A trio of resources recently published by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) — a policy brief “Addressing Inequities in College Preparatory Course-Taking,” a report Inequality in Academic Preparation for College and a resource guide Insights and Strategies from Exemplar...

Nearly a third of K-12 students statewide were chronically absent in 2020-21, more than three times the pre-pandemic rate. Some school officials fear that pattern will become the new normal. As a new school year gets underway in California, districts...

As hundreds of thousands of migrant students enroll in U.S. schools annually, districts are responding in a variety of ways to help welcome students to schools, as well as support their academic and social needs once they are enrolled. The...

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...

Led by our youth advocacy department, SDUSD’s leadership has decided to celebrate diverse perspectives through the lens of underrepresented groups. In at least some way, we’ve decided to address the traditional narrowing of our full California and U.S. history, too...

Chancellor Carol Christ and several other top UC Berkeley officials say the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today, that public and private universities cannot use race as a factor in admitting students, is regrettable. They warned the decision will reduce opportunities...

For decades, selective U.S. colleges and universities have considered, among other factors, whether applicants are from underrepresented minority groups, including Black, Hispanic and Native American. For just as long, critics of affirmative action have questioned whether race-conscious admissions policies are...

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...

When should children begin their summer reading? How about yesterday? According to a blog from the children’s publisher Scholastic, 96% of educators agree providing year-round access to books at home is important for student achievement. And 94% of parents agree...

Newcomer is a term typically used to describe students who recently arrived in U.S. schools–but what recently means is not uniformly agreed upon. A new report from PACE, written by Californians Together Director of Newcomer Policy and Practice Sam Finn...

This post presents evidence-based solutions to address the post-Covid persistent absenteeism, which include effectively engaging parents through automated text messages and addressing underlying factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, increasing mental health problems among young people, and a lack of...

Wellness centers. Mental health counseling. Youth leadership development. These are examples of community schools initiatives in practice. With passage of a new contract that specifically endorses community schools, the West Contra Costa Unified School District is poised to become a...

No issue is more pressing in California than education. In late October, the state released scores for the first post-Covid-shutdown state standardized test, conducted earlier last year. The results were horrendous (https://edsource.org/2022/2022-california-standardized-test-results-wipe-out-years-of-steady-progress/680179). Less than half of all students who took...

Now is the time for California elected leaders to be bold and to build on the historic progress we’ve seen. As a state that is poised to be the fourth largest economy in the world, California has the capacity and...

The San Francisco Unified School District calls the LCAP its “most important plan.” That’s because the Local Control and Accountability Plan will map out how SFUSD serves its highest-need students: English language learners, foster and homeless youth and socioeconomically disadvantaged...

From kindergarteners to high school seniors, chronic absenteeism persists around the country, fueled in part by disruptions from the spread of COVID-19 in the last three years, government data shows. In some places, repeated absences are getting much worse. The...

Data on unexcused absences can be used to craft a “more preventive, problem-solving, and equitable response to poor attendance,” according to a new Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) report, Disparities in Unexcused Absences Across California Schools. Attending school is...

Marin school enrollment dipped again in 2022-23, the sixth straight year of decline, according to new state data. The county’s public school enrollment dropped by an average total of 8.85% since the baseline year of 2018-19. That was almost in...

As California’s community colleges add more baccalaureate degrees to their offerings, it could help improve racial equity in the state’s higher education systems, according to a new study. The study by UCLA calls for a “strategic expansion” of baccalaureate degrees...

New school enrollment numbers in California point to an uncomfortable truth: California may have too many schools for its shrinking student population. As declining enrollment puts pressure on school district budgets, many districts are considering school closures — an option...

New state data Tuesday dashed educators’ hopes for a post-Covid rebound statewide in TK-12 enrollment. Although substantially less severe than the past two years of record declines, the number of students enrolled in California public schools fell 39,696 to 5.85...

Enrollment at California’s public schools continued to drop for the sixth straight year, with a loss of nearly 40,000 students between this year and last. The situation was especially dire in the six-county Bay Area, with declines nearly double that...

We may have good reasons to close our local K-12 schools for days or weeks. But we should keep them open anyway. That’s because, in California, we are closing schools so routinely that we’re harming children who are already in...

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...