The COVID crisis led to a windfall of taxpayer dollars for our local schools. It was much-needed money but all that isn’t being spent. And, if it doesn’t get used, millions, even billions, could go away. NBC Bay Area’s Raj...

The COVID-19 pandemic crippled learning for many students, leaving some kids years behind their classmates. In June, the non-profit Policy Analysis for California Education released a report showing students at 19 school districts were about two and a half months...

Using data to help guide decisions about increasing student engagement, providing extended learning opportunities, and finding effective ways to communicate with parents and students can help boost attendance rates as students adjust to full-time, in-person learning. The timely analysis of...

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 metaphor “summer slide” has been used for decades to describe the essential skills that children lose over the summer when they’re out of school. Though this term was popular before 2020, unfortunately it is now the least of many...

As parents fearful of coronavirus’s spread and frustrated with their schools’ forays into remote learning seek other options, they are increasingly turning to virtual for-profit charter schools. Numerous studies show that parents of color were more likely to keep their...

A 2018 study of student digital literacy skills found that only 2% of eighth grade students in the U.S. scored at the highest level of computer and information literacy. Education experts were quick to point out that this should not...

A report from a coalition of bipartisan education groups—including the California PTA, the California Teachers Association and Policy Analysis for California Education—has urged schools to use their COVID funding to support mental health programs this year. The report recommends school...

Canada’s literacy gap was an issue long before the pandemic. But as the health crisis continues to exacerbate existing economic and health challenges, while increasing levels of precarity, instability and inequality in many households, the need to address the problem...

Literacy is about more than being able to read or not. It refers to how well people understand and use printed information to function in society and the economy.  Research suggests the pandemic has not only increased inequities in literacy...

The term “learning loss” is too often used to describe the restorative restart needed in California’s most underserved communities for the 2021-2022 academic year. It is accurate that many students have experienced enormous disruptions in their lives and learning, but...

Last March according to the National Center for Education Statistics, just short of 40 percent of U.S. students were still learning entirely remotely. Roughly the same percentage were back attending full-time in-person learning (another 23 percent of students were enrolled...

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...

It felt like this fall would—at long last—be different. Last March according to the National Center for Education Statistics, just short of 40 percent of U.S. students were still learning entirely remotely. Roughly the same percentage were back attending full-time...

While we know that there is an increasing number of Indigenous Latinx students in schools. Some argue that the silencing of Indigenous communities and lack of knowledge among educators of Indigenous languages has obscured the true number of English learners...

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...

A year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic, schools are reopening amid more uncertainty than ever. Just about the only thing districts know for sure is that last year’s lockdowns and online learning were a disaster for the emotional...

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...

As most students in California return to the classroom, many educators and parents are concerned that a year or more of Zoom school means students may be lagging behind where they would have been if there had been no pandemic. Learning loss...

Strict school discipline increases the chances of adult arrests. The research confirms the school-to-prison pipeline, a term used to highlight the link between exclusionary school discipline and incarceration. Black and Hispanic individuals, who are more likely to be suspended or...

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been clear that not all students have been impacted by the switch to online learning in the same ways. The greatest impacts have fallen on young children, as well as English language learners and low-income...

All throughout the previous year, we held our collective breaths in hope for a “return to normal,” while recognizing that whatever we returned to would look very different. As school starts this fall, after a year of interrupted learning imposed...

At the start of a school year, kids usually show up with oversized backpacks stocked with fresh pencils, crisp notebooks and snacks. This back-to-school season, many children will carry extra baggage. Eighteen months of an unprecedented pandemic turned routines—including going...

While the teaching workforce continues to be heavily dominated by white teachers, in particular white women, the academic and social-emotional benefits for students of color of having a teacher who is their same race have been widely documented. Less studied...