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  • Central Valley students to benefit from new Fresno State program | Quick Guide

    Central Valley students to benefit from new Fresno State program | Quick Guide


    Fresno State University

    Credit: fresnostate.edu

    Thanks to a new program, thousands of students across the central San Joaquin Valley will receive college and career prep throughout their entire high school career and a guarantee that, once they graduate, they’ll have a spot at Fresno State, one of the California State University campuses. 

    Through Fresno State’s Bulldog Bound Program, students at more than 20 school districts, including the state’s third-largest, Fresno Unified, will get a guaranteed spot at the university, if students meet the minimum graduation requirements, as well as guidance each year of high school. 

    “We know that Bulldog Bound will completely change how we see and truly live what it is to have a college-bound culture in our (school) system,” said Misty Her, Fresno Unified deputy superintendent, during the Aug. 23 board meeting discussing the program. 

    “This says to all of our students that we believe in you, that we will cultivate and build your greatest potential, and that as soon as you enter our system, college is already an option for you.” 

    Jeremy Ward, assistant superintendent for college and career readiness for Fresno Unified, said that while guaranteed admission to Fresno State is the chief “promise” of the program, all students will receive support, resources and tools to be successful Fresno State Bulldogs.

    All students — starting in the ninth grade and every year until they graduate — will reap the benefits of the program. 

    “I believe that Bulldog Bound is going to prepare (students) not just for the requirements for getting into college but into careers,” said Phong Yang, interim associate vice president for strategic enrollment at Fresno State.

    The university started the program to ensure students in the Central Valley have a “clear, tangible path” to a college degree. 

    Throughout much of the Central Valley, less than 25% of adults age 25 or older earned a bachelor’s degree, according to 2020 education and labor statistics. Specifically, 22% in Fresno County hold a bachelor’s degree; 15% have a bachelor’s degree in Kings, Madera and Tulare counties; and 14% earned a bachelor’s degree in Merced County. In comparison, statewide, 35% of adults hold a bachelor’s degree. 

    The Bulldog Bound program, many believe, can change that by promoting a college-going culture in the region. 

    “The vision behind Bulldog Bound is that every student gets the same treatment, no matter where you go, no matter where you come from,” Yang said. “You’re going to have the same opportunity.” 

    The university, Fresno Unified and other school districts launched the initiative in May, but this is the first semester for the program. Here’s what it means for students and families. 

    What districts are participating? 

    Fresno State’s partnering school districts are located in Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare counties and include: Caruthers Unified, Central Unified, Chawanakee Unified, Clovis Unified, Cutler-Orosi Unified, Firebaugh-Las Deltas Unified, Fowler Unified, Fresno Unified, Gustine Unified, Kerman Unified, Kings Canyon Unified, Kingsburg Unified, Los Banos Unified, Madera Unified, Mendota Unified, Parlier Unified, Porterville Unified, Sanger Unified, Tulare Joint Union High School District, University High School and Visalia Unified. 

    What can all students, grades 9-12, expect? 

    High school counselors and Fresno State ambassadors (current students) will lead workshops about the program and the opportunities it will provide. Although the workshops start in ninth grade, the lessons continue throughout students’ high school careers.

    Are there any other benefits for ninth graders? 

    Students will receive a Fresno State ID card and email address. Although the cards will be a different color from the college student ID cards, the cards grant high schoolers access to: 

    • On- campus privileges, such as library use.
    • Student admission rates at sporting events and for food or other items.

    In 10th grade?

    Students can:

    • Participate in campus tours.
    • Explore the majors they can study at Fresno State.
    • Learn in-person and on-campus during a summer experience at the end of their 10th grade year. During the summer experience, students can take college-prep lessons, learn even more about majors and become familiar with the campus. 

    In 11th grade? 

    While continuing to learn from workshops and admission prep, 11th grade students receive:

    • Conditional admission.
    • Dual enrollment opportunities.
    • Summer experience opportunities. 

    In 12th grade? 

    As high school seniors in the program, students receive on-the-spot acceptance once they submit their application if they’ve met the graduation requirements. 

    “That means they’re in,” Ward said. “There’s no waiting, no wondering. They’re a part of the Fresno State Bulldog family.” 

    Families will also receive early financial aid estimates to plan for the costs of attending. 

    What do students learn?

    Workshops and lessons, which happen each school year, include topics on:

    • The Bulldog Bound program and how to be involved.
    • Financial literacy, starting in 10th grade.
    • Applying for college, starting in 11th grade.
    • Scholarship opportunities, starting in 12th grade.
    • Building “college knowledge,” as Ward described it.

    The program opens the door for Fresno State to engage with and educate students on college and career readiness, many say. 

    Oftentimes, first-time students are unsure of what career they want to pursue, said Yang, Fresno State’s interim associate vice president for strategic enrollment. With Bulldog Bound, Fresno State will have the opportunity to engage students about their interests early in high school and inform them of the right classes they should take to pursue those interests. 

    Other than the workshops, admissions prep and campus tours, students will learn about college life from current students. Fresno State uses a team of student ambassadors, many of whom are from the local Fresno area, according to Yang. 

    “That is, by far, one of the most effective ways for students to see their potential in going to college because they see individuals like themselves coming from the neighborhood, coming back and sharing their experiences,” he said.

    What do students need to do? 

    Students sign a Fresno State agreement in ninth grade. In Fresno Unified, students are automatically a part of the program, but families can choose to opt out. 

    What are the graduation requirements to obtain guaranteed admission? 

    Students must meet the minimum California State University A-G course requirements. Once in the 12th grade, they apply for and are granted admission to Fresno State. 

    What could be the impact? 

    Not only does the program guarantee admission, but it also provides “knowledge for (even) a ninth grade student to know, to plan, to prepare” for that acceptance and admission, Ward said. 

    Claudia Cazares, a Fresno Unified board member, said, “I think it’s opening the eyes of many of our students who hadn’t considered that as an option.”





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  • California’s $115 million investment in zero-textbook-cost program at risk of falling short

    California’s $115 million investment in zero-textbook-cost program at risk of falling short


    Credit: Julie Leopo / EdSource

    As California’s 1.8 million community college students begin the term, many are forced to make a difficult choice — whether to spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks required to help them earn a degree, or to pay their rent or buy meals for their families. This is a choice that no one should have to make.

    Thankfully, this choice could soon become obsolete with the establishment of zero textbook-cost programs throughout the California Community Colleges. Zero-textbook-cost programs are degree and certificate pathways in which students do not pay extra for course materials.

    These programs largely rely on openly licensed materials that are free for faculty and students to use, edit and share. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom appropriated $115 million for the state’s community colleges to implement zero-textbook-cost programs and develop open educational resources, paving the way for more affordable education for millions of students and positioning California as a leader and model for other states, stating the need to “deal with the racket … that is the textbook industry.”

    However, this unprecedented $115 million investment may fall short of its potential.

    More than two years have passed with no coordinated effort to determine what zero-textbook-cost programs exist or are being developed, assess gaps in available openly licensed resources, or implement meaningful ways for colleges to share resources to complete their pathways. In addition, no efforts have been made to develop a process for supporting resource co-creation across the system as required by ​​California Education Code 78052, which states: “The chancellor’s office shall ensure that a grant does not result in the development or implementation of duplicate degrees for a subject matter to avoid duplication of effort.” Clearly, the legislation requires statewide coordination in order to “maximize impact for the benefit of the greatest number of students.” To date, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office has done little to encourage the collaboration necessary to realize the legislation’s intent.

    Despite the lack of coordinated preparation, a memo issued by the Chancellor’s Office on Aug. 21 specified an extremely short deadline of Sept. 15 for colleges to submit applications to access $88.55 million in Acceleration Grants, the balance of the available program development funding. Even with a provision for a six-week extension, this turnaround time would be problematic at any point in the year — but even more so when introduced without notice, at the beginning of an academic year, and with minimal guidance. These conditions make it nearly impossible for colleges to conduct the planning required to prepare a quality application. Additionally, while the colleges have received initial funds to plan and establish at least one zero-textbook-cost pathway by fall 2025, this timeline interrupts the Oct.  31 deadline for initial planning that colleges have underway.

    Furthermore, the guidance and communication about these grants has been vague. The universal response across colleges has been dismay and frustration. Why would so little time be provided for the development of the application? How will applications be evaluated? And why is nothing being done to establish statewide coordination of the zero-textbook-cost work — as is necessary to achieve the intent of the legislation?

    There are ways to fix this. First, the deadline to apply for Acceleration Grants should be extended, encouraging colleges to take the time to optimize plans to use the funds effectively — rather than pushing colleges to apply that may not be prepared to do so. Additionally, funding should be set aside for a subsequent round of grants, providing colleges with an incentive to engage in long-term planning.

    Second, guidance should be provided to ensure that colleges do not simply use the funds to purchase textbooks — a quick but temporary fix to an ongoing problem. Further, accountability mechanisms are needed to encourage long-term solutions and the application of lessons learned from implementation efforts. Lastly, the Community College Chancellor’s Office needs to support coordinated resource development and tracking that would provide an easy way to see zero-textbook-cost pathways being created, as well as a means to identify resources that could be shared to maximize the impact of the funds — ensuring that money is not spent reinventing the wheel.

    Open educational resources and zero-textbook-cost programs can have tremendous, positive impacts on the lives and success of students. But for that to happen, the state’s investment in these programs must be used wisely and coordinated effectively. If the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office amends its process, encourages collaboration among colleges, and gives colleges the time they need to plan, California students can reap the benefits of a more affordable, engaging education that leads them to better lives.

    •••

    Lisa Petrides, Ph.D., is CEO and founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education and president of the San Mateo County Community College District board of trustees.

    Michelle Pilati, Ph.D., is a professor at Rio Hondo College and project director, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges Open Educational Resources Initiative.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors and not of EdSource or their organizational affiliations. 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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  • Newsom signs bill creating new transfer pilot program between UC and community colleges

    Newsom signs bill creating new transfer pilot program between UC and community colleges


    The Transfer and Reentry Center in Dutton Hall at UC Davis helps transfers get acclimated to their new environment.

    Credit: Karin Higgins/UC Davis

    In a bid to make it easier for California’s community college students to transfer to the University of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday to create a new transfer pathway between the two systems.

    The transfer pathway created by Assembly Bill 1291 will start as a pilot program at UCLA, with students getting priority admission if they complete an associate degree for transfer in select majors beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. The specific majors haven’t yet been determined, but UCLA will have to identify at least eight and another four by 2028-29. At least four of the majors will be in a science, technology, engineering or math field.

    The new pathway would expand to at least four additional UC campuses, also in limited majors, by 2028-29.

    The bill doesn’t, however, guarantee students admission to their chosen campus. If a student is not admitted to their preferred campus, the student will be redirected and admitted to another campus.

    Supporters of the legislation say it would help to streamline the state’s complex transfer system since students can already earn an associate degree to get a guaranteed spot in the California State University system.

    “By working together, California’s three world-leading higher education systems are ensuring more students have the freedom to thrive, learn, and succeed,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this new law, the Golden State is streamlining the transfer process, making a four-year degree more affordable for transfer students, and helping students obtain high-paying and fulfilling careers.”

    Newsom signed the bill despite opposition from the statewide student associations representing UC and community college students. In a statement last month urging Newsom to veto the legislation, they said they were dissatisfied because it doesn’t give students a guaranteed spot at the campus of their choice.

    The bill’s author, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said in a statement that it will help to “tackle a long-standing goal in California: to simplify and streamline the transfer paths” for community college students. “This bill gets UC into the game with universal transfer pathways and will increase economic opportunity and prosperity for all Californians to help our state economy thrive,” he added.

    Currently, UC lacks a systemwide transfer guarantee for community college students. There are separate transfer admission guarantees at six of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses — each of them except UCLA, Berkeley and San Diego. But those separate guarantees each have different requirements for admission. And students who are also interested in transferring to Cal State have to simultaneously deal with that system’s own distinct requirements.

    Earlier this year, McCarty authored another bill, Assembly Bill 1749, that would have gone further than the more recent legislation by requiring UC to admit all eligible students who complete any associate degree for transfer, like the California State University system already does.

    UC opposed that bill, arguing that it would be a disservice to students in certain STEM majors because they would enter UC underprepared for some upper-division courses. UC officials then negotiated the details of AB 1291 with the governor’s office, McCarty and other key lawmakers.

    “I am proud that 27 percent of University of California undergraduates begin their educational journey at a California Community College and go on to thrive on our campuses,” Michael Drake, UC’s systemwide president, said in a statement. “The University is committed to attracting and supporting transfer students, and we look forward to continuing to partner with transfer advocates such as Governor Newsom, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, and others in the state legislature on streamlining the transfer process.”





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  • Congress must reinvigorate the nation’s Head Start program

    Congress must reinvigorate the nation’s Head Start program


    Credit: Lillian Mongeau/EdSource

    Our country is facing an urgent crisis: the early-educator shortage. Earlier this year, the National Head Start Association reported that 19% of Head Start staff positions were vacant nationwide, leading to the closure of 20% of all Head Start classrooms. As of August, the entire child care workforce was 40,000 less than pre-pandemic.

    As the largest Head Start provider in Los Angeles County and the state of California, the Los Angeles County Office of Education feels shortage acutely. We recognize the immense responsibility we have to children, families and communities, as well as the elementary schools where our youngest learners will continue their educational journeys. It takes educators to meet that commitment.

    It is time for Congress to fulfill the promise of Head Start by investing in the highly qualified, professional educators who teach our youngest learners through funding that at least keeps pace with inflation.

    In the meantime, we at the county office, like many early-learning providers, are doing what we can to address the staffing crisis.

    In August, I had the pleasure of addressing a graduating class of brand-new educators. Not fresh-faced young college grads just setting off into the world, these new teachers were already parents, enrolled in our Head Start program, and ready to change their life trajectories.

    There was Maria Riley, a Head Start mom decades ago, and now a Head Start grandma as she fosters her two young grandsons. Reengaging with Head Start had ignited a spark she will now share with more young learners.

    There was Martha Rebollar, initially hesitant to return to school after so long away, convinced she wouldn’t finish, and always on the verge of dropping out. But she was always persevering. And, ultimately, she was the first to be hired.

    There was Georgina Perez, whose childhood dream of becoming a teacher was first put on hold, then nearly derailed by cancer. But she would not give up. Though she had to attend the first few classes virtually from her hospital bed, she never quit.

    Then there were three dozen more of their peers, each with their own story. They joined us as parents, became our students, and are now fully qualified, professional early educators.

    Each is a testament to what the Head Start program can accomplish and a reminder of the promise made by our elected representatives in Washington for nearly six decades — a promise Congress must now reignite.

    Launching Head Start as a new front in the War on Poverty in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson declared it “one of the most constructive, and one of the most sensible, and also one of the most exciting programs that this nation has ever undertaken.”

    A National Bureau of Economic Research report shows that “Head Start easily pays for itself and generates sizable returns when taking account of its long-run effects” through lifelong benefits, even second-generation benefits, to participants.

    Proclaiming Head Start Awareness Month in October 1982, President Ronald Reagan recognized that “the services provided by dedicated Head Start staff have been instrumental in creating a quality program that truly provides young children with a ‘head start’ in life.”

    Head Start’s inclusive, comprehensive, whole-family, whole-child approach is what makes the difference — even more so in this post-pandemic world. Beginning with supporting expectant parents, collaborating with and empowering families while nurturing children educationally, nutritionally, socially and emotionally from birth until school entry, Head Start prepares children for success in school and in life.

    Head Start teachers are required to tailor activities to meet each child’s unique needs. Home visitors empower parents to be their child’s first and best teachers. Family service workers help families move toward self-sufficiency. Health and nutrition specialists build the foundation for a lifetime of healthy habits. And disabilities managers ensure that children of all abilities thrive in an inclusive classroom.

    Achieving all this, however, takes qualified, passionate staff who feel supported, are fairly compensated, and have opportunities for career growth. With proper funding, the result will be a stable workforce backed with the support needed to be present for our young learners and prepare them for the TK-12 journey ahead.

    That’s why the Los Angeles County Office of Education launched our Career Development Initiative to provide an innovative, fast-track career growth opportunity for talented, committed individuals like Maria, Martha, Georgina and so many more.

    And that’s why I’m calling on all of our elected officials to prioritize Head Start. As a society, we cannot afford to let our children, our families and our teachers down. Our future depends on it.

    •••

    Debra Duardo is the Los Angeles 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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  • Erratic results, high costs doomed this districtwide student improvement program

    Erratic results, high costs doomed this districtwide student improvement program


    Students in a Fresno Unified classroom.

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Top Takeaways
    • Fresno Unified and its teachers union reached an agreement in mid-June to attempt to mitigate the impacts of a long-standing program ending. 
    • The multimillion-dollar program was touted by the district as a way to close gaps between student groups less than three years ago. 
    • Finances, inconsistent program implementation and varied results are some of the reasons the district says the program was eliminated. 

    The Fresno Unified School District and its teachers union have reached an agreement to terminate a decade-old, once-promising student improvement program that expanded from a pilot in a handful of low-performing schools to 40 of the district’s 67 elementary schools and one middle school. 

    Faced with rising program costs, declining enrollment and cuts in revenue, the district decided that inconsistent results could not justify the program’s high expense of almost $30 million.

    “When you have finances crash with programmatic inconsistencies … just kind of created the perfect storm for us to go a different direction,” said David Chavez, district chief of human resources, who also worked for two former superintendents. 

    The Designated Schools program, which operated under three superintendents, was a district initiative to improve achievement through additional daily instruction by targeting the specific needs of students. The effort was extensive: 30 additional instructional minutes per day for students, 10 extra paid days of professional development for teachers, and either a math or reading coach in each school.

    Under the agreement with the Fresno Teachers Association, the coaches will return to the classroom as regular teachers, and teachers will see a phaseout of their 10-day training over the next few years. For students, aside from losing 30 minutes of instruction, there will be no transition. They can participate in the after-school program they are already entitled to attend, where they may receive intervention or instruction from teachers who choose to participate.    

    Dismantling the previously praised program raises questions about how and why it went awry. 

    The district blames inconsistent program implementation across schools, but it failed to set standards or hold schools accountable to the program’s tenets. 

    Going Deeper: Who Designated Schools served 

    Designated Schools, affecting 24,000 students and over 1,250 educators across 41 campuses, were intended to close academic gaps among students and were typically located in neighborhoods with large numbers of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In the extra 30 minutes, all students received additional instruction or intervention in some way.

    Reading specialists at Wilson Elementary, a Designated School, used those extra minutes on remedial instruction for struggling fifth graders who were unable to read even at a third or fourth grade level, said Drew Colburn, a fifth grade teacher. 

    During intervention time, Colburn and other teachers divided their classes into small groups by proficiency level and targeted students’ weak points, allowing all students to get additional support, without missing core instruction. 

    At Wilson, following slight improvements, 18.6% and 12.1% of students achieved reading and math proficiency in the 2023-24 school year, according to Ed-Data. 

    Teachers say they saw improvements, which may not have been as apparent on summative state tests that the district evaluated to determine program effectiveness. 

    “If you take that 30 minutes away from them, they’re going to come to fifth grade with even more of a deficit,” Colburn said. 

    Inconsistent implementation or lack of oversight?

    The first “Designated Schools” were actually three of the district’s lowest-performing schools. Fresno Unified gave teachers more time to plan, additional instruction time with students and extra support as part of the state’s turnaround model to reform persistently low-achieving schools.

    The schools started to see improved student performance, including double-digit gains in some instances, according to district Superintendent Misty Her.  

    “We thought, ‘Can we take what happened there and now replicate it into other schools?’” said Her, who was a school administrator at the time. 

    In 2014-15, under the label of Designated Schools, two schools, along with nine others, implemented the model. Over the last decade and multiple years of implementation, the program expanded with the district being the initiative’s biggest advocate.

    The model, when implemented as intended, supported improved student outcomes on state assessments for English and math, Fresno Unified said in May 2021 in its accountability plan for the 2021-22 school year, when the program cost $19.9 million across the 41 schools.  

    But, according to district leaders, schools implemented the program differently, undermining the effectiveness of the extra staff and extra 30 minutes, and leading to varying results. 

    Timeline of Designated School expansion, elimination

    2014-15: Fresno Unified implemented the Designed Schools initiative at 10 elementary schools and one middle school

    2015-16: 20 schools were added as Designated Schools

    2016-17: 10 more elementary schools became Designated Schools

    From 2017-2019: The model had improved scores on state assessments for low-income, foster youth and English learner student populations, according to district accountability plans.

    2019: Annual funding for the program continued to increase, rising to over $18.6 million.

    2020-21: Hanover Research conducted its analysis, showing mixed results from the program.

    2021: Fresno Unified, in its accountability plan for the 2021-22 school year, said the initiative would “address the needs of students by providing extended time to accelerate learning and close the gap of learning loss resulting from the pandemic.” 

    2022: The district suggested expanding the program to its remaining two dozen elementary schools. 

    2023-24: Fresno Unified proposed phasing out the initiative before abandoning the idea later in the school year. 

    2024-25: The district announced the program’s elimination for the 2025-26 school year. 

    The district added a special assignment teacher to every Designated School, but gave schools the autonomy to use that position as they saw fit. Some schools used the position as an intervention teacher; others used the extra support to assist during class or pull students out for individualized or group instruction. A few schools required the specialists to take on multiple duties, consequently hindering their work in the classroom. 

    Laura Schwalm, chief of staff for California Education Partners, where she works with about 50 school districts on systemic change and improvement, said that before expanding an initiative, districts should have a plan, including how to fund it; set clear expectations; monitor the program and its results throughout the year to make adjustments; and invest in teachers and administrators to deliver the program. 

    An analysis of the program, conducted by Hanover Research in the 2020-21 school year, found that:

    • Academic outcomes were mixed
    • Program implementation varied across campuses, with only some schools aligning resources with data-driven practices 

    District administration had the authority and ability to address the program’s flaws. In fact, the Hanover report recommended that Fresno Unified establish a set of standards on how staff should use its additional time at Designated Schools. 

    The autonomy, alone, wasn’t the problem; a lack of district monitoring was. Schwalm said using different approaches could have led to improved student results and could have been used in other schools.

    “If you’re not monitoring and not adjusting what you’re doing to get better results, then you can’t be surprised when you don’t get good results,” she said.

    Former Superintendent Bob Nelson, who led the district from 2017 until 2024, said he and the district leadership “didn’t pay close enough attention to schools that were doing it well” to be models for other schools. 

    “The issue was we were not learning from the sites we had. That’s what was missing.”

    Bob Nelson, former superintendent of Fresno Unified

    According to a June 2022 accountability plan, the district still hailed the initiative as being “critical” to the achievement of English learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and foster youth.

    By November 2022, Fresno Unified wanted to expand the initiative to all elementary schools to improve academic outcomes for students, according to contract negotiation documents with the teachers union. 

    “Less than a year and a half after they proposed every school site become a Designated School, they’re saying, ‘This program doesn’t work,’” said Manuel Bonilla, teachers union president. 

    Chavez, the chief of human resources, said Fresno Unified had evaluated the program’s effectiveness every year since its inception and that its continuation, especially since it was meant to be a pilot, had been a part of conversations for years. 

    But was it effective? 

    Parents, teachers and administrators told EdSource they believe students benefit from more time with their teachers. The extra 30 minutes amounted to 90 additional instructional hours each year.

    “I believe it does give teachers a little bit more time to be able to work with each kid,” said Adriana Ramirez, a Wilson Elementary parent.

    But both the district and teachers union agreed that its effectiveness was not a simple yes or no answer. 

    “Depending on the situation, some components were really good at this site, some weren’t at this (school), and one component that could have been good somewhere wasn’t necessarily really good at another place,” Chavez said. 

    There were “pockets of excellence,” he and other district officials admitted, but students were not seeing the academic gains the district envisioned. 

    Though not school-specific, the district provided data measuring the yearly progress of students at Designated Schools compared to students at non-designated schools. 

    EdSource also evaluated school-specific data from a GO Public Schools 2024 student outcome report based on the 2023-24 school year.

    The district-provided and school-specific data is indicative that many schools were making progress under the initiative, as teachers say, while also depicting the district’s point that it was not across the board.

    Without data from a 10-year longitudinal study, Bonilla, the teachers union president, said he couldn’t say whether the Designated Schools initiative was effective. 

    “Some of our teachers felt that it was effective and some teachers felt that there were components that could make it even more effective because it wasn’t,” Bonilla said.

    Mitigating impact

    The district and teachers union spent six months negotiating how to maintain student support through other programs. 

    The agreement approved on June 18 dedicates an additional $4 million in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years for educators at Designated Schools to offer after-school literacy instruction or intervention. 

    Educators at Designated Schools, under the agreement, will have the right to refuse the work. If given the opportunity, Drew Colburn, a fifth grade Wilson Elementary teacher who was also a former after-school program coordinator, is confident educators are going to want to do that extra 30 minutes, if not more. 

    But if teachers decline the assignment, the after-school intervention won’t be as consistent or effective, he said. 

    And unfortunately, families won’t know the repercussions of the program’s elimination until this school year when it’s no longer in place, Ramirez said. “Parents,” she said, “won’t notice until it’s not there.”





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  • Erratic results, high costs doomed this district’s once-heralded student improvement program

    Erratic results, high costs doomed this district’s once-heralded student improvement program


    Students in a Fresno Unified classroom.

    Credit: Fresno Unified / Flickr

    Top Takeaways
    • Fresno Unified and its teachers union reached an agreement in mid-June to attempt to mitigate the impacts of a long-standing program ending. 
    • The multimillion-dollar program was touted by the district as a way to close gaps between student groups less than three years ago. 
    • Finances, inconsistent program implementation and varied results are some of the reasons the district says the program was eliminated. 

    The Fresno Unified School District and its teachers union have reached an agreement to terminate a decade-old, once-promising student improvement program that expanded from a pilot in a handful of low-performing schools to 40 of the district’s 67 elementary schools and one middle school. 

    Faced with rising program costs, declining enrollment and cuts in revenue, the district decided that inconsistent results could not justify the program’s high expense of almost $30 million.

    “When you have finances crash with programmatic inconsistencies … just kind of created the perfect storm for us to go a different direction,” said David Chavez, district chief of human resources, who also worked for two former superintendents. 

    The Designated Schools program, which operated under three superintendents, was a district initiative to improve achievement through additional daily instruction by targeting the specific needs of students. The effort was extensive: 30 additional instructional minutes per day for students, 10 extra paid days of professional development for teachers, and either a math or reading coach in each school.

    Under the agreement with the Fresno Teachers Association, the coaches will return to the classroom as regular teachers, and teachers will see a phaseout of their 10-day training over the next few years. For students, aside from losing 30 minutes of instruction, there will be no transition. They can participate in the after-school program they are already entitled to attend, where they may receive intervention or instruction from teachers who choose to participate.    

    Dismantling the previously praised program raises questions about how and why it went awry. 

    The district blames inconsistent program implementation across schools, but it failed to set standards or hold schools accountable to the program’s tenets. 

    Going Deeper: Who Designated Schools served 

    Designated Schools, affecting 24,000 students and over 1,250 educators across 41 campuses, were intended to close academic gaps among students and were typically located in neighborhoods with large numbers of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. In the extra 30 minutes, all students received additional instruction or intervention in some way.

    Reading specialists at Wilson Elementary, a Designated School, used those extra minutes on remedial instruction for struggling fifth graders who were unable to read even at a third or fourth grade level, said Drew Colburn, a fifth grade teacher. 

    During intervention time, Colburn and other teachers divided their classes into small groups by proficiency level and targeted students’ weak points, allowing all students to get additional support, without missing core instruction. 

    At Wilson, following slight improvements, 18.6% and 12.1% of students achieved reading and math proficiency in the 2023-24 school year, according to Ed-Data. 

    Teachers say they saw improvements, which may not have been as apparent on summative state tests that the district evaluated to determine program effectiveness. 

    “If you take that 30 minutes away from them, they’re going to come to fifth grade with even more of a deficit,” Colburn said. 

    Inconsistent implementation or lack of oversight?

    The first “Designated Schools” were actually three of the district’s lowest-performing schools. Fresno Unified gave teachers more time to plan, additional instruction time with students and extra support as part of the state’s turnaround model to reform persistently low-achieving schools.

    The schools started to see improved student performance, including double-digit gains in some instances, according to district Superintendent Misty Her.  

    “We thought, ‘Can we take what happened there and now replicate it into other schools?’” said Her, who was a school administrator at the time. 

    In 2014-15, under the label of Designated Schools, two schools, along with nine others, implemented the model. Over the last decade and multiple years of implementation, the program expanded with the district being the initiative’s biggest advocate.

    The model, when implemented as intended, supported improved student outcomes on state assessments for English and math, Fresno Unified said in May 2021 in its accountability plan for the 2021-22 school year, when the program cost $19.9 million across the 41 schools.  

    But, according to district leaders, schools implemented the program differently, undermining the effectiveness of the extra staff and extra 30 minutes, and leading to varying results. 

    Timeline of Designated School expansion, elimination

    2014-15: Fresno Unified implemented the Designed Schools initiative at 10 elementary schools and one middle school

    2015-16: 20 schools were added as Designated Schools

    2016-17: 10 more elementary schools became Designated Schools

    From 2017-2019: The model had improved scores on state assessments for low-income, foster youth and English learner student populations, according to district accountability plans.

    2019: Annual funding for the program continued to increase, rising to over $18.6 million.

    2020-21: Hanover Research conducted its analysis, showing mixed results from the program.

    2021: Fresno Unified, in its accountability plan for the 2021-22 school year, said the initiative would “address the needs of students by providing extended time to accelerate learning and close the gap of learning loss resulting from the pandemic.” 

    2022: The district suggested expanding the program to its remaining two dozen elementary schools. 

    2023-24: Fresno Unified proposed phasing out the initiative before abandoning the idea later in the school year. 

    2024-25: The district announced the program’s elimination for the 2025-26 school year. 

    The district added a special assignment teacher to every Designated School, but gave schools the autonomy to use that position as they saw fit. Some schools used the position as an intervention teacher; others used the extra support to assist during class or pull students out for individualized or group instruction. A few schools required the specialists to take on multiple duties, consequently hindering their work in the classroom. 

    Laura Schwalm, chief of staff for California Education Partners, where she works with about 50 school districts on systemic change and improvement, said that before expanding an initiative, districts should have a plan, including how to fund it; set clear expectations; monitor the program and its results throughout the year to make adjustments; and invest in teachers and administrators to deliver the program. 

    An analysis of the program, conducted by Hanover Research in the 2020-21 school year, found that:

    • Academic outcomes were mixed
    • Program implementation varied across campuses, with only some schools aligning resources with data-driven practices 

    District administration had the authority and ability to address the program’s flaws. In fact, the Hanover report recommended that Fresno Unified establish a set of standards on how staff should use its additional time at Designated Schools. 

    The autonomy, alone, wasn’t the problem; a lack of district monitoring was. Schwalm said using different approaches could have led to improved student results and could have been used in other schools.

    “If you’re not monitoring and not adjusting what you’re doing to get better results, then you can’t be surprised when you don’t get good results,” she said.

    Former Superintendent Bob Nelson, who led the district from 2017 until 2024, said he and the district leadership “didn’t pay close enough attention to schools that were doing it well” to be models for other schools. 

    “The issue was we were not learning from the sites we had. That’s what was missing.”

    Bob Nelson, former superintendent of Fresno Unified

    According to a June 2022 accountability plan, the district still hailed the initiative as being “critical” to the achievement of English learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students and foster youth.

    By November 2022, Fresno Unified wanted to expand the initiative to all elementary schools to improve academic outcomes for students, according to contract negotiation documents with the teachers union. 

    “Less than a year and a half after they proposed every school site become a Designated School, they’re saying, ‘This program doesn’t work,’” said Manuel Bonilla, teachers union president. 

    Chavez, the chief of human resources, said Fresno Unified had evaluated the program’s effectiveness every year since its inception and that its continuation, especially since it was meant to be a pilot, had been a part of conversations for years. 

    But was it effective? 

    Parents, teachers and administrators told EdSource they believe students benefit from more time with their teachers. The extra 30 minutes amounted to 90 additional instructional hours each year.

    “I believe it does give teachers a little bit more time to be able to work with each kid,” said Adriana Ramirez, a Wilson Elementary parent.

    But both the district and teachers union agreed that its effectiveness was not a simple yes or no answer. 

    “Depending on the situation, some components were really good at this site, some weren’t at this (school), and one component that could have been good somewhere wasn’t necessarily really good at another place,” Chavez said. 

    There were “pockets of excellence,” he and other district officials admitted, but students were not seeing the academic gains the district envisioned. 

    Though not school-specific, the district provided data measuring the yearly progress of students at Designated Schools compared to students at non-designated schools. 

    EdSource also evaluated school-specific data from a GO Public Schools 2024 student outcome report based on the 2023-24 school year.

    chart visualization

    chart visualization

    chart visualization

    The district-provided and school-specific data is indicative that many schools were making progress under the initiative, as teachers say, while also depicting the district’s point that it was not across the board.

    Without data from a 10-year longitudinal study, Bonilla, the teachers union president, said he couldn’t say whether the Designated Schools initiative was effective. 

    “Some of our teachers felt that it was effective and some teachers felt that there were components that could make it even more effective because it wasn’t,” Bonilla said.

    Mitigating impact

    The district and teachers union spent six months negotiating how to maintain student support through other programs. 

    The agreement approved on June 18 dedicates an additional $4 million in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years for educators at Designated Schools to offer after-school literacy instruction or intervention. 

    Educators at Designated Schools, under the agreement, will have the right to refuse the work. If given the opportunity, Drew Colburn, a fifth grade Wilson Elementary teacher who was also a former after-school program coordinator, is confident educators are going to want to do that extra 30 minutes, if not more. 

    But if teachers decline the assignment, the after-school intervention won’t be as consistent or effective, he said. 

    And unfortunately, families won’t know the repercussions of the program’s elimination until this school year when it’s no longer in place, Ramirez said. “Parents,” she said, “won’t notice until it’s not there.”





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  • Unique college-in-prison program to get guaranteed Cal State transfer admission

    Unique college-in-prison program to get guaranteed Cal State transfer admission


    Students in a Mount Tamalpais College class at San Quentin Prison.

    Credit: R.J. Lozada/Mount Tamalpais College

    Graduates from one of the most unusual community colleges in the country will soon receive guaranteed admission if they choose to transfer to the California State University system. 

    But first, they’d need to be released from prison. 

    The nation’s largest public university system is developing a new college transfer program with Mount Tamalpais College, which is located within San Quentin State Prison. The private two-year college is the first accredited institution created within a state prison. 

    “This transfer program goes right to the heart of our values as an institution and a system,” said Laura Massa, CSU’s interim associate vice chancellor for academy and faculty programs. “People in California, and, well, everywhere, should have access to a high-quality education. There is plenty of data out there on this, that having an educational opportunity is so important to folks who have been incarcerated.” 

    And that education is one of the main reasons why formerly incarcerated people are successful and become contributing members of their communities, she said. 

    College-in-prison programs have generally been well received, especially politically, because research shows bachelor’s and associate degree programs in prison reduce recidivism rates and help formerly incarcerated people find jobs once they are released. 

    Although CSU and Mount Tamalpais are still working out the details, once they are released, students who complete their associate degree at Mount Tamalpais will receive priority admission for a bachelor’s degree program at any of the 23 CSU campuses they apply to. The college currently offers an Associate of Arts degree in liberal arts, and the guaranteed transfer degree with CSU may resemble the Associate Degree for Transfer the university system now accepts from the state’s community college system. There are 26 Mount Tamalpais graduates currently incarcerated in San Quentin. 

    The program is part of a larger trend unfolding across California’s state prison system. Nearly all the state’s 34 prisons offer associate degree programs through the California Community College system. More recently, the University of California and CSU systems have started offering bachelor’s degree programs in some prisons. 

    Corey McNeil, a Mount Tamalpais graduate who was formerly incarcerated in San Quentin, said the guaranteed admission agreement is another sign that, despite being in prison, the students are completing quality work. McNeil was released from San Quentin in 2021 and is currently a student at San Francisco State University. 

    “It’s another level of acceptance,” said McNeil, the alumni affairs associate for the college. “There is a sense among the students that people think the education provided inside the prison is subpar or not the same as in traditional college. So this is huge. It shows that the education you receive in prison, that the CSUs are acknowledging that and saying we’ll accept that.” 

    Massa said the agreement with the college could only happen because Mount Tamalpais achieved accreditation. The nearly 30-year-old college exclusively for incarcerated people in California’s oldest prison became the first in the country to become fully accredited in 2022. Since then the college has graduated about 25 students, said Amy Jamogochian, chief academic officer at the college. 

    San Quentin houses about 3,000 people and has 536 students. Some students take a semester off, so enrollment is currently about 300. 

    “The fact that CSU is so eager to do this is really heartening,” Jamogochian said. “We want to serve formerly incarcerated people, and we want to make sure they’re doing OK.”

    The school-to-prison pipeline and the “learning-disability-to-prison pipeline” exist in California and unfortunately can’t be solved at the college level, Jamogochian said. But Mount Tamalpais and other colleges entering prisons are trying to address that reality and offer strong academics and student support, she said. 

    Massa said the college and the university system will continue working on the details of the guaranteed admission program so that graduates can be admitted as soon as fall 2024. 





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  • Yuba City’s Tutoring Program by Fullmind Drives Sustained Student Growth

    Yuba City’s Tutoring Program by Fullmind Drives Sustained Student Growth


    Jul 7
    2025

    Yuba City’s Tutoring Program by Fullmind Drives Sustained Student Growth

    Yuba City Unified School District announced end-of-year results from its tutoring partnership with Fullmind, showing students identified as needing additional support consistently outperformed their non-tutored peers across nearly 200 participants.

    The program expanded from 24 to 194 students while maintaining effectiveness. English Language Arts participants achieved 16 points of growth compared to 10.63 points among non-participants, a 50% advantage. Mathematics participants gained 8 points versus 7.93 points for non-participants.

    “When students identified as at-risk of underperformance outperform the general population, we know we’ve found an approach that truly accelerates learning,” said Dr. Nicholas Richter, the program lead.

    Exceptional Individual Results

    Twelve ELA students gained 50 or more points between mid-year and end-of-year assessments, with one student achieving over 100 points of growth in a single semester. Students completed 93,349 minutes of tutoring with a 71% attendance rate.

    Scale Without Compromise

    The eightfold expansion maintained program quality and student engagement. ELA participants averaged 9 hours each while math students averaged 7 hours, aligning with research on effective tutoring dosage.

    2025 Expansion Plans

    Based on strong results, the district plans to expand ELA participation to 250-plus students and expand math tutoring to over 100 students. The program will extend beyond lowest-performing students to include those just below grade level.

    “We’ve proven this model works at scale,” said Richter. “Now we’re expanding access to reach even more students who can benefit from this intensive support.”

    The partnership represents a commitment to evidence-based interventions that address achievement gaps through high-quality tutoring services, using continuous monitoring to maintain effectiveness as it scales.



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  • Hanford program supports teen parents while they finish high school

    Hanford program supports teen parents while they finish high school


    File photo of a student in the HOPE (Helping Our Parenting Students Excel) program. At varying levels, HOPE is a part of nearly 50 Learn4Life centers in California. Some schools only provide donations for baby supplies and access to support groups while larger schools have separate classrooms for its HOPE students, including the Hanford campus.

    Photo courtesy of Learn4Life

    Pregnant in high school, 14-year-old first-year high school student Giselle Meza said she feared she’d be judged by her peers. She was one of only two pregnant teens at her school and felt isolated. She missed a lot of classes, falling behind. 

    Statistically, Meza has about a 50% chance of dropping out of school altogether. She hasn’t; instead, she withdrew from Hanford High to participate in Helping Our Parenting Students Excel at Kings Valley Academy, a Learn4Life campus — a network of dozens of public charter high schools across the state and nation. 

    The HOPE program and Learn4Life structure empowered her to walk onto the campus without feeling alone. The program provided her with peer support from other pregnant and teen parents, a personalized learning plan, and the ability to bring her daughter to school. 

    In a designated HOPE room at Kings Valley Academy, shelves stocked with children’s books line the walls. Educational toys, playpens and swings cover the floor. 

    The room is a home away from home, where Meza could nurse, tend to or play with her daughter, Desirae, while continuing her high school education and gaining skills to better herself. 

    Teen parents have thrived in that environment, including Nevaeh D. who earned a full scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life. “While I did my lessons, she was sleeping or playing alongside me,” Nevaeh said in an April media release announcing her graduation from Learn4Life. For student privacy, the school did not disclose Nevaeh’s last name.

    “So many of them think they’re the only ones in this position,” HOPE founder Staci Roth said. HOPE, however, creates an environment where pregnant and parenting teens feel seen, safe and supported, Roth told EdSource. 

    After more than a year in the program, Meza, now 16, no longer feels isolated, and is comforted by “being surrounded by people going through the same thing.” 

    “We take away the shame and the stigma,” said Christianna Percell, assistant principal at Kings Valley Academy. 

    How HOPE started 

    Seven years ago in 2016, while working at Learn4Life Panorama City in Los Angeles, Roth noticed that pregnant and teen parents struggled to attend class. She started a group with teen moms to learn what obstacles were preventing them from coming to and staying in school. 

    Schools needed to do more to support them, she said. She designated one classroom for the group of teen parents and brought in swings and bouncers, diapers and wipes. 

    “Just made it their safe space,” she said. 

    By 2018, HOPE had grown from eight to 63 students in the Learn4Life schools, as word spread that parenting students could bring their kids to campus. 

    At varying levels, HOPE is now a part of 48 Learn4Life centers in California. Some schools only provide baby supplies and access to support groups, while larger schools have separate classrooms for its HOPE students, which, to Roth, has been the best way to achieve the organization’s goal of creating a safe space for parenting students to feel supported. 

    Learn4Life’s Hanford location adopted the program three years ago with about a dozen parenting teens. Today, the program serves almost 60 teen parents, said Lindsey Hoskins, the supervising teacher who oversees the HOPE program in Hanford. 

    “I was a teen parent,” Hoskins said. “There was no place I could take my baby.” She said she remembers having the choice of dropping off her child while she was at school or staying home to nurse the baby.

    As a result of HOPE, Hoskins said student parents aren’t dropping out like they were before the program’s implementation. 

    Being supported 

    The HOPE program allows students with children to bring their kids to school, so they can work toward a high school diploma at their own pace while receiving mentorship, supplies and peer support. Students have access to essentials such as diapers, car seats, strollers, cribs, clothes and toys, so the teens don’t feel pressured to work as much or to spend their earnings on baby supplies.

    Instead, the student parents can focus on their education and their children, Roth said. 

    The program provides resources by connecting the teens to community partners, providing transportation when needed or simply offering encouragement. 

    “We may be providing diapers and formula now while they’re at school,” Roth said, “but at the same time, connecting them to where they can get that in the future if they need it.” 

    The peer support ensures the parenting teens don’t feel alone and allows them to learn from each other, Roth said. 

    In the HOPE room, parenting teens often step in and help with a crying baby that has colic, Roth said. Or during a support group meeting, they’ll bounce ideas off of one another to treat a rash. “They’re their best teachers to each other.” 

    Teen parent Nevaeh earned a scholarship to UCLA after graduating from Learn4Life, which allowed her to continue her studies while bringing her daughter to the Hanford campus.
    Photo courtesy of Learn4Life

    Students also learn life skills, such as financial planning, lessons about child development, health and nutrition, as well as job readiness and career skills.

    Over time, HOPE programs have added elective classes to teach parenting skills; Roth said students can learn to be better parents while gaining needed credits to graduate.

    Created based on student input, skills classes range from preparing for childbirth and breastfeeding to building healthy relationships and co-parenting. Hoskins said students can pick a topic that’s specific to their life or situation. Some of Hoskins’ students have completed classes for potty training and teething — which has allowed them to gain confidence and address the challenges they currently face as a parents. 

    “They feel so empowered to take care of their little ones,” Roth said.

    According to a 2010 study of women in their early 20s, 53% of women who became moms as teenagers graduated with a high school diploma, in contrast to 90% of women who did not become teen parents. 

    Such statistics, Roth said, were the driving force behind HOPE’s goals: teaching teens how to parent and to support their family while encouraging and equipping them to go to college or find a career after high school. 

    Students supported by the HOPE program graduate at a 6% higher rate, according to Learn4Life and HOPE statistics. 

    Addressing the whole child

    Several parenting students said they joined HOPE because they no longer felt comfortable at their traditional schools after becoming pregnant, the Learn4Life staff said. 

    “We’ve heard the stories from our students (about) how they felt at their school when they found out they were pregnant,” Roth said. 

    To break that cycle, HOPE staff builds supportive relationships, Roth said. 

    “We say we’re going to be here, and we are here,” she said. “We say we’re going to support them, and we do support them. It’s life-changing for them to have someone who asks about their day (and) to call your teacher in emergencies.” 

    HOPE students can be teen mothers or fathers as well as students who help care for their siblings. Kristen Cooper, 17, nearing the completion of her sophomore year, brings her one-year-old brother to the program while her parents work. She said she gained trusting relationships with adults because of the program. 

    The HOPE and the Learn4Life school model allows staff to build lasting, meaningful relationships with students by addressing all their needs. 

    The school’s model focuses on one-on-one instruction, flexible scheduling and personalized learning, said Ann Abajian, a spokesperson for Learn4Life. Students, including those in HOPE, have the option to work virtually or spend minimal hours at school. 

    A “team of teachers” manages students’ action plans and goals as they get “layers of support” through tutoring; one-on-one, small group and traditional class instruction; three school counselors and an onsite therapist; resiliency programs, such as yoga, meditation and classes that teach organizational skills and coping mechanisms; and an alumni support group. 

    That support helps students navigate their challenges, including not being able to attend a traditional school because they’re dealing with social-emotional trauma, working every day, helping care for a sibling or raising a child. 

    Staff members are trained to be trauma-resilient education professionals who provide tools to build the resilience to face their past, present and future, said Roth, who is also the school’s coordinator of trauma-resilient education. 

    Students who take part in the HOPE program, Roth said, come to the Hanford campus for one-on-one instruction with their teachers. The difference for HOPE students is the designated space to bring their children. 

    Meza, the student who joined HOPE to avoid judgment at her traditional school, spends a lot of time on campus because she feels more comfortable there than in her own home, she said. There’s more room for her one-year-old daughter to play, and she gets the help she needs from staff. 

    “I’ve been doing better than ever, honestly,” Meza said about now being nearly finished with her first year of high school. 

    HOPE is ‘different’ from other youth parenting programs

    Schools in California have operated youth parenting programs for decades. Currently, programs are under the umbrella of Cal-Learn, a state program designed to encourage pregnant and parenting teens to graduate from high school or gain the equivalent, become independent and form healthy families. 

    Sixty percent of teenage parents who are currently receiving welfare will depend on government aid for 10 or more years, according to research noted in the legislation that established Cal-Learn to address the “unique educational, vocational, training, health, and other social service needs” of teen parents. 

    The Youth Parent Program in Clovis Unified, for example, serves parenting teens who are trying to graduate. 

    With a 91% graduation rate, the parenting program supports students on their journey to finishing high school and helps them gain basic parenting skills, district spokesperson Kelly Avants said. 

    The program is meant to “come alongside” students who are teen parents, ensuring they have access to transportation, nursing, counseling, academic support, encouragement to “stay in school, pass their classes and ultimately graduate,” and the skills to “parent well,” Avants said.

    Through the program, teen parents can learn areas such as basic infant CPR, lessons on childhood development and ways to be engaged parents.

    But HOPE is different, Hoskins said, because it’s on Learn4Life campuses, where educators can give students what they need with specific programming, such as personalized learning and the elective classes picked by students.

    “We meet them where they are,” Hoskins said. 

    ‘Impacting generations’

    The percentage of teen parents who do not finish school contributes to high incidences of their own children not graduating.

    The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the children of teenage mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, give birth as a teenager and face unemployment as a young adult, among other findings.

    Generational impact on kids

    A child who comes to campus sees their parent studying — something HOPE staff believe will foster a child’s love for school and can break the cycle of dropping out.

    Mayra Hernandez, 18, said her 2-year-old son Sebastian loves his preschool and isn’t shy like some of the other kids because he attended HOPE with his mom for the first two years of his life. She said Sebastian eagerly plays with and communicates with his peers.

    Parenting teens, Hoskins said, are “bringing their child who is exposed to books (and) exposed to mom reading,” Hoskins said. “They’re exposed to literature, structure, education, other peers and social behavior and norms.”

    “(Teen pregnancy) has such a generational impact,” Roth said. “This population has its own obstacles and trauma that go along with (being a teen parent).”

    Acknowledging those “high statistics,” Roth and Hoskins said the aspects of the HOPE program — bringing kids to campus, graduating from high school, gaining life and parenting skills and learning about careers — are “impacting generations.” 

    “I would be struggling still,” 18-year-old Mayra Hernandez said in hindsight. Her mom, also a teenage mother, didn’t graduate from high school. Hernandez, considered an 11th grader, said she is better able to manage her time as a mother and student because of HOPE’s and Learn4Life’s model. She is dual enrolled in high school and the West Hills Community College District and works two jobs to pay her bills. 

    She considers herself on track to graduate and pursue a career. Hernandez gained nearly 60 credits in just a month at Learn4Life,  has completed a semester of college through dual enrollment and plans to either become a traveling nurse, ultrasound technician or a medical professional in the Navy. 

    Hernandez said it will be “inspiring” for her son to see her graduate.

    Meza said she once viewed the military as her only option after graduation, but now after high school, her goal is to become an ultrasound technician — all because HOPE expanded what she viewed as her choices. 

    “A lot of our students will tell you, ‘I would not graduate high school if it wasn’t for Learn4Life and the HOPE program,’” Hoskins said. “Things that are deemed not possible are happening.”





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  • Mariachi program teaches history and culture as well as music

    Mariachi program teaches history and culture as well as music


    Credit: Allie Palomera from SCCOE

    Zaida Ramos first learned the magic of mariachi from her father when she was a little girl. Now they make music together, running the bilingual music program for San Jose’s Alum Rock Union School District.

    Her father, Juan, is the maestro, the music director. She’s the program director. The father and daughter duo collaborate to share the culture and heritage of mariachi music with their students. The Ramos clan has been teaching children music for more than two decades. It’s a veritable family business.

    “Mariachi is how I grew up. In my family, we were always singing,” said Ramos, a vocalist who also plays the violin. “It’s so fulfilling for us, so rewarding, to share mariachi with the families and with the whole community. Everybody is part of the performance because everybody’s connected to these songs, you know? Many times you’ll hear the audience sing along, they laugh, they cry. It resonates with everybody in some way, it’s their story.”

    Students from third to eighth grade gather after school and during the summer to steep in the folkloric music of the southwest region of Mexico, a musical tradition marked by stringed instruments, strolling musicians clad in intricately embroidered costumes and a distinctive yell known as a “grito.” The youngsters in this program learn how to play instruments, including the guitarron, guitar, vihuela, violin, and the trumpet and to sing, art forms that require equal parts creativity and discipline. They also learn the beauty and fluidity of ballet folklorico.

    “I am really driven by the ideal of a free and public education, and the arts need to be part of that,” said Sofia Fojas, arts coordinator for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. “Music and the arts are part of being human. It’s a universal language, a way to bridge the different cultures we see in the classroom in California. It’s really about the importance of arts and culture and engaging youth who traditionally have not had access.”

    Credit: Allie Palomera from SCCOE

    Through the study of mariachi, children from this predominantly Latino district learn that music is more than sound. It’s also about identity, history and culture. Mariachi contains myriad meanings because there is great nuance and complexity embedded in its notes. While the melodies evoke Mexican heritage, with roots deep in the country’s colonial period, many of the themes are also universal.

    “I believe that by embracing our cultural heritage and sharing our stories through music, we can inspire positive change and create a more harmonious society,” said Guillermo Tejeda, a musician who specializes in teaching history, jazz and mariachi to youth. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see how music can empower and inspire young people in our community.”

    Carrying this rich artistic tradition into a new generation is part of what drives Ramos. She sees mariachi as a way to connect students to their own unique voice as well as the collective spirit of their community.

    “I always tell them, you are ambassadors of your whole community,” said Ramos, who also works in real estate. “Wherever you go, you are not only representing East San Jose, you’re representing a whole culture. You’re representing Mexican culture and you’re representing mariachi. There’s a sense of pride in who you are.” 

    Struggle is often a part of the stories told in mariachi music. It’s also part of the reality of teaching music in a time of tight budgets and declining enrollment. While Ramos is cheered by how many of her students acquire a lifelong love of music, she wishes she didn’t always have to fight for more funding.

    “We need more teachers, we need more instruments, we need more support, we need more time, we need more classes,” said Ramos, “and that all comes down to budgeting. We have lots of requests for the kids to perform and to represent Alum Rock, but if we don’t have the budget to support it, we can’t do it.”

    Many arts advocates are hopeful that an infusion of Proposition 28 funding may help bolster projects like the mariachi program, an arts ed program that represents the cultural heritage of the community.

    “Culturally relevant curriculum and instruction helps educators build relationships with students by leveraging what they bring to the classroom,” said Letty Kraus, director of the California County Superintendents Statewide Arts Initiative. “It helps ensure relevance and engagement and maximizes inclusivity.”

    The braided nature of art, the way it’s tightly interwoven with history and culture over time, gives mariachi its power. Arts education also opens up avenues of opportunity and possibility for students as well as nurturing a sense of belonging, experts say. 

    “You’re teaching them about their own past,” said Fojas, who taught orchestra, band and mariachi for 20 years. “The majority of students that I taught were of Mexican descent, so when you’re teaching mariachi, you’re actually teaching them about the history of Mexico.”

    In a post-pandemic world, when absenteeism and disengagement are running high, the arts can be a path to teach students how to persevere through adversity. Budding musicians must learn how to have the grit to rehearse tirelessly and then perform fearlessly before an audience. Fojas sees arts education as a magnet to draw students back to school.

    “Everybody needs to understand the importance of art,” said Fojas. “Arts is culture, and when you deny people arts, you’re denying them culture, and those cultural artifacts are the things we leave behind. So if we deny youth the ability to participate in the arts, we’re denying future generations the ability to see what we’ve left behind.”





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