News Briefs | FYI
August 24, 2026
Survey: Lenient parents contribute to absenteeism
A third of secondary school students think missing three or more weeks of school is “mostly OK” according to survey results published earlier this summer by RAND.
Parents are slightly more concerned with chronic absences, with only 18 percent saying missing three weeks of school is no big deal. The findings come from a report “Why Do Middle and High Schoolers Miss School?” released in June and based on the results from two surveys, one of students in grades 6-12 and another of parents with a middle- or high-schooler.
Although there are theories, researchers continue to search for explanations for why students continue to miss more school than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. This research asked middle and high school students and parents about their attitudes around absences: Is missing school a problem? What are legitimate reasons for missing school? Do these attitudes change as students get older?
The authors hope school leaders seeking to better understand their schools’ absenteeism patterns across the middle and high school grades will use the findings from this report to develop targeted interventions.
Of the 922 students surveyed, 86 percent reported that they do not always want to go to school. Of these students, only 36 percent said that their parents always make them go to school when they don’t want to.
The survey asked parents and students to share what they felt were legitimate reasons for skipping school. Many cited non-health-related reasons — such as taking a family vacation (48 percent of youth and 48 percent of parents), feeling down or anxious (40 percent of youth and 34 percent of parents) and wanting a day to rest (32 percent of youth and 22 percent of parents) as valid reasons for absence.
Researchers observed a pattern of parents becoming more permissive of students staying home from school as they get older: “... [Our] findings suggest that secondary school-age youth (and their parents) have different feelings about the importance of being at school in person as they get older.”
Among the recommendations, the authors note that school leaders should consider the age of the student when designing interventions.
Ultimately, parental attitudes are a persistent challenge to overcome in the absenteeism crisis. “Trying to get kids to avoid being chronically absent will continue to be a challenge as long as families do not view being absent as a problem,” the authors note.
Read the full report at www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA4742-3.html.
Paraeducators could help diversify teacher workforce
Paraeducators are a largely untapped source of potential teachers that could help to diversify the teaching workforce, according to research published recently in the American Educational Research Journal.
One of the fastest growing jobs in education, the researchers note that the number of full-time equivalent paraeducators more than doubled between 1990 and 2018, outpacing the growth of FTE teachers.
However, there is a lack of research on paraeducator-to-teacher transitions and whether so-called “grow your own” (GYO) initiatives work to encourage more paraeducators to become teachers.
“Understanding the capacity of the paraeducator-to-teacher pipeline and the effectiveness of teachers with prior paraeducator experience can help inform the design and potential of adult GYO initiatives, encouraging paraprofessionals to transition to teaching roles,” the authors write.
The researchers used data from Arkansas, before it established a grow your own initiative, to establish whether such programs work. In addition, researchers wanted to know if certain traits or district characteristics were predictive of paraeducators transitioning to teaching, and whether teachers with paraeducator experience were more effective or had better retention rates than other teachers.
They found that a small but significant proportion of paraeducators in Arkansas become teachers. Teachers with paraeducator experience are similarly effective to teachers without paraeducator experience when it comes to students’ academic growth.
Although the paraeducator workforce is typically more ethnically and racial diverse than the teaching workforce, the authors found that Black and Hispanic paraeducators were less likely than their white peers to transition into teaching.
“... As a result, the capacity of the paraeducator-to-teacher pipeline to diversify the teaching workforce may be limited,” the authors write. “Efforts to diversify the teacher workforce will require solving the existing barriers that Black and Hispanic individuals, with or without prior paraeducator experience, face in becoming a teacher.”
Read the full paper at journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/00028312261453572#tab-contributors.
AI teachers not allowed in California under new law
New legislation aimed at preventing artificial intelligence for teaching in California schools has been signed by the governor.
On June 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2148, authored by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). The bill explicitly defines a public school employee and a contractor providing services in a public school to mean a natural person, for the purposed of Education Code.
In a statement on social media, Muratsuchi thanked the governor for signing the bill.
“As AI continues to evolve, AB 2148 makes clear that California’s public school employees and contractors performing services in our public schools must be natural persons,” Muratsuchi wrote. “While technology can be a valuable tool to support teaching and learning, it cannot replace the professional judgment, compassion, and care that educators and school employees provide to California’s students every day.”
FYI
Principals Playbook starts new year on Sept. 24
ACSA’s Principals Playbook will return Sept. 24 from 10-10:30 a.m. with a new focus on the policy, politics and advocacy shaping California’s schools. Designed specifically for school site leaders, Principals Playbook will provide a timely look at what’s happening in Sacramento, what it means for students, and how school leaders can help shape the decisions being made. This session will break down ACSA’s key legislative priorities on the governor’s desk and provide an update on ACSA’s endorsements of candidates and ballot measures in the November election. To receive a standing invitation to this meeting, contact Jose Vargas at jvargas@acsa.org.
New stipend available through Teach For California
California student teachers can now receive a $10,000 stipend through Teach For California, a statewide effort led by the CTC and Kern County Superintendent of Schools to support the next generation of educators. Credential programs handle the application process directly, making it seamless for students to get financial support while completing their required student teaching hours. Teach For California has developed an outreach toolkit with ready-to-use graphics, sample copy and key links to help spread the word to future teachers. Find the toolkit at
teachforca.com/campaign-toolkit.
Have your book featured at Leadership Summit
Calling all ACSA authors! If you’re a member of ACSA and are attending Leadership Summit, ACSA invites you to have your book featured at the Leadership Summit Bookstore. Find more information at acsa.org/featured-member-authors.