While test scores in math, science, and reading are showing progress, California students remain below pre-pandemic levels—a baseline that was already falling short of state proficiency standards. An education expert joins Mornings on 2 to look beyond basic recovery and...

California students’ test scores continue to fall short of pre-pandemic results despite modest improvements over the last three years, data released Thursday revealed.  The latest numbers show that more than half of California’s 5.8 million K-12 students continue to read...

In its guidance, the California Department of Education notes that school closures affect students, parents, staff, neighborhoods, daily routines and the broader community, and emphasizes that these decisions require careful planning and communication, as well as administrative action.  Other school...

School districts are investing more heavily in structured pathways to develop future principals, and new research coauthored by University   of Utah College of Education scholar David S. Woo shows those pathways are becoming a major part of how districts...

Even a decade ago, the horror stories behind some of the 13 children’s online protection bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Thursday seemed the stuff of fiction.  An AI chatbot coaching a teenager to isolate himself from friends and...

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...

Since last October, the California School Boards Association has pressed the Legislature to take greater responsibility for narrowing California’s immense student achievement gap.    That gap is the disparity — by 30 percentage points or more — in test scores...

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...

The Getting Down to Facts III Central Valley Convening brought together educators, policymakers, and community leaders to tackle the region's most pressing educational challenges. From addressing teacher shortages to improving student outcomes in rural districts, expert presenters shared research-based strategies...

A first grader reads an entire page on her own after months of specialized instruction. A middle school student with autism delivers his first classroom presentation. These moments are not medical breakthroughs, they are educational ones.   Unfortunately, our history...

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...

  Through nearly a decade of collaboration with local school districts, Gardner Center researchers uncovered how California’s complex reclassification system can limit academic opportunities for multilingual students — findings that are now informing statewide policy discussions. A lot of high...

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2026-07-13/chabria-monCalifornia and across the country has been somewhat distressing.  Along with claims that Americans are becoming illiterate, here in the Golden State there are worries that even the highest-achieving students aren’t prepared for our universities, and a study shows backsliding...

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that will vastly reshape the role of the state superintendent of public instruction, an elected position that currently oversees the California Department of Education.  Instead of leading the department, the new position will...

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...

As the University of California weighs whether to reinstate the SAT in admissions, another option is also on the table: using California’s existing standardized test administered to high school juniors.  The committee charged with exploring the pros and cons of...

California lawmakers secured billions of dollars for public schools, community colleges, special education students and more in the 2026-2027 state budget.  In all, the budget included $128 billion of the $350 billion budget package for a myriad of education priorities...

The University of California Board of Regents is being asked to consider whether to bring back the SAT and ACT for admissions, a debate so hot even New York is weighing in on this Golden State dilemma.  Despite dire warnings...

California’s audacious goal of having half of all K-12 students enrolled in bilingual education programs by 2030 has encountered one big stumbling block — there aren’t enough qualified bilingual teachers.  To help remedy that, a $10 million grant tucked in...

Learning Lab Director Lark Park interviewed Dr. Michael W. Kirst in a wide ranging conversation–from how education policymaking has changed over the decades, to whether UC should bring back standardized testing, to why the professional development of teachers, the structure...

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...