The number of California students in foster care declined by over 13,000 on Census Day between 2014–15 and 2022–23, with enrollment concentrated in a small number of districts¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2030: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Census Day enrollment of students in foster care dropped by over 13,000 students across the study period, reaching 31,722 in 2022–23. → Ximenes Barrat 2025 q2 i? Districts enrolling 100 or more students in foster care served nearly 60 percent of the state's students in foster care, and the 10 largest districts served one quarter. → Ximenes Barrat 2025 (2)

Evidence¶

Ximenes Barrat 2025¶

Ximenes Barrat, V., Diercks, C., Berliner, B., Derby, K., Chen Gaddini, M., & Pivnick, L. (2025). Revisiting California's invisible achievement gap: Trends in education outcomes of students in foster care in the context of the local control funding formula. WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resource/revisiting-californias-invisible-achievement-gap/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Analysis of CDE CALPADS enrollment data, 2014–15 through 2022–23, using both Census Day and cumulative counts. In 2022–23, Census Day counted 31,722 students in foster care; cumulative enrollment counted more than 42,000 unique students.

"From 2014–15 through 2022–23, the number of students in foster care enrolled on Census Day dropped by over 13,000 students, with a similar pattern observed for cumulative enrollment"

Ximenes Barrat 2025 (2)¶

Ximenes Barrat, V., Diercks, C., Berliner, B., Derby, K., Chen Gaddini, M., & Pivnick, L. (2025). Revisiting California's invisible achievement gap: Trends in education outcomes of students in foster care in the context of the local control funding formula. WestEd. https://www.wested.org/resource/revisiting-californias-invisible-achievement-gap/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Analysis of district-level Census Day enrollment distribution, 2016–17 through 2022–23. The percentage of districts serving 100 or more students in foster care decreased from 18 percent to 13 percent, corresponding to 132 districts in 2022–23.

"these districts enrolled nearly 60 percent of students in foster care in the state, with the 10 districts with the most students in foster care serving one quarter of this particular student population"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Academic achievement of students in foster care improved before the pandemic but lost all gains afterward, with only 19 percent meeting ELA standards in 2022–23 — related
• Students in foster care were increasingly identified with disabilities, reaching nearly one in three by 2022–23 and far exceeding other high-need groups — related
• Students in foster care were consistently about three times more likely to be suspended than all other student groups, with rates reverting to pre-pandemic levels by 2022–23 — related
• Chronic absence among students in foster care peaked after the pandemic, with nearly half chronically absent in 2021–22 — related
• Among LCAP planned actions referencing students in foster care in the 10 largest districts, very few were unique to foster care and an even smaller fraction of funds was — related