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Improving Conditions for Learning
As President of the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Board of Directors from November 2018 to November 2019, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera is focusing his presidential platform on improving conditions for learning so that all students have the supports they need to be successful inside the classroom.
Platform Overview
As President of the Council of Chief State School Officers Board of Directors from November 2018 to November 2019, Secretary Rivera is focusing his presidential platform on improving conditions for learning so that all students have the supports they need to be successful inside the classroom. Specifically, Secretary Rivera’s platform is supporting state leaders in achieving educational equity for all students through an increased focus on the ways that state leaders can partner with community organizations to set conditions for all students to have access to the supports they need to thrive.
These partnerships could include community school organizations, mental health, physical health, and other organizations willing to partner with schools to meet the whole needs of children, so they can be successful in college, career, and life. Secretary Rivera will acutely focus on meeting the needs of students around food security, physical health and wellness, mental health and homelessness.
CCSSO Resources
As part of this platform, CCSSO will produce a suite of resources to inform state leaders on opportunities and strategies for improving the conditions for learning in their states.
Setting the Right Conditions for Learning provides promising practices of how state education leaders and partners can work together to meet the comprehensive needs of students and what improving those conditions looks like in practice in states across the country.
The Federal Funding Streams and Strategies to Improve Conditions for Learning Resource guide is designed to support states by outlining the federal funding sources that can be accessed (and often coordinated or combined) to support efforts to improve the conditions for learning, and to identify strategies that state leaders might pursue as they begin to enter into partnerships to improve conditions for learning.
Understanding School Medicaid: A Primer for State Chief State School Officers, developed in partnership with the Healthy Schools Campaign, emphasizes the important role state chiefs play in leveraging new opportunities to ensure all students have the supports they need to achieve academically. This resource defines what Medicaid is, what it covers—in and out of school — and new opportunities for expanding school Medicaid programs statewide.
This video series illustrates state efforts to improve conditions for learning so that all students have the supports they need to be successful. Hear directly from state chiefs about the work underway in Pennsylvania, Alaska, Illinois, Utah Colorado Iowa, Oklahoma, Virginia, Georgia, North Dakota Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, Alabama, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia to improve conditions for learning with a specific focus on food security, physical health and wellness, mental health and homelessness.
Partner Resources
CCSSO will be highlighting resources from partner organizations to inform state leaders on opportunities and strategies for improving the conditions for learning in their states.
General Resources
- Building Blocks for Learning Framework, Turnaround for Children, 2016
- Center for Optimized Student Supports, City Connects
- Creating Policies to Support Healthy Schools: Policymaker, Educator, and Student Perspectives, Child Trends, 2019
- From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope: Recommendations from the National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development, Nation at Hope, 2019
- Measuring School Climate and Social and Emotional Learning and Development: A Navigation Guide for States and Districts, CCSSO, 2019
- State School Health Policy Database, NASBE, 2019
- The Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) papers, The Opportunity Institute, 2018
- Using State Policy to Create Healthy Schools, Child Trends, 2019
- When Youth Feel Unsafe: Brief Insights on the Cognitive and Academic Effects of Exposure to Violence, America’s Promise, 2018
Topic-Specific Resources
Health and Wellness
- Every School Healthy Campaign, America’s Promise Alliance
- Healthy Schools Campaign
- Iowa Team Nutrition Recipe Resources, Iowa Department of Education, 2013
- The Every Student Succeeds Act Creates Opportunities to Improve Health and Education at Low-Performing Schools, Health Impact Project, 2017
- Using Needs Assessments to Connect Learning and Health, Healthy Schools Campaign, 2018
Homelessness
- Education Leads Home
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Homeless Students in America’s Public Schools, Civic Enterprises
- Homeless Student State Snapshots, Education Leads Home, 2019
- Schoolhouse Connection
Food Security
- Breakfast in the Classroom, Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom
- Community Eligibility Provision Fact Sheet, US Department of Agriculture, 2015
- Community Eligibility Provision Resource Center, US Department of Agriculture
- Effective Policies for Increasing Participation in School Breakfast Programs, No Kid Hungry Center for Best Practices
Mental Health
- The Missouri Model: A Developmental Framework for Trauma-Informed, MO State Trauma Roundtable, 2015
- SafeUT Crisis and Safety Tipline, SafeUT, 2016
- Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 2015
