The prospective hire was meant to help solve a persistent problem in dealing with Texas’s many natural disasters: translating warnings about extreme weather into appropriate action. By late January, the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office had selected a meteorologist to serve as an “emergency response specialist” within the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which coordinates the state’s emergency-management program. The new hire, part of a nationwide reorganization of the National Weather Service, would have “embedded” at the TDEM to help decision-makers prepare for and respond to extreme weather. If all had gone according to plan, the federal meteorologist would have been working elbow to elbow with state emergency responders during the July flooding in Central Texas that killed at least 135.
But when Donald Trump took office on January 20 and announced a federal hiring freeze that day, the new hire hadn’t yet started. The role was left unfilled. “We just couldn’t quite dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s before the federal hiring freeze hit,” said Victor Murphy, the climate-service program manager in the Fort Worth office who took early retirement in April after 45 years with the NWS. “Lives may have been saved or could have been saved, but we’ll never know.”
In the aftermath of the floods in Kerr County and others parts of Central Texas, officials questioned whether staffing shortages in the National Weather Service—the result of the hiring freeze as well as DOGE-led early retirements and firings—had damaged the federal agency’s ability to accurately forecast the extreme rainfall and warn about the extraordinary flooding that would quickly follow. Many meteorologists pushed backhard on this narrative. They said the Austin/San Antonio office, which covers much of the Hill Country, performed adequately despite the cuts, with reasonably accurate forecasting and timely flood watches and warnings. Still, others have asked whether the NWS’s messaging to the public and to emergency responders could have been more aggressive.
The axed TDEM role would have worked to make sure the NWS’s forecasts and warnings were understood and heeded, serving as a liaison between the local, state, and federal governments, according to a job description and interviews with those involved in the hiring process. The emergency specialist would’ve “provided TDEM with eye-to-eye, one-on-one expert analysis,” including during weather emergencies, Murphy said. Texas gets a lot of wild weather. Residents and even decision-makers may need help distinguishing between a typical gully washer and extremely dangerous flooding, between a hard freeze and a life-threatening winter storm.
The TDEM job was part of a sweeping reorganization of the National Weather Service that began under the Biden administration. As part of the modernization effort, NWS officials were in the process of placing meteorologists in each state emergency-management office to help decision-makers. But the Trump administration effectively scuttled the project and decimated the agency’s existing workforce. NWS staffing levels were reduced by roughly 600 employees, to fewer than 4,000, in just a few months, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, a labor union. Texas weather offices lost between 25 and 30 employees—a count that doesn’t include positions left unfilled because of the hiring freeze. “The arbitrariness and capriciousness of it is just really, really sad,” said Murphy. “This TDEM job getting axed is an example of that.”
This week, media outlets reported that the Trump administration is planning to fill up to 450 jobs at the federal agency. It’s unclear whether the TDEM position is included.
A student sounds out the word ‘both’ during a 2022 summer school class at Nystrom Elementary in the West Contra Costa Unfified School District.
Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource
Turning the tide on years of lagging elementary school reading scores at West Contra Costa Unified has become Superintendent Chris Hurst’s “No.1 priority.”
Hurst, in his third year as the district’s superintendent, says he is committed to improving elementary reading test scores by 5% each year, having reached the same goal during the 2022-23 school year. That goal is one of several in the strategic plan Hurst and his Cabinet have been developing to improve outcomes at the school.
“The research is very clear that once a student is behind, they typically will stay behind unless something significant happens in their K-12 experience that changes the trajectory of learning,” Hurst told EdSource. “So for me, literacy is a gatekeeper.”
In February, the district’s iReady assessment showed that only 42% of West Contra Costa Unified kindergartners, 26% of first graders and 39% of second graders were reading at or above grade level. Those scores were up from the previous year, according to a presentation Hurst made to the school board in April.
A history of low scores
Hurst said literacy scores at West Contra Costa Unified have been “stagnant for over a decade.” In the 2021-22 Smarter Balanced reading tests, 24% of third grade students scored below grade level; 56% tested near standard; only about 10% tested above standard. In the same year, the district’s scores from the Smarter Balanced tests for English language arts in reading and writing for grades three-11 were lower than 75% of other California districts.
Smarter Balanced results show that third grade reading test scores at West Contra Costa Unified have nearly steady since 2014, with no more than 17% of students reading above grade level. Similarly, only 18% of students in California scored above standard on reading; 57% statewide scored near standard, and 25% statewide scored below standard in 2021-22, the most recent year available.
Preliminary Smarter Balanced results for the 2022-23 school year show a slight uptick in English language arts scores: 33% of students in grades three-11 met or exceeded grade level, up 1 percentage point from the previous year, according to a district presentation at Wednesday’s school board meeting. Twelve of the district’s schools showed increases in the percentage of students who scored at or above grade level in English language arts.
West Contra Costa Unified serves mostly low-income students living in the cities of Richmond, El Cerrito and San Pablo. Before California adopted a universal free meal policy, 70% of the students qualified for free and reduced-price meals. Also, about a third of students in the district are English learners.
Some data points on the iReady assessments last year are “hard to swallow” Hurst said. For instance, only 2% of fourth grade English learners were reading at grade level.
The superintendent said he was aware of the district’s low scores before taking the leadership position but was unaware of “how little and few resources we actually have here in West Contra Costa.”
Like other districts in the state with similar demographics, West Contra Costa Unified has grappled with high-cost programs straining its budget, despite receiving $4.2 million in state grants to improve literacy scores at sevenof its elementary schools, as well as supplemental funds from the state for serving a high number of disadvantaged students.
“I really believe that my life has been about giving myself to a community, to work with the community to change outcomes for kids,” Hurst said. “And we need bold, passionate leaders to position ourselves to do that.”
The district will be using iReady and STAR assessments, to track its 5% growth goal; assessments will be done at various times throughout the year. At the Sept. 6 school board meeting, board President Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy said those assessments provide a better picture of students’ reading abilities than the Smarter Balanced tests.
Meeting the goals
Meeting the superintendent’s goals would require the district to focus more on phonics instruction and increase its teacher training, Hurst said. The district will hold weekly meetings with staff, as well as informational sessions with the school board and the public, to develop a comprehensive literacy plan over the next year for implementation in the 2024-25 school year.
The WCCUSD board is demanding that the district pursue its goals with an equity focus and concentrate its efforts on four primary groups: African-American students (13% of the district’s enrollment); Hispanic students, (57%) English learners and students in special education, whose reading scores have been historically low and troubling, Hurst said.
Hurst said the district is stressing phonics and phonological awareness — the theory (supported by developing research) that learning to read is not a natural process and that a heavy emphasis on phonics is the most effective way to teach students how to read.
That research falls under the umbrella of the “science of reading,” which approaches how reading is taught differently from the balanced literacy approach, which also calls for explicit phonics instruction, but coupled with plenty of time for students to develop their love of reading.
West Contra Costa Unified is, at the moment, primarily using a balanced literacy approach, and the superintendent did not indicate if and when the district would switch to the “science of reading” approach.
In 2021, Nystrom Elementary in West Contra Costa Unified district ditched balanced literacy and adopted the “science of reading” approach, thanks to grant funding. Nystrom continues to see modest improvements in reading scores.
The district introduced a program called Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Sight Words, or SIPPS, in all its elementary schools last year. SIPPS is supplemental to the core reading curriculum and focuses on foundational reading skills in order to support struggling readers. Nystrom Elementary used SIPPS to include more explicit phonics instruction in its lessons and attributes much of its progress to this curriculum.
The district also brought in experts on teaching phonics over the last year to train teachers and school leaders, Hurst said.
“We’re really trying to focus on becoming an evidence-based culture, so focusing on phonological awareness is one research-based best practice,” Hurst said. “What we’re really trying to do is to have research and study teams where we come together and look at other research.”
The district will also reevaluate the elementary curriculum it has used since 2019 – Units of Study for Teaching Reading English/Language Arts, also known as readers/writers’ workshop — which has been criticized in recent years for not focusing enough on phonics. Some experts say students who struggle to grasp phonics often get left behind.
While Units of Study’s publisher, Heinemann, has responded to the criticism by changing the curriculum for the 2022-23 year, including adding structured phonics lessons for early grades and information for teachers on the research behind the importance of explicit phonics instruction, critics insist that what is needed is a correction, not a revision. Critics say that’s because the Units of Study curriculum is based on debunked research.
By continuing to use the Units of Study curriculum, West Contra Costa Unified is thrust into the middle of the argument on the best way to teach reading.
Despite the criticism, some school board members expressed hesitation to get rid of Units of Study, arguing that the program is still relatively new and that several teachers and administrators in the district still support it.
Hurst said while the district is not about to drop Units of Study just yet, it is now “starting that conversation” about the possibility of doing so. He wants to gather more information and hear more voices before making a recommendation to the school board.
“I am looking at everything with a critical eye,” Hurst said. “And I’m trying to get everyone else to look at everything with a critical eye as well, and to really have those powerful conversations about what’s really best for our students.”
Throughout the discussion on Tuesday, the panelists explored why a majority of high school students fail to complete A-G requirements — courses they need to qualify for admission to the University of California or California State University systems — and offered ways that schools can help change that.
“I think we have a responsibility to raise the expectations and then lean in to making sure that we have the support in place for students to be successful in those expectations,” said Sherrie Reed Bennett, executive director of the California Education Lab at the UC Davis School of Education.
Panelists agreed that the more options students have, the better their situation after graduation and that increasing access to college prep courses is crucial.
Michael R. McCormick, superintendent of Val Verde Unified, said that awareness should start well before students enter high school and that schools should create a college and career culture with events such as College Days or elementary school lessons on A-G courses.
But beyond awareness, high school students are not getting the support they need to complete the A-G coursework, and parents and students, who often know little or nothing about these requirements, are left to figure it out on their own, panelists said.
“To expect people to go out and figure it out on their own is really difficult,” Delilah Brumer, a student at Los Angeles Pierce College, said about high school students not having the resources to learn about A-G requirements.
Some schools also struggle with offering the A-G coursework or doing so in a way that supports students. In 2018-19, 2.5% of schools offered no A-G courses, and another 6% only offered some A-G courses.
Although Brumer met her A-G requirements at a Los Angeles Unified school, she said the process was stressful and confusing. Her Career Technical Education courses often conflicted with her A-G courses, and she could only take some courses online.
Taking A-G and CTE courses shouldn’t be a matter of “either or,” Reed said, adding that districts should work to prevent those conflicts. For example, Val Verde Unified offered 42 career pathways and ensured that every course within each pathway was also A–G approved, according to Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) research in which Reed co-authored and cited during the roundtable.
Whether college or career, the A-G courses are important for all students, no matter what their plans are after high school, panelists said.
Systemic changes needed
Students planning to attend UC or CSU must complete the college preparatory courses known as A-G requirements — 15 courses in seven areas that overlap with the requirements for a high school diploma but are more rigorous.
More than half, 56%, of high school seniors failed to meet these requirements in 2023, meaning they were ineligible to apply to a California public university and may struggle at a community college.
Research indicates that enrollment and completion rates on A-G courses vary across student groups and schools. In 2023, 68% of Black students and 64% of Latino students did not meet A-G requirements, compared with 26% of Asian students and 48% of white students, according to EdSource’s analysis. The highest non-completion group was foster students at 88%, followed by disabled students at 85% and English learners at 82%.
It’s a multifaceted problem that requires systemic changes at a district, and possibly, statewide level, panelists said.
Aleka Jackson-Jarrell, program coordinator for the Heritage program at Victor Valley Union High School District, said schools must evaluate support through an equity lens because there are systemic barriers keeping African American and Latino students from qualifying for four-year universities.
With just 6% of Black students graduating with A-G courses at Adelanto High, Victor Valley started Heritage, an equity program that helps place students in A-G courses. The program also educates families about college applications, financial aid and housing, spearheading school and districtwide changes, such as career advisers helping all students with UC and CSU applications.
“So many system changes needed to be made in order for all of our students, not just the African American students, to benefit,” Jackson-Jarrell said. “So a lot of things have changed because of this one equity program; they’re mirroring and changing the systems.”
PACE research found that at the school or district level, routine data analysis, such as comprehensive A-G course audits, can also help inform school and course-level changes to support students with meeting the requirements.
McCormick suggested that a default enrollment process in the A-G courses would guarantee all students have access and the opportunity to reach their dreams.
“If we can, through a policy solution or the stroke of the governor’s pen, decide that we need to teach cursive writing, why can we not do some sort of a policy solution for A-G?” he said. “It seems like a viable path is there.”
Verde Elementary School in West Contra Costa Unified School District
Top Takeaways
Raising attendance would improve student outcomes and help the district achieve a balanced budget.
The district will focus on boosting attendance of all students, not just those who are “chronically absent,” using a range of attendance-improvement strategies.
Improving attendance will require an investment of funds and offering incentives, experts say.
To boost student attendance, the West Contra Costa Unified School District has launched a comprehensive plan to increase attendance by 2 percentage points this school year.
The challenge is in part an educational one. If students aren’t in class, they’re far less likely to succeed. It is also a financial strategy that is crucial to the district’s attempts to fend off insolvency and a state takeover for the second time in 30 years.
That’s because the main source of state funding for schools in California is based not just on how many students are enrolled, but on how many students actually show up each day for class.
But bumping up attendance, even by a few percentage points, is not as easy as it might seem, regardless of the district.
So what happens in this 29,000-student district in the San Francisco Bay Area, which includes Richmond and several adjacent communities, also holds lessons for numerous other financially struggling districts in California and nationally.
According to interim Superintendent Kim Moses, the math is simple: For every 1 percentage point increase in attendance, the district can raise $2.75 million in additional state funding.
Raising attendance by nearly 3 percentage points would generate over $7 million — about the same amount the district is projecting it will have to reduce its budget during each of the coming two years to achieve a balanced budget.
“It’s the biggest lever that we have,” board President Leslie Reckler, who is fully behind the attendance strategy to avert even more cuts in programs and staff than the district has already made, said in an interview. “We get paid by who shows up.”
Moses told the school board at a recent meeting, “If we are successful in increasing our attendance, that is a way to increase revenue. Then we can rescind the reductions we are proposing.”
Until now, the district’s attendance improvement plan has focused on “chronically absent” students — those who miss 10% or more instructional days per year. That has yielded results, pushing overall attendance rates in the district to 92.3% last fall, just below the state average.
But over the last few months, attendance rates in the district have started to drift down again, to 89.5% in February, according to district figures.
Natalie Tovani-Walchuk, vice president of local impact for Go Public Schools, an advocacy organization working in several Bay Area school districts, including West Contra Costa, speculates that some of the decline could be related to illnesses — the flu, Covid, norovirus and RSV — that simultaneously struck the district in recent months. It could also be that some immigrant parents fear bringing their children to school because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
“All of this creates conditions which you can’t control,” said Tovani-Walchuck, a former school principal born and raised in Richmond.
Aiming to boost attendance of all students
After initially focusing on chronically absent students, the district is now aiming to boost the attendance of all students, and to focus on schoolwide attendance-improvement strategies, including:
Targeting schools with the lowest attendance and developing “individualized action plans” for those schools.
Expecting schools to implement activities that reinforce positive attendance habits, such as recognizing students whose attendance improves and working more closely with families “to build stronger connections between school and home.”
Helping schools use a toolkit developed by the district, including prepared scripts in communicating with parents, along with “action plans” for targeting lagging attendance to promote “Stronger Together: Show Up, Rise Up,” the theme of the attendance campaign.
Recruiting more parents, representatives of community-based organizations and community members to participate in the district’s Student Attendance Review Board, to which students who are repeatedly absent or truant can be referred.
But Michael Fine, CEO of the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, an agency set up by the state to help districts in difficult financial straits, said, “There is a limit to how much improvement in attendance can be made.”
A year ago, his agency issued a report concluding that, despite financial and other improvements, West Contra Costa faced a high risk of insolvency.
A realistic goal, Fine said, would be to increase attendance by 1 percentage point each year over the next three years. He pointed out that the district will probably have to spend money on extra staff time and incentives to generate interest among students, parents and schools.
“Programs like this cost money, so you have to spend to be successful,” Fine said.
Fine recalls that when he was a deputy superintendent at Riverside Unified, the district persuaded local businesses to award a used car to high school seniors who achieved perfect attendance across their entire K-12 careers, or other incentives like computers and bicycles for meeting less ambitious goals. His district spent about $250,000 a year on the program, but generated $1.2 million in increased attendance revenue.
Increasing attendance is especially challenging because there are many reasons why students don’t show up for school, all detailed in a presentation to be considered by the board at its monthly meeting this week. These include lack of transportation, illness, parent work schedules, child care constraints, and students feeling disengaged, unsupported and bored at school, plus, in some cases, severe mental health issues.
As a result, any initiative to reduce absenteeism demands a range of strategies to address its underlying causes.
Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit organization focusing on attendance, said West Contra Costa Unified appears to be on the right track by surveying parents and identifying why individual students don’t come to school. Another plus, she said, is the district’s creation of so-called community schools, which already work with social service organizations that can also help.
“It looks like the district has some things in place,” she said. But she also cautioned that schools with large numbers of low-income students, like many in West Contra Costa, will likely experience higher absenteeism rates and have to come up with multifaceted responses to overcome them.
Building positive relationships with parents
The district says one school that has made notable strides is Verde Elementary, a community school serving transitional kindergarten through eighth grade students in North Richmond, an unincorporated area of the district.
The efforts of Martha Nieto, Verde’s “school community outreach worker,” have been central to the school’s efforts to boost attendance.
Nieto, a mother of six who was born in Mexico, says that a key to getting kids to school is building positive relationships with parents. Each day, the school systematically records which students are absent. Attendance clerk Patricia Martines then calls parents’ homes, sometimes with the assistance of school secretary Patricia Farias, who attended the school and still lives in the neighborhood.
Each Friday, Nieto offers what she calls a “School Smarts” class for parents to learn how to get involved in the school. As for students, Nieto provides incentives to improve attendance with modest gifts like a soccer ball, or free ice cream or nachos, which she also hands out on Friday mornings. Students with perfect attendance are awarded medals at “Celebration of Learning” events held regularly in the school cafeteria.
The challenge, Go Public Schools’ Tovani-Walchuk says, is to extend efforts like these across the entire district.
“These are moments of real strength, and we’re seeing what is truly possible,” she said, referring to Verde Elementary. “But it has not been yet systematized where every school has their school community outreach worker doing this work. That’s really determined site by site, depending on its priorities.”
Verde Elementary school secretary Victoria Farías, who attended the school as a student, assists with keeping track of attendance.Credit: Louis Freedberg / EdSource
School board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy says that in addition to boosting the attendance of existing students, there needs to be more emphasis on attracting new ones to the district. That’s because the district’s financial plight is largely due to student enrollment that has declined by an average of 3.1 percentage points over the previous four years, according to the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team report.
“It has to be a two-pronged approach,” he said. “We need to get families moving into our community to come to our schools. We don’t want to be a place where we have to be closing schools.”
“If we want to continue to thrive as a district, we have no other option,” he said.
