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Home REL West About REL West Measuring and Improving the Education Outcomes of K–12 Students in Foster Care in Los Angeles County

Measuring and Improving the Education Outcomes of K–12 Students in Foster Care in Los Angeles County

The Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and REL West are partnering to reduce school mobility and absenteeism of K–12 students in foster care. The partnership uses data and evidence to improve education outcomes given that high rates of school mobility and chronic absence are related to disruptions in learning, relationships, and supportive services for these students. Partnership activities focus on examining and strengthening LACOE’s Educational Passport System (EPS), a data system that links information across child welfare and education agencies to better serve students. By building LACOE’s capacity to use the EPS, the partnership will increase its use of data for policy and practice decisionmaking and will generate new evidence to address school mobility and attendance challenges for students in foster care.

Current Projects

The Los Angeles County Office of Education’s (LACOE’s) Educational Passport System (EPS) collects and links cross-sector data in education, child welfare, and juvenile justice across LACOE’s 80 school districts, This analytic technical assistance project is designed to (1) assess the data quality and comprehensiveness of the EPS for monitoring and reporting on school mobility and chronic absence; (2) improve the EPS so that it can be used effectively to address a co-developed research agenda on school mobility and chronic absence for students in foster care; and (3) develop a set of research questions that focus on examining school mobility and chronic absence for LACOE students in foster care.

This applied research study examines district referral rates to its most intensive intervention for reducing chronic absence, the Student Attendance Review Board (SARB), and rigorously investigates possible disproportionalities in referral rates. The study will document if, and to what extent, there are student or school characteristics related to higher rates of SARB referrals. If disproportionalities are found to exist, the results can motivate the use of more equitable and non-punitive interventions for students with the most persistent attendance problems.

No completed projects at this time.

Event Type: Training Material | Event Date: December 12, 2023
On December 12, 2023, REL West will hold the first of several training sessions as part of a partnership project with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) titled "Examining the Educational Passport System (EPS) and Co-Developing a Research...

REL West Logic Model (108 KB)

REL West Logic Model