Poster #63 - Improving Educational Stability and Opportunities for California’s Foster Youth Students

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Educational stability is essential for addressing opportunity gaps and improving academic achievement—especially for students in foster care, who experience the highest rates of school mobility and acute academic and social-emotional needs. In California, roughly one-third of foster youth students move schools within a school year, compared to just 5% of their non-foster peers (Burns et al. 2022). These disruptions, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, underscore the urgent need for resilient and sustainable education recovery strategies tailored to the needs of foster youth and their families.

This research-practice partnership—funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences—brings together the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the California Department of Education (CDE), and RMIT University to investigate school mobility and education recovery for foster youth students in California, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recovery efforts. By studying at the nexus of child development, education, and social services, our study elevates the lived experiences of foster youth and their caregivers, and centers the educational systems meant to serve them.

Our mixed-methods research addresses four key goals: (1) studying school mobility for foster youth students, (2) investigating changes in foster youth educational outcomes since the pandemic, (3) understanding district support for education recovery, and (4) identifying promising district actions that support educational stability and learning recovery. Using longitudinal student-level data from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS; 2014–15 to 2025–26) and the California Healthy Kids Survey (2015–16 to 2025–26), our quantitative analysis investigates student-level school mobility trends and estimates unfinished learning among foster youth. Complementing this analysis, our qualitative components include an in-depth review of all publicly available district Local Control Accountability Plans (2023–24 to 2025–26) and annual site visits in seven counties from 2025 to 2027, where we conduct interviews with key education staff (at the county, district, and school levels), child welfare professionals, and resource families (i.e., foster parents).

Our findings will inform the refinement of California’s school stability metrics, the creation of statewide school mobility benchmarks, and the development of proactive strategies that support foster youth in staying at their schools of origin and achieving stronger academic outcomes. Furthermore, our strategic research dissemination plan entails developing memos, intuitive data dashboards, interactive workshops, infographics, and other accessible methods to best reach and support relevant policy stakeholders in ameliorating foster-youth policies and practices beyond the scope of California. Ongoing input from our Project Advisory Group—comprising state policymakers, nonprofit leaders, researchers, and foster youth advocates—ensures that our work is grounded in diverse expertise and lived experience.

Ultimately, this project aims to build a more resilient and inclusive education system that supports not only academic recovery but also long-term well-being for foster youth and their families. By the APPAM 2025 Fall conference, we will present early quantitative findings on school mobility and educational outcomes, as well as preliminary insights from case study counties regarding district and county-level recovery efforts.

Author

• Isabelle Saillard, American Institutes for Research (AIR)
  Presenting Author