News Briefs | FYI
June 8, 2026
Article looks at research behind teacher assignments
School leaders who “reward” effective teachers with lower class sizes may be doing students a disservice, according to a recent article from the National Council on Teacher Quality.
The April 9 article in District Trendline looks at whether research supports the well-intentioned teaching assignment decisions principals make, like protecting effective teachers from burnout or placing the most effective teachers in grades that have state or federal accountability testing.
“In many ways, districts treat teacher staffing like a sports team that saves its star players for the most visible and high-stakes moments, rather than playing them early to get a strong lead. But successful teams don’t rely on instinct alone to make these calls — they analyze performance data to determine where and when each player’s skills will matter most,” said author Michael Sheehy. “Teacher assignments deserve the same level of intentionality. Rather than relying on informal norms, district leaders should consider where strong teachers can have the greatest impact on students’ academic trajectories.”
A look at research shows that:
- Assigning novice teachers to the most challenging classrooms may slow their development.
- Expanding the reach of highly effective teachers to more students, rather than “rewarding” them with lighter rosters, yields significant gains in student learning.
- Moving less effective teachers into early, untested grades to earn higher scores in tested grades carries lasting negative academic consequences for students.
- While repeat student-teacher matches produce modest learning and behavioral gains, frequent grade-switching may undercut a key driver of teacher effectiveness: building deep expertise in the same grade over time.
Read the full District Trendline, with recommendations for school leaders on making teacher assignments at www.nctq.org/research-insights/is-your-teacher-staffing-playbook-built-on-research.
New analysis: Chronic absence rates lowest since pandemic
Chronic absence rates in California have fallen from their post-pandemic levels, according to a new analysis from Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.
The analysis of 2024-25 school year data available from 31 states focuses on chronic absence rates at the school level. Among these states, 21 percent of students are chronically absent, with nearly half (46 percent) of all schools having high or extreme rates of chronic absence. The data show that most states still have more schools with either high or extreme levels of chronic absence than they did prior to the pandemic.
In California, the overall chronic absence rate is 19 percent, down from 33 percent in 2021-22. The percentage of extreme chronic absences is also decreasing, from 60 percent in 2021-22 to 22 percent in 2024-25.
When schools are faced with large numbers of children who are missing 10 percent or more days of school, solutions are beyond the capacity of a single school social worker or counselor to address. These high levels of chronic absence demonstrate the urgent need for educators to develop system-wide responses that build positive conditions for learning for all students and their families.
Bright spot stories from two states show how educators are using creative, tailored strategies to move the needle on student attendance and engagement. For instance, Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona, reduced chronic absence from 46 percent in the 2021-22 school year to 25 percent in 2023-24 by implementing several strategies, including new Career and Technical Education offerings to boost academic engagement and creating freshmen “success teams” that meet weekly to provide wraparound support to students.
“Moving the needle on student attendance in schools can’t be solved with a silver bullet approach,” said Hedy Chang, CEO and president, Attendance Works and co-author of the analysis, in a news release. “As today’s bright spot stories show us, solutions require a comprehensive schoolwide strategy using interventions tailored at the local level.”
Research seems to point to a multi-pronged approach to reducing chronic absenteeism. According to a forthcoming report by the Everyone Graduates Center, principals in schools that implemented five or more evidence-based attendance improvement strategies were much more likely to report significant improvements in attendance when compared with schools which reported only using one or two strategies.
Read the blog about the analysis and find links to bright spots stories at www.attendanceworks.org/reducing-elevated-school-levels-of-chronic-absence-urgent-and-still-within-our-reach.
How to scale improvements? New brief says look at systems
A new practice brief from PACE explores why many districts struggle to scale lasting instructional improvement, highlighting that district systems — not individual teachers or principals — hold the key to successfully scaling improvement initiatives.
“How Districts Scale Instructional Improvement That Lasts” draws on data and interviews from districts that work with California Education Partners. Not surprisingly, the authors say district leaders are critical to holding this work.
“District leaders play a pivotal role in engaging system components to support teachers and schools in districtwide improvement because only they have the authority to repurpose existing system resources, create new structures as needed to fill gaps, and monitor systemwide progress to identify and adapt to challenges,” according to the brief.
The brief contrasts effective district system engagement with three common pitfalls: superintendents that delegate leadership, relying on teachers’ informal networks to spread improvements, and maintaining too many priorities to focus effectively on scaling up.
The brief posits that changing or creating systems, as opposed to relying on individuals, is the most effective way to see districtwide change. The brief shares how real districts (with pseudonyms applied) repurposed existing systems or built new ones to accelerate the adoption of new practices throughout all school sites. Examples include: sharing instructional resources, leveraging existing meetings to roll out new instructional practices, and creating cross-school structures, such as professional learning communities, for teachers to spread practices to additional schools.
A companion document offers key, actionable implications of the brief’s main themes for district leaders. Read the practice brief and companion document at edpolicyinca.org/publications/how-districts-scale-instructional-improvement-lasts.
FYI
Scholarships available for ACSA Academies
ACSA offers scholarship funding exclusively for participation in ACSA’s Academy program for members with financial need to attend job-specific academies. Eight $500 scholarships and one $1,000 scholarship (superintendents only) will be awarded to recipients selected by the Academy Scholarship Selection Committee. Eligible scholarship recipients are regular ACSA members who have a commitment to educational quality, student achievement and professional growth, and who can demonstrate a financial need. Applications must be submitted electronically by July 13, 2026. Visit acsa.org/academies for complete Academy Scholarship application information.
Free STEAM symposium planned for June 26
2026 Summer Symposium – The Role of Arts in Early STEAM is a free virtual event intended for the educators, librarians, families of children, and other adults working with or supporting children’s learning from birth to third grade. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, June 26. Visit the registration website at bit.ly/4cqzeLt for full descriptions of keynote speakers and sessions. This event is sponsored by Count Play Explore.
Nominate HR administrators for Ray Curry Award
Each year, ACSA recognizes an outstanding human resources or personnel administrator with the Ray Curry Award. The award will be presented during this year’s Personnel & Negotiations Symposium on Sept. 16-18 in Irvine. Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2026 award. For criteria and details on making a nomination, visit acsa.org/raycurryaward. The deadline to submit a nomination is Aug. 3.