Although scholars are attuned to the particular transitional dilemmas faced by middle school students, inquiry into middle school breaktimes is largely limited to research on bullying and peer victimization. This study interrogates the geography of middle school breaktime to expand understanding of student safety and recognize the ways that the…

This quantitative correlational-predictive study addressed the predictive relationships of County Political Leaning (Republican vs. Democratic/reference) and Poverty of Student Population (operationalized as percentage of students enrolled in Free and Reduced Price Lunch programs) with Out-of-school Suspension in public high schools in California.…

The variability in placement of students with autism and intellectual disability and lack of access to general education for these students suggests the need to identify factors associated with placement and then address the role of current policy. This article presents the results of a 5-year trend analysis of placement of students with autism…

Anti-immigrant hostility continues to rise throughout multicultural societies. Building on segmented assimilation theory, in this manuscript I examine whether anti-immigrant sentiment might decrease school performance of immigrant children using the case of California, the state with the largest population of immigrants in the United States. I…

Students in the United States whose household income is less than 130% of the poverty line qualify for free lunch, and students whose household income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty line qualify for reduced-price lunch. Education researchers and policymakers often use free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) status to measure socioeconomic…

California is on the cusp of implementing universal preschool--a step that could help level the playing eld for young children. Over the next few years, all four-year-olds will become eligible for Transitional Kindergarten (TK), which has been part of the state's early learning programs since 2012. In this report, the authors examine the…

Purpose/Objectives: In 2009, the Smarter Lunchroom Movement (SLM) strategy was created to provide schools across the United States (US) with evidence-based solutions to encourage healthier eating among children. Results, though, are inconsistent with how well this movement impacts school-aged children's healthy food selection and consumption.…

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…

Internet connectivity has become a critical resource for teaching and learning. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is a prime example, with schools expected to implement online assessments and use online resources for instruction. Yet there is little known about the extent to which local education agencies (LEAs) and schools are taking…

Background: In the United States, students' experiences are shaped by racioethnic, socioeconomic, and linguistic segregation. School choice, and especially charter schools, generally exacerbate existing levels of school segregation. Counter to this trend, hundreds of intentionally diverse charter schools (IDCS), with a mission to promote school…

In March 2020, school districts across California closed their doors, rapidly adapting operations and instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to understand the immediate impact of the unprecedented closure of schools prompted grave concerns about meeting students' needs, particularly for the most vulnerable. This report details…

The aim of this descriptive statewide study is to decipher reclassification practices in California -- the state that educates 20% of the nation's English language learners (ELL) and enrolls more language-minority students than any other state in the union. In the course of our investigation, we examined reclassification criteria from a…

In the spring of 2014, the National Charter School Resource Center ("Resource Center"), the Colorado League of Charter Schools ("League"), the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ("Alliance") and the California Charter Schools Association ("CCSA") worked to collect evidence about charter school…

School nutrition programs help improve nutrition among vulnerable children. In so doing, they help build a better future for these children and the state. Now that California is implementing the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), there is additional reason to make sure all students who are eligible for free or low-cost meals enroll in these…

California's current school finance system is a tangled web of funding programs, restrictions, inequities and confusion. Building a stronger finance system to benefit from resources is an important step in strengthening California's K-12 education system and better meeting the needs of its students. Gov. Brown has recently proposed the Local…