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Over the last decade, California leaders have made tremendous progress on supporting kids in some crucial areas. They have vastly increased the percentage of children enrolled in health insurance and made paid family leave available for most workers. They have also invested in free school meals, committed to universal transitional kindergarten, and significantly cut school suspensions among students of color. On too many issues, however, California has failed to significantly improve outcomes for kids, allowing unacceptable racial and economic disparities to stagnate and in many cases grow. That lack of progress is why low grades are seen all across the 2024 Report Card. What's particularly disturbing is that California continues to trail far behind other states on a number of important indicators of child well-being. Despite the relatively high tax burden, the progressive leanings, and the enviable 5th largest economy in the world, California is far from a leader when it comes to kids. That's not only a threat to the state's collective future, but to the entire country as well since California is so often a bellwether for the nation. The issues in this report must be the top priority issues for state policymakers. The report card is organized into the following sections: (1) Health; (2) Education; (3) Family Supports; (4) Child Welfare; and (5) Cross-Sector Issues.

In spring 2023, The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group) partnered with the CEO Affordability, Food & Housing Access Taskforce of the Community College League of California (CCLC) to assist in survey data collection efforts and provide updated data trends regarding California Community College (CCC) students' food and housing security. Over 66,000 students from 88 California Community Colleges responded to the survey, revealing that two out of every three CCC students grapple with at least one basic needs insecurity. Nearly half of CCC students are food insecure, almost 3 out of 5 are housing insecure, and about 1 in 4 are homeless. The first section of the report describes the overall rates of basic needs insecurity across all survey respondents, as well as variations in these rates across colleges and regions. The report's second section further describes rates of basic needs insecurity by specific groups of students. The third section details associations between students' work and academic experiences and their basic needs insecurity. Finally, the fourth section reports the utilization of public assistance by students who need support. [Katie Brohawn, Tammeil Gilkerson, and Alyssa Nguyen contributed to this report.]

More than 427,000 undocumented students are enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions. That's an impressive number, considering the many hurdles they must overcome on the road to college and a degree, including restrictions on their ability to enroll in higher education institutions; limits on access to in-state tuition, state financial aid, professional and commercial licenses, driver's licenses, state health care, and food and housing assistance; and difficulties obtaining work authorization and employment -- not to mention the threat of deportation they are under. Providing equitable higher education access for undocumented students means making college accessible and affordable for them. But it also means acknowledging the unique challenges they face because of their immigration status and ensuring that they get the additional supports they need. Researchers from The Education Trust analyzed 9 criteria in the 15 states with the largest shares of undocumented college students -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington -- to determine whether state policies are helping or hurting undocumented students' ability to attend college and how access and success for this underserved student population could be improved. [This report was supported by the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, FWD.us, and United We Dream.]

Almost daily, media headlines draw attention to students struggling academically and emotionally from interrupted learning, high student absenteeism, declining enrollment, teacher and leader burnout, staffing shortages, polarized communities, and school boards at the center of broader political debates. How did we arrive at this current state of affairs? This study, conducted during the first 14 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, provides some answers to this question. In March 2020, the research team set out to understand how seven California school districts--varying in size, geographic location, urbanicity, and grade span--responded to the unfolding health crisis. As the research progressed, the authors began to explore not only the challenges posed by COVID-19 but also the unfolding national reckoning with issues of racial injustice. Later, as data was analyzed alongside a rapidly changing pandemic and set of conditions in public schools nationwide, the authors realized the research had much to say about the challenges currently facing school systems in general. This report: (a) highlights the ways in which particular relationships and conditions contributed to school districts' efforts to advance learning and support school stakeholders between March 2020 and May 2021 by examining patterns across study districts and calling out cases where strong relationships assisted districts' crisis response; and (b) presents evidence that points to some of the origins of the troubling state of affairs that are witnessed today. [This report was written with research support from Alison Bloomgarden and Monica Santander. For the Policy Brief, see ED624679.]

Public education today faces a troubling set of challenges, including declining enrollment, staffing shortages, and polarized communities, with school boards at the center of broader political debates. How did we arrive at this current state? This study--described here and, in more detail, in a related report--of seven California school districts conducted during the first 14 months of the COVID-19 pandemic explores how districts responded in real time to the unfolding health crisis as well as to the growing national reckoning about structural racism. Our case studies show that districts--often bolstered by relationships with labor, the community, and leadership--stepped up to a tremendous challenge, demonstrating resourcefulness, collaboration, and commitment to serving students and their communities. However, our findings suggest that challenges for district leaders have been relentless and show no signs of abating. [For the full related report, see ED624681.]

This technical supplement to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) evaluation final reports presents details of the technical approach used for creating analysis variables and estimating impacts of treatment group services on outcomes, including employment, earnings, and SNAP participation. It also describes the statistical approach used to measure participants' receipt of services and the costs grantees incurred when planning the pilots and providing services. The supplement begins with an overview of the evaluation design and data sources. Next, it discusses imputation procedures used when constructing the analysis data files (Chapter II). It then explains the construction of analysis weights (Chapter III), followed by the approaches used to estimate statistics measuring individuals' participation in services and activities (Chapter IV). The supplement then describes the approach used to estimate impacts for all individuals enrolled in the pilot and for subgroups of individuals (Chapter V). Finally, it discusses the approach used to measure and analyze pilots' planning and implementation costs and estimating the pilot benefits relative to their costs (Chapter VI). This supplement describes the technical approach used to produce findings presented in the 10 pilot-specific final evaluation reports and cross-pilot summary report. [Title cover varies: "Expanding Opportunities & Reducing Barriers to Work: Final Report Technical Supplement. (Evaluation of USDA, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Pilots)." For the Final Summary Report, see ED620374.]

The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of pilot projects to test innovative strategies to reduce dependency on and increase employment among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia and Washington received grants in March 2015 and began implementing their pilots between January and April 2016. All grantees concluded pilot services by April 2019. The final summary report presents employment, earnings, SNAP participation, and other outcome findings that cover a 36-month period for individuals enrolled in the pilots by December 2017. It also presents findings from the implementation evaluation and cost-benefit analysis. The report summarizes findings from the 10 pilot-specific final reports. Key findings include: (1) Earnings increased in three pilots and employment increased in five pilots for the treatment group compared to the control group; (2) An increase in employment did not mean that earnings increased; (3) Pilots generally did not decrease SNAP participation or improve food security; and (4) The cost of pilot services outweighed benefits in most pilots. [Cover title varies: "Expanding Opportunities & Reducing Barriers to Work: Final Summary Report. (Evaluation of USDA, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Pilots)." Staff from the following organizations assisted with this study: MDRC; Insight Policy Research; Decision Information Resources; and Food and Nutrition Service's Office of Employment and Training (OET). For the summary of the Final Summary Report, see ED620373. For the Final Report Technical Supplement, see ED620381. For the Interim Summary Report, see ED620376.]

In the nearly 2 years since the SARS-CoV-2 virus burst on the American scene, more than 850,000 Americans have died, and elections have literally been won or lost on public officials' positions and actions in response to COVID-19. Nowhere have the tensions and leadership demands been more visible than in the school systems that serve elementary and secondary school children, their parents, and communities. Educational Leadership in Crisis: Reflections From a Pandemic, explores how some California district leaders have responded to the initial and continuing COVID-19 crisis, using the reflections of superintendents in the California Collaborative on District Reform to reveal patterns, themes, and lessons. The brief also considers the impact that the pandemic and school closures have had on the leaders themselves and the implications of that impact for the future. The authors conclude by applying the principles of high reliability organizations to suggest how local districts and their leaders might capitalize on the work to date, not only to navigate the continuing challenges of the current pandemic and recovery but also to prepare for the inevitable crises of the future.

Community colleges are mission-driven institutions committed to access and community needs. They serve a diverse population: The majority of students are employed, so they have to balance work with school; about one-third are first-generation, so they are navigating an unfamiliar system for the first time in their families; and 15% are single parents, juggling child care along with course load. With this understanding that students are people with complex needs and responsibilities, community colleges are innovating in the ways they are delivering wraparound supports -- sometimes referred to as basic needs supports -- that address nonacademic barriers to college success. (Common examples of wraparound supports are mental health supports and services, emergency funds and stipends, and housing and food assistance.) Enhanced wraparound supports can lead to higher rates of retention and completion for students. This Policy Brief explores supports offered by individual institutions, as well as broader and coordinated approaches that encompass states or entire systems. It cites examples from current state legislation and programs that support these efforts.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of up to 10 pilot projects to test innovative strategies to reduce dependency on and increase employment among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. The 10 States that received grants were California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington and began implementing their pilots between January and April 2016. All grantees concluded pilot services by April 2019. The Interim Summary Report presents short-term outcome findings that cover each individual for 12 months after enrollment in the pilots for individuals who enrolled by December 2017. The report also includes findings on the implementation evaluation and cost analysis. The report summarizes findings drawn from interim evaluation reports prepared for each of the 10 pilots. The final evaluation reports will present longer-term (36-month) outcomes that may offer more conclusive evidence about the effectiveness of pilot services. This brief document describes the methods and findings of the Interim Summary Report. [For the full report, see ED620376.]

The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of pilot projects to test innovative strategies to reduce dependency on and increase employment among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington received grants in March 2015 and began implementing their pilots between January and April 2016. All grantees concluded pilot services by April 2019. The interim summary report presents short-term outcome findings for the 12 month period after pilot enrollment for individuals who enrolled by December 2017. This report summarizes findings from the 10 pilot-specific interim reports. Key findings include: (1) The 10 pilots implemented diverse service models and served various target groups; (2) Grantees faced steep implementation challenges such as hiring staff and developing partnerships; (3) Both pilot engagement and exit rates were high during the 12 month follow-up period; and (4) The pilots had few impacts on employment and did not decrease SNAP participation during the fourth quarter. [Staff from the following organizations assisted with this study: Insight Policy Research; Koné Consulting; Decision Information Resources; Food and Nutrition Service's Office of Policy Support (OPS); and FNS Office of Employment and Training (OET). For the summary of the Interim Summary Report, see ED620375. For the Interim Report Technical Supplement, see ED620378.]

Food insecurity--the condition of having inadequate food due to a lack of resources--affected roughly 1 in 10 Americans in 2019, and this number increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among college students nationwide, the prevalence of food insecurity is unknown; however, studies have shown that food insecurity is a problem for some college students, particularly those attending two-year schools and those from lower-income households. In recent years, Congress has considered and enacted policies aimed at alleviating food insecurity among college students. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (P.L. 116-260) enacted on December 27, 2020, temporarily expanded the eligibility of certain low-income students for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Additionally, the College Affordability Act (H.R. 4674) included a number of provisions related to college food insecurity such as emergency financial grants to students facing financial challenges (including food insecurity). H.R. 4674 was marked up and ordered to be reported by the House Committee on Education and Labor during the 116th Congress. This report summarizes research on the extent and effects of food insecurity among college students and recent efforts by students, institutions, and governments to reduce food insecurity among this population. It also presents a selection of possible federal policy options to help inform proposals that seek to address food insecurity among college students should Congress continue to consider this topic. These options include ways to target food-insecure college students within existing federal student aid programs, SNAP, and programs that support food donations to campus pantries, as well as the creation of new programs to provide food aid to students.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 authorized $200 million for the development, implementation, and evaluation of up to 10 pilot projects to test innovative strategies to increase employment and reduce the need for SNAP among program participants. The 10 States that received grants were California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. Grantees began implementing their pilots between January and April 2016, and all pilot services concluded by April 2019. The Final Summary Report presents employment, earnings, SNAP participation, and other outcome findings that cover a 36-month period for individuals enrolled in the pilots by December 2017. It also presents findings from the implementation evaluation and cost-benefit analysis. The report summarizes findings from the 10 pilot-specific final evaluation reports. This summary highlights the methods and findings of the final summary report. [For the Final Summary Report, see ED620374.]

This technical supplement to the SNAP Employment and Training (SNAP E&T) evaluation interim reports presents details of the authors' technical approach for creating analysis variables and estimating impacts of treatment group services on outcomes, including employment, earnings, and SNAP participation. It also describes the statistical approach for measuring participants' receipt of services and the costs grantees incurred when planning the pilots and providing services. The supplement begins with an overview of the evaluation design and data sources. Next, it discusses imputation procedures used when constructing the analysis data files (Chapter II). It then explains the construction of analysis weights (Chapter III), followed by the approaches used to estimate statistics measuring individuals' participation in services and activities (Chapter IV). The supplement then describes the approach used to estimate impacts for all individuals enrolled in the pilot and for subgroups of individuals (Chapter V). Finally, it discusses the approach used to measure and analyze pilots' planning and implementation costs (Chapter VI). This supplement describes the technical approach used to produce findings presented in the 10 pilot-specific interim evaluation reports and cross-pilot summary report. [For the Interim Summary Report, see ED620376.]

COVID-19 has disrupted California's education system in fundamental ways. Districts across the state are quickly creating strategies to serve all students, and many are designing their response around the needs of their most vulnerable students. This brief highlights the response of Mother Lode Union School District (MLUSD) to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which district staff and teachers were able to collaborate--despite the unprecedented crisis--to meet student needs.

School closures intended to slow the spread of the new coronavirus have been forcing California's public-school leaders to apply their crisis-management skills to the enormous task of delivering instruction to some 6.2 million students across the state who, for an indefinite period, must engage in some type of distance learning. Even under normal conditions, many of California's districts and schools struggle to adequately serve the full range of their highly diverse student populations. Today's extraordinary circumstances only add to the challenge. In doing so, they serve as a call to action for rethinking how to meet the learning needs of student groups that have been on the wrong side of long-standing opportunity gaps.

The 2020 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California is the comprehensive roadmap at the state level to ensure that all children have the necessary supports to reach their full potential. California has an obligation to tear down the structural barriers to all kids, especially kids of color, from growing up healthy, safe, and ready for college, career, and civic life. The Agenda was compiled by Children Now, the only research, policy development, and advocacy organization covering the full-range of key children's issues, from prenatal through age 26, including children's health, education, child welfare, and family supports, and for adolescents and transition age youth. Children Now coordinates The Children's Movement of California®--a member-based constituency supporting kids that now includes more than 3,570 business, parent, labor, civil rights, faith, and community organizations. The organization also leads, co-leads or participates in more than 90 statewide and local coalitions around the state. The Agenda reflects the top priorities of each of those various coalitions and their members.

California has long been on the cutting edge of social and political change. This trendsetting continues today on issues from addressing climate change to supporting immigrant communities to ensuring equal rights for all. But, when reviewing the grades of this year's California Children's Report Card, it is difficult not to ask the question: why is California failing to be a leader when it comes to kids? The "California Children's Report Card" grades the state on its ability to support better outcomes for kids, from prenatal to age 26. Each grade is based on the state's progress (or lack thereof) on passing and implementing state-level policies and making investments in the supports and services needed for all kids to reach their full potential. The Pro-Kid Agenda provides recommendations to the state's leaders on how to improve outcomes for kids in each section. Today's kids face too many barriers to accessing the quality supports and services they need to reach their full potential. California must take swift action to break down these barriers, first and foremost for children of color, and then by addressing the intersectional impacts of poverty, immigration status, gender, sexual orientation, and foster care system involvement. The report card is organized into the following sections: (1) Health; (2) Education; (3) Family Supports; (4) Child Welfare; and (5) Adolescents & Transition Age Youth.

One way to serve healthier school meals is by incorporating "scratch-cooking" techniques, whereby many or most of the ingredients are prepared onsite from a raw and/or minimally processed form, into school food service programs. However, the vast majority of public school kitchens across the U.S. and in California are not designed and/or equipped to scratch cook. Raw and/or unprocessed food ingredients have shorter shelf lives and fewer added preservatives, thus requiring specialized kitchen infrastructure and equipment for receiving, storing, and preparing. To understand the opportunities and challenges to increasing healthy school meals across California, this study investigates the scratch-cooking readiness of the state's public schools' kitchens. We conducted a web-based survey of food service directors in California public school districts. Two hundred directors from 200 school districts responded. [This report was prepared in collaboration with Conscious Kitchen and The Edible Schoolyard Project.]

This report examines the first-ever national survey of campus food pantries, with 262 participating institutions, 217 of which currently operate pantries. We find that most campus pantries have a designated space on campus, serve exclusively the on-campus community, and are run by staff, students, and faculty. Very few campus pantries have sizable budgets, but most employ some paid staff, often undergraduate or graduate students, and volunteers provide additional support. Awareness of campus pantries may be limited because common outreach strategies are informal, but barriers to support are low--just 5% of campus pantries require proof of financial need. The most common challenges faced by campus pantries are insufficient funding, food, and volunteers.

Concerns about college costs and affordability are widespread, but who is impacted and what does that impact look like in California? Twenty-two higher education and financial aid experts with a broad array of experiences and viewpoints were asked these questions to understand more about college affordability and the policymaking landscape in California. Among the responses, there was resounding agreement that California has a college affordability problem, despite the state having long prioritized keeping tuition low or even free. Key takeaways include: (1) Affordability issues disproportionately affect lower income, underrepresented, and non-traditional students, including community college students in particular who have access to less financial aid than students at four-year institutions; (2) Affordability challenges contribute to inequities in college enrollment, completion, and student debt burdens, with low-income and minority students less likely to enroll in or complete college, and more likely to have borrowed for college; (3) Housing and food insecurity issues plague students across all types of colleges, adversely impacting students' ability to enroll, graduate, or minimize student loan debt; and (4) Existing state aid programs are not designed to sufficiently address non-tuition costs of college, including housing, food, textbooks, and transportation, particularly in high-cost areas of the state. According to every one of the experts, improving college affordability in California requires better supporting students' ability to pay for non-tuition costs such as housing, food, and transportation, with most experts believing that additional aid is especially needed at community colleges. Additionally, experts universally agreed that equity requires targeting available aid to low-income students, lower-middle-income students, non-traditional students, and particularly vulnerable students who face the greatest financial burdens in covering college costs and who often have the greatest difficulty in navigating the complex system surrounding college costs and financial aid. [Monica Griffith drafted this report.]

Lack of progress for improving the lives of kids is unacceptable. All children need stability and a path to opportunity. This is true for nearly half of California's children who live in low-income families, where caregivers struggle to afford the quality support and services they need for their kids. This is also true for the approximately three-fourths of kids of color and just under half of kids growing up in immigrant families who face significant structural barriers to their stability and often highly stressful experiences that disrupt their healthy development. As the "2018 California Children's Report Card" shows, the vast majority of the state's children face extraordinary challenges to reaching their full potential. Yet, the success of California's economy and civil society ultimately depends on policies that tear down these barriers and give all kids access to the quality support they need to succeed--from quality, affordable child care to a rigorous education to health coverage to safety. Public policy change is the fastest and most efficient way to scale innovative, high-impact programs, and secure the needed resources and reforms. The report card is organized into the following sections: (1) Education; (2) Health; and (3) Child Welfare.

These technical appendixes accompany the study, "Who Is Losing Ground with Distance Learning in California?" The study explores key issues California families experienced around distance learning in spring 2020. Using data from the Census Household Pulse Survey, a weekly survey conducted in 2020, the authors document how the COVID-19 pandemic altered Californian households. The findings show that distance learning has widened gaps for children of color, children in low-income families, and children of less-educated parents. The report also offers several recommendations as state and local policymakers consider strategies to improve distance learning and mitigate learning loss. The appendices include: (1) Census PULSE Household Survey; and (2) Additional Tables and Figures. [For the full report, see ED611459.]

"On the Verge: Costs and Tradeoffs Facing Community College Students" documents California community college students' struggles to cover college expenses beyond tuition, their experiences with financial aid, and the troubling tradeoffs they face when available resources do not stretch far enough. Consistent with a growing body of national research showing that students' ability to pay for non-tuition costs is central to their academic progress and success, the report includes results and personal stories from The Institute for College Access & Success' (TICAS') survey of thousands of California students, as well as key facts about community college students' costs, aid, and outcomes both nationally and in California.