For school districts facing enrollment declines and mounting budget pressures, closing schools seems like an obvious – if often contentious – way to get finances back on track. But new research from Stanford suggests the reality is not so open-and-shut...

In a step toward giving math the attention early literacy has gotten, the Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would require schools to assess the math capabilities of all students in kindergarten through second grade each year, beginning in...

Earlier this year, Ideas We’re Watching explored California’s long-standing education governance challenges with Dr. Julie Marsh, one of the authors of the PACE report that helped spark a statewide conversation about the need for reform. Since then, that conversation has...

Students returning to school may not have noticed it.  As the years pass, they hang out with the same friends or play on the same sports teams. But something’s been changing.  There are fewer students.  While charter school enrollment in...

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced he has signed legislation to implement long-standing recommendations to strengthen California’s education governance system to better support its nearly 10,000 schools and approximately six million students. The legislation — Assembly Bill 181 by...

California’s Department of Education will soon be under the control of the governor’s office, drastically changing the role of the next state superintendent, who will be elected in November.  The change, pushed through by Gov. Gavin Newsom as part of...

The just-approved state budget strips authority from the elected state superintendent of public instruction, transferring power in January to an appointee of the governor, dramatically changing the oversight and management of a public school system serving more than 6 million...

Legislation for the big shift — moving the California Department of Education from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s control to a new chief executive of education under the governor — passed the Legislature Monday, though barely.  With 15 lawmakers...

A new California law creates an appointed education commissioner, shifting many powers from the elected state superintendent.

School closures—commonly touted as a financially responsible strategy to right-size cash-strapped districts—often do not improve districts’ financial standing, according to a new study out of California.  Even worse: Any money actually saved from closing a school building is largely offset...

It’s not often you see over 900 diverse organizations across California all agree on something. But when a problem affecting our kids’ education has existed for over a century with little progress towards fixing it, it brings people together to...

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...

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...

Since 2009, nearly every U.S. state has adopted specific standards and teaching frameworks for literacy and math. Yet, despite these efforts, the implementation of these standards in classrooms has often fallen short. As I reflect on my six decades in...

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...

Students file out of classrooms after the final bell rings. It’s the end of the day and they shuffle to their parents’ cars or the school bus to catch a ride home or to an extracurricular activity or job. Others...

Oakland mom Azlinah Tambu vividly remembers the moment that would transform her from the law-abiding, neighborhood school mom into a trespassing activist threatened with jail time. For months, Tambu, whose two children were then in elementary school, and others had...

San Francisco must do everything it can to avert a state takeover of its schools. That’s the stark message brought by Carl A. Cohn, the only outside educator to be brought in to help the team of city administrators set...

As the San Francisco Unified School District deliberates over a tentative list of school closures, it will have to account for the fact that the district’s enrollment has declined for several years—and could fall much further. But San Francisco’s public...

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...

Falling enrollments and gloomy economics point to the inevitable: Many school districts in California will close schools over the next decade. So far, they have been mainly elementary and middle schools, but high schools, spared until now, won’t escape, a...

Despite post-COVID challenges and economic uncertainties, education leaders and state lawmakers have made enduring commitments to building educational equity and improving academic outcomes for all students. Nonetheless, for many school districts even with new policies and initiatives, and dedicated funding...

There was a lot of conversation during the pandemic about how school districts’ scramble to deliver content fully virtually could fundamentally change K-12 learning. But did that become a reality? While most public school educators were eager to return to...

Shrinking enrollment and vanishing pandemic aid have delivered a financial gut punch to many school districts across the country. The looming reality of comprehensive school reorganization efforts, notably through closures and consolidations, has ignited passionate debates about fairness, equity, and...