UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

Six Years of Change: What Statewide Trends Reveal About California’s Teaching Workforce

Recently released statewide data from the California Department of Education provides the most comprehensive picture of California’s teaching workforce since pre-COVID, covering over 285K teachers across the state. This new brief, the first of two briefs analyzing new California educator workforce data from SY 2019-20 through SY 2023-24, reveals post-pandemic shifts in experience, credentialing, subject-area staffing, and workforce composition.

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Research, Practice, and Promise in Black Student Achievement: A Black History Month Virtual Event

Join this interactive event on Thursday, February 19, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am, to learn how schools, districts, and communities are creating supportive environments where Black students thrive.

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Where Discipline Meets Behavioral Health: Restorative Approaches to Support Students Without Exclusion

Co-hosted by UCLA CTS and California Health & Human Services’ Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, this webinar on Thursday, February 26, will bring education and behavioral health leaders together to explore restorative, cross-sector approaches to discipline that support student wellbeing.

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Highly Mobile Youth: How State Policy and Local Implementation Can Work Together to Support Youth

Discover how states can align policy and practice to build coordinated systems of support for highly mobile youth: students experiencing homelessness, foster care, migration, or justice involvement.

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Leveraging LCFF Funding to Implement Comprehensive School Counseling: A Case Study of Livingston Union School District

Learn how a rural California district leveraged LCFF funds to transform its school counseling program, creating a lasting system of support for students.

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Strengthening K-12 Cellphone Policies to Support Student Learning and Well-Being: Research-Based Guidance for U.S. Education Leaders

Explore research-based strategies to help education leaders design equitable, age-appropriate cellphone policies that foster focus, safety, and student well-being.

 

 

 

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Beyond the Ban: An Overview of California School Suspension Data

This new resource highlights how restorative leadership and equitable discipline practices can replace exclusionary approaches and foster school cultures of belonging.

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CTS Podcast on the Foster Care System: Among Us

UCLA researchers unpack the foster care system through conversations with young people, practitioners, scholars, advocates and philanthropy to better understand how youth and families are facing barriers to thrive–and what we can do about it.

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Our Children Can’t Wait: The Urgency of Reinventing Education Policy in America

A new book and accompanying podcast from CTS Executive Director Dr. Joseph Bishop, available from Teachers College Press and Amazon. Listen to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

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Mission & Vision

We partner with the education ecosystem to change school systems through Humanizing Research, Validating Practices, and Transformative Policies with key stakeholders to support equitable educational outcomes for students.

Our vision is for learning communities to boldly nurture and protect the dignity, wellbeing, and full potential of students.

Our Approach

Our Work

System-involved youth. Equitable school funding. Diversity among educators.

These are some of the topics we engage with to produce research that impacts both practice and policy. Our work informs some of the most pressing challenges our society faces today.

Explore Our Work
Prioritizing Historically Marginalized Students
Students Experiencing Homelessness
Prioritizing Historically Marginalized Students
Students with Experience in Foster Care
Equitable School Systems
The California Educator Diversity Project
Equitable School Systems
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) District Case Studies
Equitable School Systems
Computational Thinking Equity Project (CTEP)

The UCLA
Black Male Institute

The UCLA Black Male Institute, founded by Dr. Tyrone Howard, addresses concerns around issues concerning equity and access for Black male life in education.

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Investigators.
Collaborators.
Changemakers.
Advocates.

We are a team of passionate experts applying our lived experiences as administrators, educators, parents, students and activists to transform public education systems.

Meet the TeamAbout the Center

Recent news, press, & events

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Despite California’s generous financial aid programs, Kevin Cook from...
News Who Are Dual-Language Immersion Programs Really For?

Schools were “highlighting the enrichment part of it, the...
News Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina a year ago. Some students never returned to school

After natural disasters, it’s common to see a surge...
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Upcoming Events

26 February 2026 • 3:00 PM-4:15 PM Where Discipline Meets Behavioral Health: Restorative Approaches to Supporting Students Without Exclusion

Exclusionary discipline practices–such as suspension and expulsion–can have lasting impacts on students’ mental and behavioral health, increasing stress, disconnection, and disengagement from school. This webinar explores how centering student behavioral

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