Rooted in love, justice, and possibility— the GENIUS Initiative guides us to create learning spaces where students feel seen, valued, and empowered to thrive. It also represents a bold and necessary move towards educational equity. Our support is centered on serving schools with high populations of historically marginalized and underserved students such as juvenile justice populations, high needs schools and schools seeking to create equitable systems, schools and leaders from the inside out.
The GENIUS (Genuine, Empathy & Nurturing Intellect for Underserved Students) Initiative, also known as the Equity Lead Grant, was established in 2023 under Senate Bill 114 as a part of the California Statewide System of Support. At its heart, GENIUS is about giving every child a chance to thrive —no matter their zip code. The Equity Multiplier funding has allocated approximately $300 million across 57 of California’s 58 counties to 1,008 schools to support qualifying schools in closing opportunity gaps for our most marginalized students. This funding aims to ensure that every student receives the necessary support and resources for success. As part of California’s education funding, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Equity Multiplier provides additional resources to school sites with high non-stability rates and a significant percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged pupils, directing funds to schools with the greatest needs.
A couple of critical components of the GENIUS Initiative are the collaboration between Kings, Los Angeles and Sonoma County Offices of Education and their research partnership with UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools. This collaboration will provide continuous evaluation and impact measurement, ensuring that the initiative’s goals are met and that best practices are refined over time. By listening to the data and centering equity, we’re investing where it counts most—our kids.
Together, we’re not just changing outcomes—we’re changing lives.
Leading for equity requires dispositions of critical reflection, flexibility and action orientation. Our deep learning and critical reflection must lead to shifts in our beliefs, practices and ways of being.
Systems produce what they are designed to. Therefore, creating improved outcomes for marginalized students requires rethinking, retooling and restructuring the systems and practices that support students in order to ensure that EVERY student has EVERY possible opportunity to reach their potential.
The simplest way to think about Culturally Relevant, Sustaining and Revitalizing High Quality Instruction is to think: For Us By Us. Every classroom, no matter its content focus or grade level should be designed with students in mind. Who are our students? What are their hopes, dreams and interests? How can this content help them see themselves with beauty, complexity and power? How can this content help them become inspired to change their world!
We understand that schools are a part of a complex system that shapes the lives of all students. We also understand that issues outside of schools such as lack of access to healthcare, food deserts, air pollution, inadequate and/or unsafe housing conditions etc. all levy an impact on students and in turn impacts their performance. And while we understand that schools can not SOLVE all of these problems alone, we know that with the right PARTNERSHIPS, schools can make sure that outside of school factors are mitigated as much as possible so that each student has the opportunity to reach their absolute highest potential!
We offer high-quality, research-based professional learning experiences delivered by equity-driven educational experts. These sessions are open to all LEAs across the state and provide foundational knowledge and practices in culturally responsive pedagogy, inclusive leadership, and student-centered systems.
Examples include:
We offer and/or facilitate targeted Communities of Practice focused on supporting LEAs in selecting their priority equity issues and enacting the research based strategies to improve student outcomes. These communities foster collaboration, shared learning, and the co-creation of practical strategies for school transformation. Equity Multiplier sites are prioritized for placement in these communities.
Examples include:
For schools and districts with more complex needs, we offer customized leadership coaching. This may include data-driven reflection, equity audits, and strategic planning sessions to build sustainable change in climate, discipline, and instruction. Equity Multiplier sites are prioritized for leadership coaching opportunities.
Examples include:
Executive Director: UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools
K-12 Systems Strategy Advisor, Founder: The Teaching Nerd
Research Scientist, Consultant, Principal Author: Supporting the African American Learner
Founder of Mindful Leaders and Director, Center for Embodied Equity and Neurodiversity (CEEN) At University of San Diego.
Professor of Education: UCLA, Founder and Director: UCLA Black Male Institute, Co-Director: UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families, Faculty Director: UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, Best Selling Author
Adjunct Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University Author: Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools
UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, Co-author: Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper
Senior Research Scientist: UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, Co Author: Beyond the Schoolhouse; Principal Author: Beyond the Schoolhouse: Digging Deeper
William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, NYT Best Selling Author, Literary Activist
Associate Professor, Psychology: Morehouse College, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, National Training Institute on Race and Equity, Implicit Bias and Bias Mitigation Expert and Trainer
Scholar-Practitioner, Learning Designer, Educational Consultant, Founder: Black Brilliance Pedagogy, Author: Toward a Black-Brilliance Praxis of (Re)Centering and (Re)Imagining Blackness in Education
The GENIUS Initiative—Genuine Empathy Nurturing Intellect for Underserved Students—is part of CA Statewide System of Support.
The GENIUS Initiative (funded by the Equity Lead Grant) provides targeted support to Equity Multiplier schools and other schools seeking to build equitable systems and practices for their most marginalized student groups.
The GENIUS Initiative operates in the following ways:
The GENIUS Initiative offers a tiered continuum of support to address systemic inequities:
Equity Multiplier sites receive priority access to all levels of support to ensure resources are directed where they are most needed.
The GENIUS Initiative offerings are different because:
Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals, campus administrators, Directors, Instructional and Counseling team leaders and any and all equity-focused roles
All educators can participate in the GENIUS Initiative professional learning experiences at no cost.
The GENIUS Tier 1 Events occur a minimum of three times per year.
The three Tiers of the GENIUS Network are:
Leaders will have the opportunity to select the Community of Practice that best meets their school/district needs.
Additionally, GENIUS Tier I events offer educators the opportunity to take a diagnostic inventory to determine their areas of need for professional learning and ensure that the work in the selected CoP will be in alignment with their school/district needs.
We welcome all school leaders, districts and charter schools/CMOs even if you’re not an equity multiplier school.
For Northern California: genius@scoe.org
For Central California: genius@kingscoe.org
For Southern California: genius@lacoe.edu
Please note that all posted GENIUS events are open to educators from anywhere in the state.
For Northern California:
Sonoma County Office of Education
genius@scoe.org
For Central California:
Kings County Office of Education
genius@kingscoe.org
For Southern California:
Los Angeles Office of Education
genius@lacoe.edu
