Research and Education Policy Development
The Research and Education Policy Development (REPD) team produced research on a number of key policy issues and provided several resources related to school safety, instructional materials selection and excessive state- and federal-mandated reporting requirements local educational agencies must adhere to.
Year in Review
- Original research — Conducted research and published fact sheets, briefs and reports on topics including:
- Chronic absenteeism: csba.pub/ChronicAbsenceBrief24
- Navigating contentious meetings: csba.pub/
governance-best-practices - Late start: csba.pub/LateStartFactSheet
- Instructional materials adoption (print and webinar resources funded by the Gates Foundation): csba.pub/instructional-materials
- Member survey results on zero-emission school bus implementation: csba.pub/zero-emission-bus
- Safe Schools Toolkit — Released the Safe Schools Toolkit, a newly updated resource that includes 12 briefs covering a wide range of safety topics such as school safety plans, bullying and cyberbullying, behavioral threat assessment, infrastructure for school safety, crisis communications and more. www.csba.org/SafeSchoolsToolkit
- Webinars — Hosted three webinars. www.youtube.com/csbavideo
- “Crisis Ready: School communications before, during and after a safety incident”
- “Laying the Foundation for a Successful Instructional Materials Adoption: School board strategies”
- “Artificial Intelligence in Schools: Promise, peril, policy and performance” (hosted by CSBA’s AI Taskforce)
- Published the CSBA fact sheet, “Drowning in Documentation: Reporting Requirements for California LEAs,” which included a comprehensive list of the hundreds of state and federal plans, reports and data submissions required of LEAs. This fact sheet was used in support of CSBA co-sponsored legislation, Senate Bill 1315, which was ultimately signed by the Governor. csba.pub/LEAreporting
- A follow-up report, Drowning in Documentation: Toward More Effective and Manageable Reporting for California Districts, was released in October and provides a thorough overview of the current landscape through interviews with anonymized superintendents, administrators and state staffers demonstrating the undue burden of myriad reporting requirements. Recommendations for policymakers are also included. www.csba.org/DrowninginDocs2
- LEA mental health services — At the request of Delegates, deployed a survey about LEA mental health services and initiatives at the local level and received information from 44 LEAs. Their responses were compiled to share with the broader membership on the CSBA webpage for mental health resources. csba.pub/LEA-mental-health-services
- Created a PowerPoint template for LEAs to communicate the state’s fiscal situation with stakeholders.
- Created new webpage presentations in partnership with Communications:
- Safe & Supportive School Environment: www.csba.org/safeschools
- AI Taskforce: An online library featuring resources and news, scenarios and resolutions, and promising practices and policies. www.csba.org/AI
- Adopting Instructional Materials , a compilation of resources funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support governance teams in preparation for implementation of the new state math framework: www.csba.org/policybriefs