Schools across San Francisco embody elements of community schools, which aim to assess students’ needs and bring in outside services ranging from dental care to Medi–Cal assistance to arts and music programming while building deeper connections to students and families...

In America, the demographic circumstances of a child’s birth substantially shape academic success. Sociologists have spent decades studying how factors beyond students’ control—including the race, wealth and ZIP code of their parents—affect their educational opportunities and achievement. But one often...

The pandemic has given us all a taste of forced isolation. We’ve seen how it can leave individuals feeling lonely, scared and depressed. Imagine if that was your permanent experience. For many students with disabilities, isolation is the standard practice...

Revolutionary change in public education is rare. Yet California's public school districts are today in the midst of a sea change, due largely to the efforts of Michael Kirst, the longest serving state Board of Education president and a longtime professor...

Most educators and parents would agree that the sweeping virtual instruction thrown together overnight at the beginning of the pandemic wasn’t nearly as effective as in-person learning for most students. So, does that mean K–12 educators and policymakers should write...

n coming weeks, California will embark on a massive undertaking to convert several thousand schools in low-income neighborhoods into centers of community life and providers of vital services for families as well as students. Known as community schools, they will...

After racist incidents at two schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District in 2021, officials have hired a race and equity liaison to oversee the ongoing investigations. Long-time civil rights attorney Mark Harris was chosen last week to look...

Along with affecting students’ possible areas of studies, the pandemic has also increased anxiety about finances and overall wellbeing as high students plan for their future. Analyzed survey research by the California Education Lab at the University of California, Davis...

Sacramento City Unified School District introduced a new district “monitor-liaison” last week to assist in investigations regarding recent racial incidents at two campuses. Superintendent Jorge Aguilar says that the district remains committed to building stronger relational trust among its Black...

In today’s data-rich, technology-enhanced world, math learning opportunities are central to the path to higher education and 21st century careers. Math classes must serve as stepping stones rather than stopping points on students’ journeys. Ensuring that happens means, policies, practices...

Policy-relevant research is essential to understanding the complex ways these practices, policies, and norms systematically and differentially shape students’ experience of school—and how they can be changed. But this type of scholarship is not incentivized within academia, and few formal...

With no signs of the omicron variant slowing down anytime soon, some parents are opting to have their child enrolled in independent studies, with the Sacramento City Unified School District seeing a major uptick in families choosing that option. Right...

Recent research lays bare an enormous toll facing California families: Child care has become so costly that in most of the state it’s surpassed housing as the largest monthly expense for households with young children. Even families who earn enough...

The Sacramento City Unified School District has received nearly 150,000 N95 masks for its teachers, staff and volunteers amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in Northern California. The shipment of masks from the state arrived Friday, according to a release...

The week, Gov. Gavin Newsom built on last year’s record state budget with a 2022-23 spending plan that tops it. Schools from transitional kindergarten to high school and community colleges would receive $102 billion plus $16 billion in a windfall...

Covid, wildfires, economic uncertainty and persistent racial injustices have upended nearly every aspect of children’s lives in California, according to one of the first comprehensive surveys of young people’s overall well-being since the pandemic began. The 2022 Children Now Report Card...

If the working definition of news is a departure from the normal, then Joe Biden’s speech Tuesday pressing Congress to preserve and expand voting rights for minorities barely qualifies. American presidents have been making that speech for more than a...

Funding for schools and community colleges will rise to more than $100 billion for the first time under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for next year, as state revenues continue to surge amid a pandemic that is filling hospitals and...

California’s K–12 students experienced significant academic setbacks during the 2020-21 school year of mainly remote learning, showing growing achievement gaps, lagging progress in math and English, increased chronic absenteeism and a slight decline in the statewide graduation rate, according to...

As communities continue dealing with the fallout of the pandemic and districts grapple with how best to spend an influx of one-time funding to support students, experts say there is no better time to begin looking into community school models. The...

After five straight years of gradual improvement, standardized test scores declined significantly last year for many California students, most of whom spent 2020-21 in distance learning. Gaps in achievement between Blacks and Hispanics and their white and Asian peers, already...

Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar provides an update on school reopening amid Omicron and updates on the district’s vaccine mandate ahead of its January 31st deadline.

The California Department of Education (CDE) today released student performance data that provide baseline indicators of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted schools and students. The 2020–21 data affirm both the challenges created by the pandemic and California’s commitment to...

Dual enrollment allows high school students to take college courses for credit, potentially improving college access. These courses can be offered at high schools, college campuses, or online, depending on the program. A new report from The Education Trust-West, an...

The 2021-22 school year was supposed to have been a rebound to normalcy, with Covid in the rear-view mirror. Instead, midway through, the year has been “shock and overload,” with teachers and administrators “working harder and losing ground,” as Mike...