Background: Youth mental health needs have worsened following COVID-19. Rising demand for school mental health services is straining capacity. Several states have added policies requiring mental health education, yet these vary widely and barriers to operationalization exist. Purpose: This paper explores the onerous landscape of mental health…

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to capture how graduates of adult high school diploma and equivalency programs in California told their story of persisting in the completion of a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. The four types of motivation regulation involved in organismic integration theory were used as the…

Purpose: This qualitative case study sought to understand and examine school social workers' perspectives on their role within California's TK-12 public school system. Theoretical Framework: Bronfenbrenner and Morris's (2007) bioecological systems theory and Frey et al.'s (2013) national school social work practice model were employed as the…

The importance of teacher collaboration and professional growth are highlighted by their inclusion in the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). In ESSA, it is recommended that teachers are provided with opportunities to collaborate and participate in learning communities. The purpose of this action research study was to address the problem of…

How does live instruction relate to student engagement in distance learning? Does the relationship differ across grade levels? This study addresses these questions by examining data from a random sample of families from a large urban school district in southern California. We find a strong correlation between live instruction and student…

Despite recent calls to more fully incorporate multimodal perspectives into literacies research, there is still limited scholarship examining how students critically engage in reading activities by drawing on embodied practices. Racially and linguistically minoritized students are particularly disadvantaged by dominant logocentric and…

Purpose: With the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence (AI), it is important to consider how young people are making sense of these tools in their everyday lives. Drawing on critical postdigital approaches to learning and literacy, this study aims to center the experiences and perspectives of young people who encounter and…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in California were forced to shut their doors to students and staff during spring semester 2020. The school closures forced teachers to migrate their lessons to online platforms and forced students to learn using various online modalities. Students no longer had the traditional access to their teachers,…

Given math's importance, states are adopting a range of K12 policies to improve math outcomes. As these and other policies unfold, policymakers need to monitor intended outcomes and ultimately gauge impact. They need answers to basic questions: Are more students taking and passing algebra and advanced math? Are performance gaps changing between…

The urgent need to transition rapidly to exclusively online learning environments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges in the K-12 education system. This study sought to address the problem of the lack of exploration into the effectiveness of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This quantitative study explored the…

School-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) relies on the implementation efforts of frontline service providers such as teachers, administrators, and staff. The full version of the positive behavior interventions and supports--action and commitment tool (PBIS-ACT Full) measures the individual implementer variable of…

This paper examines the extent to which transgender students' experiences with school-based victimization and school protective factors contribute to or reduce substance use. We conducted secondary analyses of school-based victimization, school protective factors, and substance use of a subsample of transgender students from the 2013-2015…

Nearly all states and the District of Columbia have policies requiring schools to address prevention of alcohol or drug use and abuse in high school health education curricula, according to National Association of State Boards of Education's (NASBE's) State Health Policy Database. But with the added concerns about the pandemic's impact on youth…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their college and career goals. Career-connected learning can be delivered in a variety of ways, including in core content…

The educational experiences of Black and Latino males in K-12 are often riddled with unnecessary challenges and stresses that contribute to diminished academic outcomes. Adrian H. Huerta, Tyrone C. Howard, and Bianca N. Haro seek to highlight instead the importance of positive asset-based research and practice efforts focused on supporting Black…