To get students back in classrooms, Oakland Unified decided to test out a simple solution—paying students for perfect attendance. The Equitable Design Project, which just ended its second trial year at Oakland Unified, gives students $50 every Friday if they...
With declining enrollment and the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief funds, many California schools are facing financial challenges, said Marsh, who researches K-12 policy and governance. California is also facing a state budget deficit that could affect some districts more...
The nationwide increase in chronic absenteeism, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, persists in California—affecting approximately 25% of students. Marginalized communities face disproportionate challenges. Structural issues like transportation and teacher shortages, alongside student-level factors such as insecurity and disengagement, contribute to absenteeism. Tailored solutions recognizing the unique developmental needs of adolescents are crucial. Adolescents' curiosity and peer interactions necessitate opportunities for exploration and contribution, while supportive relationships with adults are essential. Addressing chronic absenteeism requires collaborative efforts, ensuring equitable access to these opportunities and relationships. Local expertise and insights from developmental science should guide the creation of inclusive school environments that promote consistent attendance and engagement among adolescents.
California’s public schools live—or die—by the numbers. They are utterly dependent on how much money the state budget allocates each year under Proposition 98, a formula adopted by voters in 1988 that only a few wonks in and around the...
After years of cash windfalls, California schools are bracing for a stretch of austerity that could jeopardize students’ already precarious recovery from the pandemic. An end to billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds, declining enrollment, staff raises, hiring...
Preparation for college and a career is important to economic prosperity. How college and career readiness in schools is defined varies across the state. The College/Career Indicator, adopted by the State Board of Education, integrates eight pathways that demonstrate a...
When the state published last year’s batch of post-pandemic school data, alarm bells went off. It was our first glimpse into where kids stood after years of virtual learning, and it was bleak. The data showed that student performance on...
Chronic absenteeism has risen dramatically in our country. A close look at 2021-22 school year data reveals that every state in the country is experiencing a substantial increase in the number of schools and districts with high and extreme levels...
Teachers, who too often are left to work in isolation and lack instructional support or clear expectations, are struggling to help students rebound academically and personally post-pandemic. Policy Analysis for California Education’s (PACE) December report What Does It Take to...
More than a year after California community colleges received $650 million in state COVID-19 relief money, schools have spent less than 20% of it. Colleges say they desperately need the money, but that they are reluctant to spend it because...
When then-Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature created the Local Control Funding Formula a decade ago, their professed goal was to close the achievement gap separating poor and English-learner K-12 students from their more privileged contemporaries by providing more targeted...
The pandemic had a devastating impact on learning, experts say, with lasting ramifications for the world of education at large. During the chaotic period when California families were running scared, public schools were shuttered and playgrounds off-limits, an estimated 152,000...
Truancy rates for students in the state of California and across the country are again an area of concern. Since the earliest days of the Corona pandemic educators, parents, government and community organizations have monitored the effects of chronic absenteeism...
Ventura County public school students continued to miss school at historic rates during the 2022-23 school year, further crystallizing a post-pandemic trend. Across the county, 22% of students were chronically absent last school year, a small improvement from 2021-22, but...
The surge in chronic absenteeism among California students during the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years was initially attributed, quite reasonably, to the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic. There was optimism that these rates would eventually begin to decline as schools returned to normal. When new chronic absenteeism numbers came out in October—along with California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASSP) data for 2022–23—the findings indicated that rates are down from the soaring absenteeism of 2021–22; 25 percent of K–12 students in California schools were chronically absent in 2022–23, down from 30 percent the year before. However, more than three years after the initial onset of the pandemic, chronic absenteeism among California students is still double the rate of prepandemic levels, and there are no signs of this trend abating.
Two years after California schools reopened their classrooms to in-person instruction following the Covid-19 pandemic, students continue to struggle—both academically and emotionally. Both of these factors are deeply connected and recovery requires a team effort, according to panelists at the...
This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. Panelists included Heather J. Hough, Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford University...
The harm to student learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has been well documented, and an incredible influx of resources—including $260 billion in federal government investment—has been dedicated to support schools’ recovery. Much of this money has been spent developing and...
It’s been two years since California’s students returned to the classroom. But the Golden State’s newly released assessment test scores show that across both the Bay Area and the state, students’ performance is still lagging behind pre-pandemic levels — and...
Ventura County students saw little improvement in state test scores last spring, confirmation that schools still have work to do reversing the sizable drops they saw in 2022, the first year of post-COVID standardized testing. Countywide scores echoed trends across...
The latest test statewide results will disappoint others who had hoped to appreciably reclaim some of the lost academic ground. That has not happened in California or in neighboring states that also give the Smarter Balanced assessment. In Oregon, English...
After California invested billions to help students rebound from the pandemic, K-12 math and English language arts scores remained mostly stagnant last year and still well below pre-COVID levels. The annual Smarter Balanced scores, released today, showed that English language...
COVID-19 cases are on the rise throughout Los Angeles Unified and the county. Public health experts are urging caution while school officials are looking to keep children in the classroom for their academic progress and emotional well-being. Despite the surge...
Educators, policymakers, and researchers find themselves now, more than ever, at a moment of inflection. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health and wellness disparities, food insecurity, housing challenges, and the digital divide. Our country is poised to confront its history...
As the new school year begins, parents, researchers, advocates, and educators are still trying to untangle the academic, mental and social-emotional consequences of the pandemic. There is no one answer to the question: Are the kids OK? Academics with a...