News Briefs | FYI
August 18, 2025
GENIUS Initiative to advance equity for Black students
The UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools has been named the research partner for the “Genuine Empathy Nurturing Intellect for Underserved Students” (GENIUS) Initiative, a five-year effort to create more equitable outcomes and learning environments for Black/African American, and other historically underserved students in California.
CTS is collaborating with the Los Angeles County, Kings County, and Sonoma county offices of education, which serve as equity leads for the groundbreaking initiative. The partners are selecting 30 schools across the state to participate in a community of practice to implement practices and strategies to improve student learning and school climate, including culturally responsive instruction and anti-racist strategies.
CTS will provide technical assistance and strategic guidance, as well as evidence-based tools and additional resources in support of the GENIUS network. In doing so, CTS will work with equity partners to support ongoing measurement of the impact of the network on participating school sites. Schools participating in the initiative will take part in transformative professional learning communities, a three-year community of practice, and teaching and implementation support to drive systemic change at the school level.
The GENIUS Initiative, also known as the Equity Lead Grant, was established in 2023 in Senate Bill 114 as a part of the California Statewide System of Support.
Interested schools may submit a solicitation of interest form at transformschools.ucla.edu/research/genuine-empathy-nurturing-intellect-for-underserved-students-genius by Friday, Sept. 5.
12 percent of CA students in high fire danger zones
More than 12 percent of California students attend schools in high or very high fire danger zones, according to reporting by EdSource.
The reporting, based on EdSource’s analysis of data from Cal Fire and the Office of the State Fire Marshal, shows that fire risk expands across the entire state, in both rural and urban areas.
Of the students whose schools are in high or very high fire danger zones, 70 percent live in more densely populated Southern California. In January 2025, the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County destroyed nine schools and resulted in more than 1,000 school closures that affected more than half a million students.
The article includes calls from experts to “harden” campuses, making them less prone to fire damage, by using non-combustible materials, dual-pane windows and maintaining landscaping to create fire breaks. Experts also urge planning for communications during a wildfire emergency. The article references a wildfire evacuation decision tree developed by San Diego COE to help schools decide whether to close, even if authorities have not issued an evacuation order.
Read the article, which includes a map of schools in fire zones, at edsource.org/2025/fire-hazard-schools-california.
In July, the CDE released several new certificated staff data reports on the CDE DataQuest website for the academic years 2019-20 through 2023-24.
The CDE said it was releasing the data in response to requests from educators, policy makers, and stakeholders across the state. Although the information is collected each year based on data submitted by districts and charter schools, it has not been included on the DataQuest website since 2018-19. The CDE said the delay was due to staffing issues, additional state reporting requirements and a backlog of reports that had to be reconfigured, according to reporting from EdSource.
The data reflect staff demographic and assignment information as of Census Day for the corresponding academic year, and include staff race/ethnicity, education level, years of experience, and student/staff ratios. These new reports also allow for the staff data to be further disaggregated by staff type (e.g., teachers, administrators, pupil services), school grade span, staff gender, and by charter or alternative school status.
According to the CDE, there were 285,891 classroom-based K–12 teachers in 2023–24. The number of Hispanic or Latino pupil services personnel have increased a dramatic 48 percent from 2019–20 to 2023–24. Additionally, during the same time period, there has been a 21 percent increase in the number of Hispanic or Latino administrators and a 19 percent increase in Hispanic or Latino teachers.
Data can be accessed at dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest.
FYI
Members’ books can be sold at Summit bookstore
Calling all ACSA authors! If you’re a member of ACSA and are attending Leadership Summit, which will be held Nov. 6-8 in San Francisco, ACSA can sell your book at the Leadership Summit Bookstore. Fill out the form at bit.ly/SummitBookSales by Oct. 6 to submit your title and find complete details on the process. Contact Emily Agpoon at eagpoon@acsa.org with any questions.
New early literacy guide developed by WestEd
Joyful Foundational Literacy Skills, a new guide from WestEd, provides insights into helping young children become confident, independent readers and writers through developing strong foundational literacy skills, with a focus on decoding and encoding words. Designed primarily for teachers working with students in preschool and transitional kindergarten through 1st grade, the guide also offers practical guidance for instructional coaches, school leaders, teacher educators, and curriculum developers. Download the guide for free at www.wested.org/resource/joyful-foundational-literacy-skills-prek-1st-grade.
Seeds to Solutions offers environmental lessons
San Mateo COE and the environmental literacy nonprofit Ten Strands, in coordination with CDE, have announced the release of Seeds to Solutions, a set of free, open education resources for California educators, featuring age-appropriate environmental lessons for grades K–12. Developed in response to teacher and community demand, each unit explores a California-specific environmental challenge and its solutions, Learn more at seedstosolutions.org.