More than 30 percent of California’s approximately 30,000 school-aged youth in foster care regularly experience some of the highest rates of chronic absence and exclusionary discipline.  A new brief from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) details how changes in...

As California continues to expand access to transitional kindergarten (TK), new research from the Public Policy Institute of California finds benefits and potential pitfalls should burgeoning trends go unaddressed. For instance, TK leads to earlier identification of multilingual students in...

California’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) program provides an extra year of schooling within the K–12 system. Launched a decade ago with limited eligibility, TK will soon be open to all four-year-olds. Taking stock of the program’s impact so far—especially among multilingual...

Every day a student is absent is a lost opportunity for learning. Too many absences not only can affect achievement for the absent student but also can disrupt learning for the entire class. While no absence is beneficial to student...

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...

With the latest national test results showing a dispiriting lack of progress in catching students up academically in the wake of the pandemic, one potential explanation stands out: stubbornly high rates of student absenteeism. Vast numbers of students haven’t returned...

Overly punitive approaches don’t work. Teacher Alice C. said that schools need more resources to support the individual student needs that contribute to poor attendance. The biggest challenges are “lack of supports/resources to provide trauma and other mental health responses...

Any absence is concerning because it represents lost learning opportunities, but when an absence is labeled unexcused, it also affects how a student and their family are treated. Our new report, "Disparities in Unexcused Absences Across California Schools," shows how...

Students from low-income households and certain racial and ethnic groups have a higher percentage of their school absences deemed unexcused than their peers, which means they are more likely to be met with consequences after missing school, rather than support...

A new report, Examining Disparities in Unexcused Absences Across California Schools, shows how overuse of the “unexcused” label for student absences could be deepening education inequities and interfering with efforts to improve attendance. Any absence is concerning because it represents...

Covid, wildfires, economic uncertainty and persistent racial injustices have upended nearly every aspect of children’s lives in California, according to one of the first comprehensive surveys of young people’s overall well-being since the pandemic began. The 2022 Children Now Report Card...

California’s K–12 students experienced significant academic setbacks during the 2020-21 school year of mainly remote learning, showing growing achievement gaps, lagging progress in math and English, increased chronic absenteeism and a slight decline in the statewide graduation rate, according to...

California high school seniors were in 10th grade when the Covid-19 pandemic closed schools and sent them home to learn. This year, many seniors are either struggling to earn enough credits to graduate or, because of a new state law...

It didn’t take long before the consequences of the pandemic shone a spotlight on the growing inequities within our communities and systems. Existing disparities in housing and food security, education, and health care, for example, grew wider between socioeconomic and...

While the recognition of indigenous languages is layered in a complex and politically fraught history, there are concrete steps that schools can take to ensure that they account for and support all students. First, schools must create inclusive home surveys...

Students across the nation, including in Kern County are testing lower than required for their grade level as a result of virtual learning in the past year and a half. Teachers said it helps that the students are back in...

Much of the discourse around learning loss has gotten stuck on what to call it. Learning lag, interrupted learning and unfinished learning are favored among academics, because knowledge did not vanish from the minds of young people. Kids just didn’t...

As of Sept. 23, Piedmont, Hayward, and Oakland students — 12 and older — must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing to attend school in person. This mandate goes into effect starting November for Piedmont and December 17 for Hayward...

The pandemic has already taken a hefty academic and emotional toll on students It’s hard to measure academic performance in a way that applies to all. But early in the pandemic, test scores for U.S. students hinted of educational blows...

Researchers have found that students have lost ground due to school closures and remote educational learning. PACE, the Policy Analysis for California Education, found: “At the first anniversary of school closures due to COVID-19, nearly half of the K–12 students...

One of the major disruptions to daily life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was the rapid shift from in-person K–12 education to virtual learning. While necessary for social distancing and slowing the spread of disease, there is a concern that...

The pandemic has touched many students with heightened stress, disruptions and remote learning hurdles, but experts say it may have the greatest impact on the youngest learners, those in the formative years of learning to read. Creating a language-rich environment on...