California’s school governance system needs to be overhauled to make it more accountable, clear up confusing lines of authority and address uneven assistance, according to a new report released Monday. These and other systemic weaknesses are undermining the potential success...

President Donald Trump has revived a longstanding Republican Party call to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. While the Cabinet-level department needs an act of Congress to be eliminated, the Trump administration is using its hiring and firing power to...

In the first major study on basic aid since California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted in 2013, researchers determined that 139 districts, which serve 5.5 percent of the state’s TK-12 students, benefit from growing funding advantages.The principle behind...

California state officials and some education advocates joined others around the country in condemning a plan announced Tuesday by the Trump administration to disassemble the U.S. Department of Education. The plan creates partnership agreements between the Department of Education and...

University of Wisconsin‑Madison Assistant Professor Christopher Saldaña interviews Julie Marsh, Executive Faculty Director at Policy Analysis for California Education and Professor of Education Policy, USC Rossier School of Education, along with James Bridgeforth, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, School of...

State officials on Thursday celebrated new heights in just-released high school graduation rates, though similar achievement levels were not seen in other measures of student learning. California’s graduation rate of 87.5% is the highest since the launch of the state’s...

Some teachers say that AI tools, particularly Google Lens, have made it impossible to enforce academic integrity in the classroom—with potentially harmful long-term effects on students’ learning. Google has recently made the visual search tool easier to use on the...

More than two dozen educators from kindergarten through college converged at UC Merced to discuss the challenges they're facing and the opportunities ahead. The Oct. 21 event, hosted by the Center for Educational Partnerships, featured Lupita Cortez Alcalá, the newly...

When Congress failed to fund the government at the beginning of October, students seeking federal financial aid were plunged into a bureaucratic nightmare. As political leaders bicker over a spending bill, California students and families are left to navigate a...

Communication and collaboration between TK-12 schools systems and higher education institutions are critical components of preparing students for, and success in, post-secondary education. That was the message from UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons; Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Enrollment...

In a report that I authored for the Learning Policy Institute, I examined the long, winding, and often perilous journey of state reading policies and found that even well-designed policies frequently fail to translate into meaningful classroom implementation. Teachers and...

A public-interest law firm filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state of California, charging that its program to subsidize school construction perpetuates vast inequalities for students in low-wealth communities. Public school students in some districts’ splendid campuses enjoy modern science...

California’s K-12 students are emerging from the pandemic malaise, posting the most significant academic improvements in years, according to state test scores released today. The Smarter Balanced standardized test results show increases for almost every student group and every grade...

California’s school funding system, overhauled in 2013 to make it more equitable, is contributing to more inequality, a situation felt most sharply in counties that have a combination of rich and poor districts, according to a new study released Monday...

There’s more to being a diligent school board member than attending a couple of meetings a month. Those meetings require preparation, research and one-on-one conversations with school leadership. There are school site visits. Many districts require regular board training. Sometimes...

Partisan politics, shifting school policies, changing technology and uncertain school funding are making being a school board member more difficult than ever. “Navigating Democracy in Divided Times,” a study released Tuesday by the USC EdPolicy Hub, analyzed the experiences of...

Back in 2017, Santa Barbara Junior High had 759 students. This year, it has 502. The coming gain is hopeful, but still far from recovery. In most California districts, enrollment decline means a direct hit to budgets because schools receive...

UCLA Professor of Education Cecilia Rios-Aguilar has been reappointed chair of the UCLA Department of Education at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, effective July 1. She has been serving as chair since 2022. Rios-Aguilar has formerly served...

K–12 enrollment is on the decline between a combination of dropping birth rates and more school choice options, putting schools in a tight bind. The public school system is expected to see a drop of millions of students over the...

With California struggling to lower student absences since the pandemic, state educational leaders have pledged to reduce chronic absenteeism by 50% over the next five years. California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, along with officials from across the...

As California wrestles with a statewide literacy crisis, a bill poised to hit Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk could fundamentally change the way students learn to read in California. The bill, AB 1454, would move the state one step closer to...

A school superintendent’s job has always been one of the most difficult in education because it requires not only pedagogical, but political, skills to navigate the multiple interests in a district. Now, political skills may be even more important in...

Funding cuts. Raids near campuses. Exclusion from programs like Head Start and career training. For months, the Trump administration has been chipping away at the rights of students without legal status in public schools. Could the administration take away those...

Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), an independent education research center supported by five California universities, has hired Lupita Cortez Alcalá as its new executive director. Lupita Cortez Alcaláhas been a prominent leader and administrator in education from early education...