UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

California’s alternative education system, particularly its Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) schools, serves as a vital but often overlooked pathway for historically marginalized and vulnerable students. This report analyzes 2022–23 data from 894 DASS schools, representing 150,009 students, to evaluate the effectiveness of these settings.

The findings reveal that DASS schools disproportionately enroll Black, Latine, Indigenous, foster, homeless, socioeconomically disadvantaged, disabled students, and other populations facing significant systemic barriers. Educational outcomes in these settings highlight profound disparities compared to non-alternative schools, including a 60% chronic absenteeism rate, a 58% five-year graduation rate, and significantly lower proficiency in English Language Arts and mathematics. Furthermore, the analysis identifies systemic challenges in staffing, leadership, and accountability frameworks that often fail to adequately capture or support the unique needs of these students. To address these inequities, the authors propose a comprehensive policy agenda: developing a dedicated Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) category for alternative schools, building a specialized educator workforce, enhancing school stability, establishing meaningful accountability measures, and expanding access to high-quality, differentiated instruction. Ultimately, this report calls for a shift from deficit-based narratives toward equitable, asset-based support systems that prioritize the success and holistic development of California’s most vulnerable youth.

This report offers a focused analysis of ‘bright spots’: public schools and community-based organizations well known for their long-standing reputations of offering quality educational services in Los Angeles.In a city where Black people constitute less than 10% of the overall population, Black students constitute 22-68% of the population served by these schools and organizations. The schools and organizations highlighted in this report are located in high-poverty communities where over 80% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the despite the challenges of racial and economic inequality, each school and organization has remarkable histories of fostering student achievement, demonstrated by test scores and graduation rates for Black students that exceed statewide averages and are substantially greater than what would be expected.Despite the pronounced structural disadvantages affecting Black students—many of which have been exacerbated by pandemic-impacted educational conditions—these schools and organizations have established a history of illuminating paths toward academic success for the Black students that they serve. As such, their strategies are also illuminative for practitioners and scholars concerned with charting a course toward broader equity within educational systems. This report follows Beyond the Schoolhouse: Overcoming Challenges and Expanding Opportunity for Black Youth in LA County which documented academic, social and environmental patterns of Black students across Los Angeles County and Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper | COVID-19 & Reopening Schools for Black Students in Los Angeles that additionally documented promising practices, both in-school and out-of-school, for fostering academic success for Black students. Learn more on the CTS website.

This report builds upon our 2019 analysis that explored how various educational, health, and social factors impact the academic and developmental outcomes of Black students in Los Angeles. We focus on 14 school districts in Los Angeles County that have populations of 800 or more Black students. Collectively, these districts serve two out of three Black students in Los Angeles: ABC Unified School District Antelope Valley Union High School District Bellflower Unified School District Centinela Valley Union High School District Compton Unified School District Culver City Unified School District Inglewood Unified School District Long Beach Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District Paramount Unified School District Pasadena Unified School District Pomona Unified School District Torrance Unified School District William S. Hart Union High School District We cannot ignore the profound impacts COVID-19 is having on Black students and their families. Many are experiencing financial, physical, and emotional hardships associated with job loss, lack of adequate healthcare, and social isolation from prolonged shutdowns. Given that many of the inequities discussed in this report were already pervasive prior to the pandemic, we present our findings along with a set of recommendations for reopening schools and prioritizing the academic success and well-being of Black students with $6 billion in new federal monies available to these 14 school districts. Promising models implemented by districts and schools are offered including descriptions of features and benefits, core objectives, approaches, and practices in support of the social and emotional needs of Black students and families. Finally, we present recommendations for policymakers at all levels of government–city, county, state and federal–that can help to mitigate the disadvantages faced by Black students. While safety remains the number one priority, a more comprehensive approach will be needed to respond to the growing gaps between Black youth and many of their peers. To be clear, schools cannot be expected to do this alone. Learn more on the CTS website.

There are 109,00 Black students in the county, but Black students are overrepresented among those who are underprepared for college, who are subject to punitive forms of discipline, and who are chronically absent from school. Moreover, a disproportionate number of Black students in LA County attend schools that the state has identified as “low-performing” often where critical resources (e.g. school counselors, nurses, social workers, highly qualified teachers, etc.) are in short supply. While considerable attention has been focused on efforts to reform schools and raise student achievement, far less attention and effort has been directed at addressing the out-of-school factors that influence a child’s development, or the social and economic conditions in the neighborhoods where they live. We must do both. Throughout this report, we reference the ways in which the accumulation of disadvantage across various educational, health and social indicators interact with the academic and developmental outcomes of Black children in Los Angeles County. Failure to recognize how poverty, health, and educational performance are related has made it more difficult for education policy to have a positive impact on the needs of the most vulnerable children. This report aims to correct this oversight, suggesting solutions that are designed to counter the effects of these disadvantages. Learn more on the CTS website.

This study examined the implementation of the MONARCH Room®—a trauma-informed sensory space designed as an alternative to punitive discipline—in 12 middle and high schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Aimed at supporting students with trauma histories, particularly foster-involved youth who are disproportionately subject to suspension and expulsion, the initiative was implemented in partnership with Comprehensive Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CCEIS). School staff (“Champions,” n=116) completed baseline surveys assessing trauma-informed knowledge and school climate, participated in training modules, and engaged in two rounds of focus groups (n=62) between September 2023 and February 2024. Findings indicated strong staff support for trauma-informed approaches but identified key implementation barriers, including limited training opportunities, challenges securing dedicated space, competing responsibilities, mixed teacher perceptions, and funding constraints. Despite these challenges, schools reported promising outcomes: improved student emotional self-regulation, reductions in some disciplinary referrals, and a gradual shift among staff from punitive to supportive practices. Increased collaboration and growing buy-in were also noted over time. Overall, the MONARCH Room® demonstrates potential as an effective intervention for fostering supportive school environments, though addressing systemic barriers will be essential for long-term sustainability and impact.

This report examines disparities in high school graduation outcomes between English-Learner classified students (ELs) and non-English-Learner classified students in California within the context of the state’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework. Using statewide graduation and college-readiness data from 2018–2022, including Four-Year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rates and district-level comparisons across California’s largest school districts, the study analyzes trends in graduation rates and eligibility for University of California and California State University admission. Findings indicate that although overall graduation rates in California improved from 83.0% in 2018 to 87.0% in 2022, EL graduation rates remained consistently lower, increasing only from 67.9% to 71.8% during the same period. Significant disparities also persisted in college readiness, with EL students demonstrating substantially lower rates of meeting UC/CSU admission requirements compared to the general student population. The report concludes that persistent inequities in academic achievement and graduation outcomes necessitate targeted, evidence-based interventions through MTSS, including comprehensive language development, tiered academic supports, culturally responsive practices, and coordinated collaboration among educators, families, and communities to improve educational equity and long-term outcomes for English-Learner classified students in California.

Study’s Purpose:

California’s public schools face significant pressure to improve across a range of metrics, to improve educational efficiency and reduce inequities between student groups. One student support framework is the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), which includes screening of students’ needs, monitoring their progress, data-based decision making and a multi-level prevention system. MTSS has the potential to maximize student success. However, to set MTSS in context, it is necessary to calculate the full economic consequences of failing to invest in MTSS (and other educational support strategies).

Here we investigate the economic consequences of failure to graduate from high school; chronic absenteeism; and disciplinary sanctions (suspension, expulsion, and restraint). Applying a standard economic model, we calculate the burdens to society, families, schools, and the California taxpayer. We find significant burdens from each perspective and that these burdens vary by race and student disadvantage. For example, there are racial inequities in how many students get suspended as well as the economic burden of these suspensions.

Research Methods:

We model the economic burdens across these three challenges—high school failure, absenteeism, and disciplinary actions—using a life-course trajectory model (Boardman et al., 2018; Levin et al., 2018) to estimate the long-term financial burdens of high school failure, absenteeism, and disciplinary actions in California. By assigning shadow prices—reflecting society’s willingness to pay for improvements—the model calculates lifetime costs and fiscal impacts from the perspectives of students, families, schools, and taxpayers. These costs are monetized using 2023 dollars and discounted to present value. The analysis reveals significant societal and fiscal gains from high school graduation, and substantial burdens from absenteeism and disciplinary sanctions, especially due to their effects on educational attainment and long-term earnings.

Key Findings:

Summary results show a social gain of almost one-half million dollars per extra high school graduate. For a 3 percentage point increase in the state-wide high school graduation rate, California would gain almost $10 billion in total and $3 billion in taxpayer savings. Economic calculations (Table S2) show the substantial economic burden for students who are off-track or have been disciplined. For each student who is chronically absent, the burden is $5,630. Disciplinary social burdens are also high: for each expulsion, for example, the social burden is $70,870.

Conclusion:

These calculations provide compelling evidence that educational support strategies such as MTSS are needed and that there is significant potential for them to be socially efficient.

This brief examines statewide administrator workforce data released by the California Department of Education (CDE) in 2025, providing the first comprehensive look at California’s educational leadership workforce since 2019. The purpose of the study was to identify trends in administrator demographics, experience, gender, and educational attainment across the 2019–20 through 2023–24 school years. Using publicly available CDE certificated staff datasets, researchers conducted a descriptive longitudinal analysis of administrators, including principals and superintendents, examining changes in counts and percentages across key workforce indicators. Findings indicate that California’s administrator workforce grew over the study period while becoming more racially and gender diverse. The proportions of Latine, Asian, and Black administrators increased, while the share of white administrators declined. Female administrators also increased from 63.97% to 66.86% of the workforce. Although the number of experienced administrators increased overall, their percentage declined slightly as more inexperienced leaders entered the profession. Educational attainment remained relatively stable, with master’s degrees continuing to be the most common credential; however, the proportion of administrators holding only a bachelor’s degree increased and surpassed those with bachelor’s-plus credentials. Additionally, Black administrators continued to outnumber Asian administrators, a pattern that differs from both California’s teacher workforce and broader population demographics. These findings suggest gradual progress toward a more diverse leadership workforce while highlighting the need for improved data systems, stronger leadership pipelines, and targeted policies to support recruitment, retention, and equitable advancement within California’s educational leadership ranks.

California is experiencing a teacher shortage crisis, a pattern most prevalent for math, science, special education, and bilingual education. Although the shortage is widespread, the struggle to hire qualified teachers is particularly acute in some regions. This study profiles nine rural border counties in California that have limited access to Teacher Education Programs (TEPs): Alpine, Del Norte, Imperial, Inyo, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Sierra, and Siskiyou. CTS researchers classify these counties as “teacher education deserts” that face unique challenges in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers. By highlighting factors like geographic location, economic status, and education attainment rates, this brief provides insights into the profound impact that geographic, social, and economic factors have on a county’s teacher supply. Evidence-based recommendations are provided to address urgent teacher supply issues in these regions. Learn more on the CTS website.

Research from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools and the UCLA Civil Rights Project explores obstacles to recruiting and retaining Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers (TOCIT) in California’s schools. Researchers sought perspectives from teachers and system leaders in teacher preparation to better understand current policies and practices that are contributing to teacher burnout, turnover, and early retirement. Despite California’s recent, large investments toward improving educator diversity, persistent higher rates of burnout, turnover, and early retirement among teachers of color and Indigenous teachers indicate other factors are at play. At a time when many states are eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs designed to foster positive race relations and equity, the research provides examples of persistent discrimination in the training process and the enormous economic barriers that many students of color face in accessing the educational and professional resources and support they need to become teachers. Learn more on the CTS website.

Drawing on a 2017–18 national survey of over 3,600 educators across 760 schools in 13 states — conducted for Schools Under Siege: The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on Educational Equity (Gándara & Ee) — this study examines how a broken U.S. immigration system affects students, families, educators, and school climate. Millions of U.S.-born children living with undocumented parents face instability that disrupts their education, as immigration enforcement and anti-immigrant rhetoric generate widespread fear, absenteeism, and disengagement, particularly among Latine students. Surveyed educators reported significant declines in academic performance, motivation, and test scores, alongside chronic absenteeism and heightened risks of grade retention and dropout. Enforcement actions also intensified bullying and eroded students' sense of safety, while family engagement dropped as parents avoided public spaces out of fear. Critically, these effects extended beyond immigrant students to non-immigrant peers and school communities as a whole, reducing participation in extracurriculars and increasing emotional strain on teachers. Aggressive immigration enforcement, in short, undermines educational equity across entire schools and communities. Restoring stability and ensuring equal access to education will require comprehensive immigration reform, stronger community-school partnerships, and targeted supports for immigrant-serving educators and the students they serve.

Study’s Purpose:

This policy brief examines the potential of Dual Language Immersion (DLI) programs to advance racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic equity in public education. While DLI has grown rapidly in the U.S. and is celebrated for promoting bilingualism and integration, concerns have emerged around access and equity especially for the historically marginalized communities these programs were originally designed to serve. This study focuses on Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), home to the largest number of DLI programs in the country, to assess how these programs are shaping enrollment patterns, integration, and equitable access.

Research Methods:

The study analyzed two decades (2001–2002 through 2021–2022) of publicly available LAUSD enrollment data from the California Department of Education. Researchers examined demographic trends across schools with and without DLI programs, disaggregated by race/ethnicity, English Learner (EL) status, and socioeconomic status. Measures of racial, linguistic, and economic diversity included entropy, exposure/isolation, and concentration indices. A critical discourse analysis of school websites and social media content was also conducted to evaluate how information about DLI programs is communicated to families.

Key Findings:

The study found that while DLI programs can foster diverse learning environments, they are also increasingly vulnerable to gentrification. Enrollment trends suggest that DLI programs may be disproportionately accessed by English-dominant and more affluent families, raising concerns about equity and access. Communication strategies used by schools often reinforced these disparities, privileging certain audiences over others.

Conclusion:

To ensure DLI programs fulfill their promise of equity and inclusion, districts must adopt intentional outreach strategies and policies that prioritize access for language-minoritized and low-income students. Without these safeguards, DLI programs risk reproducing the very inequalities they were designed to disrupt.

Highly Mobile Youth (HMY) — students experiencing homelessness, foster care, migratory status, or juvenile legal system involvement — are among the most underserved populations in the U.S., facing instability that disrupts schooling, limits access to supportive relationships, and contributes to poor educational and health outcomes. Drawing on federal education, child welfare, and juvenile justice data from 2013–2022, this brief synthesizes national datasets and existing literature to analyze demographic trends, overlapping needs, and patterns of dual-system involvement across HMY populations. Findings reveal that Black and Latine youth are disproportionately represented among HMY and face compounded challenges, including higher rates of disability identification and English Learner status. Migratory youth remain among the most underserved, while youth involved in both child welfare and juvenile justice systems experience particularly stark racial and gender disparities. Foster care and juvenile-system-involved youth also face heightened risks of homelessness, further destabilizing their development and education. Critically, persistent gaps in national data obscure the true scale of these inequities and limit the design of effective supports. The instability HMY experience is rooted in systemic inequities — structural racism and poverty chief among them — that increase the likelihood of involvement in multiple child-serving systems. Addressing their needs will require stronger cross-system collaboration, more robust and consistent data collection, and targeted interventions that disrupt cycles of displacement and disadvantage.

What do we know about the nearly 1.4 million students experiencing homelessness in the U.S.? Our latest brief, “1.37 Million and Rising: Understanding the National 25% Spike in Student Homelessness” explores national patterns for housing insecure youth across the U.S. Students without stable housing, one of several highly mobile student populations, are more likely to miss school, face disciplinary actions, and fall behind academically. Yet many remain invisible in national education data.

This brief builds upon our research on students experiencing homelessness in California, the epicenter of the student homelessness crisis, and highly mobile youth—including an overview of these student populations and an accompanying policy brief—to uplift the importance of their stability and success.

Understanding these trends is crucial to advancing educational equity. This is critical reading for anyone shaping education policy or practice—from the classroom to the Capitol.

Learn more on the CTS website.

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially disrupted student social-emotional learning (SEL), mental health, and school engagement, raising concerns about widening educational inequities across California. This policy brief examines the post-pandemic effects of COVID-19 on student engagement, SEL, well-being, chronic absenteeism, academic motivation, and school support capacity to inform statewide recovery efforts. Using publicly available statewide data from the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), CALPADS, and the COVID-19 School Data Hub, the analysis applies descriptive statistics and regression models to assess trends while accounting for student, school, and learning-mode characteristics. Findings indicate significant increases in chronic absenteeism, declines in academic motivation and elementary student self-efficacy, persistent mental health concerns, and insufficient school support staffing, with disproportionately adverse outcomes among low-income students, English Learners, foster youth, students with disabilities, and Black and Latinx students. These patterns suggest that preexisting disparities in SEL and educational opportunity were maintained or exacerbated during the pandemic. The report concludes that California’s recovery strategy should prioritize student engagement, social-emotional well-being, and equitable access to school-based support services through targeted investments, improved data collection and accountability, expanded counseling and mental health staffing, and culturally responsive interventions for vulnerable student populations.

This research brief examines how California’s rural schools have been disproportionately affected by the combined impacts of COVID-19 and recurring wildfires and identifies state and federal resources that can address these challenges. Drawing on existing research, policy literature, and state and federal funding initiatives, the brief synthesizes evidence on rural educational inequities and evaluates funding opportunities linked to recovery, infrastructure, educator development, and student support. The review highlights persistent barriers, including the digital divide, teacher shortages, limited healthcare access, vaccine hesitancy, and wildfire-related displacement, all of which compound educational inequities. It identifies evidence-based strategies such as expanding school safety infrastructure, strengthening educator pipelines through “Grow Your Own” programs and credentialing support, bridging digital access gaps, and investing in community schools that provide wraparound services. Coordinated state and federal investments, coupled with locally tailored implementation, can strengthen the resilience of rural schools and communities. Sustained funding for infrastructure, technology, educator recruitment, and integrated student supports is essential to improving educational outcomes, community well-being, and long-term recovery in California’s rural regions.

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally disrupted California’s education system, exposing and intensifying longstanding inequities in educational access and outcomes. This study aims to document the pandemic’s impact on California’s K–12 education landscape and identify strategic policy recommendations informed by educator perspectives. Using a qualitative mixed-methods approach, researchers conducted standardized interviews with 11 educators representing diverse roles and regions across California and analyzed open-ended survey responses from 49 administrators through thematic coding. Findings revealed that remote learning disproportionately affected historically marginalized students due to persistent digital inequities, interrupted academic progress, and reduced instructional quality. Educators also reported widespread learning loss, increased behavioral challenges, heightened social-emotional and mental health needs, staffing shortages, and growing demands for schools to address students’ basic needs. Respondents emphasized that preexisting racial and socioeconomic disparities were amplified by the pandemic and highlighted insufficient state guidance for deploying resources effectively. The study concludes that California requires a coordinated, equity-centered recovery strategy that prioritizes long-term investments in digital access, mental health, academic acceleration, educator capacity, integrated data systems, and sustained policy reforms to support the educational success and well-being of historically underserved students and strengthen resilience against future crises.

This qualitative case study examines how Pomona Unified School District (PUSD) has implemented California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to advance educational equity for historically underserved students, including low-income students, English Learners, and foster youth. The study aims to understand how district practices have evolved under LCFF and identify strategies that support improved educational outcomes through the perspectives of key stakeholders. Methods include a review of district documents, strategic plans, budgets, student outcome data, and Local Control and Accountability Plans, complemented by a two-day site visit and interviews with 53 stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, principals, district leaders, labor representatives, and school board members. Findings indicate that LCFF enabled PUSD to implement equity-centered initiatives, including Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), teacher-led professional learning, and co-teaching models, which were associated with improved school climate, reduced referral and suspension rates, stronger English Language Arts and mathematics outcomes, and increased instructional collaboration. Despite ongoing fiscal and implementation challenges, the district demonstrated meaningful progress by aligning leadership, resources, and instructional practices around a comprehensive vision of equity and whole-child development. These findings suggest that sustained, systemwide implementation of LCFF can promote organizational transformation and improve outcomes for historically underserved students.

This case study examines how the East Side Union High School District (ESUHSD) in San Jose, California, in partnership with Californians for Justice (CFJ), has leveraged California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) to strengthen student voice, leadership, and participation as drivers of educational equity. The study addresses a critical gap in understanding how LCFF has influenced authentic youth engagement in educational decision-making nearly a decade after its implementation. Using a qualitative case study design, the research draws on interviews, focus groups, document analysis, and stakeholder perspectives from students, families, educators, district leaders, and community organizers to examine the implementation and impact of youth-centered governance structures and practices. Findings indicate that sustained district-community partnerships, coupled with intentional changes to organizational culture and decision-making structures, expanded meaningful student participation beyond symbolic consultation to authentic collaboration. Student leadership informed district policies, strengthened equity-focused initiatives, enhanced civic identity and agency, and contributed to more responsive educational practices. The study concludes that LCFF can serve as a powerful mechanism for advancing educational and racial justice when paired with sustained partnerships, institutional commitment, and structures that position young people as co-creators of policy and practice rather than passive stakeholders.

Study's Purpose: This research brief explores the Livingston Union School District’s (LUSD) implementation of a comprehensive school counseling program. The program aligns with the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model and is sustained through California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Located in California’s Central Valley, LUSD serves a predominantly Latine and socioeconomically disadvantaged student population in a high-need rural context. LUSD bolstered its school counseling program, making it a cornerstone of its student support strategy through collaborative leadership, strategic staffing, and equity-centered resource allocation. 

Research Methods: Using a mixed-methods approach—including document analysis, interviews, survey data, and quantitative outcomes—this study finds that the district’s sustained investment in school counseling has led to measurable improvements in school climate and student well-being, alongside reductions in suspension and chronic absenteeism rates, even amid the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.Key Findings: LUSD’s model reinforces a growing body of research demonstrating that lower student-to-counselor ratios and comprehensive, data-informed counseling models improve academic and behavioral outcomes, particularly for historically underserved students. Key findings highlight the importance of program fidelity, clearly defined counselor roles, and continuous stakeholder engagement in realizing the full potential of school counseling. 

Conclusion: The district’s model offers valuable lessons for other school systems seeking to integrate school counseling into broader strategies for educational equity and student success.

The baseline report of the California Race, Education, and Community Healing (REACH) Network examines Year 1 implementation across ten California school sites working to reduce exclusionary discipline and foster more equitable learning environments. Drawing on statewide data, school and district artifacts, and school profiles, the report documents persistent disparities in discipline by race, disability status, gender, and socioeconomic background, alongside the return of pre-pandemic patterns. Findings show that REACH schools predominantly serve low-income students and students from historically marginalized communities. Further, these schools are actively implementing restorative practices, while also strengthening family engagement, using data to guide improvement efforts, and providing targeted professional development. The report concludes with lessons and recommendations to strengthen implementation, sustainability, and long-term systems change.

This research brief examines district-level educational outcomes for students experiencing homelessness in California, extending the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools’ 2020 statewide analysis by investigating patterns across 10 geographically and demographically diverse school districts. Using publicly available 2018–2019 California Department of Education DataQuest datasets, the study compares students experiencing homelessness with their non-homeless peers on key indicators, including enrollment, California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) scores, graduation rates, UC/CSU eligibility, suspension rates, and chronic absenteeism. Findings reveal persistent and substantial disparities across all districts: students experiencing homelessness consistently demonstrated lower academic achievement, lower graduation and college readiness rates, and higher rates of suspension and chronic absenteeism than housed students. The analysis also highlights the disproportionate impact of homelessness on Black, Latinx, and Pacific Islander students and emphasizes that COVID-19 further complicated student identification and data collection while exacerbating existing educational inequities. The findings underscore the importance of accurate student identification, localized data analysis, and cross-sector collaboration to guide targeted interventions. Strengthening data systems, investing in wraparound supports, and strategically allocating federal and state resources are critical to improving educational outcomes and advancing equity for students experiencing homelessness across California.

Los Angeles County is facing a rapidly escalating youth homelessness crisis. In the 2023–24 school year, more than 61,000 students experienced homelessness, a nearly 30% increase from the prior 2022–23 school year, with Latine students (75%) and English Learners (34%) disproportionately affected (California Department of Education, 2024; Cazares-Minero & Bishop, 2026). Despite federal protections under the McKinney-Vento Act, a significant gap persists between policy intent and frontline realities.

This qualitative study draws on interviews with seven school-based homeless liaisons and county officials across five districts to examine identification practices, service barriers, and data systems. Findings show major challenges in accurately identifying students due to inconsistent, subjective processes, despite the statewide requirement of a housing questionnaire. Many families avoid self-identification because of stigma, fear of child welfare or immigration consequences, or confusion about eligibility. Fragmented data systems further hinder verification and coordination, while inadequate federal funding forces reliance on unstable grants and donations. Strengthening trauma-informed identification, integrating data systems, stabilizing funding for direct supports, and formalizing cross-sector partnerships are critical to improving outcomes for unhoused students.

What do we know about the nearly 1.4 million students experiencing homelessness in the U.S.? Our latest brief, “1.37 Million and Rising: Understanding the National 25% Spike in Student Homelessness” explores national patterns for housing insecure youth across the U.S. Students without stable housing, one of several highly mobile student populations, are more likely to miss school, face disciplinary actions, and fall behind academically. Yet many remain invisible in national education data.

This brief builds upon our research on students experiencing homelessness in California, the epicenter of the student homelessness crisis, and highly mobile youth—including an overview of these student populations and an accompanying policy brief—to uplift the importance of their stability and success.

Understanding these trends is crucial to advancing educational equity. This is critical reading for anyone shaping education policy or practice—from the classroom to the Capitol.

Learn more on the CTS website.

Foster youth in California face systemic barriers that can interfere with their educational success, from K-12 instability to college challenges, with graduation rates and college enrollment far below state averages. In this study, our research team partnered with young leaders with foster care experience from California Youth Connection to center their lived experiences and answer the following research questions: How did foster youth experience the foster care system? What were the high school experiences of foster youth? What were the college-going experiences of foster youth? Learn more on the CTS website.

Foster youth in Los Angeles County experience disproportionately high rates of school instability — more than one-third change schools midyear — disrupting their academic progress, social relationships, and emotional well-being despite their legal right to remain in their school of origin (SOO) when placements change. This study evaluates L.A. County's transportation initiative, which uses private ride services to connect foster youth to their SOO, assessing how it addresses barriers to attendance and its potential to increase school stability. Using a mixed-methods approach, researchers conducted interviews with stakeholders, caregivers, and youth, and analyzed transportation and absenteeism data from HopSkipDrive and de-identified student mobility records from Long Beach USD. Findings confirm broad agreement that school stability benefits foster youth, yet transportation remains a critical and persistent barrier. Resource caregiver reimbursements frequently fall short, inter-agency coordination between districts and child welfare agencies is inconsistent, and some stakeholders perceive program costs as outweighing benefits. Nevertheless, participants reported that the initiative meaningfully improves access, autonomy, and continuity for foster youth, and may prove more cost-effective than alternatives such as district busing. Sustaining and scaling this work will require dedicated funding, stronger collaboration between schools and child welfare agencies, and policies that prioritize student well-being over cost considerations — ensuring that foster youth have genuine opportunities to remain in their school of origin and thrive academically and socially.

This study provides an analysis of California State University (CSU)’s campus-based support programs for students with foster care experience. California has long been considered a champion for its support for youth who experience foster care, and is particularly noteworthy in creating campus-based programs to support their postsecondary education. As the largest university system in the U.S., CSU plays an important role in supporting positive life outcomes for students who have experienced foster care, with an estimated annual enrollment of 3,000-3,500 students with foster care history. For this study, we engaged with 23 support program staff members from across the CSU system to develop a deep understanding of high-impact practices, successes, and challenges. Research findings are used to develop actionable recommendations at the campus, system, state, and federal levels. We hope this study will be used to encourage greater investment in college campus support programs for foster youth. Learn more on the CTS website.

Los Angeles is one among many local educational agencies across the country that have adopted evidence-based strategies in an effort to change the academic trajectories of youth involved in the juvenile legal system.

This study examines the implementation of the Road to Success Academies (RTSA), a comprehensive educational model for juvenile court schools, at two sites in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE).The primary goal of the RTSA model framework is to ignite student excitement and interest in learning using interdisciplinary, project-based learning strategies. Trauma-informed practices are combined with California standards-based curriculum to create thematic modules designed to advance social-emotional-learning alongside academic skill acquisition. By centering on student engagement, the RTSA model has great promise for both advancing the educational delivery within the juvenile legal system, and supporting LA County’s holistic goal of re-envisioning the juvenile legal system to move away from punishment to care. The current study builds upon research focused on educational experiences in juvenile corrections facilities (Allen & Grassell, 2017; Leone & Weinberg, 2012) and focuses on the following research questions:How does the RTSA model impact student learning outcomes and student engagement among students in carceral settings, and how does the carceral setting itself impact implementation of educational services broadly, and RTSA specifically?What are key challenges to full implementation of RTSA for youth in carceral settings?Learn more on the CTS website.