Getting Students Back to School
Calling the cops: Policing in California schools
Black teachers: How to recruit them and make them stay
Lessons in Higher Education: California and Beyond
Superintendents: Well paid and walking away
Keeping California public university options open
Getting students to fully return to school in the wake of the pandemic remains a struggle for many districts nationwide and in California. While absenteeism has improved, it remains above pandemic levels. The challenge has put a focus on strategies to help students to return from expanded mental health and counseling to better transportation, even incentives like recess in schools, cash payments and teacher mentors. It’s a mission with a different vibe than the truancy efforts of years past when districts turned to the courts to make parents accountable.
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August 14, 2024
In California, 1 in 4 students are chronically absent putting them academically behind. A new USC study finds links between absenteeism and mental health struggles.
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Data gathered from over 40 states shows absenteeism improved slightly but remains above pre-pandemic levels. School leaders are trying various strategies to get students back to school.
A 2010 law sponsored by then-District Attorney Kamala Harris, allows for the arrest of parents of chronically absent students.
A high rate of students remain chronically absent across the state. Advocates say change requires targeted communication and flexibility.
Nearly a third of the 930 districts statewide that reported data had a higher rate of chronic absenteeism in 2022-23 than the year before.
Join EdSource on Aug. 28 at 2 p.m. for a roundtable discussion on the impact of chronic absenteeism on schools and families, and hear about the latest in research, data and solutions.
Panelists include Thomas Dee, professor of education at Stanford University, who has collaborated with the Associated Press to collect attendance data from states nationwide, and Amie Rapaport, a research scientist at USC and co-author of a research report on school absenteeism.
An EdSource investigation of school policing reveals the vast presence of police in California.
Research shows having a Black teacher in the classroom has a positive impact on students, but the number of Black teachers is declining.
This is a continuing EdSource series on proven innovations in higher education that relate to the problems facing California’s higher education systems.
Politics, stress and threats — leftovers from pandemic school closures — are making it easy for many veteran California superintendents to leave for other jobs, or to retire.
