At the same time, CTE pathways can lead to well-paying careers while laying a robust foundation for students’ various education trajectories. The convergence of these factors is explored in CSBA’s latest governance brief, “Supporting STEM Access, Equity, and Effectiveness: STEM and CTE Work for California’s Economic Future.”

The brief is now online and examines California’s workforce needs, how STEM and CTE complement each other, the benefits of CTE for K-12 students and strategies for successful programs.

While about 40 percent, or close to 800,000, of California’s high school students were enrolled in a CTE course in the 2016–17 school year, participation in classes tied to the state’s most in-demand fields were not as popular. The success of students enrolled in these programs also makes the case that higher enrollment would benefit not only the state’s workforce but may lead to higher graduation rates and academic engagement, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds. Overall, the graduation rate for CTE students in California was 92 percent in 2017.

A comprehensive approach to school safety starts with school culture. Research shows that creating positive school climates helps boost student achievement and increase high school graduation rates. Developing this positive culture involves integrating social-emotional learning into instruction and school management; encouraging and maintaining respectful, trusting relationships between students and adults; and implementing a multi-tiered system of support that offers universal academic and behavioral support to all students while recognizing that some students need extra support to thrive and achieve in school. Boards can contribute to this important work by making positive school climate a districtwide priority and including it in strategic plans, budgetary decisions, curricular adoption criteria, and policies and regulations.

A self-evaluation involves setting a time when board members may engage in an examination of the board’s performance on an agreed set of norms, conditions or yardsticks. The main focus of a board self-evaluation should be on the board as a whole, not individual members. A board self-evaluation should not be seen by board members as an opportunity to express personal grouse or discontentment with their fellow board members. Keeping focus on the task may require facilitation, preferably by an experienced and independent moderator who can also assist the board to develop protocols that will enhance the governance team’s performance in identified areas.

Achievement in California’s Public Schools: What Do Test Scores Tell Us? finds that while the state’s students are making progress in English, math scores are relatively stagnant and indicate a need for more attention, training and resources directed to Common Core instruction. The study also responds to critics who say California’s students are not making sufficient progress, citing that change brought by these reforms is a “long, slow process” requiring each district to “help teachers and administrators change practices in ways that boost achievement.”

This July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), Senate Bill 188, which protects students from discrimination based on hairstyles, including afros, braids and twists. Author Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said in a news release that “for centuries, black people have had to use expensive, chemically harsh treatments to fit Eurocentric standards for professional hair.” While federal and California law already prohibited discrimination based on religious hairstyles and head coverings, Mitchell said these measures were not enough. She pointed to the example of a young wrestler from New Jersey who was forced by a referee to cut his natural locks before competing on the mat.

The effects of poor attendance habits on student achievement pose a major challenge to many students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. By the ninth grade, students’ chances of graduating from high school drop by 20 percentage points for every week of school they miss, according to a new report from Georgetown University’s FutureEd think tank and Attendance Works, Attendance Playbook: Smart Solutions for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism.

Further, experts and researchers find chronic absence isn’t just a matter of truancy or skipping school, but of the overall well-being of children. Many absences, especially among the youngest students, are excused and tied to health factors such as asthma, dental problems, poor vision, learning disabilities and mental health issues related to trauma and community violence.

CCBE continues its work on important strategic goals