This brief provides an overview of positive transition rates among California high schools eligible for inclusion in the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS). Both state and federal law rely on high school graduation rates as a key indicator of high school accountability and performance. The California Department of Education (CDE) uses a…

Families of youth with disabilities often access services to promote youth's transitions to adulthood. Such services can be oriented toward the youth or family. Using descriptive statistics and regression modeling of survey and administrative data, we explored patterns of service use and the association between outcomes for 9,013 U.S. youth with…

For 25 years, the Gardner Center has worked in close partnership with school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area to develop research-informed policies, programs, and practices that support positive and equitable youth development. Several of these partnerships involve districts that are not part of a unified school district, meaning that…

In Spring 2024, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) asked a small sample of transitional kindergarten (TK) teachers: "When your supervisor visits your classroom, what kind of feedback or suggestions do they give? What do they comment on?" One respondent wrote, "She will give feedback on how my lessons went…

Transitional kindergarten (TK) is rapidly expanding to become a universal program in California. This data snapshot highlights the inconsistent awareness that parents currently have about TK, including how they describe it, who it is for, and how they receive information about TK. The variation in parents' experiences aligns with previous findings…

Veteran student populations are on the rise across the U.S. due to benefits from the revised Post 9/11 Government Issue (G.I.) Bill that guarantees financial assistance for housing and education for exiting service members. Institutions seeking integration practices for this student population may fail to acknowledge the multiple identities that…

Studies show that students are less successful in their freshman year of high school than in elementary and middle school. The causes of this decline in success range from new schedules, changing of relationships, increased rigor, and less involvement from educators. This applied study will explore the effectiveness of soft skill interventions in…

Teacher empathy is an essential feature in supporting social, emotional, and academic growth in students; however, there have been few studies of teacher empathy and job burnout. Teachers need to show empathy toward students without experiencing symptoms of job burnout to ensure students' academic, social, and emotional success. A mixed-methods…

In this study, we examine the impact of a large-scale effort in California aimed at establishing career pathways and estimate its causal effects on community college enrollment. By leveraging a discontinuous assignment rule for awarding grant funds, we obtain credibly causal estimates of a $500 million initiative to expand career and technical…

California's investment in Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) reflects a commitment to providing access to UTK for all 4-year-olds in public schools by the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the implementation of transitional kindergarten (TK) presents challenges for districts in aligning this new grade coherently with existing grade levels…

This article challenges the "remedial" and "developmental" framing of summer bridge programs. The study used semi-structured interviews and focus groups to assess 63 students of Color who participated in a 5-week summer bridge program. Through the theoretical concept of counterspace, findings showed that the intentional…

Young Black and Latino men transition from high school to 4-year universities at rates considerably lower than their peers. College-going disparities by gender are partly influenced by young men's constrained access to social capital in high school. This research explores how gendered inequalities in social capital arise for college-aspiring…

While increased college access is widely celebrated for racialized peoples, the end goal of inclusion maintains engagement with and desires for wellbeing within the U.S. white supremacist settler state. This paper examines a culturally relevant college preparation program designed primarily for Mexican-origin youth in California to consider the…

California will soon offer transitional kindergarten (TK) to all four-year-olds, a school-based option for early care and education (ECE). According to the state Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, universal TK for four-year-olds should enable more children age three and younger to be served in other settings like child care centers and…

The transition from high school to college can cause an undue amount of attrition for fully qualified, college-intending first-generation students. Although the students may have overcome multiple obstacles to be accepted to a college and arrive at the transition over summer, it can feel overwhelming to complete the flood of tasks without access…