he job of the state superintendent of public instruction may be very different a year from now. Last month, the nonprofit research organization PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) released a report on school governance that recommended transferring the California...
Governor Gavin Newsom has made education funding one of his priorities during his final year in office. He also made an unexpected proposal during last week’s State of the State address — to bring oversight of the state Department of...
As part of his budget proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week announced a new educational plan that sounds reasonable, as it streamlines regulatory authority and places more oversight in the governor’s office. Per Newsom’s statement, “California’s K-12 education system as...
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday previewed a major education system overhaul that would give the next governor more authority over state school policies and redefine — and almost certainly diminish — the role of the elected state superintendent of public...
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it. “Tony Thurmond is...
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it. “Tony Thurmond is...
Policy Analysis for California Education has released a new report, “TK–12 Education Governance in California: Past, Present, and Future,” that offers insights into long-standing structural complexities in California’s education system as well as recommendations for realigning roles and responsibilities to...
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul how California’s education system is governed, calling for structural changes that he said would shift oversight of the Department of Education and redefine the role of the state’s elected...
Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing to move the state Department of Education to the control of the executive branch as part of his spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Newsom’s office teased the proposal in a release early Thursday...
Gov. Gavin Newsom will announce Thursday that he will ask the Legislature to shift the operation and control of the California Department of Education from the state superintendent of public instruction to the governor and the State Board of Education...
This year’s budget proposes to implement recommendations of the Legislature’s 2002 report, California’s Master Plan for Education, to move oversight of the California Department of Education and ultimate responsibility for state oversight and support of local educational agencies under the...
California’s public school system, which purports to educate nearly 6 million students ranging from 4-year-olds in transitional kindergarten to near-adults preparing to graduate from high school, is in a world of hurt.Its students perform poorly in national tests of academic...
A few months ago, a high school English teacher in Los Angeles Unified noticed something different about his students’ tests. Students who had struggled all semester were suddenly getting A’s. He suspected some were cheating, but he couldn’t figure out...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
As California intensifies its fight with the Trump Administration, the race for the state’s top schools job is becoming ever more crowded. Today, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon formally entered the race to succeed Tony Thurmond as State Superintendent of...
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vital role school systems play in daily life, from learning and socialization to nutrition programs, transportation, and mental health. In the absence of in-person instruction, countless new stressors impacted families, teachers, and administrators who were...
Some of the biggest names in education research—who often oppose each other in scholarly and policy debates — are now united in their desire to fight the cuts to data and scientific studies at the U.S. Department of Education. The...
In recent weeks, Education Week Opinion has received scores of submissions from individuals in the K-12 field reacting to the current state of education in the United States and, in particular, the actions of the Trump administration. As the federal...
Two prominent education policy organizations filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the Department of Education, challenging what they describe as the unlawful dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The Association for Education Finance...
On Thursday, hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students, many from the university's School of Education, gathered at the steps of Sproul Hall in what they say is the first of many protests against President Donald Trump's March 20 executive...
California’s teacher workforce needs stronger stewardship. Our state has established high standards for English, math, science and history that lay out what students must know and be able to do. But, as I have argued before, California has failed to...