As districts, schools, and families navigate a new normal following the abrupt end of in-person schooling this spring, students’ learning opportunities vary enormously across the nation. Access to devices and broadband internet and a secure learning environment are just a...
The transition to distance learning for all students has been a challenge, but particularly for those in transitional kindergarten through third grade who have not yet learned to read or lack experience using computers. A new brief from Policy Analysis...
Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jorge A. Aguilar issues a statement in response to Governor Newsom’s announcement of a Safe Schools for All Plan. SCUSD continues its planning for in-person instruction as part of its Return Together Plan.
Over the past 10 months, K-12 school districts in California have faced unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To help reduce the spread of the virus in spring 2020, districts largely transitioned to distance-learning, with some or all of...
To support California’s school districts and county offices of education as they navigate the new terrain of education during the COVID-19 pandemic, three of the state’s leading education-focused organizations have joined forces to create the Hybrid Distance (HD) Learning Collaborative...
Child advocates and school officials fear the enrollment drop and educational disruptions for the young children could widen existing racial achievement gaps, and endanger school financing in the future.
California’s long-awaited roadmap to reshape early childhood care and education in the state took a critical first step on Tuesday with the release of a first-ever 10-year master plan, but some advocates say more specifics are needed to ensure progress.
As the pandemic rages mostly unchecked in much of the country, some of these families wonder if they’re being punished for choosing to keep their kids home. Providing an equal education to kids learning in person and to those learning...
As coronavirus cases spike across California, Bay Area school districts continue to weigh when and how to reopen. San Jose Unified School District recently announced plans to open classrooms in January; Oakland Unified has yet to set a date. But...
Policy Analysis for California Education Director of Strategic Partnerships and State Education Policy Expert Dr. Alix Gallagher discusses the biggest challenges facing in K-12 education.
When Sacramento City schools started back up again just before Labor Day this year, parents were scrambling to figure out their kids’ online learning schedule for the fall. The teachers union and the Sacramento City Unified School District still hadn’t...
Headaches, anxiety and exhaustion caused by never-ending video meetings are no longer exclusively for adults trying to work from home during the pandemic. Some schools have started the fall semester with remote-learning setups that mimic what a full day of...
Anticipating that the coronavirus would create a turbulent and financially unstable year, the Legislature agreed in June to fund schools at the same levels of student attendance in 2020-21 as in 2019-20. Most school districts welcomed the predictable funding.
There is little that is likely to be regular about the coming school year. Hermosa and most other districts in California are beginning the year exclusively with distance learning.
With Covid-19 cases still on the rise in much of the country, the remote learning experiment that started last spring will continue in most schools across the nation. But even as teachers, students and families prepare to go back to...
Live online class time is most effective when it is built around small-group peer interactions and direct teacher-to-student feedback, according to a new research brief from Policy Analysis for California Education. The researchers also found that students need reserved time...
As more than 6 million California students head back to school this fall, this year isn’t about fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils and new backpacks. Students, parents and educators are navigating a new world of virtual learning, with the vast majority...
Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) recently published a report (and a corresponding brief, titled: Supporting Learning in the COVID-19 Context) for educators and district leaders in California. The recommendations set forth in the publication are drawn from both evidence...
Many teachers, students and their families can agree on one thing after experiencing the unexpected hurricane that was distance learning this spring: It must improve—especially in the earliest grades, transitional kindergarten through second grade. Our youngest students, from ages 4...
The past few months have not been good ones for the promise of peer-to-peer interaction. Schools, linked with socialization at least as far back as Plato’s “Republic,” have been closed since March. On July 17, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that...
This has been a year like no other for everyone. Students have had their school year abruptly end, their summer plans canceled, and are now facing the realities of the fall semester. Most school districts don’t even know if they...
Frustrated Bay Area families already know classes will be online when school starts in the coming weeks, but many still have no idea when their K-12 students will have to log on for lessons or how many hours of live...
For most California students in schools and colleges, the fall term will look like the middle of spring: online with little to no in-person instruction. But if students and parents accepted the rapid switch to online in March and April...
For most California students in schools and colleges, the fall term will look like the middle of spring: online with little to no in-person instruction. But if students and parents accepted the rapid switch to online in March and April...