California

This article discusses the fact that this is the first time the California Department of Education has broken down absenteeism rates by reasons for students missing school. The data shows that black students have a much higher rate of unexcused absences from school than their white peers. The data covers the school years 2017-18 and 2018-19. 

This document fulfills requirements in Education Code 313(f)(2) for the teacher evaluation component N of the statewide reclassification criteria. This form may also be used as a tool for formative purposes and ongoing consultation with parents/guardians. OPTEL will soon be translated into the top six languages in California.

The tool has three main sections:  receptive language, expressive language, and parent consultation to examine English language proficiency for English Learners. For the language portions there are observations for instructional setting and interaction type as well as ratings of evidence and accommodations provided. Parent input is embedded within the tool.

As we enter the post-pandemic era, the data in this report can help advocates advance racial equity, support our most vulnerable residents, and chart a path into an uncertain future. With regard to education, California’s schools are creating worse outcomes for students of color than for White students. Not only are these disparities evident in graduation rates, but they also extend to suspensions and involvement in the criminal justice system. Public schools are more likely to suspend Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Latinx students. Black students are suspended more than twice as often as their White peers, highlighting the alarming disparities in our education system. 

This Board policy ensures equal access to educational opportunity for all students by minimizing or elimination the impacts of disparities in ability, levels of preparation, available resources and social-cultural differences in achievement and performance. Also, it describes how to prevent disproportionality associated between a child's race or ethnicity and the number and type of special education classifications and placements that result. 

The data in this report prepared by the Los Angeles Unified School District provides evidence that 100% of the secondary students in LAUSD minimally accessed Schoology, the district's primary online course management system at least once during the first nine weeks of school closure. Data is provided that there were disparities in activities. Compared to more advantaged students, fewer middle and high school students who are Black, Hispanic, living in low-income households, classified as English Learners, have a disability, are in the District's homeless program or are in foster care participated across all measures of online activity. Report states that low participation may show lost learning, which could take students years to recoup.