaths. I am 64 years old, and, sadly, I have suffered the same concerns, pains and pathetic wages as they did during their working lives. I got out just in time, perhaps adding a few more years to my life span.

    Something has got to change. I do not want to attend another funeral for a child care professional who has died too young.

    So how can we fix this mess and begin to support the women who are preparing our youngest learners for success? To start, we must treat early care and education as a public good and fund programs to reflect the true cost of care instead of relying on what parents can pay. Public preschool and infant-toddler teachers would then be paid similarly.

    Yet, public funding has not come despite President Joe Biden’s efforts, so I won’t hold my breath for that to happen. Meanwhile, here are some steps to move us closer to supporting early childhood educators:

    Step 1: Center and involve educators of color when creating child care policies. The absence of Black and brown women sitting at the table when these policies are being discussed, informed and written is shameful. As is the absence of family child care providers. When policymakers listen to and hear the women who do this work, and include them as they discuss and craft regulations, we will see different outcomes.

    Just look at last year’s landmark win by Child Care Providers United (CCPU), an effort led largely by educators of color, myself included. Together, we fought for and won a contract for family child care providers who accept state subsidies for low-income families. We secured $2.8 billion in payment enhancements over the next two years and an $80 million annual investment in a newly established provider retirement fund. This would never have happened without our active involvement.

    Step 2: When updating California’s reimbursement rate-setting methodology, include salary standards that consider education level, tenure and job role. This can ensure fair compensation regardless of program type, location, or an educator’s race and ethnicity. And, it would begin to reduce the vast pay gaps between Black educators and their peers of other races and ethnicities with similar education and experience. The planned switch to rate-setting based on the true cost of care was a key component of our union agreement. Once approved at the federal level, the new approach will need to be implemented promptly, and with educators of color at the decision table to address inequity and promote effective solutions.

    Last, but certainly not least:

    Step 3: Create a state-funded program to reward and sustain family child care providers for their commitments. Currently, there are no awards to recognize and retain these amazing women, and this lack of formal recognition while they dedicate their blood, sweat and tears for pennies contributes to burnout.

    Here are a few ideas. Award a $500 bonus for small capacity licensees that become large capacity child care homes after one year. Present “longevity bonuses” to providers who remain in business in good standing based on their years of operation, such as $5,000 for 10 years, or $10,000 for 20 years.

    Finally, develop significant bonuses for providers who stay in the business longer than 20 years and create a bonus for downsizing from large- to small-capacity programs. This is one way of supporting seasoned early childhood educators to live longer lives.

    Implementing these steps would create a different world for family child care providers, their own families, and for the children and families they serve. If we take these recommendations seriously, families and children will receive optimal attention from the educators who touch their lives, and providers could see their life spans grow.

    ●●●

    Tonia McMillian is a just-retired family child care provider in Southern California.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • How school districts can better manage disagreement about difficult topics

    How school districts can better manage disagreement about difficult topics


    Credit: Alison Yin/EdSource

    School districts nationwide are grappling with whether, how and when to teach about LGBTQ and race-related issues. Deep-seated divisions are playing out in school board meetings, local social media, and directly between parents and educators.

    We have been surveying American adults’ beliefs about the potentially contested topics elementary and high school children should be learning in school since 2022. Based on our results, here are eight suggestions for those struggling to thread the needle between students learning to respectfully engage with diverse opinions, honoring parental authority and avoiding indoctrination.

    Start with common ground.

    Among the most surprising and hopeful results was strong bipartisan support for public schools. Adults are overwhelmingly supportive of public education, while wanting to see it improve. This bipartisan support for public schools provides a critical foundation necessary for communities to thread the needle.

    Seek to understand others’ underlying beliefs.

    Key to compromise is understanding others’ perspectives. We found large gaps related to core values; for example, three-quarters of Democrats think teaching children to embrace differences is a very important purpose of education, compared with just one-third of Republicans. More Republicans (81%) are worried about children feeling guilty if they learn about historical racism compared with Democrats (33%). More Republicans are worried than Democrats that learning about transgender or gay people might make children think about whether they are or want to be trans or gay. In both groups, people are somewhat more concerned about their children learning about trans people (66% of Republicans versus 23% of Democrats) than they are about lessons about gay people (55% versus 20%). We are better at listening to others’ perspectives when we feel heard ourselves.

    Come up with processes for reconciling disagreement.

    Adults disagree about processes for reconciling disagreement regarding the content children are learning in school. This means communities need to develop mutually agreeable consensus-building processes like public panel deliberation, advisory groups and provisions for dissent. Involving children and teens could develop their current and future civic capabilities.

    Educate adults about the challenges and consequences of opting children out of classroom content.

    We learned that a brief message specifying potential benefits of children learning diverse perspectives, and the logistical drawbacks of opting individual children out of lessons, substantially reduces the opt-out preference, by 15 percentage points (25%), from 57% to 42%. This approach was equally effective for Democrats and Republicans and when considering younger and older students. Educators and school boards could use this model to craft messages sharing potential challenges and benefits relevant to their own communities.

    Double down on approaches with broad support, like assigning diverse texts.

    Three-quarters of adults (64% of Republicans and 87% of Democrats) agree children should read books written by people from racial minority groups because they provide different experiences and perspectives. Teachers may find assigning and discussing age-appropriate books written by diverse authors to address topics of race, gender and sexuality to be an approach their communities will accept.

    Support teachers in facilitating discussion of potentially contested topics.

    Rand’s nationally representative survey of teachers shows many are afraid to facilitate potentially contentious discussions and lack guidance from their leadership. Curriculum and aligned professional learning should be designed to equip teachers with the skills and confidence they need to facilitate their students’ discussions of potentially contested topics. School and district leaders can also make clear their support for such discussions.

    Inform and involve parents.

    Transparency about how district curriculum content addresses state learning standards provides this insight. Parents will also benefit their children and themselves by learning about the diversity of perspectives within their community, and of the necessity of collaboratively resolving competing perspectives. Once processes are defined, parents, school board members and educators will need to build safeguards and respect for the system they collectively design.

    Remind everyone that children will live, study, work and be citizens of diverse local, national and international communities.

    Students need to learn about and how to communicate effectively with others, including those with different beliefs and backgrounds. Schools need to provide open forums allowing for sharing and evaluating both dominant and nondominant perspectives without fear of reprisal. A difficult tension for schools and teachers to manage is avoiding “indoctrination,” while maintaining norms of respect and care for others. Schools must intervene if/when students’ values negatively affect how they treat each other, indeed upholding the Golden Rule (i.e., “do unto others as you’d have done to you”)—a fundamental tenet of most religions and belief systems worldwide — requires they do.

    Educating children in our pluralistic democracy is challenging. We suggest a path forward for educators, parents, and school boards, ultimately to children’s benefit.

    •••

    Anna Saavedra is a research scientist in the Center for Applied Research in Education within the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. USC is a private research university located in Los Angeles.

    Morgan Polikoff is a professor at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. 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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  • Students in small districts deserve better than decaying, outdated schools

    Students in small districts deserve better than decaying, outdated schools


    This high school wood shop, built in 1954, will not qualify for modernization funding until the district brings an outside entranceway added in the 1970s up to code – an additional expense that Anderson Valley cannot afford, according to Superintendent Louise Simson.

    Courtesy: Anderson Valley Unified School District

    Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are wrestling over how to dole out facilities funding for the projected November ballot bond initiative, and my fear is that when all is said and done, small rural school districts will not get their fair funding share at the table. The result will be that students attending schools that have the least political power and the highest facility needs will be, once again, left behind.  And more often than not, those are students who are socio-economically disadvantaged and of color.  Sadly, the quality of a student’s educational facilities experience in California has become defined by a student’s ZIP code. 

    Too often, our small rural school systems, which are facing extreme enrollment decline and a lack of bonding capacity, lag far behind nearby more populated school districts. It is unfathomable to me why a student 45 minutes away can receive one educational experience, while students in a small rural district receive another.

    During my superintendency at Anderson Valley Unified School District, a 70-year-old school system in rural Mendocino County, I was faced with facilities that were in an extreme state of deterioration. An unincorporated town of just 1,650 people had passed a bond measure back in 2012; but the $8 million they were able to get out was nowhere near enough to remediate the aging infrastructure.

    When I arrived in 2021, the community stepped up again, passing an additional $13 million bond with an overwhelming 71% of the vote. With assessed valuations so low and with no real estate development on the horizon due to a lack of a municipal water and sewer system infrastructure, we were only able to pull out $6 million. Throw in on top of that two failed septic systems requiring replacement that topped$1 million with the indignity of students and staff using porta-potties for four months; a plethora of classrooms that hadn’t been touched since Dwight Eisenhower was president; and buildings that were out of compliance with mold and seismic codes, and you have the picture of instructional facilities inequity that just made the instructional divide even greater. And we are not alone. Similar conditions are common for those that don’t have a powerful voice in the Legislature and the lobbying community.

    Small, rural districts like mine are run by a district office of three or four people. We are just trying to keep up with the tsunami of reports that the California Department of Education expects us to produce and, in our spare time, do what is best for kids. Wealthier districts exacerbate the disparity with their massive education foundations that create endowment programs that provide even more opportunity for those that need it the least.

    It is time for the governor and the Legislature to give students in these crumbling school systems their fair share and create some educational equity on the facilities side. The bureaucracy of the hardship application process is not doable for small rural school systems to navigate by themselves. Small districts end up taking what little money they have for facilities and spending it on expensive consultants that know their stuff but cost the equivalent of a monthly teacher’s salary, to move the applications through the process.

    Governor, if you want educational equity, this is how you create it:

    • I don’t need technical assistance. I need money to navigate the process. Allocate a funding stream for small rural schools systems to contract with architects and consultants to move applications through the facilities-hardship process outside my existing budget.
    • If a facility is more than 50 years old and hasn’t been remodeled, let’s use some common sense and engage in a different process.  I shouldn’t have to demonstrate mold, seismic or structural hazards. This building is not an equitable learning environment for kids. Let’s get it done and stop the busy work.

    I hope that the governor and legislative partners hear the plea of our rural students and leaders and don’t leave us behind again.  What has gone on in the disproportionality of school facility funding for decades and decades will eventually be tested in the court systems, if something doesn’t change, and the poor condition of the deteriorating rural sites will attest to a judgment that will prevail.

    Education in California should be based on equal opportunity to access quality programs and facilities, no matter where you live or whether your parents pick crops or work in tech. Something has got to change on the funding and facilities side if we want to talk about real equity for all kids. 

    •••

    Louise Simson is superintendent of Anderson Valley Unified School District in rural Mendocino County.

    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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  • How school closures provide an opportunity to create better high schools

    How school closures provide an opportunity to create better high schools


    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Falling enrollments and gloomy economics point to the inevitable: Many school districts in California will close schools over the next decade. So far, they have been mainly elementary and middle schools, but high schools, spared until now, won’t escape, a newly released study by a national research and consulting organization concluded.

    Rather than view closures solely as retrenchment and loss, the authors view “this period of fiscal transition” as an opportunity for districts to redesign high schools that are more engaging for students.

    “This is sorely needed,” wrote researchers Paul Beach and Carrie Hahnel of Bellwether Education Partners, a national nonprofit research and consulting firm. “Educators, policymakers, and researchers increasingly agree: The structure of high school must change.”  

    High school students won’t dispute that. Significant proportions of high school students have signaled they feel disconnected from school, the report notes. One-quarter were chronically absent, and only half said they had a caring relationship with a teacher or another adult at school, according to the state’s latest Healthy Kids Survey.

    The paradox is that redesigning schools “often requires more money, not less,” they wrote, but the transformation is doable through strategies that could include redoing traditional seven-period schedules, expanding dual-enrollment courses with community colleges and apprenticeship opportunities, and creating hubs within a district where multiple high schools can share facilities and courses. Partnerships with government agencies, businesses and nonprofits can help shift expenses, and money from the sale of properties can help pay for new initiatives, like staff housing, they wrote.

    The report, “Navigating Change: Strategies to Strengthen California High Schools Amid Declining Enrollment,” cites examples of districts that are adopting new models, like San Francisco Unified’s health and life sciences learning hub. It offers half-day programs at the University of California San Francisco Mission Bay campus for students in five district high schools with the outside funding that will survive as the district faces a massive deficit and school closings. 

    One way or another, consolidations will happen. After peaking at 6.3 million students in 2005, California’s enrollment has gradually been falling, and hastened by the pandemic, was 5.8 million in 2023-24. The California Department of Finance projects an additional 11% drop of 647,000 students; by 2032, there will be 5.2 million students overall.

    California’s declining student enrollment

    California student enrollment, 2000-’01 to 2023-’24, with projections through 2044-’45

    Credit: California Dept. of Finance, Bellwether Education Partners
    Credit: California Dept. of Finance, Bellwether Education Partners

    As a declining birth rate and fewer immigrants work their way through the system, high schools will feel the impact last, the report said. And those closings will be the hardest to pull off, with the most community resistance.  

    More so than with elementary and middle schools, people have stronger emotional attachments to high schools because that’s where they come of age. They’re their alma maters; their auditoriums, stadiums, gymnasiums and classrooms are after-hours community facilities.

    Districts will more likely cram in middle schools to keep high schools going, said Ron Carruth, who retired as superintendent of El Dorado Union High School District this year and is now the executive director of the California High School Coalition, a new organization that is looking at best practices and new ideas for high schools.

    At some point, resistance will face reality, and districts will have to ask, “Is this a doom cycle?” Carruth said. “There will be a point where a good AP program and challenging academic and career pathways will require a certain size,” Carruth said. “Smaller than that, a school cannot be everything for everybody, particularly in rural areas.”

    Beach and Hahnel, who previously held leadership roles in two California education policy nonprofits — the Opportunity Institute and Education Trust-West — urge districts to get busy on how to consolidate programs and redeploy staff. 

    The Legislature can help by revising state laws that “collectively stifle innovation and create a rigid high school structure,” the report said. At its meeting this month, the State Board of Education discussed potentially granting districts waivers from minimum instructional minutes to accommodate learning opportunities outside the traditional school. It plans to explore the idea further. 

    The report recommends re-adopting the expired pandemic-era relaxation of state laws to simplify selling surplus property so that districts can develop or lease school properties for staff housing, child care centers, or centers operated by local health agencies and nonprofits without red tape.

    Added importance of partnerships

    New partnerships will be critical to expanding student opportunities and reducing costs. The study points to some groundbreaking examples:

    The city of Inglewood is spending $40 million to redesign its main library as an education and innovation center for two high schools in Inglewood Unified, which has experienced a massive, decadelong enrollment drop. The project will include a bridge linking the library to a nearby high school to ensure safe passage.

    High schools and community colleges can both qualify for funding for dual enrollment courses through the College and Career Access Pathways program, especially when college professors teach courses on high school campuses.

    Napa Unified is among the districts whose community schools have tapped into the state’s $4.7 billion Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative to create onsite wellness centers and expand mental health services at their high schools — facilities and programs the district could not afford on its own. 

    “It would be a huge benefit if you can put outside health-care and academic providers on high school campuses as they shrink,” said Carruth. “Look for synergies.”  

    Carruth pointed to the passage of Senate Bill 1244, authored by Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, which the coalition encouraged as a big step in the right direction. Signed into law this month, it removes a restriction that had limited dual-enrollment partnerships to a community college district closest to a school district. The new law will allow districts to enter agreements with other community colleges for courses that the local district cannot or chooses not to offer. “SB 1244 will change the lives of hundreds of thousands of students,” especially in urban areas, where students have lacked a range of dual-enrollment options, said Carruth, who added it may take a few years to reach its potential.

    But beyond the issue of school closing, what’s urgently needed is to step back for a big-picture look at high schools, he said.

    The Newsom administration has done “amazing things for younger kids,” Carruth said, by expanding child care and adding a new grade of transitional kindergarten. “But there has been no similar vision and investments for high schools.”

    Roxann Nazario, a parent advocate and organizer from Los Angeles, said she is disappointed that schools didn’t become more innovative after the pandemic revealed structural weaknesses.

    “Why aren’t we capitalizing to make schools more flexible for kids? I am frustrated they have not evolved,” said Nazario, who was interviewed by the Bellwether authors. 

    She points to her daughter Scarlett, an artistic high school junior, possibly with undiagnosed mild autism, who has struggled to find a school where she can thrive academically and creatively. Ideally, she would be able to take core classes in which she struggles at one school and another school that’s strong in the arts, like Champs Charter High in Los Angeles, where she went last year.

    “A flexible model would meet kids where they are,” she said. “We just settle for what is and don’t push for what’s best.”

    The cost of transporting students to other districts and current funding laws will be obstacles. There is currently no provision for dividing daily per-student funding among districts. A district that offers a minimum of four classes per day receives full funding. But there are discussions to lower the minimum reimbursement to three classes per day to encourage more dual enrollment programs, and that could open the door to further options, Carruth said.

    The state should also re-examine the Local Control Funding Formula, which Carruth said has shortchanged high schools since its adoption a decade ago. The authors of the formula simply added 20% more funding to the base funding amount for seventh and eighth graders to determine high school funding per student. The rationale was that high schools were required to offer 20% more instructional minutes than middle schools. 

    “That (falsely) assumes high school is just a bigger middle school,” Carruth said. “We made a mistake during the creation of (the funding formula) that we didn’t adjust what it costs to run a high school.”

    But with budget forecasters projecting stable, if not lean years ahead, high schools probably won’t get an infusion of funding any time soon. Meanwhile, dropping enrollments, which will lead to declining revenue in many districts, will underscore the study’s call for rethinking how to spend the limited funding high schools will receive. 

    “There’s a pent-up demand for re-envisioning high school,” Carruth said.  

    Added Nazario, “Many kids are just getting by, not thriving.”





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  • New law moves toward better translation of special ed documents, but families want more

    New law moves toward better translation of special ed documents, but families want more


    A special education class at Redwood Heights Elementary School in Oakland.

    Alison Yin / EdSource

    California schools will soon have a template for special education programs translated into 10 languages in addition to English.

    Advocates and parents of children with disabilities who speak languages other than English say it is a tiny step forward, but there is still work to be done to fix long waits and faulty translations experienced by many families statewide.

    “Ultimately, if parents can’t receive translated documents, they can’t meaningfully engage in their child’s education,” said Joanna French, senior director of research and policy strategies at Innovate Public Schools, an organization that works with parents to advocate for high-quality education. “They can’t provide informed consent. They can’t ask questions or push back on the services that are being proposed.”

    A bill introduced last year by state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, would have required school districts, charter schools and county offices of education to translate individualized education program (IEP) documents within 30 days. But the bill stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers decide whether the state has enough money to pay for legislation. This spring, the bill was revived, and Portantino revised it to require the California Department of Education (CDE) to create guidelines suggesting, rather than mandating, timelines for translation and how to identify quality translators and interpreters. But that version, too, was eventually scrapped. 

    The version of the bill that finally did pass the Legislature and was signed by the governor requires a template for IEPs to be translated into the 10 languages most commonly spoken in California other than English. The translated template must be made available online by Jan. 1, 2027. The template, which can be found in this document, includes categories of services, but also has blank space for language adapted to each student.

    “Obviously, whenever you get a partial victory, you take it and you celebrate,” said Portantino. “This is an incremental improvement. Having the template is a good thing. But obviously, these are individualized plans, so my hope is that someone takes up the mantle to get individual plans translated in a more timely manner.”

    Aurora Flores said she has had to wait sometimes six or seven months for special education documents to be translated into Spanish. Her 10-year-old son has Down syndrome and autism and attends school in the Long Beach Unified School District.

    “It’s really sad for us Spanish-speaking parents because the points that you want to clarify, you can’t understand. They just summarize really fast, with an interpreter, but sometimes it’s not a certified person,” said Flores in Spanish.

    Individualized education programs are required for students with disabilities who qualify for special education, and are updated each year or when needs change. Before schools can implement these programs, parents must agree.

    The person most affected by long waits for translations is her son, Flores said, because it takes longer for her to sign off on new services that he needs.

    “When you least expect it, you realize the next IEP meeting is coming up, and you have just received the documents from the last one,” Flores said.

    A spokesperson for Long Beach Unified, Elvia Cano, wrote in an email that the district “is dedicated to ensuring that all families, regardless of their primary language, have timely access to critical educational information, including Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).”

    However, she said getting high-quality translations of special education documents can be challenging.

    “Translating IEPs requires specialized linguistic and technical expertise. Translators must be fluent in the target language and possess a strong understanding of educational terminology. Finding professionals with these qualifications can be challenging, especially for less commonly spoken languages. Additionally, the complexity of IEPs and the volume of translation requests may extend the timeframe for completion,” Cano wrote.

    Portantino said that some felt the previous version of the bill requiring the California Department of Education to create guidelines for translation “was too onerous, too much pressure.” 

    “I think the education community didn’t want to be forced to do things. I think there were districts who felt they don’t have the personnel, and I think CDE felt the overall structure was not in place,” Portantino said. 

    Holly Minear, executive director of student services at the Ventura County Office of Education, said she thinks most school districts and county offices understand the importance of giving families a written translation of IEP documents in a timely manner, but it is sometimes a challenge, especially when the translation is for a language that is not common.

    “I think a lot of districts use internal translators, and if you have someone out sick or on leave, or if districts work with contract agencies, sometimes the timeline is more than 30 days,” Minear said. 

    Minear said the Ventura County Office of Education has two Spanish-English translators on staff, but they use outside agencies for other languages like Farsi and Mixteco, an indigenous language from southern Mexico. She said she thinks the template will help districts and translators do a better job.

    “Although our IEPs differ … I think we use a lot of the same terms, a lot of the same language,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to having it on the template, because if there’s ever a word or phrase you need, it’s there for you, and it’s free.”

    Sara Gomez, who has a 4-year-old with autism who attends preschool in Santa Clara County, said she thinks the law is a good step forward.

    “I think the law is positive, in that it gives a sense of alarm that translations need to be done urgently,” Gomez said. “But we still don’t have a required timeline.”

    Gomez said she has had to wait three or four months for her son’s individualized education program to be translated into Spanish. Gomez, who is from Venezuela, speaks English, but her husband speaks only Spanish.

    She said she has heard of other parents waiting up to a year for translations, leaving them unable to make informed decisions about their children’s education.

    “Even four months for a young child make a big difference,” Gomez said in Spanish. “When they are the youngest is when they need the most help.” 

    Advocates and families said they will keep pushing the state for guidelines about how to access qualified translators and a time limit for translations. 

    “We understand that districts experience challenges in finding qualified translators, especially for less common languages, and turning around documents quickly,” said French, from Innovate Public Schools.

    However, she said, different districts have very different timelines for translations.

    “We don’t believe it should be that inconsistent, if a parent lives in one district versus another,” French said. “There should be equity across the state about what a parent should expect in terms of translated documents.”

    Allegra Cira Fischer, senior policy attorney for the nonprofit organization Disability Rights California, agreed. She said she was dismayed to see that the 30-day timeframe was removed from the bill.

    “Parents tell us that sometimes their student will have a better teacher or a better case manager and they’ll get things in a more timely manner. But parents shouldn’t have to rely on an especially committed teacher or case manager,” Fischer said. “This is a situation that is really untenable and ultimately is harmful to children with disabilities.”





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  • Better writing instruction comes from studying student work more closely

    Better writing instruction comes from studying student work more closely


    Credit: Katie Schneider Gumiran and Rosa Gaia for Conway Elementary

    An instructional leader in a Bay Area school district told me last week that while they are a bright spot in improving reading for the last three years, they still haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. “Our biggest pain point is writing. Our gaps start in ELA, but we see them in science and social studies too.”

    This district isn’t alone; schools throughout California are struggling to improve writing across the curriculum. What might we do differently?

    In their new book, Learning Together, Elham Kazemi and colleagues suggest school leaders work with teachers to analyze student writing more regularly. Reviewing a set of informational essays, or an extended project in biology, could be the center of more grade-level planning meetings or districtwide professional learning days.

    The pioneer in this approach has been Ron Berger, one of the co-founders of EL Education, a national non-profit that partners with K-12 educators to transform their schools. Berger has been a mainstay of High Tech High’s Deeper Learning conferences in San Diego and has taught more than 300 workshops around the country, all of them closely examining examples of student work.

    In Leaders of Their Own Learning, the instructional guide he co-authored, Berger tells the story of coaching a high school physics teacher who says, “The students’ lab reports are terribly written and it’s driving me crazy.”

    Ron asks if she’s ever shown her students a model of a good lab report and she replies that she has not.

    When given the chance to closely study an exemplary lab report, her students are surprised at the vocabulary and level of precision in it. A number laughed at how low their own standards had been.

    “For all the correcting we do, directions we give, and rubrics we create about what good work looks like,” writes Berger, “students are often unclear about what they are aiming for until they actually see and analyze strong models.”

    Ron Berger used to lug around a giant black bag of student essays, labs, and video presentations to discuss at workshops. Eventually, with support from the Hewlett Foundation, and collaborating with Steve Seidel at Harvard University, Berger built an online museum for displaying student work.

    Models of Excellence showcases 500 examples of great student writing and other projects from around the U.S. and the world. California students have contributed sixty pieces, including a Kids Guide to California National Parks created by 2nd graders from Big Pine, and an analysis by 6th graders on the water quality of Lake Merritt in Oakland. 

    Here are three ways districts and schools across California can improve writing by studying their own student work:

    First, form a study group. In grade-level meetings or working across the district, teachers and a coach can assemble their own models of excellent student writing. The group can link the models to criteria which guide students’ efforts; the more concrete, the better. The study group can use the rubrics and student checklists developed by the Vermont Writing Collaborative for all genres of writing at all grade levels.

    After teaching a lesson where third graders critiqued a fantasy story, Berger reflects, “It’s much more powerful to bring in models of great work. Then have the kids be detectives and have the excitement of discovering and naming the qualities of great writing — humor, powerful words, well-drawn character — in their own words.”

    Second, get the feedback right. Dylan William writes in Embedded Formative Assessment that most feedback in schools is accurate, but falls short of showing the learner how to move forward. He tells of a science student who reads he needs to be more systematic. “If I knew how,” the student tells his teacher, “I would have done it the first time.”

    Students can resist revising their work, so Berger suggests teachers and peers follow this mantra about feedback: “Be Kind, Be Specific, Be Helpful.” Keeping this in mind, writing three or four drafts of an essay becomes a part of the school culture.  

    Finally, make the writing visible. Tina Meglich, principal of Conway Elementary in Escondido, transformed her school by displaying curated student work throughout the library and hallways. “Kids will ask, ‘Who wrote that essay on Esperanza Rising?’ They’re fascinated by each other’s work, and they inspire one another to do better because of it.”

    Analyzing student writing in this way not only raises the quality of the work, but it also instills in students a vision of what’s possible.  “I believe that work of excellence is transformational,” Berger writes. “After students have had a taste of excellence, they’re never satisfied with less; they’re always hungry.”

    •••

    David Scarlett Wakelyn is a consultant at Upswing Labs, a nonprofit that works with school districts and charter schools to improve instruction. He previously was on the team at the National Governors Association that developed Common Core State Standards. 

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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