California became the first state to include foster youth in its education accountability framework, yet many school districts still lack the tools and inter-agency protocols to support their educational success. Closing the achievement gap for students in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system or experiencing homelessness, requires dynamic multi-agency collaboration between local education, child welfare, judicial and community-based partners with a shared vision for effectively serving these particularly vulnerable populations of students.
In Arizona, FosterEd is working in partnership with a deeply invested team of state and local partners, students, and parents to create a future in which the vast majority of foster youth graduate high school with the widest array of possibilities for their future. The campaign began with the development and launch of a demonstration site in Pima County. The success of that effort, combined with the sense of urgency that followed the publication of Arizona's Invisible Achievement Gap, a report documenting the achievement crisis facing Arizona's students in foster care, spurred the passage of legislation that will lead to statewide implementation of the FosterEd approach through a public-private partnership. View the reports, Building for Students in Foster Care: FosterEd 2019 Progress Update and FosterEd Arizona Preliminary Evaluation, for more information on the implementation of the statewide program. FosterEd led a coalition of organizations that advocated for the inclusion of foster youth educational stability provisions – including protections for students to remain in their school of origin, be immediately enrolled in school, and receive transportation to school – and data reporting requirements in the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed by President Obama in December 2015.
FosterEd's goal is to improve the educational outcomes of children in New Mexico's care. Guided by an inter-agency state leadership team and supported by an inter-agency local planning team, we have established a demonstration project in Lea County that ensures every foster child and youth under probation jurisdiction has an education success plan, education champion, and education team.
There are approximately 9,000 foster children in Indiana. Removed from their families because they have experienced abuse or neglect, their educational outcomes are heartbreakingly poor. Studies have consistently found that students with supportive adults and advocates have higher GPAs and test scores, better attendance and improved behavior at home and in school. Research also suggests that at-risk students benefit greatly from education teams supporting their academic success.
info@foster-ed.org
1212 Broadway, Suite 600
Oakland, CA 94612
