Search

As the nation transitions from responding to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to navigating its ongoing impact on youth and their communities, K-12 students continue to experience mental health and wellbeing challenges. In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools in order to bolster district capacity to support mental health and wellbeing. This study aims to identify strategic opportunities for understanding and advancing the counseling program's impact as it moves into its third year. With these goals in mind, this research brief will describe findings related to three questions: (1) What is the role of RCSD's school-based mental health counselors?; (2) What are early signals or "lead indicators" of the value or impact of the counseling program?; and (3) What considerations might further improve the program as it moves into Year 3? To answer these questions, the authors conducted 19 interviews with district administrators, site administrators, and mental health counselors; and 22 participant observations of meetings related to the counseling program and student services more broadly. While the research team employed qualitative data analysis software (Dedoose 9.0.90) to facilitate the coding of qualitative data, the analysis of coded data followed a more traditional, iterative approach, moving between deductive and inductive reasoning. This research brief summarizes key findings and offers considerations for leveraging the counseling program to strengthen a district-wide, coordinated system of support for mental health and wellbeing and developing a theory-based evaluation of impact during Year 3 of program implementation. [This work is generously funded by Stanford's Office of the Provost through the Office of Community Engagement.]

Redwood City School District (RCSD) has a long history of attending to the needs of its students and their families, and it has responded to this moment of crisis by setting a goal that by June 2024, every student will receive "appropriate social-emotional supports designed to meet their needs." The plan for achieving this goal includes placing a full-time, district-employed, licensed clinical mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, and dedicating a portion of one counseling position to the role of "lead counselor" responsible for overseeing program design, development, and implementation. The mental health counseling program is part of a broader initiative known as the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), a comprehensive framework for creating a coordinated system of universal (Tier 1), supplemental (Tier 2), and intensive (Tier 3) supports that promote students' academic behavioral, and social-emotional growth and development. This implementation study, conducted as part of a long-term partnership between Stanford University and RCSD, aims to describe the role and contribution of RCSD's mental health counselors and identify opportunities for improvement as the program moves into its second year of implementation. A qualitative implementation study was conducted from October 2021-May 2022 focusing on data collected via 23 interviews with district and site administrators, teachers, MTSS coordinators, community school coordinators, and mental health counselors; 51 participant observations of meetings related to the counseling program and student services more broadly in which school and district staff, board members, and parents participated; and more than 100 district-produced program documents related to MTSS and/or the counseling program. This research brief summarizes key findings and identifies strategic opportunities not only for improving the counseling program, but for leveraging the program to advance a district-wide, coordinated system of support that effectively promotes mental health and wellbeing. [For the executive summary, see ED627396.]

In partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and 22 San Mateo County school districts, this report and research brief explore the ways in which local students experience housing instability, and how cross-sector strategies can better identify and serve these students. This study considers a rich set of school administrative data, which allow us to describe youth based on their dwelling status designations reported by the school districts, their free or reduced-price meal participation, and several demographic characteristics. We also examine the relationship between student dwelling status designation and educational outcomes. At a high level, our research finds that over 2,600 adolescents in San Mateo County experienced housing instability over the course of the three school years before the pandemic. Students experiencing housing instability were also: (1) disproportionately Latinx, Black, and/or English language learners; and (2) likely to miss more days of school than their housing stable peers. Based on these findings, we conclude that youth experiencing housing instability face a range of unique challenges, and we recommend a set of concrete actions that state policymakers, local and county leaders, school district leaders, and leaders from youth-serving organizations can take to help ensure positive and equitable outcomes. [This report was written with contributions from Francine Biscocho, Elise Dizon Ross, Kristin Geiser, Amy Gerstein, Leslie Patron, Jayme Pyne, Nicole Tognozzi, and Charlotte Woo. For the report brief, see ED624056.]

Teachers and administrators support students to thrive as learners in their classrooms. But when students experience trauma or stress in their lives, educators may be faced with the additional challenge of supporting students to address extremely difficult social and emotional situations. This can lead to secondary traumatic stress--indirect exposure to their student's traumatic experience--and/or compassion fatigue. The latter is the exhaustion that builds over time from attempting to help those who are undergoing trauma. Both terms refer to the "experience of being affected by others' pain" (Van Dernoot Lipsky, 2009, p. 6). Either can contribute to educator burnout, "characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced feeling of personal accomplishment" (National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 2011). While the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of this dynamic, it is not new, especially not in alternative schools, where many students find themselves precisely because they and/or their families experience significant trauma or stress that affects their academic progress. This brief begins with a review of compassion fatigue and secondary trauma in the literature. Next, it offers an overview for addressing compassion fatigue in education settings. Finally, it shares the story of one continuation high school's efforts to support its teachers, and to leverage this journey in support of its district's efforts to address mental health issues more broadly. [Written with Joseph Antonelli.]

A principal's job is complex, demanding, and multi-faceted. Effective principals shape a school's academic vision and foster a climate for learning. In addition, they develop leadership capacity in teachers and staff, promote sound instructional practices, and use resources and data to drive school improvement (Mendels, 2012). Given these significant responsibilities, it is unsurprising that abundant research indicates that the quality of school leadership is correlated with school effectiveness. Principals and school leaders can impact student achievement, graduation rates, and the attraction and retention of qualified teachers (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). School leaders clearly play an important role in school systems. As such, the way leaders are identified, prepared, hired, and supported is critical to high quality teaching and learning in schools. [The report was written with Soung Bae.]

Big Picture Learning's Upstream Collaborative is a professional learning community of continuation high schools, community day schools, and other alternative schools throughout California and Washington State. School leaders in the collaborative receive coaching, professional development, and practical support to develop learner-centered, culturally responsive approaches to teaching and learning at their sites. The "Report and Recommendations of the California Advisory Task Force on Alternative Schools" encourages alternative schools to develop a learner-centered approach to teaching and learning that includes out-of-school learning opportunities (John W. Gardner Center, 2020). In this case profile, Big Picture Learning's Regional Director Javier Guzman poses the question: What will it take to reimagine great alternative schools that help youth develop their full academic and social potential? He addresses this question through the lens of one young man and his experience at a California continuation high school. [For the task force report, see ED608277. The Profiles in California Alternative Education series is a project of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University in support of the California Learning Collaborative on Alternative Education.]

In the fall of 2021, Redwood City School District (RCSD) placed a full-time, district-employed mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools in order to bolster district capacity to support student mental health and wellbeing. Stanford's John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (Gardner Center) conducted a Year 1 Implementation Study and followed up with a Year 2 Implementation Study to further document the evolution of the counseling program and its areas of impact. Focusing on data collected through interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators, the Year 2 study investigated three research questions: (1) What is the role of RCSD's school-based mental health counselors?; (2) What are early signals or "lead indicators" of the value or impact of the counseling program?; and (3) What considerations might further improve the program as it moves into Year 3? This report is an executive summary to the research brief. [This work is generously funded by Stanford's Office of the Provost through the Office of Community Engagement.]

La Sierra Charter School was established in 2000 in an effort to provide a tuition-free school of choice for students who were not experiencing success within the local public schools, yet remained committed to "honor, leadership, postsecondary ambition, and service" (Tulare County Office of Education, 2020). La Sierra's programs are co-located on a single campus in Visalia, California and together they serve 250 students who are admitted through an application process. The majority (75%) of La Sierra's students enter in need of credit acceleration and/or recovery and 87% qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Additionally, one in five students at La Sierra has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), a rate that is nearly twice as high as the County's overall percentage of students with IEPs in grades 9 through 12. The "Report and Recommendations of the California Advisory Task Force on Alternative Schools" encourages alternative schools to develop a learner-centered approach to teaching and learning that is linked to--and intentionally designed to support--high expectations for student outcomes (John W. Gardner Center, 2020). This report examines how La Sierra Charter School sets high expectations for a learner-centered approach to ensure that students meet them. [For the task force report, see ED608277. The Profiles in California Alternative Education series is a project of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University in support of the California Learning Collaborative on Alternative Education.]

In 2015, College Futures Foundation launched the Community Philanthropy for Student Success Initiative (CPI) to engage a cohort of community foundations across California as partners and leaders in reducing statewide disparities in college completion rates. Through CPI, College Futures endeavored to build the capacity of participating foundations to (a) increase strategic need-based scholarships, (b) increase funding for strategic need-based scholarships, and (c) serve as leaders in regional efforts to eliminate inequities in college attainment rates. Prepared by the Gardner Center as the Initiative's research partner, this report summarizes the extent to which CPI reached its goals, the factors that facilitated and hindered progress, and lessons learned that could aid College Futures and other philanthropic organizations in advancing efforts to achieve equitable college completion rates.

This report summarizes the deliberations and recommendations of the California Advisory Task Force on Alternative Schools (Task Force). The Task Force is a public service project of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford University and is convened in collaboration with the California Department of Education (CDE). A central Task Force objective is to provide independent advice to the CDE and the State Board of Education (SBE) as they develop an accountability system and performance data dashboard for alternative schools, known as the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS). The Task Force also aims to build system knowledge and consensus among policymakers, practitioners, and equity advocates about state and local accountability levers that would best incentivize instructional innovation and improve outcomes for students in alternative schools. Task Force leadership is distributed across three workgroups whose efforts are reflected in the organization of this report. One workgroup led deliberations over the approach policymakers should take regarding statewide accountability measures on the DASS. A second workgroup focused on developing additional recommendations for Local Education Agencies (LEAs) regarding alternative school performance measurement (local indicators). A third workgroup led Task Force deliberations on broader policy considerations that address system capacity for innovation and continuous learning and improvement on behalf of the more than 355,000 children and youth enrolled in California's alternative public schools.

In 2015, College Futures Foundation brought together seven community foundations, centering the goal of transitioning traditional, merit-based scholarship programs to a more strategic, need-based approach. College Futures envisioned this transition as a vehicle to improve college completion rates for low-income, first generation students, seeking to enhance the community foundations' capacity to increase college attainment. To support this goal, the Gardner Center supported each foundation to use a set of processes and tools that built their capacity to undertake improvement efforts within their own institutions, and to use this capacity to engage their community partners in collective inquiry. The foundations used contextual knowledge and collective inquiry to design, implement, and improve their strategic, need-based scholarship programs internally, and in conjunction with partners.

Many students face unique and significant obstacles as they pursue postsecondary degrees, including the navigation of two complex systems: higher education and financial aid. Given the importance and complexity of the issues, multiple stakeholders, including philanthropists and researchers, have dedicated resources to understanding and improving college attainment for first generation, low-income students. College Futures Foundation's Community Philanthropy for Student Success Initiative brings key stakeholders together. Through the Initiative, the Gardner Center couples research and capacity building. We work in partnership with multiple community foundations who are engaged in improving college attainment. This brief describes lessons learned from the Initiative, with an emphasis on understanding capacity building through contextual knowledge and collective inquiry.

In 2018, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative engaged the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) to partner with public school districts in San Mateo County, CA to examine the barriers to educational success that homeless and highly mobile students face. Given the increasing prevalence of homelessness and unstable living arrangements among youth nation-wide, and particular challenges related to income inequality and rising housing costs in San Mateo County, this partnership aims to identify factors that may promote academic achievement among this vulnerable population. This report presents results for the first of three stages of this investigation into the prevalence and distribution of youth experiencing housing instability in San Mateo County, breaking the school districts into three geographically-based sub-groups. The first stage describes youth enrolled in the Sequoia Union High School District and its eight feeder elementary school districts. This report aims to address three key research questions: (1) What is the size and distribution of the homeless and highly mobile student population in Sequoia area school districts during the last three to five years? (2) To what degree do circumstances vary for this student population (e.g., in terms of chronicity of homelessness, instability of current living arrangements, placement in foster care, newcomer immigrant background, family structure)? and (3) How does being homeless or highly mobile affect students' educational outcomes?

According to national indicators of adolescent health and well-being, mental health is one of the most significant health issues young people face. Since mental health is linked to other aspects of health and well-being, undiagnosed and untreated mental health conditions can negatively impact a young person's social-emotional health, academic outcomes, and overall quality of life. In San Mateo County, a recent report on adolescent health frames the prevalence of mental health needs among public school students as "staggering." Both nationally and locally, schools are grappling with the challenges of unaddressed mental health needs and the resulting demand it places on them to provide mental health services. To address these challenges, San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD), Peninsula Health Care District (PHCD), and Stanford's Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences' Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing (Center for Youth), have been collaborating to strengthen mental health supports for youth in both the high school and K-8 districts. To better understand which efforts have the greatest potential for impact, they invited The John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) to conduct a study designed to answer three questions: (1) How do students, parents, teachers, and providers perceive mental health needs and student supports throughout middle and high school?; (2) What predictive factors appear to be related to positive transitions, high school readiness, or risk indicators of later mental health challenges?; and (3) What are the opportunities for intervention and support to improve teen mental health? This research brief reports findings from that analysis and offers actionable opportunities for improving support for student mental health. [This report is a collaboration between the Gardner Center, the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, and Peninsula Health Care District. For "San Mateo Area Teen Mental Health Study. Executive Summary," see ED604087.]

Over the years, Sanger Unified School District (SUSD) has been engaged in rigorous efforts to improve student outcomes through instructional and organizational innovations--for example, Universal Design for Learning and Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). While these efforts have facilitated important gains in student outcomes, schools sometimes struggle to engage with families as partners in efforts to foster students' academic success and social-emotional health. Recently, SUSD joined forces with the Sanger Family Resource Center (FRC), a program of Comprehensive Youth Services of Fresno, Inc. Their shared work is to create a new Family Engagement Multi-Tiered System of Support (FE-MTSS). In 2018, SUSD engaged the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) as a research partner to inform these efforts. This issue brief reports research findings from a qualitative study conducted during fall 2018, detailing the current family engagement landscape in Sanger schools and discussing considerations for practice. Key findings include: (1) Most participants emphasized the importance of home-school partnerships; however, different stakeholders emphasized different aspects of engagement; (2) Across the district, the extent to which families felt welcome and supported at schools varied; and (3) Current practice and district policy provides opportunity to further develop a systemic, multi-faceted approach to family engagement. [Contributions to this study were made by Francine Biscocho and Julia Vazquez.]

This data brief provides an enrollment snapshot of youth in the Continuation High Schools and district-operated Community Day Schools ("alternative schools") for youth over the age of 16 in the following Unified School Districts: (1) Long Beach; (2) Los Angeles; (3) Fresno; and (4) Oakland. Unless otherwise noted, these data are reported at the district level. The authors estimate that the sample of four districts represents approximately 20 percent of the alternative school population across the state.

This brief provides a demographic snapshot of enrollment in the Continuation High Schools and district-operated Community Day Schools ("alternative schools") for youth over the age of 16 in the following Unified School Districts: (1) Long Beach; (2) Los Angeles; (3) Fresno; (4) Oakland; and (5) San Francisco. Unless otherwise noted, these data are reported at the district level.

Over the last two decades, a rising number of families with preschool age children speak a language other than English at home. Known as Dual Language Learners, or DLLs, they are likely to enter kindergarten already academically behind. This gap persists throughout high school, resulting in vastly different academic and life outcomes between DLLs and their peers. The early years present a pivotal time to interrupt this achievement gap. This gap widens as children grow, yielding vastly different life and learning outcomes for DLL students. In response to this challenge, San Mateo County's Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI) aims to ensure that early learning professionals are skilled in and committed to: (1) preserving and encouraging children's home languages and cultures; (2) developing teaching and learning supports for dual language learning; (3) creating early learning experiences, practices, and policies that are culturally and linguistically relevant; and (4) cultivating meaningful connections with families of DLLs. This effort is made in order to promote quality early learning experiences that lay the foundation for DLLs' academic and life success. This brief describes the resources, strategies, outcomes, necessary conditions, and long-term effects of the theory (theory of change) that informs ECLDI's work with DLLs. [The Theory of Change was co-developed by Soodi Ansari of ECLDI with Kendra Fehrer and Nikki Tognozzi of the Gardner Center. This three-part series shares findings from a research collaboration between the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University and Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI), a program of the San Mateo County Office of Education. For the other two briefs in this series, see ED594175 and ED594176.]

This brief shares findings from a formative evaluation of Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI) programs at two early learning sites. At each, ECLDI provided training and support to program leadership, teaching teams, and families. The brief provides a summary of the report and discusses lessons for the field. [This three-part series shares findings from a research collaboration between the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University and Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI), a program of the San Mateo County Office of Education. For the other two briefs in this series, see ED594175 and ED594178.]

The Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI) aims to support the success of young dual language learners (DLL's) currently enrolled in State-funded early learning programs in San Mateo County. Established in 2003 and administered by San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), ECLDI provides a comprehensive professional development model for early learning professionals and leaders, and families of DLLs. This model works to (1) foster reciprocal, authentic, school-family partnerships; as well as (2) transform the culture, practices, and policies in early learning settings to support classrooms and learning environments that are responsive to the needs and assets of DLLs and their families. In 2015, ECLDI partnered with the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) to assess its current programming and support future development. In this report, the authors provide background on the relevant national research base as well as relevant local context, describe the current study and methods, and share implementation findings. Specifically, they describe what they learned about program participants and service delivery, promising emerging patterns in teacher and parent practice, and conditions that facilitate or hinder ECLDI program implementation. [Appendix is not included in the ERIC version of the report.]

Redwood City School District (RCSD) has a long history of attending to the needs of its students and their families, and it has responded to the current incidence of mental health challenges among youth by setting a goal that by June 2024, every student will receive "appropriate social-emotional supports designed to meet their needs. The plan for achieving this goal includes placing a full-time, district-employed, licensed clinical mental health counselor in each of its twelve schools for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, and dedicating a portion of one counseling position to the role of "lead counselor" responsible for overseeing program design, development, and implementation. The mental health counseling program is part of a broader initiative known as the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), a comprehensive framework for creating a coordinated system of supports that promotes students' academic, behavioral, and social-emotional growth and development. This executive summary describes the implementation study and its findings. [For the research brief, see ED627394.]

Do donor-driven scholarship funds meet the needs of students? Do they advance equity in college attainment? In numerous instances, the answer to both questions is "no." Scholarship funds housed at community foundations often have complex, merit-based selection criteria and use evaluation methods that are exclusionary or do not recognize the countless barriers faced by first-generation students, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds. This white paper outlines four basic approaches that community foundations can use to renovate their scholarship programs.

The Youth Arts and Music Center Initiative is a community-wide effort to design and build an arts center in East Palo Alto. The six-year process, supported by the Goldman Foundation, centered on youth leadership and the arts, and engaged a cross-sector collaborative of partner organizations in an attempt to address the city's shortage of existing arts programming. This case study analysis of the Youth Arts and Music Center Initiative contributes to the existing literature of community youth engagement; that is, the process of engaging youth in efforts to improve their community. Previous research highlights the range of benefits resulting from leveraging the many assets of youth and facilitating opportunities for them to contribute to their community. Contributing to existing research, this study describes the characteristics of community youth engagement and provides examples of how they are manifested in the case of the Youth Arts and Music Center Initiative. Also considered are the factors that helped propel the Initiative forward, as well as important considerations for similar initiatives. [This report was written with the assistance of Jeremy Nguyen, Leslie Patron, and Nancy Mancini. Key partners involved in this study include the Youth Arts and Music Center Project; the John & Marcia Goldman Foundation, whose long-term support and commitment allowed this Initiative to endure; and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University. ]

The learning demands of college, career, and civic readiness imply that all young people in public schools must have access to deeper learning opportunities that will prepare them to master rigorous academic content, think critically, work collaboratively, and learn to apply classroom learning to real-world contexts. As well, districts are being called on to play a central role in developing the strategies, capacities, and professional accountability systems that are equal to these new learning goals. Against this policy backdrop, the California CORE district leaders have joined in a long-term collaborative to explore common strategies for advancing student achievement in their individual districts. This brief begins by defining deeper learning and explores its importance to educational equity and the goal of college and career and civic readiness for all public school youth. We conclude with an examination of how the CORE district leaders have collaborated with the Gardner Center, Transforming Education, and other partners to design a school accountability system that ensures equitable access to deeper learning opportunities for all youth by focusing on a process of district-led, continuous organizational learning and improvement.

Targeting students in grades K-8, Art in Action's program consists of 12 age-appropriate lessons per year led by parent and teacher volunteers. The curriculum is based on historically significant artists and their works of art. Through semi-structured discussions, students examine a variety of masterpieces, learning about the artist as well as particular art styles and techniques. Students then apply the concepts they learned to create original works of art. Art in Action's curriculum is sequential and builds upon previous skills taught, while also introducing new material, artists, vocabulary, and techniques. Art in Action partnered with the Gardner Center in a year-long, qualitative, implementation study of its program in Bay Area schools and beyond to better understand how its curriculum is implemented within and across schools, how youth and adults perceive and experience the program, and the conditions that either hinder or support implementation. This study examined five schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, four schools outside this region, and three schools that previously partnered with Art in Action but no longer implement the program. The following are appended: (1) Sample of Student Art Work; (2) Interview Protocols; (3) Classroom Observation Instrument; and (4) Lesson Observations in Bay Area Schools. [For the Executive Summary, see ED573282.]

A growing body of evidence indicates the critical importance of appropriate supports for children and their families at early ages, as well as the potential for targeted interventions to make meaningful contributions to children's development. Family involvement in the early years of a child's learning and development can serve as a protective factor for children at risk for negative life outcomes. Indeed, family engagement has emerged as a critical strategy used especially for supporting positive outcomes for students from low-income and immigrant communities. Yet practitioners receive little training on how to effectively engage families. Within organizations, family engagement efforts may be haphazard; i.e., not aligned to specific goals or learning objectives. And frequently, there is little collaboration between child- and family-serving organizations in the same community, resulting in missed opportunities for sustained, systemic support to families (Weiss et al., 2010; Mapp & Kuttner, 2014). This brief reports findings from a needs assessment study meant to inform project planning for a systemic, integrated, and sustainable family engagement initiative, the Family Engagement Impact Project (FEIP) in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The needs assessment consisted of two surveys administered to low-income, immigrant families and the providers who engage them. Approximately 800 families and 120 providers across six communities participated. The surveys explored how families and providers think about families' engagement, what resources they utilize to support young (0-8 years) children's learning, and what resources would support a more systemic effort to engage parents in their children's learning and development. The key findings include: (1) Both participant families and service providers place high priority on family engagement interventions that support children's learning and development. This shared goal suggests a promising implementation context for further efforts to better integrate and improve family engagement initiatives; (2) While families in the study overwhelmingly report that they care about their children's learning and development, they also report that they do not always know how to support their individual children's learning needs; (3) The kinds of programming available to families are not always aligned with what families believe they need to support their children's learning and development, including activities that parents can do "with" their children such as enrichment activities, playgroups, and support groups; (4) Provider definitions of successful family engagement emphasize participation, communication, collaboration, and empowerment. In general, providers highlighted school- or site-based participation and did not highlight children and families learning at home, or culturally shaped ways parents may support their children's learning; (5) Providers reported interest in professional development that includes specific strategies, pedagogies, and approaches to skillfully engage families in their children's early learning, such as training in adult learning theory, creating hands-on workshops, and using strength-based approaches; and (6) Parents are involved in a number of practices to support their children's school readiness. While preschool and elementary school providers support students' kindergarten transition, there is a greater need for increased systemic collaboration among providers offering supports to children and their families across multiple settings and ages.

This report is a longitudinal examination of "Preschool for All" (PFA) participants, tracking students' experiences across their first four years in elementary school. It builds upon a 2009 study that found that PFA graduates in San Mateo County were better prepared for kindergarten than their classmates who had not attended preschool and equally ready for kindergarten as classmates with other preschool experiences. To conduct the analysis, researchers used the Youth Data Archive to link individual student records from three PFA cohorts to their Redwood City School District records. The analysis suggests that participating in a high-quality preschool program was associated with positive academic outcomes for children once they entered the K-12 school system. It is important to note that PFA served children who might not otherwise attend a high-quality preschool program, targeting those in traditionally underserved groups. These children might not be expected to perform similarly given the documented disparities in achievement between at-risk students and their peers that persist throughout the elementary grades. The fact that PFA participants were just as likely to be persistently proficient in some subjects as students who did not participate in PFA is noteworthy; in particular, because these longitudinal comparisons used students' raw proficiency scores, unadjusted for demographics, and because students who did not attend PFA likely participated in other preschool programs.

The Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) are collaborating to understand residence and school enrollment patterns of students and families in the Mission Promise Neighborhood (MPN) service population. MPN was established to ensure that children, youth, and their families in San Francisco's Mission District achieve both academic success and economic security. The initiative defines its service population as families living within the established MPN boundaries or SFUSD students who live elsewhere in the city but are enrolled in one of the four MPN focus schools. This brief explores a question that is central to MPN's efforts: Who are the children and youth involved with MPN? Using SFUSD student records from the 2011-12 school year, the authors first look at the four MPN focus schools: Bryant Elementary (K-5), Cesar Chavez Elementary (PreK-5), Everett Middle School (6-8), and John O'Connell High School (9-12), and investigate where in San Francisco students enrolled in these schools live. They then examine school enrollment of students living outside MPN, paying particular attention to the students who enroll in MPN focus schools, and explore demographic differences between students enrolled in focus schools and those who enroll in other schools in SFUSD. The authors conclude by highlighting potential implications of these findings for MPN. Notably, this analysis includes families with school-age children and not those whose children have yet to begin school. Nevertheless, families with younger children are also in the MPN service population and will be considered in future reports that draw on data from other service providers. The following tables are appended: (1) Social and school demographics of MPN focus schools and non-focus schools, 2011-12; and (2) Percent of students enrolled in MPN focus schools and other schools, by residence and age group, 2011-12.

Since 2006, Redwood City School District has partnered with the Gardner Center to examine annual patterns of program participation across the six full-service community schools' key strategy areas of extended learning, family engagement, and support services. By linking students' academic records, community school program participation records, and survey responses, this analysis yielded several findings: (1) Programs reached a majority of students enrolled in the six community schools, particularly the population of students who were lower-achieving and came from lower-educated and economically disadvantaged families. (2) Students whose families were consistently involved over a number of years in family engagement opportunities had a higher attendance rate than those who were less involved. (3) Students whose families regularly took part in family engagement opportunities and another key strategy area (i.e. either extended learning or supports) demonstrated higher attendance rates than many of their counterparts. (4) Middle school students who engaged in extended learning programs and accessed support services demonstrated a gradual increase in their perceptions of care at school. (5) English Learner students whose families regularly took part in family engagement over several years showed greater gains in their attendance and English language proficiency.

Research demonstrates that students' success in rigorous middle and high school math courses is positively associated with their admission to college, earnings later in life, and career prospects. The sequential nature of math course-taking, however, can create an opportunity structure that puts certain students at a disadvantage, specifically those from lower-income and ethnically and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In 2012, the Gardner Center partnered with the Garden Grove Unified School District for a multi-year study to examine the relationship between students' math course-taking and their educational outcomes. The goal of the analysis was to generate knowledge about the differences in students' performance levels in specific math subject areas; potential disparities in students' access to college-level courses; and possible differences among high schools in how students are being placed in math. Using administrative records for four cohorts of students who graduated in the 2009-10 to 2012-13 academic years, students' math enrollment histories were traced from the 12th grade back to the 8th grade. The study's findings raised potential practice and policy implications including (1) balancing early access to advanced-level math with incoming students' preparation, particularly students from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds; (2) providing support to students who repeat Algebra I multiple times; and (3) implementing strategies that support students' transition into high school.

According to national indicators of adolescent health and well-being, the most significant health issues young people face are related to mental health. In San Mateo County, a recent report on adolescent health frames the prevalence of mental health needs among public school students as "staggering." Both locally and nationally, schools are grappling with the challenges of students' mental health needs, and the resulting demand it places on them not only to respond to students experiencing acute mental health distress, but to more effectively promote the mental health and well-being of all students. To address these challenges in Northern California's San Mateo County, San Mateo Union High School District, Peninsula Health Care District, and Stanford's Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences' Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing have been collaborating to strengthen mental health supports for youth in both the high school district and its K-8 partner districts. To better understand which efforts have the greatest potential for impact, the authors joined their collaborative to conduct a mixed methods study to examine three questions: (1) How do students, parents, teachers, and providers perceive mental health needs and student supports throughout middle and high school?; (2) What predictive factors appear to be related to positive transitions, high school readiness, or risk indicators of later mental health challenges?; and (3) What are the opportunities for intervention and support to improve teen mental health? The research findings point toward four opportunities for schools and districts to transform their approach to supporting mental health and well-being: (1) Situate student mental health in the broader context of comprehensive development and well-being that is cultivated over the course of a lifetime; (2) Shift from an individual view of the problem and solution to a systems view; (3) Strengthen continuity of care across grades, schools, and districts; and (4) Expand data systems to include meaningful measures of well-being. [This report is a collaboration between the Gardner Center, the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing, and Peninsula Health Care District. For "San Mateo Area Teen Mental Health Study. Research Brief," see ED604088.]

Recognizing the need to improve postsecondary access and success for underrepresented populations, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), City College of San Francisco (CCSF), the City and County of San Francisco, and key community organizations formed the Bridge to Success initiative in 2009. The John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University has partnered with Bridge to Success to inform the initiative with data analysis. This issue brief highlights the process that Bridge to Success used in partnership with the Gardner Center to address the challenge of high rates of placement into remedial English courses at CCSF. The following are appended: (1) Regression results for models predicting passing first CCSF English course; and (2) New CCSF English course sequence (for internal use).

For the past year, the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and their Families (DCYF), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) have collaborated to examine SFUSD student participation in DCYF-funded programs. This analysis utilizes the Youth Data Archive, a Gardner Center initiative that links administrative data on individual youth across settings to collectively examine questions that agencies could not answer alone. The partnership will help DCYF understand which students its programs serve and better match its programs to students who need the most help. The following research questions guided the findings presented in this report: (1) To what extent do SFUSD students participate in DCYF programs? (2) What types of SFUSD students are more likely to participate in DCYF programs? (3) What are the longitudinal patterns of participation in DCYF programs? (4) To what extent do high school graduates and postsecondary students from SFUSD participate in DCYF programs? The research finds: (1) DCYF serves a significant share of the SFUSD student population; (2) Participation in DCYF funded programs steadily increased over time; (3) DCYF is more likely to serve students of color and students with lower levels of academic achievement; (4) The frequency of participation in DCYF programs increased over time; and (5) A significant proportion of high school graduates and postsecondary students participated in DCYF programs.

The Sequoia Healthcare District (SHD), in collaboration with four local school districts--Belmont-Redwood Shores School District (BRSSD), Redwood City School District (RCSD), San Carlos School District (SCSD), and Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD)--launched the Healthy Schools Initiative (HSI) in August 2010. This three-year initiative is focused on enhancing health and wellness programs and activities in local schools and is based on the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Coordinated School Health (CSH) model (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). This report begins with a brief overview of the research literature on school support of student health in general and the CDC's coordinated school health model specifically. The authors then present the methodology of their implementation study of the Healthy Schools Initiative, followed by a series of research findings. They conclude with study participants' perspectives on challenges and opportunities for integrating health and wellness into schools and a set of considerations to inform future work. The main findings from the study include: (1) Nearly 100% of study participants valued health and wellness in schools; (2) Few study participants were familiar with the Healthy Schools Initiative, but those who knew about it believed that the initiative positively influenced awareness of wellness in their schools; (3) Coordination of health and wellness programs and activities was happening in all study schools; where wellness coordinators were also involved, coordination was described as more strategic and intentional; (4) Effective and purposeful coordination was associated with increased integration of health and wellness programs within and across schools and districts, reaching more students equitably and leveraging resources; and (5) Teachers and other school staff committed to student wellness played an important role in increasing student access to health and wellness information, programs, activities, and resources. The following are appended: (1) Sequoia Healthcare District--Healthy Schools Initiative Logic Model; (2) Visual Representation of the CDC's Coordinated School Health Model; (3) Study School Demographic Data, 2010-2011; and (4) Data Collection Matrix.

When students are not in school, they miss the opportunity to grow academically, socially, and emotionally. These skills are critical for continued success in school, in the community, and onward into adulthood. Students with low attendance have been shown to be at heightened risk of high school dropout, as well as other potentially deleterious behavior. For these reasons, the issues of truancy--when students have repeated, unexcused absences--and chronic absenteeism--when students repeatedly miss school for any reason--are receiving increased attention in communities, schools, and with parents. At the request of the Redwood City 2020 Cabinet, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University conducted an analysis to study truancy and chronic absenteeism among Redwood City students. Through the Youth Data Archive (YDA)--a JGC initiative that links administrative data on individual youth across settings to collectively examine questions that agencies could not answer alone--researchers linked data from Redwood City School District (RCSD), Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD), and San Mateo County Human Services Agency (HSA). With these data, researchers examine the extent to which truancy and chronic absenteeism are present in the greater Redwood City area, and to explore the causes, consequences, and correlates of absenteeism that may be present in the community. Findings from this analysis show that kindergarteners had the highest rates of chronic absence in the two school districts, which may point to the need for interventions targeted both at students entering school for the first time and their parents; students who were chronically absent were more likely to repeat their chronically absent behavior in subsequent grades, underscoring the importance of early intervention; and students with excessive absences were found to have lower achievement on both the math and English Language Arts California Standards Test. (Contains 11 exhibits and 4 footnotes.) [This research was funded by the Redwood City 2020.]

This issue brief is part of a larger study of California continuation high schools begun in 2007. While the first phase of the study examined various alternative education options throughout the state, this second phase focused on 23 higher performing continuation high schools in California selected based on multiple student outcome measures. This issue brief is specifically intended to reach the community of school-based practitioners and district level policymakers, seeking to better understand alternative schooling for over-aged and under-credited youth. During the first phase of the study, teachers discussed their struggle in balancing student engagement with academic rigor of instruction for this unique population of students. These teachers called out for increased research on the unique context and better practices of continuation high school instruction. To that end, this paper highlights creative work-arounds that successful continuation schools, principals, and teachers implement to serve this unique population of students, despite highly restricted state funding. In particular, this paper emphasizes the importance of operationally aligning these practices to balance competing objectives (e.g., vocational vs. college preparatory programs). (Contains 4 figures and 3 footnotes.)

San Francisco's Bridge to Success (BtS) initiative brings together the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), the City College of San Francisco (CCSF), and key community organizations to promote postsecondary success for underrepresented students. Partners agree that the first step in achieving this goal is to ensure that more students are graduating from high school in a timely manner. One strategy that can be employed to accomplish this is the development of a set of indicators for an Early Warning System (EWS) that identifies students who are at risk of not graduating as early as eighth or ninth grade in order to provide them with extra supports to help move them back on track. Conversations between SFUSD staff and researchers from the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University have led to the proposed development of a three-part monitoring system that: (1) Identifies students at the end of the first semester of eighth grade who may benefit from participation in a summer program that helps them transition into high school; (2) Helps high schools identify incoming ninth grade students who might benefit from additional supports; and (3) Monitors students during ninth grade to ensure that they stay on track for high school graduation. This research brief focuses on the development of indicators for the first two parts of the EWS. Analysis identified two eighth grade indicators that were most predictive of high school graduation--GPA (grade point average) and attendance rate--though the final cutoff points selected differed between the first semester of eighth grade and the end of the year. SFUSD and JGC have begun to co-develop a system of indicators for part three to ensure students stay on track during ninth grade. (Contains 7 exhibits and 5 footnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the San Francisco's Transitional Age Youth Initiative.]

This paper examines the graduation/dropout crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native students using data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Data from 2005 is drawn from the seven states with the highest percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native students as well as five states in the Pacific and Northwestern regions of the United States. Findings indicate that the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives who graduate continues to be a matter of urgent concern. On average, less than 50% of Native students in these twelve states graduate each year. (Contains 8 tables, 1 figure, and 22 footnotes.) [This paper was produced by the Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education at the Pennsylvania State University.]

The purpose of this study was to critically examine the perceptions that African-American high school students have towards engineering. A qualitative research design using criterion sampling and snowballing was used to select seven African-American students from urban high schools to participate in the research. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from participants attending urban high schools on the east and west coast. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as the theoretical framework, the study was able to produce "emergent themes" from collected data. Findings from this study will help researchers understand how African-American students may perceive the field of engineering. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Since 1995, the University of California has been prohibited from employing affirmative action principles in student admissions. In response to this constraint, the UC has sought to pursue a number of other avenues for promoting the selection and retention of a diverse student body. In this paper we look at how officials and staff within the UC system have sought to develop an alternative rationale for managing the categorical problem of identifying types and classes of applicants along with strategies of action that stay within legally allowable frameworks. We argue that a new framework for organizational action has emerged (a cultural logic) which is made up of a dually ordered system of identity categories and institutional activity categories. We use Galois lattices as a way of unpacking the dynamic emergence of this new organizational logic. (Contains 4 tables, 4 figures, and 12 footnotes.)

This report summarizes preliminary findings from the Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning project in Redwood City, California, which prepared and supported youth in becoming knowledgeable and active decision-makers in their schools and communities, and played a key role in developing youths' leadership skills and encouraging civic engagement in Redwood City. From November 2000 through June 2001, a cadre of 14 eighth-graders and 4 ninth-graders received comprehensive training in such areas as community assessment design, data collection and analysis, and advocacy skills. They focused on how to make the community better for youth by gathering information (via interviews, observations, and surveys) on their peers' needs, strengths, and activities. Overall, middle-schoolers liked their home life, neighborhoods, and schools. Most reported no gangs in the area. Only 30 percent found anything amusing in their neighborhoods for kids. High school students spent most of their after-school time with homework, sports, friends, and the television or computer. They felt welcome mainly everywhere. Most would seek help from a center for support. Recommendations included encouraging a friendlier climate, providing activities and places for youth, and improving transportation. Four appendices contain the Redwood City neighborhood map, interview protocols, youth surveys, and compiled results by neighborhoods. (Contains 18 charts and graphs.) (SM)

The Inglewood, California Public Library provides a paraprofessional information service to assist its patrons in their initial encounters with the library. Persons staffing the information desk are specially trained to answer the telephone, orient patrons to the library, screen information requests, and provide ready reference service. These reference assistants are classified as senior library clerks and serve under the reference division. A desk collection of ready reference materials is maintained for their use. They are also expected to be familiar with all other tools used frequently by the public. The use of information assistants is seen to be consistent with the general library goal of giving equal attention to all public information needs. This work is intended as a manual for library reference assistants and as an informative study for library planners. (PF)

The environment within which an organization must operate is expected to influence its administrative and program characteristics. Since public schools operate in more complex and conflicting environments than do private schools, it is predicted that they will exhibit greater administrative complexity and less curricular coherence. These predictions are tested and largely confirmed by a review of previous research and in a new study using data from a six-county survey of a sample of private, public, and parochial schools and districts in the San Francisco Bay area. A 53-item reference list and 8 data tables are appended. (Author/TE)