The doors of the Golden 1 Credit Union remained ajar on April 5 as elementary-aged kids played games or had their faces painted outside while families inside circled the display tables featuring material from the bank and CalKIDS. The event was to encourage families to open a youth education savings account as well as learn … Read more
California introduced the first phase of its ambitious Cradle-to-Career data system April 22, making it one of the few states with education data easily accessible to everyone. Now, parents, students and others can go to the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) website to learn how many graduates from each school district earned a bachelor’s degree each year, how … Read more
In 2011, when criminal penalties were first tied to truancy, five parents in Orange County were arrested for their children’s truancy. Other counties similarly chose the punitive approach over the years, with Merced County initiating an anti-truancy push in 2017 that included the arrest of 10 parents. Those parents were charged with misdemeanors, contributing to … Read more
Before the pandemic, Lillian Lopez never questioned the safety of vaccines. That’s why all her children are up to date on their immunizations. The Bakersfield mother of three used to be religious about getting her flu shot. She never missed a year. No more. Lopez, 45, took offense at how COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions … Read more
Californians’ confidence in their public schools and approval of how Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are handling public education have fallen sharply since the COVID pandemic, according to an annual survey on K-12 education released Thursday, April 17 by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). Half believe that the public school system is … Read more
Students who experienced homelessness in high school would get additional financial assistance to attend three California State University campuses under a pilot program proposed in the California Legislature this week. Senate Bill 685 would cover the remaining cost of attendance after financial aid at San Jose State and two other Cal State campuses, including tuition … Read more
California officials are giving students an extra month to meet the state financial aid priority deadline, saying fewer high school seniors have finished paperwork so far this year due to delays in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and uncertainty about federal education policy and immigration enforcement. The California Student Aid Commission, whose executive … Read more
California issued fewer K-12 teaching credentials for a second year in a row and fewer students enrolled in teacher preparation programs during the 2022-23 school year, exacerbating the state’s ongoing teacher shortage. The state bestowed 14,636 new teaching credentials during the 2022-23 school year, the most recent year data is available, nearly 2,000 fewer credentials … Read more
Clarity matters when explaining to parents how their children did on standardized tests. An imprecise characterization of a complicated score can mislead parents into assuming their kids performed better than they did. That issue is at the heart of the opposition to draft revisions to descriptions of students’ scores on the Smarter Balanced assessments that … Read more
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond vowed on Nov. 15 to fight President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, which he said represented a “clear threat to what our students need to have a good education and a great life.” “We cannot be caught flatfooted,” Thurmond said during a … Read more