Children’s Cabinets & Integrated Supports and Services

2022 | This six-part blog series provides insight on how Children’s Cabinets may offer a way to support the development of integrated systems of supports and services. These governmental bodies work to coordinate policy and practice across various child-serving agencies by bringing together related work, aligning resources, and closing gaps. With scale in mind, each blog in the series highlights examples of state-level efforts to advance the integration of services, with a special focus on Kansas, New Mexico, Illinois, and Maryland. The final blog addresses the implications of this research for California. 

California Community Schools Partnership Program: A Transformational Opportunity for Whole Child Education

October 25, 2021 | The historic $3 billion investment in the California Community Schools Partnership Program provides an opportunity to transform schools into community hubs that deliver a whole child education. This brief examines key elements of the new law.

Lessons Learned from the Learning Continuity Plans

April 26, 2021 | With support from the Parent Organization Network, these two policy briefs explore analysis gained from a review of the plans of 20 school districts, interviews with leaders in 3 districts about their LCPs and their pandemic response plans more generally, and conversations with other advocates and researchers who are closely studying LCPs to triangulate our findings and conclusions. We offer insights on how well the LCP requirements and districts’ responses supported effective planning and family engagement, as well as recommendations on what state and local leaders should start, continue, and stop doing to support effective planning, transparency, accountability, and meaningful family engagement.

Charter Schools: A Missed Opportunity to Improve Education Through Innovation

June 6, 2023 | Published in the Notre Dame Law School Journal of Legislation, this article explores how charter schools offered an opportunity to address the education system’s resistance to change, and serve as models to be used at scale across the public school system.

However, charter schools often recycle old practices instead of experimenting with new ones, and when successful innovation does occur, traditional schools seldom replicate it. This Article proposes three new requirements to be added to charter school accountability and authorization frameworks.

Whole Child Equity & Adolescent Learning and Well-Being: A Focus on School Communities in the Mississippi Delta

November 18, 2021 | In partnership with Southern Echo, this blog begins a three-part series where we look at how we can successfully address the complex barriers to social and economic mobility faced by historically marginalized and underserved students, families, and communities. In this series, we explore how public policy – guided and shaped by knowledge about science of learning and development — has a vital role to play in improving the lives of people in the Delta and Mississippi at large.

Reimagine and Rebuild: Restarting School with Equity at the Center

May 7, 2021 | This brief, developed by California-based family and student engagement organizations, puts forth recommendations based on the evidence that has collectively emerged from focus groups with educators, parents, and students; and original research conducted on COVID-19’s impact on schools and students.

Why Expanded Learning Partnerships Are Essential to Achieving Equity in School Reopening

August 6, 2020 | In the crucial moment of the early COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with the Partnership for Children & Youth, this brief outlines how expanded learning programs can provide valuable support to schools and students, how districts can leverage current funding and system flexibilities, and highlights key expanded learning opportunities for school and district leaders as they work with stakeholders and partners in building out their reopening plans.