This qualitative study examined teachers, schools, and district approaches to new teacher retention with a COVID-19 spin. In the changing world of a global pandemic and shifting teaching modalities, including distance or hybrid learning environments, teachers reflected on their experiences of adaptation. Interviews with teachers in their first…

Public K-12 education in the United States is distinctively a local affair: school districts are governed by local boards of education, composed of lay members typically elected in non-partisan elections. These boards have decision-making power over hundreds of billions of public dollars and oversee complex agencies that, in addition to preparing…

In the midst of current environmental and social crises we--educators and educational scholars--have been called to prepare our youth with the skills, attitudes, and knowledge needed to face and solve such crises. While mastery of academic content and relevant skills remain key educational goals, teachers need to be prepared and equipped to…

There is a teacher shortage across the United States, and California, specifically, is experiencing a shortage. The shortage is compounded by teachers leaving the profession with reports of significant dissatisfaction (Darling-Hammond et al., 2023). Low enrollment in teacher preparation programs and a decline in individuals pursuing degrees in…

Three key aspects were revealed through the literature review of teacher evaluations. First, teacher evaluations have been controversial nationwide and revised from the outset. Second, the COVID-19 pandemic added a layer of complexity. Third, research on the state of teacher evaluations was minimal, particularly for California K-12 public schools.…

In many school districts, the policies that regulate teaching personnel are governed by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). While there is significant policy attention that has affected the scope of these agreements, there is relatively little research on how CBAs vary over time, or whether they change in response to states' legislative…

The problem this study explored was that despite the various methods of differentiating professional development content to meet the needs of K-12 teachers, teacher professional development programming does not meet the career growth needs of many professional educators. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how ten K-12…

Retaining stakeholders within school districts following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic presented a significant challenge. This quantitative correlational study aimed to investigate whether there is a positive correlation between school district servant leadership (administrators, principals, assistant superintendent, superintendent, etc.)…

This report presents a summary of the vast array of activities that comprised the 2022-23 accreditation year for all Commission-approved educator preparation programs. Currently, there are 252 Commission approved program sponsors offering 878 different and active educator preparation programs and many of those are offered through various pathways.…

Nation-wide, the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in our classrooms continues to increase. Twenty percent of students enrolled in California public schools are ELLs, the highest percentage in the nation. With the continuously growing number of ELLs in our classrooms, our mainstream teachers must be prepared to teach content and meet the…

Today, nine out of 10 Americans age 65 and older depend on Social Security benefits to lead a comfortable and secure retirement. Among all Americans over age 65, Social Security makes up more than half of their household income. This brief outlines the history of Social Security benefits in the public sector, describes the safe harbor rule and how…

Background: The increase in the number of autistic children being identified has led to increased demand on public schools to provide high-quality services. Effectively scaling up evidence-based practice (EBP) use for autistic students is challenging, given the complicated organization of special education. Teachers have significant challenges…

Many states have recently made or are considering changes to their teacher retirement systems. However, little is known about how teachers value various elements of their retirement benefits versus other aspects of their jobs and compensation. To help alleviate this gap, we use a discrete choice stated preferences experiment embedded in a…

Teachers are indispensable in the public education system in California. There is a need for more credentialed teachers in California and a need for those willing to pursue the profession. A qualitative collective case study addressed low morale, teacher satisfaction, and decreasing desire to remain in the profession due to COVID-19. The demands…

At a time of heightened discourse on multilingual education in the United States, there is a need to question what is meant by the term and how its understandings may be perpetuating harmful power asymmetries. Specifically, California has declared its goal of supporting multilingual education from kindergarten through twelfth grade, yet the…