December 15, 2023 | CalMatters

In the first glimpse of California’s K-12 schools’ year-over-year progress since the pandemic,  graduation rates hit some of their highest levels ever, absenteeism dropped significantly, and hundreds of districts showed academic improvements. But despite a few bright spots, most of...

December 15, 2023 | EdSource

The California School Dashboard is back in full color for the first time in four years. The dashboard, which the California Department of Education will release on Friday, is the state’s academic accountability and improvement tool designed for parents and...

November 30, 2023 | Governing

While moderate and liberal candidates did well in recent school board elections nationwide, experts say it's too soon to call these results a permanent change to extreme partisanship in school board politics. Schools and school boards have been cultural battlegrounds...

November 20, 2023 | USC Today

Diversity and inclusion programs, book bans, censorship and debates over school curricula are all signs that America’s culture wars have moved into a new combat zone: school boards. School board races have become increasingly partisan and polarized, despite boards’ statuses...

Understanding the Complexity Behind Rising Rates of Chronic Absenteeism
Commentary authors
Summary

The surge in chronic absenteeism among California students during the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years was initially attributed, quite reasonably, to the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic. There was optimism that these rates would eventually begin to decline as schools returned to normal. When new chronic absenteeism numbers came out in October—along with California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASSP) data for 2022–23—the findings indicated that rates are down from the soaring absenteeism of 2021–22; 25 percent of K–12 students in California schools were chronically absent in 2022–23, down from 30 percent the year before. However, more than three years after the initial onset of the pandemic, chronic absenteeism among California students is still double the rate of prepandemic levels, and there are no signs of this trend abating.

November 16, 2023 | EdSource

Two years after California schools reopened their classrooms to in-person instruction following the Covid-19 pandemic, students continue to struggle—both academically and emotionally. Both of these factors are deeply connected and recovery requires a team effort, according to panelists at the...

November 10, 2023 | Government Technology

One of the only two states to provide schools with official guidance on artificial intelligence so far, Oregon published an explainer on its website with tips, definitions, references and links to helpful resources. The good news is that policy related...