Students in California had relatively high marks for their online learning experiences during the pandemic but were less satisfied with their personal well-being and social relationships, according to a survey released by Policy Analysis for California Education.
Students with disabilities have been especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. They and their parents have reported higher levels of anxiety and depression, the loss of specialized services and supports, and poor results from distance learning. Compared to the general student population, families with students with disabilities are more likely to express concern for their mental health and their children are more likely to experience little to no remote learning.
The unprecedented closure of schools as a result of the global pandemic has had a dramatic—devastating, even—effect on our communities. In its wake, COVID-19 has exposed persistent inequities in our public school systems and has magnified concerns about providing for students’ basic needs, their emotional well-being, and their academic progress. Yet, as is often the case, hard times lead to opportunities to reimagine and rebuild.
In early December, California State University leaders made a bold announcement: All 23 campuses would reopen for in-person classes in fall 2021. But with registration underway for the new academic year, the return is looking anything but normal—and it has...
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...
This fall, schools and districts will likely return to full in-person instruction amid a lingering pandemic while being faced with the challenge of addressing heightened student academic and wellness needs associated with lost learning opportunities, extended periods of isolation and physical distancing, and other challenges students encountered during the pandemic. Though the demands on schools will be high, the resources available to schools will also be considerable, with state and federal dollars filling many district coffers to a level previously unmatched.
This commentary provides California’s K–12 education leaders 10 recommendations for utilizing COVID-19 recovery funds to serve English learner students. It is important for leaders to act boldly and innovatively to begin to reimagine K–12 education, in particular for English learners, whose learning has been yet more negatively affected by the pandemic than that of their English-speaking peers.
The coming much-needed influx of federal and state money to California public schools is an unforeseen and unprecedented windfall that will certainly help mitigate the many extra expenses the pandemic has created. It would be easy, and perhaps understandable, for local officials to become cavalier about how they use the extra funds they receive. The catch is that it is a one-time infusion of funds, not a permanent increase for California’s perennially underfunded K–12 system. How can local school districts best use this one-time bump in funding?
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...
EdSource asked education leaders, advocates and observers to comment on Governor Newsom’s record-level, revised 2021-22 budget for K-12 education. We wanted to know what they thought would most advance students’ recovery from the impact of the pandemic and what they...
In March, Student Experience Research Network released a video describing how research on Black students’ experiences of belonging helped to catalyze changes at Equal Opportunity Schools, a partner organization to school districts across the country. This was the first video...
More than eight out of every 10 California public school campuses have already reopened. It looks increasingly likely that in the fall, the state will require schools to offer full-time, in-person instruction. Headlines like these make this next fact easy to...
California Community Colleges offer free tuition to more students than any other higher education system in the U.S. More than 1 million of the roughly 2.1 million students in the system's 116 colleges don't pay for classes, mostly the result...
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...
Research from Policy Analysis for California Education "shows significant impacts to learning related to the COVID-19 school disruptions, with a larger effect among low income and English learner students," according to an analysis of the learning loss bill.
The year of distance learning has been tough on all students. And though academic loss might be front-of-mind for parents and teachers, experts say an over-emphasis on test scores at this point is a mistake. Learning loss matters and must...
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...
For students with disabilities, the pandemic has been a landscape of extremes. Some have thrived with distance learning and want to continue in the fall, while many have languished without the in-person support of therapists and teachers and have lost...
In a when the usual summer slide in learning has stretched into a school-year slide, librarians say it is more important than ever to make reading a part of every child’s summer, especially underserved children and teens.
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...
Like a Category 4 hurricane, Covid-19 has undermined the state’s newly built California School Dashboard and system of state and county support for schools deemed to need help for poor performance. It could be a few years before the system...
California-based education, advocacy and civil right groups are calling for schools to make a “restorative restart” that emphasizes relationship-building, staffing supports and promoting equity as students return to schools in the fall.
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...
California education experts have teamed up with child advocates, teachers and school administrators to create a framework for redesigning in-person learning over the coming months. The framework, called “Reimagine and Rebuild: Restarting School with Equity at the Center” was announced...
As the one-year anniversary of campus closures due to COVID-19 passed last March, nearly half of America’s children were attending schools operating remotely or open only on a hybrid basis. In California, more than 70% of students were attending schools...