Despite post-COVID challenges and economic uncertainties, education leaders and state lawmakers have made enduring commitments to building educational equity and improving academic outcomes for all students. Nonetheless, for many school districts even with new policies and initiatives, and dedicated funding...
There was a lot of conversation during the pandemic about how school districts’ scramble to deliver content fully virtually could fundamentally change K-12 learning. But did that become a reality? While most public school educators were eager to return to...
Shrinking enrollment and vanishing pandemic aid have delivered a financial gut punch to many school districts across the country. The looming reality of comprehensive school reorganization efforts, notably through closures and consolidations, has ignited passionate debates about fairness, equity, and...
No one wants to close schools. Not the communities that cherish their local school. Not the school boards that want to serve the needs of all their students. Not administrators and school district personnel who have to wade through the...
California is synonymous with innovation. Over decades and across sectors, California has been a leader—from tech start-ups to agricultural advances and environmental solutions. In the private sector, companies race to market with their ideas in order to capitalize on ingenuity.California...
Across the country, states are moving to education systems that are more student centered, equitable, and competency based. They are doing so because they understand that the legacy model for educating our young people is not working. Although graduation rates have increased, other markers of progress have not. Standardized test scores remain relatively flat. Achievement and opportunity gaps persist despite decades of increased funding and abundant strategies to reduce them. Chronic absenteeism is near an all-time high. The reality is that too many students do not find school to be interesting, engaging, or relevant for their futures. This is particularly true for youth of color and other marginalized student populations. Rather than continuing to tinker around the edges, we can advance real change! Here’s how.
Closing or consolidating neighborhood schools is a painful decision that no school district or community ever wishes to face, but increasingly it may be on the table due to declining enrollment trends and budgetary pressures. In this episode, host Jason...
Between 2007 and 2022, California saw its K–12 public school enrollment decrease by more than 390,000 students, or more than 6 percent statewide, according to data from the state’s Department of Education. The baby bust is a large contributor to...
As districts consider closures to cope with budgetary declines, new research adds to concerns that schools with higher enrollments of Black students are more likely than other schools to be shut down. “The big picture is that race plays a...
Roughly four dozen Fort Worth ISD campuses are less than 70% occupied, making them likely targets for future closings.Fort Worth ISD officials have discussed the need to make some hard decisions due to challenges driven by dwindling enrollments and underutilized...
Closing schools is, of course, often a turbulent experience for communities, families and students. But leaders can take some steps to reduce distress with an eye toward equity, says Carrie Hahnel, a senior associate partner for policy and evaluation at...
Each year about 2% of U.S. public schools permanently close their doors, a trend that has translated in recent years to roughly 1,000 school closures annually. Budgetary constraints or low academic performance are typically cited as justification, but advocates have...
Each year about 2 percent of U.S. public schools permanently close their doors, a trend that has translated in recent years to roughly 1,000 school closures annually. Budgetary constraints or low academic performance are typically cited as justification, but advocates...
Between 20-plus years of plunging birth rates and, more recently, the historically unprecedented fact that more Americans are now moving out of California than into it, state demographics are changing profoundly. This is why the Golden State lost 800,000 in...
Public school enrollment is declining across the country, and it won’t bounce back anytime soon. The steep drops in K-12 enrollment in the aftermath of COVID-19 exacerbated a much longer-term trend rooted in falling birth rates and slowing immigration. These...
Distance learning in the COVID-19 context provides a unique challenge in that, in many cases, neither families nor educators chose to engage in this model of instruction, it is an opportunity provided due to circumstances beyond our control. It is...
When California’s schools reopened their classrooms at the beginning of this school year, educators were confronted by a critical question: Where did all the students go? Since the beginning of the pandemic, California public schools have lost more than 4%...
The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences has awarded a $3 million research grant to a University of California, Davis-led research team to assess pandemic recovery efforts undertaken by the California Community Colleges. The goal of this three-year...
One of the important lessons of the pandemic is that virtual learning is here to stay, but it has a lot of room for improvement. And teachers, principals, and district leaders should be thinking hard about how to make remote...
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...
California high school seniors were in 10th grade when the Covid-19 pandemic closed schools and sent them home to learn. This year, many seniors are either struggling to earn enough credits to graduate or, because of a new state law...
The Hoover Education Success Initiative (HESI) presented a six-part webinar series this fall that explored how public education can improve moving forward given the ongoing disruption of in-person instruction caused by COVID-19-inspired restrictions, as well as foundations of the system...
The abrupt switch to remote instruction caused by the pandemic has created potentially irreparable setbacks for the students who can least afford the disruption—low-income students of color, English learners, students with disabilities and others who have been historically underserved. The...
With Fall fast approaching, parents and teachers alike are wondering if this school year will bring with it some normalcy. But with over three-quarters of school districts offering remote learning options, many are worried the pitfalls of the past year...