May 18, 2023 | Daily Republic

As a former educator, I have long been fascinated by the roles and responsibilities of American school boards. School boards have been around longer than America itself. According to Stanford’s Michael Kirst, local school boards are one of America’s earliest...

What Districts Need to Fulfill Its Promise

May 2023 | Policy brief

California's Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) faces challenges as districts prioritize meeting state requirements, hindering focus on quality. To address this, the state can incentivize districts by setting a vision, establishing goals, and measuring progress based on enrollment, implementation features, and student outcomes.

Press Release: New PACE Brief—California Needs to focus on High Quality Instruction to Meet Goals for Universal Transitional Kindergarten

Summary

California is moving forward in the expansion of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) with schools and districts focusing on the development of facilities and appropriate staffing. But the state needs to boost its focus on high-quality teaching and learning if it is to help all students meet learning goals and ensure an effective return on the state’s investment, according to a new research analysis released today by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).

May 2023 | Report

Author
Every year, 150k-200k new immigrant students in California need specialized instruction and social services to succeed, but many districts struggle to provide them, resulting in dropouts and poor outcomes. Inaccessible instruction and lack of basic necessities hinder progress. The PACE report recommends developing data, instruction, and social support services to improve newcomer outcomes in California.
May 8, 2023 | City Journal

No issue is more pressing in California than education. In late October, the state released scores for the first post-Covid-shutdown state standardized test, conducted earlier last year. The results were horrendous (https://edsource.org/2022/2022-california-standardized-test-results-wipe-out-years-of-steady-progress/680179). Less than half of all students who took...