As momentum builds to reopen schools, education experts say they're concerned about students who have fallen behind during the pandemic. They are worried that achievement gaps are widening—especially for English language learners.
While many teachers still endure remote instruction and the Zoom fatigue that comes with it, more and more are returning to schools. Over half the nation’s districts have reopened and children are returning to classrooms, including urban centers like Chicago...
Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have unveiled another plan to prod public schools across California to reopen. It provides $2 billion to districts that resume in-person instruction by March 31, another $4.6 billion to address learning loss, and punishes...
The president of a Los Angeles teachers' union said Monday that the state's plan to return to in-person learning is "propagating structural racism." Her comments come after California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday reached a deal with state Democratic lawmakers...
As the momentum builds to reopen schools in California, early evidence suggests that English-learning students have fallen behind more than their peers. Education experts say school leaders should act now to reverse a widening achievement gap between students with financial...
When leading assessment providers released data in November on pandemic-related learning loss, the news wasn’t as dreadful as some had predicted. But new attempts to dig deeper into the results from two states now show that many students, particularly those...
When we began classes in Santa Ana Unified School District in the fall, we knew that in addition to varying degrees of learning loss, students would be returning to class having experienced isolation and a high potential for emotional trauma. We...
When leading assessment providers released data in November on pandemic-related learning loss, the news wasn’t as dreadful as some had predicted. But new attempts to dig deeper into the results from two states now show that many students, particularly those...
Across California, students in elementary and middle school are experiencing significant learning loss, according to a report released in late January. English learners and students from low-income families have seen greater losses, according to Policy Analysis for California Education, a...
There is near unanimous, bipartisan agreement that tutoring is among the most promising, evidence-based strategies to help students struggling with learning loss. Decades of rigorous evaluations have consistently found that tutoring programs yield large, positive effects on math and reading...
The aim of this commentary—released as part of a series on expanded learning partnerships and learning hubs in a distance learning context—is to provide actionable guidance for districts, schools, and expanded learning providers interested in best serving youth in the...
This news agency surveyed every public school district in some of the Bay Area’s largest counties—Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin—and found that 100% of school districts with 2019 median household incomes of at least $200,000 offer...
Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration has been in talks with lawmakers on his stalled school reopening plan, said Wednesday that a deal may be reached as soon as Friday. Newsom said his administration is working with lawmakers on a $6.6...
The commentary is a guidebook for districts, schools, and expanded learning providers in better serving California's 60,000 foster care youth amid the pandemic. For these vulnerable youth, COVID-19 worsened existing trauma, isolation, and educational disruptions due to frequent home and school changes. Collaboration among public systems and community partners is crucial to create caring systems acknowledging individual strengths and needs. To bolster pandemic recovery, the approach should prioritize tailored programs by consulting foster youth about their needs, amplifying community expertise, employing staff knowledgeable about schools, and ensuring accessible health services and multilingual resources. Creativity, flexibility, and continuous learning are vital in addressing the immediate and long-term needs of foster care youth, emphasizing constant evaluation through their perspectives for effective support.
This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. The central question of...
A Jan. 25 brief from Policy Analysis for California Education finds that there has been significant learning loss in both English language arts and mathematics, with students in earlier grades most affected. Additionally, low-income students and English learners are among...
Americans believe that schools are essential institutions. That’s why public schools absorb half of local government spending, and why the nation spends $14,000 per year on each child in K–12 public schools. Yet, even as the educational establishment insists its...
California is on the verge of creating a cradle-to-career data system that could help policymakers identify effective educational policies while providing students and families with new tools to investigate college and career options. With support from Governor Newsom, the Cradle-to-Career...
As of yesterday, Californians are in the midst of what you might call an uncontrolled experiment brought on by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sudden move to lift the state’s regional stay-at-home order, allowing outdoor dining and other business operations to resume...
A new study revealed that young and low-income students in California have been hit the hardest by pandemic-related school closures, showing a significant drop in test scores that has researchers worried the gap may be hard to overcome. The study...
The closure of most California public school campuses since last March has been widely acknowledged to have hurt student learning, but a study this week brings that into sharper focus, finding significant loss in both language arts and math, and...
The first California study measuring declines in learning during the first months of the pandemic parallels findings nationally: There has been a significant drop in test results in the early grades, with low-income students and English learners showing the least...
Saving the Los Angeles school year has become a race against the clock—as campuses are unlikely to reopen until teachers are vaccinated against COVID-19 and infection rates decline at least three-fold, officials said Monday. The urgency to salvage the semester...
The impact of the pandemic on California students' learning, gauged from 18 school districts in the CORE Data Collaborative, highlights significant learning loss in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, primarily affecting younger grades. The equity gap is pronounced, notably among low-income students and English language learners (ELLs), experiencing more substantial setbacks than their counterparts. Socioeconomically disadvantaged students faced slower growth, while others accelerated their learning, intensifying existing achievement disparities. Upper-grade ELLs encountered severe setbacks due to challenges in virtual language development. These findings underscore the urgent need for targeted support to redress these disparities, emphasizing the gravity of unequal experiences during the pandemic. Yet, data limitations call for deeper investigations into absent student groups to refine learning loss estimates. Addressing this crisis necessitates a student-centric approach, prioritizing social-emotional well-being and systemic educational reforms to accommodate diverse student needs.
Social-emotional learning or SEL has become the latest educational catch-phrase. SEL has been broadly defined as “non-cognitive” or “soft” skills, such as interest and engagement, and has been recognized by policy-makers and the broader public as a set of skills...
