Community colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher educational opportunities for their communities. College completion rates for community colleges, however, have been historically low and few students graduate within a two-year timeframe. Disaggregating these data also reveals significant equity gaps in these outcomes for many…

Despite some progress over the ensuing seven years and high aspirations for college and career success held by Black students and families, Black students continue to experience among the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, are the least likely to be supported to reach grade-level standards in math and reading, and graduate from high school and…

Policymakers' demands for standardization and increased academic achievement have led various stakeholder groups to call for more professional development (PD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Federal initiatives and state agencies' quality improvement initiatives also position PD as a key component to improve access to…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational systems, leading to significant learning loss and credit deficiencies among high school students, particularly in California's comprehensive high schools. This research addressed these challenges by exploring innovative strategies through a social-ecological model and ecological systems theory to improve…

Since college, La Puente, CA has been the focus of my research and activism from bilingual education, sanctuary to by-trustee area school board elections. As a graduate student in the 1990s, I returned to live and research in this city of my childhood and where my immigrant grandparents eventually moved to in the 1950s from Nicaragua and Sicily.…

Operating from intersecting theories of validation, marginality, and mattering, this phenomenological study investigated undocumented student support services from the perspective of 49 Undocumented Student Resource Center (USRC) practitioners. In-depth interviews highlighted the ways that USRC practitioners served as validating agents, directly…

Across the United States, policymakers, educators, and community members increasingly support community schools as a method of supporting whole child outcomes. Oakland Unified School District (Oakland Unified) in California has made whole child education central to its community schools initiative. Oakland Unified's community schools provide a…

As the country continues to transition into a new normal because of the the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical that schools and educators adopt a "whole child" approach to education, incorporating teaching methods that account for the ways that children grow and learn in their relationships, identity, emotional understanding, and overall…

Across the United States, policymakers, educators, and community members increasingly support community schools as a method of supporting whole child outcomes. Oakland Unified School District (Oakland Unified) in California has made whole child education central to its community schools initiative. Oakland Unified's community schools provide a…

This study explores the captivating world of toy unboxing videos as a space for emergent bilingual children to engage in translanguaging practices. Through the lens of translanguaging, which encourages the unrestricted use of full linguistic repertoires, this research examines the experiences of two five-year-old immigrant and emergent bilingual…

First-year students enrolling into higher education institutions experience multiple transitions requiring the support of student success programs. Students who enter college undecided about a major face additional hurdles to their success and may experience low academic self-efficacy as a result. A strengths-based approach to assisting these…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefits of holistically focused education, more specifically the holistically focused enrichment wheel at an elementary school in Vista California. The research was done by formulating research questions that were answered by the current literature and interview questions that were answered by current…

Strong partnerships between schools and expanded learning programs lay the foundation for building stronger, more equitable support systems for children and their families. Building on prior investments in the expanded learning system, California's school reopening guidance encouraged intentional coordination across schools and expanded learning…

This brief identifies the steps necessary to realize an integrated system of care, reviews two current approaches, and makes recommendations--including specifying policy reforms that would promote interagency collaboration, integration, service delivery, and improved outcomes for California's children, both with and without disabilities. As a full…

Trauma, including abandonment, neglect, poverty, or abuse, affects students. Because of this, a classroom community is vulnerable to the sheer unpredictability of behaviors. Students who have experienced trauma need support in order to create a classroom community where they can thrive and learn. This study examines a Whole-Child Approach…