Before schools nationwide moved millions of students from classroom seats to screens, educators at Highline Public Schools in South King County wanted to expand online learning. Back then, Highline saw an opportunity: Online education might be good for students who...

Turnaround for Children was featured in the report, “Restorative Restart: The Path Towards Reimagining and Rebuilding Schools. ”Developed by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), the report notes the impact of COVID-19 on all students, but particularly students of color...

To understand the past year only in relation to its losses provides a far too limited view of students’ experiences. We know that a great deal of unexpected learning happened outside of the classroom: some students accelerated in self-paced learning...

As a full return to in-person instruction in the fall seems more likely, almost everyone associated with public education is hoping for a return to some semblance of normalcy.  But with the global pandemic revealing long-standing inequities in stark and painful ways...

This week a new EdWeek podcast discusses the merits of creating a $500 college savings account for all low-income public school students, and poses this question to PACE faculty director Christopher Edley, Jr., the incoming dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of...

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s bill to address learning loss suffered by students learning virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic has had some ups and downs: When she first introduced the measure, she told VOSD, “No one wants me to do this bill.”...

The Sacramento City Unified School District said some early kindergarten through sixth-grade students will begin returning to in-person learning four days a week starting next Tuesday. But not everyone who may want to do so can, for now. Right now...

As districts plan for the learning that will take place over the summer, they may be faced with pressures and demands to "think outside of the box" or to reimagine schools in the form of new models for learning. In...

The pandemic has exposed long-standing systemic inequities in education and has cost lives and livelihoods in families already vulnerable and on the edge. School staff have also experienced greater stress and burnout this year.   As schools complete the year...

Recent research from Policy Analysis for California Education suggests there may be reason to be concerned about kids’ learning progress right now. A January study of 18 school districts indicates younger kids especially are falling behind in math and English...

Los Angeles teachers have been through the grinder for more than a year. Many of them went far beyond the minimum to try to help students learn during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for much of that time, those with kids...

PACE has published a new brief entitled Restorative Restart: The Path Towards Reimagining and Rebuilding Schools, as a result of COVID-19’s impact on students of color, students from low-income families, English learners, and other marginalized children and youth. The purpose...

The ability to read fluently and comprehend what you read is, hands down, the most important academic skill a child needs to master to be successful in school and later in adult life. There is no substitute for a lack...

Across urban and rural areas alike, public schools with more students in poverty were far more likely to serve households that lacked a basic broadband connection at home in the months before school went online, according to an unprecedented CalMatters...

A recent report from Policy Analysis for California Education found that school closures in spring 2020 caused especially severe slowdowns in reading and math achievement for young students, and growing achievement gaps for low-income students and English learners. Students lost...

The pandemic has intensified a multi-year trend of dwindling student enrollment statewide, causing a steep drop this year. More than a third of the decline stemmed from 61,000 missing kindergartners.

On March 19, 2020 Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shelter-in-place order. In response to an unprecedented public health threat, it was an equally unprecedented shuttering of day-to-day life. “This is not a permanent state,” Newsom assured us at the...

After a year of remote learning, some of California's students are being allowed back in the classroom. But experts worry that a bungled reopening of schools could worsen education inequality, which has already been exacerbated by the pandemic.

California’s elementary and middle school students, English learners, and students from low-income backgrounds saw significant learning losses in math and English after more than a year of Zoom education. That’s according to a recent study of 18 California school districts...

The best way schools can help students catch up academically after a year of distance learning is to ensure they feel relaxed, safe and connected to their friends and teachers as they return to the classroom. A year after the pandemic...

It is too soon to know the full extent of learning loss among ELs nationally, but the organization Policy Analysis for California Education has found that learning loss has been more dramatic for ELs than their peers. There is going...

Students who are learning English as a second language have priority to return to in-person class at some school districts in California, but many are still staying home because their parents fear the risk of Covid-19 infection is too high.

The transition to distance learning and learning loss has impacted all students. But, the experience of Black and Latino students has been dramatically different and in many cases, much worse. Many factors lead to learning loss. Some of the critical...

During the 2020-2021 school year, some students managed to stay on track academically throughout remote and hybrid learning, while many others experienced the COVID slide we had feared. Unfortunately, this variation in student knowledge is nothing new. COVID-19 has just exacerbated it. When your students’ learning gaps vary so widely, with so much learning loss to address, the stakes are high to properly diagnose each student’s needs. The question isn’t whether to assess, but how.

This week on State of the Bay, we'll talk about the state of school reopening with SF Chronicle education reporter Jill Tucker.  Then we'll do a deep dive into pandemic learning loss and how it can be addressed with Heather...