California superintendent Zandra Jo Galván is among the recipients of the 2023-24 ALAS Awards, which will be given during the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents’ National Education Summit Gala in October.

This year’s awards recognize 12 individuals and organizations for their extraordinary education advocacy and leadership. Galván, superintendent of Greenfield Union School District, will receive the Superintendent of the Year Award. She joins other recipients including U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Andrea Salinas, astronaut José Hernández and actor Michael Peña.

“Our ALAS Award recipients are tireless in their efforts to provide service, advocacy, representation, education and leadership for the Latino community and specifically for Latino youth and those involved in their education,” said ALAS Executive Director Maria Armstrong. “We are excited to celebrate and honor these amazing individuals and organizations for the work they do day-in and day-out to make a difference in schools, districts and communities.”

The ALAS 20th Anniversary National Education Summit takes place Oct. 4-6, 2023 in San Antonio.

The U.S Department of Education has announced the launch of the Kindergarten Sturdy Bridge Learning Community, a multi-state effort to make kindergarten a transformational experience at the start of each student’s formal education journey. State education agencies and local education agencies will be invited to participate in a community of practice where they can benefit from peer learning, receive technical assistance, and share best practices to transform how students experience kindergarten including the transitions into kindergarten and 1st grade.

“Getting kindergarten right has to be top of mind for all of us, because what happens there sets the stage for how a child learns and develops well into their elementary years and beyond,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a news release. “Ensuring that kindergarten is a sturdy bridge between the early years and early grades is central to our efforts both to Raise the Bar for academic excellence and to provide all students with a more equitable foundation for educational success.”

Children arrive at kindergarten from diverse settings and experiences, with a wide range of developmental and linguistic strengths, learning differences, developmental delays and disabilities. In this way, attending kindergarten is a critical lever for meeting physical and behavioral health needs that would otherwise go undetected. Kindergarten also presents a crucial opportunity to build partnerships and trust with parents and families, and to work with them on nurturing the habits and routines, including everyday attendance, that are essential to accelerating learning recovery and assuring early and long-term school success.