برچسب: students

WCCUSD’s literacy task force to explore best ways to teach students how to read
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

West Contra Costa Unified School District has set up a new literacy task force to answer long-held questions about the best ways to teach students how to read.

The task force, which had its first meeting in September, is looking at academic research to examine literacy and the best ways to foster highly-literate students, according to former district spokesperson Liz Sanders.

“It’s really important to us that our efforts to support students’ literacy are really rooted in building and generating community-wide best practices, and that we are looking at literacy instruction through a really holistic lens to make sure that we’re understanding what best practices are,” Sanders said.

The task force is a small, internal team of 13 leaders who are developing initial recommendations for a comprehensive literacy plan, the district communications team said in an email. The main goal of the task force is to create a framework and make recommendations for WCCUSD that will guide the district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan and School Plan for Student Achievement.

The hope is that this will lead to improved student outcomes, especially for marginalized communities — specifically Multilingual English Language Learners, Black and neurodiverse students, who are currently being underserved, according to the district.

WCCUSD has struggled with stagnant literacy scores for over a decade. Since 2014, no more than 17% of students read above grade level, according to Smarter Balanced results. But Superintendent Chris Hurst has named improving elementary reading test scores as a top priority. The district has primarily used a balanced literacy approach, which focuses on whole language instruction.

One of the district’s schools, Nystrom Elementary, however, received funding in 2021 from the state’s Early Literacy Support Block Grant and replaced balanced literacy with the “science of reading” approach, which focuses on systematic phonics instruction.

Sandrine Demathieu, a kindergarten teacher at Nystrom, is in her second year of using the science of reading approach. As a student teacher, she used the balanced literacy method, which, according to her, made her feel like there was “a missing chunk in our instruction.”

Demathieu explained that balanced literacy focuses more on experiential learning and getting students excited about reading, leaving less time for data tracking on student progress. Meanwhile, the science of reading specializes in progress tracking, and offers a predictable curriculum with specific instructions for both students and teachers.

“They don’t have to even think twice about what they need to do,” Demathieu said. “They don’t have to put any energy into it. They can focus on the academic piece.”

For students with gaps in their learning in particular, Demathieu said the science of reading approach is “life changing” because of its predictability and organized structure.

In 2022, WCCUSD also introduced Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics and Sight Words, or SIPPS, in all of its elementary schools. SIPPS is a “research-based foundational skills program” which provides a structured-literacy approach through explicit routines.

Gabby Micheletti, who taught at Verde Elementary for seven years and is now on-release to work full time for the United Teachers of Richmond, said it was “simultaneously remarkable and distressing” to see how quickly kids picked up on reading when using SIPPS as opposed to the previous curriculum.

“Just like the difference in the reading growth I had using SIPPS versus trying to use Teachers College — it’s one of those things where you’re just like, man, I feel bad about those days and those kids, when I was trying to follow the curriculum faithfully,” Michelletti said. “They were trying really hard and it just wasn’t working.”

Michelletti said she hopes the task force re-evaluates the curriculum and pushes the use of SIPPS. She said the current curriculum is “extra non-responsive” to students, especially for English Language Learners. This is particularly important for WCCUSD, where 34% of students are English Language Learners.

The literacy task force will be using data and effective research to make recommendations to the district. The development of the framework is guided by a set of principles and beliefs:
- “Schooling should help all students achieve their highest potential.
- The responsibility for learners’ literacy and language development is shared.
- ELA/literacy and ELD curricula should be well designed, comprehensive, and integrated.
- Effective teaching is essential to student success.
- Motivation and engagement play crucial roles in learning.”
The implementation of the task force’s framework and recommendations is currently projected for the 2024-2025 school year.
Source link
07/07/2025
Undocumented students in California navigate uncertainty and fear under Trump

Although attending and graduating from an American university is a great milestone for many undocumented students, it doesn’t eliminate their immigration status or fear for their livelihoods.

Mitzli Pavia Garcia, a 2024 San Diego State University graduate, remembers being 12 years old and running out of food and water on a three-day trek through the Arizona desert. Garcia and eight others attempted to cross the Mexico border into the United States for a month, turning back due to extreme weather or arrests.

Garcia and the group broke open cactuses to sip and prayed when they found a farm, taking gulps of water from the same trough as the cattle.

Today, Garcia is a 28-year-old undocumented resident of the United States.

Born in Cuautla, Mexico, Garcia was 6 years old when they first entered the United States. According to Garcia, their mom wanted to give them a life better than her own. Garcia’s mother never finished middle school, and their father did not complete elementary school.

Garcia said they always navigate life aware of their immigration status. Struggling to keep up in high school while thinking about higher education, they recalled how colleges and financial aid programs required Social Security numbers to apply. And they worried about the record number of deportations during the Obama administration, which instilled fear in the undocumented community.

“When I was in school, I knew that I was safe from immigration, so I loved learning,” Garcia said. “I was top of the class for some things, and it was really hard for me to push myself to do the best when I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to access higher education.”

Garcia applied for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, hoping to receive security from the government as a student. Because Garcia and their mom had returned to Mexico to care for their grandmother before high school, their application was instantly rejected.

The lack of security from DACA didn’t deter Garcia.

Garcia was accepted to San Diego State University in 2022 after attending San Diego Mesa and San Diego Miramar community colleges.

Garcia said undocumented students severely lacked support at SDSU.

“We have an undocumented resource center at San Diego State. It’s a great thing, but it’s the bare minimum,” Garcia said. “It’s a great space for undocumented students to go and sit, but it was hard for me to ask them for help because they don’t even have the resources.”

Garcia found more support from Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán, or MEChA, on campus. According to its website, MEChA is a national organization with local chapters that focus on Chicanx issues, including U.S. immigration and Central and South American political struggles.

Garcia felt pressure even after graduating from a four-year university. They have been trying to achieve American citizenship, but have grown frustrated and worried about the lengthy process.

“A lot of us still can’t legally work in the spaces that we worked so hard for four years because again, they require Social Security or legal status,” they said. “I submitted legal paperwork in 2020, then Covid hit. At the time, it was a five-year wait for the legal route that I was pursuing. It is now doubled, and now it’s a 10-year-plus wait. Trump keeps telling us, ‘Hey, do it the legal way,’ and then the legal way takes a quarter of your life.”

Based on the legal proceedings he has completed, Garcia said, “I am not supposed to be deportable.” But they know, ICE “can hold me in a detention center if they want to, because they’re doing that now. They’re arresting citizens just because they’re brown, putting them in detention centers, and then not believing that they’re citizens, even with the paperwork. I don’t even feel safe to travel outside of San Diego, and when everything started happening a few weeks ago, I was afraid to leave my house.”

Garcia finds strength in their undocumented identity, however.

“We’ve feared this already before,” they said. “While they may be able to instill this fear in my community, I’m not going to let them instill that fear in me. I’m still here, I still made it out. We can still achieve our dreams.”

By Roman Fong

Source link

07/07/2025
State data collection systems failing students in juvenile detention, report says

Wards at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility talk at a table in Merced Hall in Stockton, Calif.

Credit: Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle / Polaris

California is failing to provide a high-quality education to students in the juvenile justice system by not addressing the inadequacies of academic data collection practices, according to a recent report from the national Youth Law Center. Current collection practices, the report authors argue, do not accurately measure student needs and outcomes.

“A failure to design better metrics would be a disastrous choice on the part of California stakeholders to keep these students out of sight and out of mind,” the report’s authors wrote.

The report, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” is a follow-up to a 2016 report that similarly found the state to be failing in its mission of providing students in juvenile detention with high-quality education via its disproportionate representation of multiple student populations, high rates of chronic absenteeism, low high school graduation rates, inaccurate or incomplete data, and more.

The most recent report highlighted data from two school years — 2018-19 and 2021-22 — using publicly available data from the California Department of Education as well as public records requests sent to 10 county offices of education that oversee court schools, which are education facilities for youth in the juvenile justice system. Students enroll in court school as they await adjudication or disposition, after they’ve been committed to a juvenile facility, or if they’re in a home placement under the supervision of probation.

During 2018-19, nearly 20,000 students attended court schools in the state. In the 2021-22 school year, the number dropped to 10,891. This decrease likely reflects the lower number of youth in the juvenile justice system, which has trended downward in recent years, per the report.

California’s current academic data system does not capture one crucial data point — that the majority of students attend a court school for less than 31 instructional days, the report noted. This means that few students attend for an entire school year, which is typically the time frame that data collection practices are based on.

What’s more, currently available data does not distinguish between academic needs and outcomes of students who spend days or weeks attending a court school versus those who attend for years.

The report highlighted that it has long been anecdotally understood by researchers, probation staff and others working in education within the juvenile justice system that student attendance is often transitory given the dynamic nature of the legal system. The report’s authors argue that instructional programming should reflect this knowledge by calculating any partial credits earned by recording them in student transcripts once they leave juvenile detention. Students also need additional services to more seamlessly move back into their local schools.

While the report’s authors acknowledge that less time in the juvenile justice system is most beneficial, they maintain that the time youth do spend attending a court school should be as minimally disruptive as possible to their education. Minimizing disruption, they said, could include a heightened focus on the transition process out of juvenile detention.

An ongoing challenge with inadequate data collection is that improvements are difficult to highlight. For example, the report authors found that the college-going rate at 10 court schools exceeded the average for the state’s alternative schools.

“The data doesn’t really care if it’s positive or negative. The limitations exist on both sides,” said Chris Middleton, an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Youth Law Center and a primary author of the report. “And I think here where a really positive story could be told, there’s still a set of limitations that’s very evident.”

Much of the data contained in the report reflects a dire reality.

For example, the overall number of youth in the juvenile justice system decreased significantly from 2018 to 2022, yet the number of students with disabilities rose from 20.1% to 29.8%.

The report suggests a few potential reasons: improved screening and identification, improved communication between schools regarding disability status, or a failure to capitalize on the systemic changes that drove the decrease in youth detention statewide.

The report’s authors also found that foster youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system.

While foster youth represent less than 1% of all students enrolled in California schools, in 2018-19 they made up 21.44% of court school enrollments; by 2021-22, they were almost 31 times overrepresented in court schools versus traditional schools. This data was either redacted or unavailable for 27 of 51 court schools.

“The extremely high rate of disability status and the extremely high rate of foster care overlap,” Brady said. “We have long known that young people with disabilities are more likely to be impacted by the juvenile justice system. … The numbers for foster care were still surprising.”

Similarly, high rates of students experiencing homelessness were found at some court schools, but the data for this population of students was particularly unclear; much was either redacted or unavailable. While foster youth status is centrally tracked by the state, homelessness is largely screened by school districts — an identification process that has only in recent years improved through legislation and enforcement.

Regarding chronic absenteeism, the rate was 12.9% among court schools and 12.1% statewide during the 2018-19 school year, and by the 2021-22 school year, that rate was 16.8% among court schools and 30% statewide.

Though lower than the state average, this was alarming for the report’s authors.

Students who attend a local education agency for less than 31 days are not eligible to be considered chronically absent, which indicates that the true rate of chronic absences is much higher, given that most court school students attend for less than 31 instructional days, the report authors wrote.

Additionally, the authors found while some students refuse to attend class, some cannot attend due to decisions made by probation staff. Two examples shared in the report include a practice in Los Angeles County “of barring entire living units of young people from attending school if one of them misbehaved” and refusal by probation staff to provide “timely transport” of students to school.

According to the report, “A necessary element of addressing chronic absenteeism in court schools must include better documentation of missed instructional time and the reasons why students are absent from class.

“Additionally, efficient and effective coordination between probation and school staff is critical to ensuring the basic educational responsibility of students being present in their classrooms is met.”

While the rate of chronic absences was lower among court schools during the 2021-22 school year, it should be noted that the percentages across court schools varied. Some schools reported a rate of over 30% while other schools reported 0%.

One recent allocation of $15 million toward post-secondary education programs for youth in the juvenile justice system might turn the tide on better understanding outcomes. The funding will create and expand community college programming inside juvenile facilities, and a portion is intended to go toward evaluating such programs.

This ongoing funding “is the single most positive and exciting thing that’s going on in the area of juvenile justice and education right now,” said Lauren Brady, managing director of the legal team at Youth Law Center.

Many of the issues with data collection that researchers found were due to unavailable data or redactions — when a group includes fewer than 10 students, data is withheld to protect student privacy.

“We can’t tell the complete story. That’s where we’re at right now. … In order to truly transform the experience for students and to give them the best chance to have a brighter future, we have to be able to measure what they’re experiencing,” report co-author Middleton said. “And I think that we have the capability. I have faith in California and our institutions that we are able to properly develop these measures and ensure that the data’s actually being reported.”

Source link

07/07/2025
State data collection systems failing students in juvenile detention, report says

Wards at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility talk at a table in Merced Hall in Stockton, Calif.

Credit: Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle / Polaris

California is failing to provide a high-quality education to students in the juvenile justice system by not addressing the inadequacies of academic data collection practices, according to a recent report from the national Youth Law Center. Current collection practices, the report authors argue, do not accurately measure student needs and outcomes.

“A failure to design better metrics would be a disastrous choice on the part of California stakeholders to keep these students out of sight and out of mind,” the report’s authors wrote.

The report, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” is a follow-up to a 2016 report that similarly found the state to be failing in its mission of providing students in juvenile detention with high-quality education via its disproportionate representation of multiple student populations, high rates of chronic absenteeism, low high school graduation rates, inaccurate or incomplete data, and more.

The most recent report highlighted data from two school years — 2018-19 and 2021-22 — using publicly available data from the California Department of Education as well as public records requests sent to 10 county offices of education that oversee court schools, which are education facilities for youth in the juvenile justice system. Students enroll in court school as they await adjudication or disposition, after they’ve been committed to a juvenile facility, or if they’re in a home placement under the supervision of probation.

During 2018-19, nearly 20,000 students attended court schools in the state. In the 2021-22 school year, the number dropped to 10,891. This decrease likely reflects the lower number of youth in the juvenile justice system, which has trended downward in recent years, per the report.

California’s current academic data system does not capture one crucial data point — that the majority of students attend a court school for less than 31 instructional days, the report noted. This means that few students attend for an entire school year, which is typically the time frame that data collection practices are based on.

What’s more, currently available data does not distinguish between academic needs and outcomes of students who spend days or weeks attending a court school versus those who attend for years.

The report highlighted that it has long been anecdotally understood by researchers, probation staff and others working in education within the juvenile justice system that student attendance is often transitory given the dynamic nature of the legal system. The report’s authors argue that instructional programming should reflect this knowledge by calculating any partial credits earned by recording them in student transcripts once they leave juvenile detention. Students also need additional services to more seamlessly move back into their local schools.

While the report’s authors acknowledge that less time in the juvenile justice system is most beneficial, they maintain that the time youth do spend attending a court school should be as minimally disruptive as possible to their education. Minimizing disruption, they said, could include a heightened focus on the transition process out of juvenile detention.

An ongoing challenge with inadequate data collection is that improvements are difficult to highlight. For example, the report authors found that the college-going rate at 10 court schools exceeded the average for the state’s alternative schools.

“The data doesn’t really care if it’s positive or negative. The limitations exist on both sides,” said Chris Middleton, an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Youth Law Center and a primary author of the report. “And I think here where a really positive story could be told, there’s still a set of limitations that’s very evident.”

Much of the data contained in the report reflects a dire reality.

For example, the overall number of youth in the juvenile justice system decreased significantly from 2018 to 2022, yet the number of students with disabilities rose from 20.1% to 29.8%.

The report suggests a few potential reasons: improved screening and identification, improved communication between schools regarding disability status, or a failure to capitalize on the systemic changes that drove the decrease in youth detention statewide.

The report’s authors also found that foster youth are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system.

While foster youth represent less than 1% of all students enrolled in California schools, in 2018-19 they made up 21.44% of court school enrollments; by 2021-22, they were almost 31 times overrepresented in court schools versus traditional schools. This data was either redacted or unavailable for 27 of 51 court schools.

“The extremely high rate of disability status and the extremely high rate of foster care overlap,” Brady said. “We have long known that young people with disabilities are more likely to be impacted by the juvenile justice system. … The numbers for foster care were still surprising.”

Similarly, high rates of students experiencing homelessness were found at some court schools, but the data for this population of students was particularly unclear; much was either redacted or unavailable. While foster youth status is centrally tracked by the state, homelessness is largely screened by school districts — an identification process that has only in recent years improved through legislation and enforcement.

Regarding chronic absenteeism, the rate was 12.9% among court schools and 12.1% statewide during the 2018-19 school year, and by the 2021-22 school year, that rate was 16.8% among court schools and 30% statewide.

Though lower than the state average, this was alarming for the report’s authors.

Students who attend a local education agency for less than 31 days are not eligible to be considered chronically absent, which indicates that the true rate of chronic absences is much higher, given that most court school students attend for less than 31 instructional days, the report authors wrote.

Additionally, the authors found while some students refuse to attend class, some cannot attend due to decisions made by probation staff. Two examples shared in the report include a practice in Los Angeles County “of barring entire living units of young people from attending school if one of them misbehaved” and refusal by probation staff to provide “timely transport” of students to school.

According to the report, “A necessary element of addressing chronic absenteeism in court schools must include better documentation of missed instructional time and the reasons why students are absent from class.

“Additionally, efficient and effective coordination between probation and school staff is critical to ensuring the basic educational responsibility of students being present in their classrooms is met.”

While the rate of chronic absences was lower among court schools during the 2021-22 school year, it should be noted that the percentages across court schools varied. Some schools reported a rate of over 30% while other schools reported 0%.

One recent allocation of $15 million toward post-secondary education programs for youth in the juvenile justice system might turn the tide on better understanding outcomes. The funding will create and expand community college programming inside juvenile facilities, and a portion is intended to go toward evaluating such programs.

This ongoing funding “is the single most positive and exciting thing that’s going on in the area of juvenile justice and education right now,” said Lauren Brady, managing director of the legal team at Youth Law Center.

Many of the issues with data collection that researchers found were due to unavailable data or redactions — when a group includes fewer than 10 students, data is withheld to protect student privacy.

“We can’t tell the complete story. That’s where we’re at right now. … In order to truly transform the experience for students and to give them the best chance to have a brighter future, we have to be able to measure what they’re experiencing,” report co-author Middleton said. “And I think that we have the capability. I have faith in California and our institutions that we are able to properly develop these measures and ensure that the data’s actually being reported.”

Source link

07/07/2025
Teaching yoga in college: How I have shared healing with my fellow students

When I first went to a free yoga class at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s recreation center in the winter of my sophomore year of college, I never realized how it would change my life.

I entered the space with a sense of discomfort; I hadn’t practiced yoga in several years and was hesitant to observe the stiffness of my limbs and unevenness of my breath. The other students around me seemed familiar with these classes and overall more comfortable in their skin.

At the time, I was facing mental health challenges, and a counselor recommended that I try the free yoga class at the recreation center. Willing to try anything, I decided to give it a shot.

The first class I took was led by a student. She invited us into a space with lit candles and gentle music. Even though my initial class was an adjustment, I still went back. And then, I went back again. In fact, it soon became clear to me I wanted to be an instructor myself.

I am a journalism major, and could never have imagined that college would allow me access to anything beyond a career in my area of study. But after completing my 200-hour yoga teaching certification over the summer, I was ready to apply to teach at the recreation center.

According to Eric Alexander, assistant coordinator of Cal Poly’s fitness programs, 16 out of the 46 fitness instructors at the recreation center are students. A huge benefit of hiring students as fitness instructors, he said, is the affinity with their peers as students.

“Students bring great energy to fitness programs, and they get the opportunity to positively impact and motivate their peers,” Alexander said. “That student experience is not only valuable to the instructors but to participants and the program as well.”

I saw this as soon as I entered the teaching space. My classes are sometimes filled with 40 or 50 students, many of them regulars who return weekly. I have found that my being a college student makes my students less hesitant to approach me after class to ask questions or simply to share what the class meant to them.

This accessibility to the physical and mental benefits of yoga helped me to recenter and grow as a person and as a student. Additionally, I came to realize I wanted to help others on their journey of healing. In this role as a fitness instructor, I have been able to expand access to yoga in my college community.

Yoga practice draws on a rich history of healing through mind-body connection which can help promote mindfulness and reduce tension. Especially for college students, this kind of physical practice can be incredibly beneficial.

According to research cited by the National Library of Medicine, “Yoga has positive effects on a psychophysiological level that leads to decreased levels of stress in college students.”

With the average yoga class in a commercial studio costing $15-$25 per session, yoga’s benefits are unaffordable to many young people. I’ve seen how free classes on campus solve that problem, and how they may be less daunting for some students to explore on their own.

Cal Poly and other public universities also offer other free group physical activity classes, such as cycling, dance, Pilates, high-intensity interval training and much more, allowing students to explore what activity is most beneficial for them.

I am grateful that pursuing my passion for yoga has been supported by my university, and while teaching me something that I love to share with other college students: Pursuing a passion or side interest while in school will serve to enrich your life, and in my case, the lives of others.

Consistently after my classes, students approach me to share how the space has helped them to recenter and find peace amid busy school days. I encourage them to not only continue practicing yoga but to consider teacher training if they are interested.

Using my platform as a student fitness instructor, I am able to share my passion for yoga to promote healing, growth and mindfulness in my college community. And I have gained experience for a career in teaching yoga, which I intend to maintain as a side job after college.

•••

Arabel Meyer is a fourth-year journalism major at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.

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

Source link

07/07/2025
All students need to learn data science

Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

We live in a world driven by data. Data is collected and stored on every human interaction, whether commercial, civic or social. Enormous server “farms” across the world save, preserve and serve data on demand. A list of the most in-demand jobs includes data-scientist and statistician. Algorithms determine prison sentences, scan video feeds to identify potential suspects of crimes, and assist in decisions regarding loans, college admissions and employment interviews.

But problems lurk. Algorithms trained using data that poorly represent the populations to which they are applied leave members of some groups at greater risk of being mistakenly incarcerated. Data models developed without input from contextual experts exacerbate existing patterns of racism and sexism. Data is stolen, allowing thieves to impersonate others and steal millions. Privacy is threatened, and your local grocery chain may know more about your medical conditions than your closest family members.

Would it surprise you, then, to learn that high school students are not required to study statistics or data science? Fortunately, even though such courses are not required, for more than a decade a growing number of California high school students have had the opportunity to take statistics courses — and since 2013, data science courses — to meet the admissions requirements of the University of California and the California State University systems. Currently, this pathway to college access is being reviewed by the University of California academic senate. Closing it will make it even more difficult for students to learn relevant and necessary skills for 21st century life.

I, along with other statisticians, view data science as a much-needed upgrade of the current statistics curriculum. It was in this spirit of modernization that I joined a team consisting of high school teachers, UCLA statisticians, computer scientists and education researchers, to develop the Introduction to Data Science, or IDS, course. This course, supported by the National Science Foundation and the first (I believe) yearlong high school data course in the U.S., was designed to better reflect the modern practice of statistics — which relies on computers, algorithms and both predictive and inferential modeling — than existing high school statistics courses do.

The course was approved in 2013 as a statistics course by UC’s High School Articulation Unit. This came as no surprise because it reflected the fact that Introduction to Data Sciences was designed as a statistics course following guidelines established by the American Statistical Association, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the Common Core state standards (not the result of a flawed approval process, as some have alleged). Statistics courses have long been approved as high school math courses without being required to teach Algebra II standards.

For some reason, this long-standing practice has recently been viewed as controversial, leading to the current UC review and allegations that data science courses offer insufficient algebraic rigor. The real issue is about the purpose of high school mathematics education. Is it designed only to serve students who will major in science, technology, engineering and math, which requires advanced algebra at some point, or should it serve the needs of all students? And if it is meant to serve only future STEM students, is Algebra II the only starting point? The real issue isn’t about offering “weak” math or strong math, but about providing rigorous courses that prepare students for life in the modern data-driven world. Modern statistics courses provide foundational skills and knowledge that are needed by most (if not all) high school students.

Don’t just ask me. After all, I am one of the developers. Ask high school leaders. There has been widespread demand for these courses. Since our initial pilot in 10 schools in 2014–15, Introduction to Data Science is offered in 189 high schools around the nation, and more than 400 high schools around the state are offering one of the available data science courses.

Ask the researchers who found that courses such as ours improved college preparation and matriculation.

Ask leaders at UC Berkeley, among the first universities to recognize the importance of data science. In establishing their wildly popular introductory data science course, Data 8, they emphasized that the instructional approach “should not be viewed as ‘going soft on the math’” and that “conceptual understanding can be developed, perhaps even better developed, through direct experience and computational actions performed with one’s own hands, rather than through symbolic manipulation.”

While it is true that high school students shouldn’t be forced to make “major” life decisions such as whether to take Algebra II and embark on the STEM path, for many students, this decision is made for them. One study of over 450,000 California high school students found that of those who passed Algebra I, only 40% continued to Algebra II. Courses such as Introduction to Data Science create more opportunities for students to develop mathematical skills and prepare to attend a four-year college — and even to take Algebra II if they choose.

Statistics and data science courses prepare students to address many of the major issues of our time. STEM students are not excused from the need to study data science. Many recent scandals and controversies in scientific work have centered around the misuse and misunderstanding of fundamental statistical concepts. These challenges point to the need for students of STEM to deepen their study of data science.

All students need data science; some students also need Algebra II. Not the other way around.

•••

Robert Gould is a teaching professor at the UCLA Department of Statistics and Data Science, a fellow of the American Statistical Association, founder of the ASA DataFest competition, and co-author of a college introductory statistics textbook: Exploring the World through Data.

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.

Source link

04/07/2025
Community college students serve as basic needs support guides for peers

Xavier Navarro, left, was a student ambassador while attending Santa Ana College. In this photo, he was tabling with his adviser, Hope Nguyen.

Over 50 community college students in California currently serve as resource guides for peers in need of stable housing, food access and other basic needs.

The students are part of the California Community Colleges’ Student Ambassador Program, which trains students to share information on available resources, including CalFresh and housing stipends with their fellow students. The program uses peers to share such resources in an effort to reduce the stigma around accessing basic needs services.

“They’re students on the campus, on the ground floor, knowing what students need, knowing how their campus operates, what works, what doesn’t,” said Yuriko Curiel, an ambassador program specialist.

The need is acute. According to a recent report by The Community College League of California and the RP Group, only 32% of the 66,741 students who responded to their survey felt secure in meeting all their basic needs. Over half of respondents were concerned about running out of food; 3 out of 5 students experienced housing insecurity, and 1 in 4 reported experiencing homelessness.

Anecdotes from two recent student ambassadors, Adela Gonzales and Xavier Navarro, highlighted the program’s impact.

Gonzales said in a recent interview that she spoke with a student who was on his way to a Riverside City College parking structure where other students had died by suicide. The student told her that he was heading there because he was contemplating doing the same. But on that day, he came across Gonzales, who was handing out pamphlets regarding various student services, including mental health support.

Adela Gonzales was a student ambassador for two years at Riverside City College.

“I was able to talk with him … give him a little bit of validation, and then walk him to the Student Health and Psychological Center,” said Gonzales, who is studying biochemistry and sociology. “I still message him here and there to see how he’s doing.”

She said what most stood out in her work as an ambassador was how only a few students were aware of the campus’ psychology center or their crisis text hotline. Her interest in supporting other students prompted her to join the program two school years in a row.

At Santa Ana College, Navarro was working at the campus food pantry when he met a fellow student veteran, named Louie, who didn’t have a home.

Meeting Navarro, who was a student ambassador at the time, led to Louie being quickly connected to resources, including a housing voucher to book a hotel room for about a month, food assistance via CalFresh, a free bus pass, and a job at the same food pantry where he met Navarro.

“He was hurting, and it hurts you as a person because you want to help … and now that you have the tools, why not?” said Navarro, who is now an accounting student at Cal Poly Pomona University in Southern California.

It was Navarro’s own experience as a veteran that helped facilitate the initial conversation with Louie.

“We care about the students, we want the students to succeed,” Navarro said. “Because college is hard, it’s expensive, and it can be challenging. Not having a home, not having food. … Caring goes a long way, especially for a college student.”

Students’ identities are crucial in connecting with their peers, said Curiel, the program specialist who was an ambassador before she graduated from San Bernardino Valley College.

Yuriko Curiel was a student ambassador and now works as a specialist for the program
Courtesy of Yuriko Curiel

“Not only are they connecting with peers, they’re connecting with people who reflect their own community,” she said, noting that Navarro is a veteran; Gonzales, a former foster youth; Curiel was balancing work and school as a single mom during her time as an ambassador.

Ambassadors also often understand being food or housing insecure. Gonzales and Navarro, for example, both relied on CalFresh in the past. Gonzales also received a housing grant while enrolled in college because she couldn’t afford her rent after a roommate moved out of their shared apartment.

Gonzales and Navarro said that a common response they got from students was disbelief that they might qualify for CalFresh, the state’s food assistance program. Complex eligibility rules for students is a known barrier to the program.

“Not everybody on campus knows what’s available to them and how they can access, and even when they access that, there are still questions,” Gonzales said. “Being able to point them in the right direction and get the right information for them is very important.”

The ambassador program was launched in 2016. Students who join are expected to put in at least six to eight hours each month, for which they receive a stipend of $1,500 after completing the program.

The first cohort in 2016 included 20 students, while the current group includes 53 students. Previous groups have included over 100 ambassadors, according to Sarah London, external and executive communications director with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which operates the program.

“The fluctuation in numbers is solely based on available funding,” said London. “Ideally, we’d have hundreds of ambassadors every year, so we strive to bring on more philanthropic funders to support and help us grow these efforts in the future.”

While student support services vary at the state’s 116 community colleges, some examples include CalFresh application assistance, low-cost auto insurance, a mental health crisis text hotline, and emergency financial aid grants, among others.

Students interested in joining the program must apply for a position and meet eligibility requirements, which include being at least 18 years old, enrolled in at least one unit for the fall and spring semesters during the school year in which they’re applying, and availability to attend a Zoom training.

Gonzales, Navarro and Curiel were all encouraged to apply for the program by staff members managing student organizations they had joined.

For example, Gonzales was part of Guardian Scholars, a chapter-based organization on college campuses that helps support former foster and homeless youth, before learning about the ambassadors program. A staff member with the group noticed that Gonzales often took the initiative by sharing basic needs information with her peers and suggested she apply to be an ambassador.

“I’ve always enjoyed providing resources for all my foster sisters,” she said, adding that joining the ambassador program felt like an extension of what she was already inclined to do in her personal life.

Student ambassadors use a variety of strategies to reach their peers, such as tabling during campus events, creating social media posts, sending out mass emails about available resources, and presenting to their classmates during class breaks.

“This is really investing in our next generation of leaders,” Curiel said. “I see our dean of student services coming out of this, our basic needs coordinators, or people doing public policy; I think that’s just the power of the program.”

Source link

03/07/2025
As feds plan new measures to prevent financial aid fraud, colleges hope real students still enroll
The 2025-26 FAFSA form.

Credit: Andrew Reed
Top Takeaways

California’s community colleges have dispersed $14 million and likely much more in financial aid to fraudsters.

The U.S. Department of Education says colleges must verify the identities of more students this summer. In the fall, it plans to launch permanent screening.

Colleges worry that the new measures could burden students too much and prevent some from enrolling.
California colleges are worried that new federal measures seeking to crack down on financial aid fraud, which has stolen millions in grants, could result in the unintended consequence of fewer legitimate students enrolling.

At California’s community colleges, where the fraud has been most pronounced in the state, financial aid officials hope the new steps will strike a balance between deterring bad actors while also minimizing the burden on real students. Some students may find taking extra steps to prove their identity to be an extra barrier to enrolling, possibly scaring them off, administrators say.

“How do we do fraud mitigation, but also still have students apply? The more barriers, the harder we make it to get in our systems, the less people will come,” said Tina Vasconcellos, associate vice chancellor of educational services at the Peralta Community College District. “It’s great the federal government wants to help us and cut down on fraud, but at the same time, is it going to create another hoop for our students to jump through to get to us in the first place?”

The U.S. Department of Education announced last month it will roll out new ways to verify the identities of students who apply for aid. Most of the fraud has tapped federal aid, in the form of Pell Grants intended for low-income students, but some state and local aid has also been stolen in California and elsewhere.

The federal department said it would require colleges this summer to verify the identities of additional first-time applicants. That will apply to about 125,000 students in total nationwide, but the department didn’t say how that will be split among the colleges. To get verified, students will have to show government-issued identification such as a passport or driver’s license. If the college determines that a student is unable to show the identification in person, the student can be given the option to do so on a video call.

“Although we recognize that these verification selections could be challenging for some institutions and students, it is a critically important and targeted step toward preventing fraud,” the department wrote in an announcement.

The additional verification for the summer term is only a temporary solution before the department implements a permanent screening process for every financial aid applicant for the upcoming fall term.

Officials have not said what that process will entail in the fall. Among the possibilities, college officials speculate that requiring more students to come in person to prove they are real, which could be potentially challenging for students who live far away and take entire course loads online.

Community colleges have been plagued by financial aid scammers who target those institutions because they are open-access and offer many classes fully online. That makes it much easier to enroll in classes online and be eligible for aid. At least $14 million in aid, and likely much more, has been dispersed to fraudsters at California community colleges since 2021.

It’s also easier to defraud community colleges than more expensive universities because tuition is so low or otherwise covered, and much of the grants go directly to students for living costs, rather than to the colleges for tuition.

“We don’t know what the plan is for the fall,” said Jill Desjean, the director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Ideally, Desjean said, the process would be automated so that additional steps aren’t required of students or staff. “There’s just a limit to what the schools can do.”

Pretending to be legitimate students, fraudsters start by applying for admission online. Some of them are caught there, but others successfully get admitted and enroll in classes. At that point, they can request financial aid, which, if they’re successful, gets distributed to personal bank accounts via direct deposit.

Beyond stealing aid, the scams have additional consequences for real students. Since each course has a finite number of seats, genuine students are sometimes left on waiting lists and can’t enroll because fraudsters are taking up the available seats.

In a statement when the new measures were announced, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department “has a responsibility to act” because fraud is “taking aid away from eligible students, disrupting the operations of colleges, and ripping off taxpayers.”

Jasmine Ruys, vice president of student services at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, acknowledged that “it’s our job to make sure that fraud is not happening and that we’re good stewards of taxpayer money.”

She added, though, that the college strives to balance that responsibility with not asking too much of students.

“Some students work during the day, so they might have to take time off work to be able to come over to us to verify,” Ruys added. “So we try really hard not to put any kind of barriers up for a student.”

Even being asked to upload additional documents online could be difficult for some students, said Vasconcellos of the Peralta district, which serves Oakland and the rest of northern Alameda County.

“We still have a digital divide. There are students within our community who have less access to all aspects of technology,” she said. “A lot of our students are actually still using their phones to take their classes. So what I’d be concerned about is if the technology on the receiving end isn’t working and if it’s not easy to upload your ID, or whatever it is that they’re asking for, it’s going to potentially be a barrier.”

Vasconcellos and Ruys both said they’re hopeful that whatever the department implements this fall will be something that doesn’t require much extra from students.

One possible solution, Ruys said, would be to add something at the beginning of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), so the verification happens quickly rather than when students are getting ready to start their classes. That could be something similar to ID.me, an online identity verification platform already being used by many community colleges.

It’s not clear, however, whether the department is considering that option.

“Whatever it is, we’re going to abide by all laws,” Ruys said. “We just hope that it doesn’t limit our students from being able to enroll and attend college.”
Source link
03/07/2025
What to know about public health guidelines as LAUSD students return from the holidays

Third graders at Hooper Avenue School in Los Angeles wear their mask during class.

Credit: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/Polaris

As students return to school after holiday travel and festivities, respiratory illnesses are at high levels in Los Angeles, with many suffering from a mix of Covid and the flu.

During the week leading up to Dec. 28 and with Covid-19 strain JN. 1 having become dominant, the LA County Department of Public Health reported an average of 621 cases each day, marking a 25% increase from the previous week.

The Department of Public Health also said the figures are an “undercount” since most tests are done at home and not reported to medical staff. Meanwhile, for the first time this season, the county has entered the CDC’s “medium” category for Covid hospitalizations. Mask mandates have been reinstated in health care facilities.

“There have been notable, yet not unexpected, increases in COVID-19 reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” according to a news release from the LA County Department of Public health.

“While recent increases are significant, they remain considerably below last winter’s peak and common-sense protections are strongly recommended to help curb transmission and severe illness as the new year begins.”

Earlier this season, 23% of LA County residents participating in a text message survey said they had experienced a cough or shortness of breath within a week of Dec. 10, according to the Los Angeles Times.

More specifically, they reported that about 18% of specimens tested at Sentinel Surveillance Labs in LA County came back positive for the flu — marking a 4% increase from the previous week. And, in the week leading up to Dec. 16, more than 12% of specimens came back positive for RSV.

“Respiratory infections among children and adults are increasing this winter season. These infections are not limited to Flu and COVID-19,” read a message from LAUSD. “We are also seeing a rise in Respiratory Syncytial Virus, also known as RSV.”

Before going on winter break, between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12, LAUSD also reported 528 Covid cases, according to the district dashboard.

LAUSD and the LA County Department of Public Health suggest parents follow these guidelines for determining when a child should be home, come to school and how to stay healthy.

What should I do if my child tests positive for Covid?

Whether symptomatic or not, students with Covid should stay home for five days, following either testing positive or experiencing symptoms.

Those who are immunocompromised, however, may isolate for longer periods, according to the district.

If my child tests positive for Covid, when is it safe for them to return to the classroom? Do they need to provide a negative test result before coming back?

Students do not need to provide a negative antigen test to return to class between days six and 10. And following day five, if your child has been without a fever for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medicines, and their symptoms are improving, they can return to the classroom.

If, however, the symptoms come back after the isolation period, the student should test again, according to the district.

What does it mean if my child is a “close contact?” What do I do then?

If your child is in the same indoor space for Covid for 15 minutes within 24 hours with someone positive, they are a “close contact.”

In that case, the district asks that your child’s health be monitored for 10 days following the exposure. They also recommend masking and testing between the third and fifth days.

What about other illnesses like the flu or RSV? Do the same rules apply?

If your child has a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher — or if they are vomiting or have diarrhea — they should stay home, according to the district.

What should I communicate to the school? How do I ensure my child’s absence is excused?

If your child has Covid, upload the result onto the Daily Pass.

And regardless of the sickness, absences due to illness are excused. To excuse an absence, provide the school with documentation within 10 days of your child’s return to class.

If the school does not receive documentation, the absence will count as uncleared or unexcused, meaning it can count toward truancy.

Where do I find free Covid tests, vaccinations and treatments to keep my child healthy?

LAUSD provides Covid-19 home test kits at each school site. Libraries and other community centers may also supply tests.

Additionally, as of Nov. 20, the federal government provides each household with four home tests for free, according to the LA County Department of Public Health.

How do we stay healthy?

The LA County Department of Public Health suggests testing, not only if you have been exposed or have symptoms, but also if you have attended larger gatherings or have visited individuals who are more susceptible to illness.

They also recommend washing hands frequently and masking in crowded indoor areas as well as in spaces that are poorly ventilated to prevent Covid, RSV and the flu.

Source link

03/07/2025
There are no bad kids: How educators can protect students against harmful diagnoses
Credit: iStock- Tobiaschu

The first time I met Micah, a Black elementary school student, I was struck by his cherubic face, bright eyes and nonstop knock-knock jokes that had me laughing out loud. He was warm and polite. His grandmother — his guardian — sat close by during the visit, gently encouraging his respectful tone. She described him as responsible and kind, and everything I saw affirmed that.

So, I was puzzled — then troubled — by his school’s mental health referral. Teachers had described Micah as a “behavior challenge” and asked for help managing his “defiance.” His school records even falsely claimed his mother was a “cocaine addict.” None of it matched the child in front of me.

As I got to know him, the real story came out: Micah had just watched his father collapse and die after he tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. My heart sank as my evaluation revealed that his grief had been misread as misconduct, his pain distorted through the lens of pathology. Frustrated by repeated suspensions and missed learning, his grandmother eventually transferred him to another school.

As a child psychiatrist, I’ve seen how often Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous children, like Micah, are unfairly mislabeled and misunderstood. One diagnosis keeps showing up in ways that harm these children: oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) — a common childhood behavioral disorder characterized by anger, defiance and vindictiveness.

Too often, ODD becomes a “bad kid” label, punishing racially minoritized children for behaviors rooted in trauma, racism or structural inequities, rather than addressing the hardships they face.

Oppositional defiant disorder is overdiagnosed in Black, Hispanic and Indigenous children because of biased behavior assessments. Adultification bias leads Black children to be seen as older, stronger and less innocent than they are. Anger bias results in Black students being perceived as angry even when they’re not.

This overdiagnosis often ignores what’s really going on. Anger or irritability can be signs of anxiety or depression, while defiance can be an adaptive response to trauma or discrimination. Gender-nonconforming students of color are at special risk of being labeled defiant when they are simply resisting mistreatment or bullying.

But instead of getting support, these kids are too often punished and criminalized.

Since racially minoritized children already face higher rates of suspension, expulsion and police involvement, an improper diagnosis reinforces exclusion, pushing them out of school and into the justice system.

An ODD diagnosis doesn’t explain a child’s behavior. It blames them for it.

In 2013, California began to ban suspension for willful defiance, eventually in all grades K-12. This measure reduced overall suspensions, but racial disparities in discipline remain stark. Black and Indigenous students are suspended earlier and more often, with Black students with disabilities most affected in middle school.

Disciplinary codes that remain — like “disruption,” “defiance” and “profanity” — are vague and subjective, leaving room for racial bias. In one California school district, Black students with disabilities accounted for three-quarters of all suspensions for these offenses.

While students can’t be suspended from school for willful defiance anymore, teachers can still suspend students from class for it. An oppositional defiant disorder diagnosis can still justify exclusion — through special education placements, psychiatric referrals, or other punitive measures — serving as a backdoor for exclusionary discipline.

There is no denying that educators face enormous challenges in classroom management, and that they often don’t have the best tools and resources to help. Restorative justice and trauma-informed approaches, for instance, can be difficult to implement because of limited staffing and administrative support. But it’s also true that questioning the “bad kid” label with ODD or defiance can lead to more just outcomes.

How? Here are four things educators and other adults can do:

Recognize bias in discipline and mental health diagnoses
A Black student questioning authority may be labeled defiant, while a white student is called assertive for the same behavior. Bias training and reflective practice are key to addressing these misperceptions. While California has introduced implicit bias training as part of teacher professional development, none of these initiatives specifically address diagnostic bias.

Contextualize student behavior
Before labeling a child oppositional, ask:
- Are they facing hunger, housing instability or bullying?
- Are they reacting to discrimination or past trauma?
Building strong relationships with students and families helps uncover the full story.

Support, don’t punish
Because they address the root causes of distress, behavioral interventions that teach emotional regulation and restorative practices that repair relationships can be more effective than exclusion.

Be skeptical of mental health referrals
Referrals don’t guarantee unbiased care. Psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists aren’t required to account for racism or the school-to-prison pipeline when diagnosing oppositional defiant disorder. California’s medical and behavioral health boards don’t mandate an antiracist approach, meaning students are often assessed without consideration of systemic factors.

ODD’s overdiagnosis among Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students reflects a deeper problem, where certain children’s emotions are pathologized and punished, while the emotions of others receive understanding and support.

By questioning bias and shifting from labels to solutions, schools can ensure every child gets the support they need to thrive.

For Micah, the Black elementary school student grieving his father’s death, the solution wasn’t medication or behavior interventions. It was removing the ODD label and validating his grandmother’s sense that the school was mistreating him. What helped was switching schools and witnessing his grandmother go to bat for him. These actions gave him what he truly needed: love, support and a sense of belonging.

There are no bad kids. There are only systems that fail them. Let’s lift them up, not push them out.

•••

Dr. Rupinder K. Legha is a double board-certified psychiatrist based in Los Angeles who specializes in child, adolescent and adult mental health.

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 commentary guidelines and contact us.
Source link
02/07/2025