Two California school districts in the process of shifting district structures, policies and culture are beginning to see a measurable effect on student outcomes, according to a recent report from the Policy Analysis for California Education. Led by California Education...

California public school enrollment has dropped for the fifth year in a row—decline of more than110,000 students—as K–12 campuses struggle against pandemic disruptions and a shrinking population of school-age kids amid wide concerns that the decrease is so large that...

Young students are having difficulty learning to read as schools have returned to in-person learning after two years of pandemic disruptions. Studies of literacy in young children have shown that some young students are still suffering from learning loss, even...

Since COVID-19 shut down classrooms in March 2020, education advocates, teachers and parents have repeatedly sounded the alarm, saying extended closures and distance learning would stymie students’ achievements. During the pandemic, students across ethnic groups saw an increase in Ds and...

In America, the demographic circumstances of a child’s birth substantially shape academic success. Sociologists have spent decades studying how factors beyond students’ control—including the race, wealth and ZIP code of their parents—affect their educational opportunities and achievement. But one often...

Policy-relevant research is essential to understanding the complex ways these practices, policies, and norms systematically and differentially shape students’ experience of school—and how they can be changed. But this type of scholarship is not incentivized within academia, and few formal...

With no signs of the omicron variant slowing down anytime soon, some parents are opting to have their child enrolled in independent studies, with the Sacramento City Unified School District seeing a major uptick in families choosing that option. Right...

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...

After five straight years of gradual improvement, standardized test scores declined significantly last year for many California students, most of whom spent 2020-21 in distance learning. Gaps in achievement between Blacks and Hispanics and their white and Asian peers, already...

The California Department of Education (CDE) today released student performance data that provide baseline indicators of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted schools and students. The 2020–21 data affirm both the challenges created by the pandemic and California’s commitment to...

The 2021-22 school year was supposed to have been a rebound to normalcy, with Covid in the rear-view mirror. Instead, midway through, the year has been “shock and overload,” with teachers and administrators “working harder and losing ground,” as Mike...

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...

On behalf of the State Board of Education, and in collaboration with the California Department of Education, the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is pleased to announce the official launch of the California Digital Learning Integration and Standards...

Some of California’s largest school districts are dropping D and F grades for high school students. While the hope is to help students reengage in school after distance learning and to boost their chances of acceptance into the state’s public...

The University of California’s historic move to abandon standardized exams may not be the last of changes coming to the admissions process for the public university system. That’s the expectation of college access advocates and admissions experts who say ditching...

Over the summer, public schools in California gave students a chance to change their letter graders to a "pass" or "no pass." This, after schools acknowledged that some students had a hard time adjusting to online learning. Now some school...

Bad report cards could soon be a thing of the past in California, because some of the state’s largest school districts are dropping “D” and “F” grades. The move is called competency-based learning. Supporters say it will help kids re-engage...

How can policymakers design evidence-based policy that improves student outcomes and access to educational opportunity? How can researchers and practitioners collaborate effectively to implement evidence-based, data-driven interventions, close achievement gaps, and address disparities in school discipline? Researchers, policymakers, and educators...

A new poll provides insight into the issues that a new Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent may face. Lower-income and Black families of students attending L.A. Unified schools feel less supported by the state’s largest school district, according to the poll, while a majority of the families, regardless of income or race, support a public annual evaluation of the new superintendent. The poll data also shows significant disparities in how families feel about the mental support offered to their children.

Some of California’s largest school districts are trying an unconventional tactic to help students re-engage in school after distance learning and boost their chances of acceptance into the state’s public colleges: by dropping D and F grades. Los Angeles Unified...

Our 6-year-old grandson, who lives in Texas, recently discovered how much fun it is to read. My wife Diane has been sending him packets of early reader books since he loves getting mail that is addressed to him. He likes...

Teachers across the country are seeing more and more students struggle with reading this school year. Pandemic school closures and remote instruction made learning to read much harder, especially for young, low-income students who didn’t have adequate technology at home...

The bottom line is: Spanish is just one of the many languages spoken by members of the Latino community. This problem has bled into schools, where administrators and teachers don’t know that their students speak an indigenous language, and don’t...