Meeting 45
November 29-30, 2021
In some respects, this meeting marks progress toward a semblance of normalcy, as districts across the state have offered full-time in-person instruction since school resumed in August. Nevertheless, the vestiges of the pandemic continue to shape student learning opportunities. Collaborative meetings have repeatedly emphasized the threats to students’ physical, mental, social, and emotional health during this time period. Especially concerning are the additional layers of struggle for students living in poverty, for students in immigrant families, and for students of color that exacerbate disparities between the most vulnerable members of our communities and their more advantaged peers. This meeting will therefore directly address matters of overall student well-being, with particular attention to issues of equity.
Briefing Book
- Cover Letter
- Agenda
- Garden Grove USD Background
- Learning Conditions of Vulnerable Students
- Transformative Social & Emotional Learning
- A Tiered Approach to SEL in Garden Grove
- Systemic Supports for Student Well-Being
- Employing a Community Schools Approach to Meet Student Needs
Follow-Up
Policy and practice briefs produced as an outcome from Meeting 45.
Letter to the CDE and SBE about Community Schools
January 2022
Community schools emphasize both the holistic and coordinated nature of improvement efforts that can make a difference for students. The California Community Schools Partnership program is an important and welcome investment from the state, but aspects of the current environment and traditional patterns of policymaking in the state could undercut the potential for achieving and sustaining coherent implementation at the local level. This letter from incoming and outgoing California Collaborative chairs Joel Knudson and Jennifer O’Day offers three considerations for finalizing the details of the community schools grants program to increase the likelihood of realizing its admirable goals.
A Case for Coherence: Fulfilling California's Community Schools Promise
June 2022
With students, families, and the education systems that serve them still reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a $3 billion state investment in community schools offers an opportunity for system transformation that can address urgent and persistent whole-child needs and their impact on teaching and learning. Although the possibilities for progress are enormous, so are the prospects for unintended consequences of well-meaning—yet superficial and fragmented—school improvement efforts. A new brief from the California Collaborative on District Reform, A Case for Coherence: Fulfilling California’s Community Schools Promise, outlines considerations for ensuring that California’s community schools push achieves its potential. If districts can recognize and build on their existing strengths, foster coherence across district improvement efforts by centering them on a clear vision, develop plans to sustain their efforts across time, and maintain a laser focus on improving opportunities and outcomes for youth, the opportunity for true system transformation could bear fruit for the youth who need it most.
Making it Matter: A Systems Approach to Advancing Equity and Excellence for Students
April 2023
As districts across the state resumed full-time instruction and began the task of pandemic recovery, members of the California Collaborative on District Reform convened three times in 2021-22 to continue and deepen their ongoing exploration of local strategies for meeting students' academic, social and emotional, and mental health needs. Of particular concern in these gatherings was the need to address systemic contributors to the persistent inequities in both educational opportunities and outcomes that the pandemic had accentuated. This brief and webinar summarize key takeaways from discussions among meeting participants exploring ways in which school systems center equity in their work.