As Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) learning technologies become more ubiquitous in society, the need to understand how teachers design and implement curriculum and pedagogy to facilitate their students’ development of computational thinking needed in STEM subjects is crucial. More research is needed in collaboration with teachers to see which strategies are effective in making STEM subjects accessible to early learners. We focus on teachers’ use of LEGO robotics as one aspect of STEM technology that has the potential to expand the development of computational thinking and engineering mindsets. We observed, documented, interviewed, and analyzed two teachers’ design and implementation of both pedagogy and curriculum in the context of a LEGO robotics after-school program. Research indicates that STEM disciplinary practices support social-emotional learning (SEL); skills like social awareness and responsible decision-making bolster fundamental engineering processes. Reflecting on STEM instruction during noticing interviews revealed the importance of SEL, productive struggle, and extensive knowledge of children as catalysts for access to and success with STEM. Attending to teachers’ individual approaches to time—how they reflect on the past to inform the present and the future—deepened our understanding of how SEL was facilitated in the classroom.
California’s expansion of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) represents a major investment in early childhood education, with full implementation expected by 2025–2026 (California School Boards Association, 2023). As classrooms increasingly serve children with diverse developmental and social-emotional needs, trauma-informed practices (TIP) have become essential for supporting student learning and well- being (Chudzik et al., 2025; Whitaker et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2021). Findings from interviews with 21 transitional kindergarten (TK) teachers indicate that TIP are already embedded in daily classroom interactions. Teachers described actively fostering emotional safety, building strong relationships with families, and supporting children’s needs beyond academic instruction. However, these practices are largely sustained through individual teacher effort rather than coordinated system-level support. Teachers reported limited access to sustained professional development, insufficient collaboration with mental health professionals, and experiences of secondary traumatic stress. These findings suggest that while TK teachers are already engaging in trauma-informed work, system-level infrastructure has not yet caught up to classroom realities. Strengthening professional learning systems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and teacher well-being support will be critical for the sustainable implementation of TIP in UTK.
There is broad consensus that school leadership is both complex and central to educational improvement (e.g., Grissom et al., 2021). School leaders face continually evolving responsibilities and challenges, requiring ongoing and meaningful opportunities to learn (Grissom et al., 2026). Leading for equity—transforming education systems to improve access, opportunity, and inclusion for students and adults, especially those who are systemically marginalized and historically underserved—is particularly critical in California. The state’s student population is highly diverse across race, ethnicity, home language, socioeconomic status, neurodiversity, gender expression, and other characteristics (Ed-Data, n.d.). In the current political climate, California’s school leaders need explicit, localized, and sustained support to lead equity-centered improvement efforts in their communities.
The high rates of principal turnover coupled with the increasing levels of isolation and burnout in the profession exemplify the urgent need for cultivating self-care as an essential practice for equity-focused educational leaders. The national attrition rate for school principals reached a staggering 11% between the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 school years, and despite a slight stabilization, the 8% turnover rate in the 2023–2024 school year remains significantly higher than pre-pandemic benchmarks. This instability is most acute in high-poverty and rural schools, where the loss of experienced leaders further marginalizes vulnerable student populations. The high turnover rate coincides with continuously increasing demands on school leaders, including expectations that they address needs not otherwise met in the school system, and the superhero principal narrative persists. Additionally, recent upheavals including the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration enforcement, a youth mental health crisis, and attacks on public education continue to have a significant impact on leaders. For example, about 72% of principals nationally identified burnout as a moderate or major job concern during the pandemic. Principals reported more than double the stress levels of other working adults (85% vs. 35%) and significantly higher rates of depressive symptoms and burnout.
California is the most populous state in the U.S. and contains a significant number of rural districts serving a sizable, diverse population of rural students including recent immigrants, migrant students, emergent bilinguals, and Indigenous children. It is important to address the state’s rural contexts from an asset-based perspective that both leverages their unique strengths and attends to their specific needs through localized and differentiated equity-centered leadership. Research and practice often frame rural contexts in direct comparison to urban contexts, creating a lens through which the inherent strengths and unique positionality of rural contexts become de-emphasized. This is particularly true in educational settings within which strengths are often cited as secondary to or resulting from challenges and barriers. Three key issues illustrate important assets embedded in rural contexts: terminology and definitions relevant to rural contexts, Indigenous education, and natural disasters. These issues have implications for equitable school leadership, professional learning, and rural education systems.
Inquiry is a process that supports not only student learning but also the professional learning of educational leaders pursuing equity in schools. Inquiry is an approach to continuous improvement that operates on a cycle beginning with identifying a question to investigate, collecting data and evidence to respond to that question, analyzing and making meaning of that information, and then communicating that new knowledge to relevant partners. When rooted in equity, inquiry can support educational leaders in improving pedagogical practices that help students—especially those who are systemically marginalized and historically underserved—thrive.
Continuous improvement is central to engaging in equitable school leadership and improving student outcomes. 21CSLA (21st Century California School Leadership Academy) includes continuous improvement as one of its three underlying principles, along with equity leadership and professional learning. As outlined by the California Department of Education, “Continuous improvement in education is a broad term used to describe the ongoing efforts of local educational agencies, county offices of education, and individual schools as they work to analyze, understand, and address local needs over a period of time.” Generally, continuous improvement is an approach to iterative cycles of research, assessment, and data-driven decision-making to promote change. In education, schools and districts can leverage continuous improvement to improve student outcomes and teaching practices by prioritizing practitioners’ local needs. continuous improvement is essential to transforming education systems in support of access, opportunity, and inclusion for students and adults who have been historically marginalized.
The equity imperative surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) in education is both urgent and complex. While AI offers significant benefits, such as developing universally designed learning with accessible, adaptive, and inclusive technologies for diverse students; providing personalized learning with detailed feedback; and supporting educators with administrative tasks like drafting and translating communications, it also poses substantial risks, which requires attention to ethics and responsible use. AI systems can amplify and perpetuate inequities including bias and discrimination against marginalized groups, cognitive offloading and deterioration of critical thinking, data and labor exploitation, environmental racism, and acceleration of climate change.
Despite increasingly diverse student populations, educational leadership remains predominantly White. In 2020–2021, only 23% of U.S. and 35% of California public school principals identified as people of color (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], n.d.; Taie & Lewis, 2023), revealing a significant representation gap between students and school leaders. Leaders of color often face racialized stressors (e.g., bias, exclusion, and microaggressions) that threaten their well- being and leadership sustainability (Bristol & Shirrell, 2019; McGinnis et al., 2023). Racial affinity groups have emerged as critical spaces of support, offering community, healing, and empowerment for leaders of color. Yet little is known about the facilitation practices that make these spaces effective. This project brief shares findings from a qualitative study of four facilitators leading affinity groups for educational leaders of color.
The Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) policy is fundamental to California’s extensive initiatives to improve early childhood education through the Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) program. As the state advances towards ensuring early childhood education is accessible to all 4-year-olds by 2026, the involvement of educators in the initial execution of UTK is crucial. This research brief examines the current perceptions of transitional kindergarten (TK) educators in California regarding the efficacy of various family engagement practices and identifies the specific supports that may be needed to enhance their ability to address academic, social, and emotional needs in students.
