Students at Ánimo Ellen Ochoa Charter Middle School in East Los Angeles are learning at one-and-a-half to two times the pace of their grade-level peers, based on their state standardized (CAASPP) test scores for the last three years compared to...

English learners, like their peers, have lost a large portion of instructional time due to the rapid shift to online learning caused by COVID-19. However, data indicates that the digital divide amongst underserved students, including English learners, has led to...

Deep into the pandemic, some districts are finding an alarming percentage of students are missing from the virtual classroom—with the worst absentee rates occurring among homeless students, foster youth, English learners, Black students and high school seniors. Two San Francisco...

Arizona State University Professor Geoffrey D. Borman has great empathy for middle schoolers. He knows how painful the transition can be when elementary students have to make the jump to junior high school. The stresses of navigating grades, mental well-being...

Learning in the pandemic has its challenges, but for a lot of students the problem is more fundamental: They are missing out on school altogether this fall, or showing up sporadically. Schools that have opted for virtual learning are struggling...

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.

Weeks of racial justice protests and the coronavirus pandemic have together drawn much-needed attention to the race-based disparities embedded in our institutions, from policing to health care. These disparities are also deeply rooted in our communities and schools.

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...

Addressing equity challenges has been the consistent thread that runs through major California education policies of the last decade. However, educational inequities, already significant prior to COVID-19, have been exacerbated by the pandemic’s education disruptions. How can we make Multi-Tiered...

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...

A week before some California districts start school, many parents remain in the dark about what online learning will look like as teachers unions and districts negotiate instruction plans — in some cases behind closed doors. Major points of contention...

Students, their families and educators continue to experience increased physical and mental health concerns, isolation and economic hardship as a result of COVID-19. To best serve their communities, many districts and schools will need to develop stronger systems of support...

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...

If you’re concerned that remote learning may have set your child back academically, brace yourself: It probably has. When students return to school, research shows that most will be behind where they would have been if classroom instruction had continued...

When schools shut down this spring due to COVID-19, a plethora of new concerns popped up, including students who do not have access to the internet, mental health, and health in general for students and family members sick with COVID...

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...

On this edition of Your Call, we'll find out how families and educators are preparing for another semester of remote learning. Here in California, as cases continue to rise, 90 percent of K-12 schools will operate remotely.

Parents across the...

Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced that all K–12 schools in California counties with rising COVID-19 infections should close for in-person instruction. As a result, 90% of California’s more than 6 million students could start the school year with distance learning...