For Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE) Professor Susanna Loeb, the work of bringing an incoming governor up to speed on the state’s education system begins with a listening tour. “There are a billion different things you could look at...
Stanford University on Thursday released a sweeping research project that takes a 360-degree, immersive look at all aspects and operations of public education in California, from preschool through high school, from special education to teacher certification, enrollment decline to high...
California K-12 schools have come a long way over the past 20 years, but according to an exhaustive overview of the state’s school system, further progress may require tinkering with a long-entrenched form of school governance: local control. That’s among...
A bill moving through the state legislature would require independent evaluations of any new education initiative that costs at least $500 million a year or $1 billion in one-time spending. The proposed requirement is part of a larger bill that...
Education is not a central issue in California’s crowded governor’s race, but the candidates addressing it offer sharply different visions, from expanding school funding and free college, to stricter teacher accountability and restrictions on transgender students in sports. Lupita Cortez...
This has been a disruptive year for education research. Last February, roughly $1 billion in federal funding was canceled. Amid efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, most staff at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which supports education...
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...
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...
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...
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...
On February 10, as part of its mission to “maximize government efficiency,” the Trump administration announced its cancellation of roughly $1 billion in federal contracts for education research. These contracts were held under the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)—the research...
From private school vouchers to threats over “woke” curriculum, the Trump administration has launched a slew of reforms intended to reshape K–12 schools. But it’s still too soon to determine how—or if—those efforts will play out in California...
A new brief by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) outlines the strategies used in partnership with California Education Partners (Ed Partners) aimed at improving student outcomes. Over the past four-years, 48 districts participated in an Ed Partners’ collaboration with...
Over a three-year period beginning in 2020, Grass Valley School District, located in Nevada County, was able to implement strategies that improved literacy instruction and outcomes for students. Policy Analysis for California Education’s (PACE) brief “Building Momentum One Step at...
California school districts would receive $2.5 billion through a small cost-of-living increase, plus additional funding to train math and reading coaches, expand summer and after-school programs, and help launch the state’s Master Plan for Career Education in the proposed 2025-26...
Using evidence-based approaches, Ed Partners District to District program collaborates with districts and county offices to improve systems to achieve better outcomes for students. In Taking Reform to Scale, researchers at PACE studied our work with districts over four years...
Are California’s stubborn failings in teaching basic subjects such as math and reading, which the educational establishment hopes no one will notice, fixable? Two recent projects to improve academic skills indicate that learning can be improved with sustained effort that...
The re-election of former President Donald Trump is certain to bring a period of conflict,tension and litigation between his White House and California’s political and education leaders whose policies and values the president-elect castigates. It also could potentially have major...
This month we want to highlight the work in Grass Valley. The Improvement Team is engaged in year two of the P3CC Literacy Collaboration. Grass Valley has focused on Preschool through 3rd grade coherence as foundational to their district-wide initiative...
Sierra House Elementary in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District is working to develop a sustainable math system that focuses on enhancing both teaching and learning experiences. One of their key initiatives includes embedding open tasks in student experiences, which...
A recent report from Policy Analysis for California Education aims to provide education leaders with a better understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can be used in education by exploring its potential strengths and limitations. Generative AI in...
The rise of AI promises new solutions to long-standing challenges. It also introduces some challenges of its own. In addition to concerns over privacy, bias and reliability, AI is driving a flood of new products in a broad range of...
When a new intervention or program is introduced, the conventional wisdom among many seasoned educators is, “This too shall pass.” This attitude doesn’t mean an intervention is not promising or educators are not flexible and innovative. Rather, it emerges from...
