The resource directory is searchable and contains articles, tools, recordings, and links to websites. The resources are also categorized by topics, including the five Focus Areas suggested by the California Department of Education. Use the Search box below or click on the topical links to access the resources. (Hint: Once you have done an initial search, you will be able to sort the results by Resource Name or Publication Date.)
The Success Gaps Rubric was developed at the IDEA Data Center, a technical assistance center at Westat funded by the U.S. Department of Education‘s Office of Special Education Programs. The rubric is the newest CDE-approved self-assessment tool having been published in June 2021.
The Success Gaps Rubric is designed to help any school district or school identify the root causes for success gaps. The Rubric addresses five content areas: 1) Data-based Decision-making, 2) Cultural Responsiveness, 3) Core Instructional Program, 4) Assessment – Universal Screening and Program Monitoring, and 5) Interventions and Supports.
In addition to the Rubric, there is a guide, Completing the Success Gaps Rubric.
This fact sheet summarizes key information from the Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guidance document.
Office of Special Education Rehabilitative Services. 2022. Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - Fact Sheet: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/504-discipline-factsheet.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term= (accessed September 16, 2022).
Guidance from the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights describes schools’ responsibilities under Section 504 to ensure nondiscrimination against students based on disability when imposing student discipline. Specifically, the guidance explains how compliance with Section 504’s requirement to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to students with disabilities can assist schools in effectively supporting and responding to behavior that is based on a student’s disability and that could lead to student discipline. By using Section 504’s procedures to identify and meet the behavioral, social, emotional, and academic needs of students with disabilities as required for FAPE, schools can help prevent or reduce behaviors that might otherwise result in discipline. As the guidance explains, when schools do choose to administer discipline for students with disabilities, they must do so in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Office of Special Education Rehabilitative Services. 2022. Supporting Students with Disabilities and Avoiding the Discriminatory Use of Student Discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/504-discipline-guidance.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term= (accessed September 16, 2022).
This brief looks at the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) and identifies effective strategies that address the needs of students with foster care experience (FCE). It details the findings of a case study of Sweetwater Union High School District, based in Chula Vista, California, and its practices, programs, and policies that promote the academic well-being of students with FCE. Conjointly, drawing from interviews with California high school graduates with FCE, the brief includes students’ recommendations for schools.
Wollen, S., Gomez, A., Day, A., Willis, T., and Estrella, E. (2023). Supporting the Academic Success of Students with Foster Care Experience: Lessons from Sweetwater Union High School District. California MTSS Research Consortium, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. Accessed September 5, 2023.
This article provides practitioners with current data on suspension and expulsion rates in California’s public schools. The authors reflect on systemic barriers to removing inequities in school discipline. Educators may wish to use this article to study evidence-based practices to reduce disproportionate representation of suspensions and expulsions by race and ethnicity.
EdSource: Highlighting Strategies for Student Success. 2017. Suspension, Expulsion Rates Fall Sharply in California, but Racial and Ethnic Disparities Remain. https://edsource.org/2017/suspension-expulsion-rates-fall-sharply-in-california-public-schools-but-racial-disparities-remain/589722 (accessed April 4, 2018).
The Innovations in Equity and Systemic Change (IESC) at NYU Metro Center (Previously TAC-D) provides professional development, technical assistance, and consultancy to educational institutions in general and special education. The IESC’s mission is to disrupt, dismantle, and eliminate disproportionality by building the capacity of educators to implement Culturally Responsive Sustainable Equity-Based Systems that meet the needs of all students and families.
Innovations in Equity and Systemic Change | NYU Steinhardt. Steinhardt.nyu.edu, steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/iesc. Accessed 9 Mar. 2023.
Together with scholars from throughout the nation, Stanford researchers provide educators with relatively simple exercises for middle school school students and their teachers to increase a sense of belonging in boys of color.
Parker Goyer, J, Cohen, Geoffrey L., Cook, Jonathan E., Master, Allison, Apfel, Nancy, Leem Wonhee, Henderson, Amelia G., Reeves, Stephanie L., Okonafua, Jason A., and Walton, Gregory M. 2019. “Targeted Identity-Safety Interventions Cause Lasting Reductions in Discipline Citations Among Negatively Stereotyped Boys.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance Online Publication. doi 10.1037/pspa0000152.
High rates of discipline citations predict adverse life outcomes, a harm disproportionately borne by Black and Latino boys. The authors hypothesized that these citations arise in part from negative cycles of interaction between students and teachers, which unfold in contexts of social stereotypes.
Goyer, J. P., Cohen, G. L., Cook, J. E., Master, A., Apfel, N., Lee, W., Henderson, A. G., Reeves, S. L., Okonofua, J. A., & Walton, G. M. (2019). Targeted Identity-Safety Interventions Cause Lasting Reductions in Discipline Citations Among Negatively Stereotyped Boys. American Psychological Association, 117(2) 229-259.
The authors explore the critical role that teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and practices play in fortifying students’ investment in learning. They examine the new findings on “teacher mindsets” and profile schools at the forefront of efforts to shift adult perceptions and practices in ways that strengthen students’ view of themselves as learners and their motivation to learn.
FutureEd, (2019).
Teaching for Black Lives, (2022).
