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The following article originally appeared in the 2021 edition of the School of Education magazine, advancing. For a PDF, please click on the magazine to the right. |
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Support System
The School of Education’s OCEAN network is leading stakeholders across Orange County to improve support for foster and housing insecure youth.
Established in 2018, the UCI School of Education’s Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN) began with a long-term goal of mobilizing a group of K-12 schools and implementing a systematic, sustained improvement plan that identifies and disseminates effective practices across the network and region.
Following thousands of hours of partnership research and hundreds of conversations with superintendents, principals, administrators, business and nonprofit leaders, the network is undertaking a transformative project – improving the support for foster and housing insecure youth in Orange County.
Funded by a two-year, $400,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation, the OCEAN research team will identify and enumerate the range of issues that OCEAN partner schools deal with as they support housing insecure and foster youth, evaluate the strategies that OCEAN schools enact to support said populations, and suggest high-leverage practices that the entire OCEAN network can test in a coordinated fashion.
“The research we will conduct as a result of this grant is the exact type of work we envisioned when establishing OCEAN,” said Richard Arum, dean and professor, UCI School of Education and co-principal investigator on the grant. “With a strong network of school sites in place, and funding to study this important, under-researched area, we will improve the educational and living experiences of thousands of housing insecure and foster youth in our community and identify research-based solutions for the larger field of education nationally.”
Following thousands of hours of partnership research and hundreds of conversations with superintendents, principals, administrators, business and nonprofit leaders, the network is undertaking a transformative project – improving the support for foster and housing insecure youth in Orange County.
Funded by a two-year, $400,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation, the OCEAN research team will identify and enumerate the range of issues that OCEAN partner schools deal with as they support housing insecure and foster youth, evaluate the strategies that OCEAN schools enact to support said populations, and suggest high-leverage practices that the entire OCEAN network can test in a coordinated fashion.
“The research we will conduct as a result of this grant is the exact type of work we envisioned when establishing OCEAN,” said Richard Arum, dean and professor, UCI School of Education and co-principal investigator on the grant. “With a strong network of school sites in place, and funding to study this important, under-researched area, we will improve the educational and living experiences of thousands of housing insecure and foster youth in our community and identify research-based solutions for the larger field of education nationally.”
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“This is the first attempt to bring a county-wide initiative to fruition for OCEAN,” said June Ahn, associate professor, UCI School of Education, OCEAN director and co-principal investigator on the grant. “We have been discussing salient issues with our partners since 2019 and our partner schools continuously identified this as a critical need.”
There are an estimated 2,000 teenage foster youth in Orange County, and approximately 27,000 youth who experience housing insecurity per year. Housing insecurity, Ahn described, encompasses those who are experiencing long-term or short-term homelessness. It also includes families who are doubled or tripled up in a small apartment without much stability in their residency. Nationwide, roughly half of all foster youth complete high school, and less than three percent earn a college degree, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. “There are thousands of potential projects that came up during our meetings with our partner OCEAN schools,” Ahn said. “After discussions, I have confidence that this is the issue that matters for us in Orange County.” |
June Ahn, associate professor at the UCI School of Education and director, OCEAN, is serving as co-principal investigator on the grant. “Our project is a continuous improvement initiative, which means we’re constantly working together to pinpoint issues relevant to our county, and developing tweaks and solutions in our county,” Ahn said.
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IDENTIFYING THE NEEDS
The OCEAN Network – which consists of a dozen K-12 schools across Orange County, the UCI School of Education and its faculty and graduate students – is partnering with several additional organizations for this project. This includes the Anaheim Union High School District, the Orange County Department of Education, Orange County Social Services Department, Orangewood Foundation, the Samueli Academy, Santa Ana Unified School District, and Scholarship Prep Public Schools.
Partners began meeting in January 2021. During these discussions, School of Education professors and graduate student researchers (GSRs) guided partners through a process that identified the key issues they face in supporting housing insecure and foster youth populations and the best practices that they enact in their local contexts. Through these meetings, along with field site visits, the School of Education built a rich qualitative corpus of data.
Discussion of the salient issues remain ongoing, but researchers identified two needs that they will design interventions for during the 2021-22 academic year: coordination and communications between agencies and supporting students’ social-emotional needs.
Though there exists a slew of parties across the county focused on supporting foster and housing insecure youth, communication between the entities is not always seamless and efficient. As a result, students can oftentimes slip through the cracks.
Take, for example, a student who is evicted from their home. They might attend school the next day, but are still dealing with the trauma of the eviction. Or, they might miss multiple days of school. In either case, the school and others need to be made aware of the student’s situation.
“Foster and housing insecure youth are prone to moving from school to school because of instability,” Arum said. “Those moves increase the risk of academic failure. There is a clear need to design systems for schools and social service agencies to figure out mechanisms to work together and better support this population of students.”
Following improved communications and coordinating, there also exists a need to support the social-emotional needs of foster and housing insecure youth.
Partners began meeting in January 2021. During these discussions, School of Education professors and graduate student researchers (GSRs) guided partners through a process that identified the key issues they face in supporting housing insecure and foster youth populations and the best practices that they enact in their local contexts. Through these meetings, along with field site visits, the School of Education built a rich qualitative corpus of data.
Discussion of the salient issues remain ongoing, but researchers identified two needs that they will design interventions for during the 2021-22 academic year: coordination and communications between agencies and supporting students’ social-emotional needs.
Though there exists a slew of parties across the county focused on supporting foster and housing insecure youth, communication between the entities is not always seamless and efficient. As a result, students can oftentimes slip through the cracks.
Take, for example, a student who is evicted from their home. They might attend school the next day, but are still dealing with the trauma of the eviction. Or, they might miss multiple days of school. In either case, the school and others need to be made aware of the student’s situation.
“Foster and housing insecure youth are prone to moving from school to school because of instability,” Arum said. “Those moves increase the risk of academic failure. There is a clear need to design systems for schools and social service agencies to figure out mechanisms to work together and better support this population of students.”
Following improved communications and coordinating, there also exists a need to support the social-emotional needs of foster and housing insecure youth.
Anthony Saba, executive director of Samueli Academy, is serving as co-principal investigator on the grant.
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“There’s a reason that foster youth quite often fall through the cracks and don’t engage in school,” said Anthony Saba, executive director of Samueli Academy, which has been a member of OCEAN since the network’s inception. “Some of them have such extreme trauma in their lives that the last thing they could possibly care about at any given moment is Science or English class.”
Entering its ninth year in 2021, the Santa Ana-based Samueli Academy, a program of Orangewood Foundation, is particularly adept at attending to the need of foster and housing insecure youth. In summer 2021, the school opened on-campus dormitories in which foster youth can live five days a week and receive support from staff. In doing so, students spend less time commuting from an ever-changing domicile and can instead focus more intentionally on academics while they transition to a more permanent residence. “One of our goals with this partnership is to learn how we can best socially and emotionally support our students while setting up an academic environment that recognizes what they’ve gone through and supports them, with the ultimate goal of preparing them for life after high school,” Saba said. |
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
The process of supporting students who experience housing insecurity is richly complex. Regardless of how much a single entity might try to combat these issues, they cannot succeed unilaterally. With various stakeholders in tow, however, each can play to their strength.
“It is vital that we engage with other entities supporting these youth who face great challenges,” said Jason Watts, executive director of Scholarship Prep Public Schools. “This work cannot be done fully or effectively without community partnerships. We hope to find new contacts, new partners, and new ideas to better our work.”
“Given that foster students are, historically, at a higher risk to drop out and underperform, we need to come together to intervene and implement the required supports to positively change the narrative of this population,” said Elida Sanchez, program specialist, Santa Ana Unified School District.
“It is apparent that UCI brings forth both heart and mind in joining with other community partners to invest in youth success and mitigate inequities that present obstacles to them becoming who they are meant to be,” said Jaime Muñoz, administrative manager, OC Social Services Agency. “I hope this work will bridge new partnerships that will continue to grow to serve vulnerable youth, and that it brings a clearer understanding of how we can better come together to support improved life outcomes for vulnerable youth.”
In addition to coordinating and leading the project, the UCI School of Education offers a full ensemble of world-class researchers to address any needs that arise throughout the process.
“We have faculty that are experts on everything from early childhood development to afterschool programs, to the social and institutional dimensions of school,” Arum said. “You need that level of expertise to address the challenging, multi-faceted problems of this nature.”
Graduate student researchers participating on the project include Lora Cawelti, Verenisse Ponce-Soria and Christopher Wegemer. Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Erica Van Steenis has aided in coordinating the project.
Saba reiterates his desire to create best practices and research that can be disseminated across the country.
“If there was a silver bullet out there or a magic answer, we’d know it by now – this issue doesn’t just affect Orange County, or California, or even the country,” Saba said. “It’s my hope we identify some tangible, best practice approaches, research it – and who does research better than UCI – and publish the data and scream it from the rooftops.
“Kids all over this country really deserve for us to do this work.”
“It is vital that we engage with other entities supporting these youth who face great challenges,” said Jason Watts, executive director of Scholarship Prep Public Schools. “This work cannot be done fully or effectively without community partnerships. We hope to find new contacts, new partners, and new ideas to better our work.”
“Given that foster students are, historically, at a higher risk to drop out and underperform, we need to come together to intervene and implement the required supports to positively change the narrative of this population,” said Elida Sanchez, program specialist, Santa Ana Unified School District.
“It is apparent that UCI brings forth both heart and mind in joining with other community partners to invest in youth success and mitigate inequities that present obstacles to them becoming who they are meant to be,” said Jaime Muñoz, administrative manager, OC Social Services Agency. “I hope this work will bridge new partnerships that will continue to grow to serve vulnerable youth, and that it brings a clearer understanding of how we can better come together to support improved life outcomes for vulnerable youth.”
In addition to coordinating and leading the project, the UCI School of Education offers a full ensemble of world-class researchers to address any needs that arise throughout the process.
“We have faculty that are experts on everything from early childhood development to afterschool programs, to the social and institutional dimensions of school,” Arum said. “You need that level of expertise to address the challenging, multi-faceted problems of this nature.”
Graduate student researchers participating on the project include Lora Cawelti, Verenisse Ponce-Soria and Christopher Wegemer. Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Erica Van Steenis has aided in coordinating the project.
Saba reiterates his desire to create best practices and research that can be disseminated across the country.
“If there was a silver bullet out there or a magic answer, we’d know it by now – this issue doesn’t just affect Orange County, or California, or even the country,” Saba said. “It’s my hope we identify some tangible, best practice approaches, research it – and who does research better than UCI – and publish the data and scream it from the rooftops.
“Kids all over this country really deserve for us to do this work.”
THE OCEAN ADVANTAGE
This project is made possible by three years of groundwork and relationship building between the School of Education and OCEAN partner sites. Each year, at each site, a GSR and faculty member work with school leadership to identify the greatest needs and goals of the school, and in turn conduct research that will positively impact the school. From those partnerships, along with the regular convenings of partner schools, trust and relationships are built to help facilitate the county-wide work.
“We can be nimble and jumpstart a project quickly due to years of relationship building and the infrastructure we’ve developed,” Ahn said. “We don’t come in as researchers with a research topic; instead, we match people together, and allow the research expertise and the community’s need to align, and then mobilize quickly to address an issue.”
Ahn envisions that the work supporting foster and housing insecure youth will continue after the two-year grant concludes, and for other county-wide networked improvement communities to emerge.
OCEAN is emblematic of the School of Education’s focus on improving the educational opportunities and outcomes of all students across the lifespan.
“This type of work leads us to accept a broader conceptualization of what a School of Education is and can do,” Arum said. “We can serve as the hub that connects other agencies that support youth, family and communities. You need that broader conceptualization if you’re going to address issues such as foster and housing insecure youth.”
The success and performance of OCEAN is made possible from a perpetual and cyclical motion, Ahn explained. The network came into existence due to private support, which in turn helped the School of Education develop relationships with schools and identify issues of need. After showing what Ahn calls a “proof of concept,” OCEAN has been able to secure more than $8 million in grant funding for various partnership projects from external funders. After the grants are conducted, private support could once again lead the way toward future research into myriad areas.
“Our project is a continuous improvement initiative, which means we’re constantly working together to pinpoint issues relevant to our county, and developing tweaks and solutions in our county,” Ahn said.
“That work does not just end after two years; ideally you’d want to keep funding the relationship and continuously improving and identifying the issues. There needs to be a sustained commitment to keep things moving.”
“We can be nimble and jumpstart a project quickly due to years of relationship building and the infrastructure we’ve developed,” Ahn said. “We don’t come in as researchers with a research topic; instead, we match people together, and allow the research expertise and the community’s need to align, and then mobilize quickly to address an issue.”
Ahn envisions that the work supporting foster and housing insecure youth will continue after the two-year grant concludes, and for other county-wide networked improvement communities to emerge.
OCEAN is emblematic of the School of Education’s focus on improving the educational opportunities and outcomes of all students across the lifespan.
“This type of work leads us to accept a broader conceptualization of what a School of Education is and can do,” Arum said. “We can serve as the hub that connects other agencies that support youth, family and communities. You need that broader conceptualization if you’re going to address issues such as foster and housing insecure youth.”
The success and performance of OCEAN is made possible from a perpetual and cyclical motion, Ahn explained. The network came into existence due to private support, which in turn helped the School of Education develop relationships with schools and identify issues of need. After showing what Ahn calls a “proof of concept,” OCEAN has been able to secure more than $8 million in grant funding for various partnership projects from external funders. After the grants are conducted, private support could once again lead the way toward future research into myriad areas.
“Our project is a continuous improvement initiative, which means we’re constantly working together to pinpoint issues relevant to our county, and developing tweaks and solutions in our county,” Ahn said.
“That work does not just end after two years; ideally you’d want to keep funding the relationship and continuously improving and identifying the issues. There needs to be a sustained commitment to keep things moving.”
To better support foster and housing insecure youth, the UCI School of Education’s OCEAN network has brought together several partners from across Orange County. By leveraging the expertise of these various agencies, who all share a common goal, each entity can play to its strength. Over the next year, common issues and needs will be discussed and addressed, including the need to improve communication and collaboration, and to support the social and emotional needs of the youth.
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