Education Beat: Recent Episodes

EdSource

Education creates opportunity, but understanding what works best in and out of the classroom can be complicated. Join the team at EdSource each week to help make sense of the most pressing issues in education facing California and beyond.

As teachers and students get ready to go back to school, Education Beat brings you this special repeat episode:

With the expansion of transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds, California schools need smaller toilets, smaller sinks and a whole new understanding of the importance of play in the classroom. Think Play-Doh, finger painting, make-believe and dress-up. Some 4-year-olds also need help going to the bathroom and wiping afterward.

But teachers — and principals — are not always educated about these aspects of early education, making the rollout of TK somewhat bumpy. In this episode, a TK teacher and our reporters discuss some of the challenges to making sure every California school is offering a high-quality early education tailored to 4-year-olds’ developmental needs.

Guests:

Elyse Doerflinger, TK Teacher, Woodlake Unified School District
Lasherica Thornton, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Play, potties, preschool: TK for all

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Some teachers — and principals — are not educated about important aspects of early education, like play, make-believe and help in the bathroom.

Many professors say more students are arriving to college so poorly prepared that they can't solve middle-school math equations. Is reinstating the SAT the answer?

Award winning episode rebroadcast: Texas offers more bilingual education than California and backs it up with more funding. How did that happen?

One 9 year-old's deportation triggered a wave of grief and anger among her classmates in West Contra Costa Unified School District.

In a deeply red county in California's far north, a transgender school board member has mostly been received with acceptance and respect.

Step inside a Paso Robles school to learn how inclusive classrooms are supporting students with disabilities and why it matters for both students and districts.

For 27 years, Yolanda Thomas has cared for children from birth to 12 years old. But many parents are now choosing to unenroll their kids at four to attend transitional kindergarten.

As a California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt now offers new degrees and career possibilities for graduates and aims to attract more students.

Teachers say escalating costs are swallowing their raises, while district leaders say schools can't shoulder the cost as they grapple with declining enrollment.

At Coachella Valley High School, where Miliani Rodriguez is a senior, the air conditioning often breaks. When it rains, the ceilings leak. So she's suing the state.

Jair Solis became his family's first-ever college graduate, a milestone that had felt out of reach because of the long-lasting fallout from his dad's detention.

Students at four Los Angeles high schools are learning firefighting and emergency medical skills as part of the school district's career and technical education pathways.

The high school student newspaper the Redwood Bark in Larkspur, California has recently faced pushback and censorship from the district administration. And it's not the only one.

Students at college campuses across California recover hundreds of pounds of unserved food from dining halls to serve to their hungry classmates.

As schools remove statues and names from buildings, educators raise deeper questions about how schools can confront underlying issues of power, sexism, sexual violence and historical legacy.

EdSource Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald explains how this election could reshape California schools.

Some students are attracted to the small student population, the accessible rent prices and the research opportunities at UC Merced.

Julie Edwards' daughter brought home a Chromebook from school in second grade to work on math and reading. But soon she was watching Youtube videos.

Fresno Unified and the Fresno Teachers Association are housing 20 families and offering classes and supports to help them get ahead.

Students at Hollywood High School's New Media Academy learn video production and animation. They produce their own films and get the opportunity to build connections with entertainment industry professionals.

Teachers are striking for better pay, benefits and class size. But school districts say their budgets are extremely tight and they're contemplating layoffs.

At Antioch High School, peer advocates mentor freshmen, meet with students who've been found with alcohol or drugs, and facilitate conflict resolution.

Arizona State University wants Cal Grants for its California-based students, but California officials say its not eligible.

California's Assembly Bill 218 made it possible for childhood abuse victims to sue public agencies up to their 40th birthday or five years after discovering the abuse.

Fresno Unified invested $30 million in services that go beyond traditional academics, from housing assistance to music production and lunchtime sports.

In 1985, Merryl Goldberg went to the Soviet Union and met The Phantom Orchestra. To help them she made up a secret code, hidden in sheet music.

Fausto Lopez finished high school, got an associate degree and applied to attend a four-year college - all while inside juvenile detention.

We visited Heather Povinelli in her Monrovia classroom, where we spoke about how she got back into teaching, how she creates an inclusive classroom, and what she learned conducting research about other teachers with dwarfism.

It's time for John Fensterwald's annual predictions for what's in store for education in 2026.

Betty Reid Soskin was the nation's oldest national park ranger. She passed away on Dec. 21 at 104 years old. To honor her, we bring you an episode from 2021, about how a California school came to be renamed after her.

In the bilingual education world, José Medina is a superstar. A former teacher turned principal turned researcher, he spreads his message of respecting students' languages on social media and in schools across the country.

A tiny school district in rural Merced County has invested heavily in school counseling. And UCLA researchers have recognized the results.

A new literacy intervention program is being rolled out in San Diego, Alameda, San Mateo and Riverside counties, to help teenagers in juvenile detention grasp the basics of reading.

This week many listeners may be in their kitchens preparing a big meal for Thanksgiving, so we're rebroadcasting an episode from 2022, where we visit a kitchen in Davenport, California, a little seaside town, south of San Francisco, not far from Santa Cruz.

The town is home to a tiny district with just one school, nestled between ocean, farmland, and mountains. John Fensterwald is taking us there for lunch, cooked from scratch by the fifth and sixth graders.

Pacific Elementary’s unique Food Lab program is a boon for the district, boosting its enrollment by attracting students from nearby wealthier districts.

Guests:

Emelia Miguel, Food Service Director, Pacific Elementary School
Quinn Schromm, Moses O’Riordan, Shyon Johnson, Logan Franks, and other Student Chefs, Pacific Elementary School
Eric Gross, Principal, Pacific Elementary School
Doña Bumgarner, Parent and Librarian, Pacific Elementary School
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read the EdSource article and watch the video:

Kid cooks and tasty lunches: One elementary school’s recipe for survival

Over the last ten years, San Luis Coastal Unified School District has changed up its menu, replacing packaged pizza and chicken nuggets with freshly baked chicken drumsticks, sweet potato, black bean chimichurri bowls and plates of coconut rice with a red lentil dal.

The district has done that in part through a federal grant program that helps school districts buy ingredients from local farms to make more nutritious school lunches from scratch.

Now, that federal program has been gutted, leaving many districts, especially smaller ones or those just starting out on the journey of making over their menus, without a crucial funding stream.

Guests:

Erin Primer, director of food and nutrition services, San Luis Coastal Unified School District
Mallika Seshadri, reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Schools, farms grapple with lost funds after federal program is gutted

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Improve Your Tomorrow provides mentorship services to about 1,000 students at Stockton Unified School District, transforming struggling students into leaders prepared for college.

But funding is uncertain under the second Trump administration. Improve Your Tomorrow, like many mentoring and tutoring programs in K-12 schools, relies partially on federal grants through AmeriCorps — funding that President Donald Trump has proposed entirely eliminating.

Guests:

Nicole Davidson, program manager, Improve Your Tomorrow at Stockton Unified School District
Lasherica Thornton,reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

'Fewer children are able to thrive’: California AmeriCorps programs adapt to funding uncertainty

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This week's episode was hosted by EdSource’s Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

As a kindergarten teacher, a big part of Violet Nye’s job is teaching kids how to read. But the way she teaches her students is very different from how she learned as a kid. She remembers being taught to memorize whole words.

Now, she's steeped in the practice of teaching kids how to sound out words, while also building up their vocabulary and helping them lift words off the page to imagine whole new worlds from stories.

A new law aims to get more California teachers to teach reading the way Violet does. It comes after years of advocacy and debate and required a significant amount of compromise.

Guests:

Violet Nye, Kindergarten teacher, San Juan Unified School District
Diana Lambert, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: New law changes how California kids learn to read

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Miliani Rodriguez is a senior at Coachella Valley High School. The school buildings are old, she says, and they show it. The air conditioning often breaks in over 100-degree heat. When it rains, the ceilings leak. The sinks in her ceramics classroom broke and flooded the classroom.

Miliani thought these kinds of things were normal, after attending school in the Coachella Valley Unified School District since kindergarten. But last year she visited her cousin’s high school, just a couple of miles away from her, and found modern buildings, spacious athletic fields, and working air conditioning.

Now, she is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit, Miliani R. v. State of California, which claims the way the state subsidizes school renovations perpetuates vast inequalities for students, sending more money to districts that already have more property wealth, and locking out poor districts from accessing funding.

Guests:

Miliani Rodriguez, Lead plaintiff, Miliani R. v. State of California
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: California sued over bond program that sends more money to fix facilities in wealthy school districts

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

When Sarahi Sanchez Soto joined a dual-enrollment program at her high school in Dinuba, it allowed her to enroll in college-level computer science classes and jump-started her college career.

But that program is now in peril, after the Trump administration announced it’s eliminating grant programs for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, colleges where at least 25% of students are Latino, because they claim they are discriminatory.

These cuts hit California's community colleges hard, where the grants provided services meant to help all students get past early hurdles in their college journeys.

Guests:

Sarahi Sanchez Soto, Student, Reedley College,
Michael Burke, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Student support programs in peril after federal cuts at Hispanic-serving community colleges
Trump administration to end grant funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, affecting many California colleges
California colleges worry about lawsuit challenging funding for campuses with many Hispanic students

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

After a student at Maywood Academy High School in Los Angeles is arrested and deported by immigration authorities, a community grapples with the aftermath.

Saran Tugsjargal found herself wondering who would stand up for students like her. Little did she know that she would become that person.

Schools across California could lose hundreds of mental health workers, after the Trump administration cut federal grants.

Meet Allison Saiki, who teaches students how to manage money, pay rent and open retirement accounts, with a class currency she calls "Saiki Cents."

An audit found the charter received millions in funding for which it was not eligible, assigned teachers to classes they were not credentialed to teach, and avoided standardized testing, in addition to spending on items like a trip to Paris and leasing a ballpark.

The Mahmoud v. Taylor case involved storybooks with LGBTQ themes, but legal experts say that the case has much broader implications that could affect subjects like literature, history and science.

California schools need a whole new understanding of the importance of play – and potty-training – in TK classrooms.

A new report by the Education Justice Coalition calls out Los Angeles County for its failure to educate incarcerated youth, despite a civil grand jury report and investigations by the federal and state DOJ.

Lack of on-campus housing for students at many CSU campuses can be a major barrier for low-income students.

An Oakland woman adopted a class of first graders and promised to pay for their college educations if they graduated from high school.

The Trump Administration has proposed cutting all funding for what are called TRIO programs which prepare and guide low-income students through college.

Larry Ferlazzo is retiring after 23 years of teaching. Here are some of his words of wisdom.

The Migrant Education Program, which provides academic support to the children of agricultural workers, could end after the Trump administration froze federal funds.

Hundreds of thousands of children could lose federally-funded food stamps and health care under the new law.

The state of Tennessee and the group Students for Fair Admissions recently filed a lawsuit challenging grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

As ICE raids ramp up across California, family members — and sometimes students themselves — have been detained or deported.

Berkeley High School launched a new program that pairs professional filmmakers with high school students.

Public health professor Noé Crespo was studying how to boost vaccination among Latinos, but in April his grant was terminated.

In the 1974 case, the Court decided students who do not yet speak fluent English have a right to understand what is being taught in their classrooms.

The Eaton Fire destroyed thousands of homes and displaced around 10,000 of Pasadena Unified School District’s 14,000 students.

Jackie Stephens' daughters Mercy and Hope both attended preschool through Head Start, and she says they've thrived. But now she's worried.

Trump administration slashing programs for students with disabilities, struggling readers

In many districts, contracts for school resource officers are passed with no public discussion.

We visit an elementary school and a middle school in Austin, Texas, where students learn in Spanish and English and take the AP Spanish exam in 8th grade.

Measles vaccination rates are going down in California schools and in some cases are lower than 95%, considered "herd immunity."

Manny Barbara is likely one of the most experienced people in the state when it comes to closing a school.

Drama teacher Catherine Borek says theater can be therapy to help kids conquer anxiety.

One school principal in San Jose sees promise in his school, which his team reimagined during the pandemic.

Sonoma State University announced a proposal this spring to cut $24 million dollars by eliminating six academic departments.

Undocumented young people risked everything decades ago to "come out of the shadows." As the Trump administration threatens mass deportations, what can we learn from this history?

Parents joined a lawsuit against LAUSD and superintendent Alberto Carvalho, claiming that the district was misusing its Proposition 28 funds.

In this episode, we bring you the story of one former foster youth who dropped out of college, then returned years later with renewed resolve.

Students who have missed years of school in their home countries not only have to learn English, but also basic reading, writing, math and science.

A school board meeting in Palo Alto offers a peek into an argument over whether ethnic studies should be required, and what the course should teach.

The majority of students in California schools are Latino, while the teachers are mostly white. But that could now be changing.

A teacher shares the story of her family's escape, and a reporter describes the physical and emotional damage to schools and communities.

Every year, John Fensterwald tells us what he thinks might or might not happen in California education in the new year. Listen to what he foresees for 2025.

Inside the first bachelor's degree program in a women's prison in Chowchilla, incarcerated women work to rebuild their lives by pursuing higher degrees.

A Central Valley dad applied for his green card and ended up separated from his wife and four kids, because of a change in immigration policy under the first Trump administration.

Gabriela Rodriguez stars in The San Jose Nutcracker and dreams of teaching others the joy of dance.

Alice Keeney had to study for months in the Navy to learn how to operate nuclear reactors that power submarines and aircraft carriers. But when she tried to transfer her classes over to Cal Poly Pomona, they wouldn't give her credit.

Why is credit for learning outside the classroom important? And how did Alice — and her allies — eventually change how CSUs evaluate transcripts?

Guests:

Alice Keeney, Former machinist mate in the Navy and former student at Cal Poly Pomona
Emma Gallegos, Reporter, EdSource

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Tulare County, in California's Central Valley, struggles with very high poverty rates and youth mental health issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic. It also has one of the lowest numbers of school mental health workers in the state.

So now the county is giving internships to graduate students in social work and placing them in schools, in an effort to tackle the shortage.

How can this strategy help students? What challenges do school social workers face in counties like Tulare?

Guests:

Greg Salcedo, School social worker, Tulare Joint Union High School District
Vani Sanganeria, Local News Fellow, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Tackling the student mental health crisis in rural Central Valley

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

This week we are re-airing an episode from 2023 that won an Excellence in Journalism Award for Education Reporting in the Radio/Audio/Podcast category, from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California.

A high school drama teacher was removed from the classroom in Temecula Valley Unified, after a parent complained students were reading the Pulitzer-prize-winning play, “Angels in America,” about the AIDS epidemic in New York during the 1980s.

What happened in the months after the teacher’s removal? And how did it affect other teachers and students?

Guests:

Greg Bailey, Drama teacher, Temecula Valley High School
Mallika Seshadri, Journalism resident, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Learning at Temecula Valley Unified suffers as censorship fears rise
LGBTQ+ students in conservative crosshairs
Temecula Valley Unified CRT ban has created a hostile school environment, lawsuit says
Temecula Valley Unified reverses course and adopts state-approved social studies curriculum
Temecula board again votes to reject textbooks, despite warnings from Newsom
Conservatives are waging a war for control over California school boards

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Students who graduate with a college degree in a STEM field are well-positioned for careers where they will make high wages.

But community college students can’t get a STEM degree or even transfer to a university without first passing calculus. That’s been a huge hurdle for many students, especially Black, Latino and Pell Grant students.

Some studies have shown that students who start college with calculus, rather than preparatory courses, are more likely to pass the course. The California Community College system, spurred by AB 1705, a new law that takes effect in 2025, is pushing its 116 campuses to place more STEM students directly into Calculus.

Some community college students and math faculty are concerned that this push will leave students unprepared for the advanced math they need for their STEM majors. But other math professors who are early adopters say that they’re optimistic that this law is exactly what California students need to get on track for success in STEM fields.

Guests:

Rena Weiss, Math Professor, Moorpark College
Amy DiPierro, Reporter, EdSource
Michael Burke, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Educators divided on impact of changes in STEM math placement at California community colleges
What to know about changes in STEM math placement at California community colleges

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource's Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

In the wake of Trump's election we look at how his presidency and promised education policies might affect California schools, students, and educators.

Millions of California voters found a blank spot on their ballot where they might normally see candidates for school board. Why?

A high school junior reflects on the significance of this moment and the importance of civic engagement for teenagers.

The district had found high levels of lead in the water during tests conducted over spring and summer, but it didn’t share those results with parents and staff until this August.

Many school buildings in California are in dilapidated conditions, with leaky roofs, broken concrete, moldy walls or crumbling foundations. Some students suffer without air conditioning even as temperatures soar.

This year, school districts and community colleges are putting an unprecedented $50 billion in construction bonds on local ballots. A $10 billion statewide bond to supplement that money is on the ballot, too.

What's at stake? What do voters need to know about school bonds?

Guests:

Brie Fraley, Parent, Del Norte Unified School District
Daryl Camp, Superintendent, San Lorenzo Unified School District
Hallie Lozano, Literacy coach, San Juan Unified School District
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Upgrading facilities can make schools safer and more sustainable, panel says
A guide to what a $10 billion construction bond on the ballot could mean for your school
252 districts place bonds on the ballot; here’s how two would spend the money
Central Valley schools juggle extensive building needs with limited funds to fix them

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

California made strides attracting new teachers before the pandemic, but the number of new teaching credentials went down 16% in 2021-22 and 14% in 2022-23.

In a 2022 UCLA study, one in five California teachers said they would probably or definitely leave the profession in the next three years — because of burnout, low pay, student apathy and behavioral issues.

Still, thousands of people earn their credentials each year, and thousands of students are passionate about becoming teachers and are working toward that goal. Student journalist Clara Brownstein set out to find out what motivates them to enter the profession.

Guests:

Susana Espinoza, Student minoring in education, UC Berkeley
Clara Brownstein, California Student Journalism Corps

Read more from EdSource:

Teachers are still leaving, but these aspiring educators are excited to join the profession

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

California State University and the University of California are revamping protest rules and banning encampments, barriers and, under certain circumstances, the wearing of face masks.

They join a wave of other colleges across the country that have revisited rules about how and where people can demonstrate on their campuses in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests last spring.

The changes have sparked criticism and protest from many students and faculty, who say some of the new restrictions could limit free speech rights.

Guest: Amy DiPierro, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Cal State, University of California ban encampments, impose protest rules
Why the ACLU is suing UC Santa Cruz for banning students who participated in spring protests
ACLU says Cal State Long Beach sound amplification rules ‘unconstitutional’
Federal judge orders UCLA to ensure equal access to Jewish students following pro-Palestinian protests

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

When Lenore Skenazy let her nine-year-old son Izzy find his own way home by subway in New York City, she was reviled by some as "America's Worst Mom." But Lenore feels that as a society, adults have taken away freedom and autonomy from children, leaving in their place anxiety and passivity. The organization she co-founded, Let Grow, encourages parents to give their children the kind of small freedoms their generation had enjoyed as children, such as walking alone to school or to the park, and playing freely with other children, without being directed by adults.

How can schools and parents give children more free play, independence and responsibility? Is there evidence this can boost mental health and wellbeing?

Guests:

Lenore Skenazy, Co-founder, Let Grow
Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Free-range parenting: A chat with Lenore SkenazyEducation Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

If Jennifer Hwang’s son made it to his first grade classroom, it was rarely without a fight. He was having violent outbursts and refusing to go to school many mornings.

University of Southern California researchers recently found that students who are chronically absent from school are much more likely to struggle with mental health challenges.

What can schools do to get these students back in class?

Guests:

Jennifer Hwang, parent, Los Angeles Unified School District
Amie Rapaport, research scientist, University of Southern California
Jessica Hull, executive director of communication and community engagement, Roseville City School District
Zaia Vera, education consultant and former head of social emotional learning, Oakland Unified School District
Betty Márquez Rosales, reporter, EdSource
Mallika Seshadri, reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Helping students with mental health struggles may help them return to school
Communication with parents is key to addressing chronic absenteeism, panel says

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Rigoberto Sánchez-Mejía has been taking music lessons with Harmony Project, a nonprofit music education organization in Los Angeles, for 12 years, since he was 5 years old. He credits them with putting him on a path to college and giving him a tool to calm down when life is too stressful.

Harmony Project serves about 4,000 kids from low-income communities across Los Angeles and Orange County, giving them free music lessons, instruments and the opportunity to play in orchestras, big band, mariachi groups and more. A staggering 97% of participants graduate high school, and close to 80% go on to college.

What's their secret? How does music education like Harmony's help students in school and life?

Guests:

Rigoberto Sánchez-Mejía, Graduate, Harmony Project
Natalie Jackson, Executive director, Harmony Project
Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Harmony Project: Harnessing the power of music to boost LAUSD students

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Many school districts have taken steps to ban or restrict cell phones and smart watches in the classroom, to curb bullying, distraction and addiction.

Students will have easier access to mental health care, free menstrual products and climate change education, among other changes.

While California's get-tough 2010 truancy law remains on the books, districts are less and less likely to lean on punitive measures.

After participating in Fresno Unified's Teacher Academy, Aly Ortiz knows she wants to be a teacher.

The West Contra Costa Unified School District promised back in 2019 that Stege Elementary School would get a complete redesign to attract more students and more experienced teachers and turn around low test scores, high suspension rates and chronic absenteeism. The school building itself was supposed to be remodeled by the 2020-21 school year.

But now, a group of teachers, staff and parents are suing the district, alleging that it failed to address severely poor building conditions and teacher vacancies, violating the rights of students, the majority of whom are Black, Latino, low-income and English learners.

What happened? And what is the significance of this lawsuit statewide?

Guests:

Sam Cleare, Teacher, Stege Elementary School
Karissa Provenza, Attorney, Public Advocates
Monica Velez, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

West Contra Costa sued over poor building conditions, teacher vacancies
Saving Stege: What will it take to redesign this struggling California school?

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Districts across California are struggling to hire teachers, but California doesn’t offer teacher preparation programs at community colleges, which is a barrier for those who live far away from four-year colleges.

In contrast, Washington State is preparing hundreds of teachers with bachelor’s degrees at community colleges.

What's the difference between these states and what can California learn from Washington?

Guests:

Saray Preciado and Jannet Zavala, Graduates, Yakima Valley College
Michael Burke, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Misty Her is the first woman to lead Fresno Unified since its inception in 1873, and the first Hmong person, in a district where 10% of English learners speak Hmong at home.

Children's Fairyland in Oakland is using puppets to help kids practice playing make believe, after teachers noticed a lack of imaginative play after the pandemic.

California's method for funding school construction has exacerbated inequalities, many say.

What happened at UC Riverside, a campus with a reputation for being welcoming to Middle Eastern students, was different.

In a sweeping investigation, EdSource obtained nearly 46,000 incident logs documenting calls to police from and about 852 schools. Why does this data matter?

On any given day, thousands of calls go out from California schools to the police. But there isn't a lot of public data about why police are called to schools, or what they do when they get there.

As part of a sweeping statewide investigation into school policing, EdSource obtained nearly 46,000 incident logs documenting calls to police from and about 852 schools in almost every California county. The data offers a first, raw look at why school staff summon police. Why does this data matter and what can it tell school administrators, police, parents and students?

Guests:

Rose Ciotta, Investigations and Projects Editor, EdSource
Thomas Peele, Investigative Reporter, EdSource
Daniel J. Willis, Data Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Calling the Cops Database
When California schools summon police
Call records show vast police presence in California schools
Going police-free is tough and ongoing, Oakland schools find
San Bernardino County: Growing hot spot for school-run police
Safety concerns on the rise in LAUSD; Carvalho looks to police

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

In San Jose’s Alum Rock Union School District, students gather after school to learn how to play and sing mariachi music.

When districts don't meet staff ratios or go over class size for TK, some teachers say it's a safety issue.

As a wave of protests on university campuses call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for universities to divest from companies with military ties to Israel, student journalists have emerged as crucial sources of information.

At some schools, student journalists are the only regular source of news on campus grounds, especially when campuses have shut down to non-students. In some cases, they’ve scooped mainstream media, with the most accurate, up-to-date coverage.

Increasingly, student journalists are doing this work under threats of arrest and violence.

Guests:

Chris Woodard, Managing editor, The State Hornet
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource
Mallika Seshadri, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: As protests surge across college campuses, student journalists report from the front lines

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

California has one of the lowest rates of English literacy in the U.S. Almost one third of adults in the state can do little more than fill out a basic form or read a very simple piece of writing in English. Many of them are immigrants.

Experts say programs aimed at addressing poor literacy reach only a fraction of adults who need help. One way to reach them is to bring classes directly to the workplace.

Guests:

Marcelina Chamu, Janitor
Emma Gallegos, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: When you can't read a medicine bottle: California immigrants struggle with low English literacy

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

With California experiencing an ongoing teacher shortage, what is the impact of this flood of pink slips on schools and teachers?

Sam Prater knows what it feels like to be homeless. After he dropped out of high school, he was evicted twice in his hometown of Detroit. So when he saw homeless students being offered just 14 days in college dorms in California, he knew he had to try something different.

Prater's organization now has four homes in L.A. that offer wraparound services to young people experiencing homelessness, to help them jump-start their lives and their college education. A visit offers a peek at what these homes offer.

Guests:

Sam Prater, Founder, Los Angeles Room & Board
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: 'No place like this.' L.A. home helps young adults live beyond survival mode

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Financial aid and admissions officers across California's colleges and universities are navigating longer hours and more stress, as they deal with unprecedented havoc in this year's rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid form.

Hear from financial aid workers as they help students and their families navigate the application morass.

Why has California seen heavier impacts from the FAFSA delays? And what is the state doing to mitigate the fallout?

Guests:

Kamila Juarez, graduating senior, Grace Davis High School
Sonia Jethani, director of financial aid and scholarships at CSU East Bay
Jeanette Phillips, director of financial aid and scholarships at Cal Poly Pomona
Jessica Wagoner, senior associate vice president for enrollment management and services at Cal Poly Pomona

Read more from EdSource:

California’s universities navigate unprecedented FAFSA mistakes and delays
FAFSA delays make it difficult for students to finalize college decisions

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource’s Ashley A. Smith and produced by Coby McDonald.

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, many California students have struggled to attend class regularly. Recent data shows that even last school year, when kids were back in person and there were fewer Covid regulations, nearly a quarter of students statewide missed more than 10% of the school year.

But some school districts, like Fresno Unified, have managed to bring many of their missing students back to class. What's their secret?

Guests:

Abigail Arii, Director of Student Support Services, Fresno Unified School District
Noreida Pérez, Attendance Manager, Fresno Unified School District
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource
Lasherica Thornton, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Calls, home visits, counseling help get California students back to school
Interactive Map: Chronic absenteeism up in nearly a third of 930 California districts
California’s dramatic jump in chronically absent students part of a nationwide surge

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

A growing body of research shows that having a Black teacher increases students' scores on math and reading tests and increases the chance that they will graduate from college.

California has been trying to recruit and retain Black teachers for years, but the percentage of Black teachers still lags behind the percentage of Black students.

What’s keeping Black teachers from getting to and staying in the classroom? And how can we do more to support them?

Guests:

Alicia Simba, Teacher, Oakland Unified School District
Diana Lambert, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Disrespect, low pay, lack of support keep Black teachers out of the profession
Bias, extra work and feelings of isolation: 5 Black teachers tell their stories
California, districts try to recruit and retain Black teachers; advocates say more should be done

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

If you or your child were enrolled in a California public school in first grade through high school in 2021-22, you might have money for college waiting for you.

More than a year and a half ago, California launched a big initiative to help children from low income families save money for college. It’s called the California Kids Investment and Development Savings program, or just CalKIDS.

The program has the potential to serve 3.6 million kids, but only a tiny fraction of those have signed up to activate their accounts.

Who’s eligible for CalKIDS? And what needs to happen to get the word out to more families?

Guests:

Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Board trustee, Fresno Unified School District
Lasherica Thornton, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

What to know about free money waiting in state-funded savings accounts | Quick Guide
Few low-income Californians claiming kids' free money in college savings accounts
Find out if you or your child is eligible here

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

A catastrophic forest fire roared through Northern California’s Butte County in 2018, taking 86 lives and destroying countless homes in the town of Paradise.

To help kids cope with their fear, grief and loss, the county office of education sent a team of artists into the schools. One of those teaching artists shares how he's seen theater help children heal from trauma.

Guests:

Chris Murphy, Trauma-informed teaching artist, Butte County Office of Education
Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource

EdSource Roundtable: Raising the curtain on Prop 28: Can arts education help transform California schools?

Read more from EdSource: Can arts education help children heal from trauma?

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Fifty years ago, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that would forever change education for English learners in this country.

In the 1974case Lau v. Nichols, the Court decided that students who do not yet speak fluent English have a right to fully understand what is being taught in their classrooms, and that schools must take steps to make sure students can understand, whether through additional instruction in English as a second language or bilingual education.

On this episode of Education Beat, we bring you the story of how this case began and how it changed education, from the perspective of a teacher.

Guest:

Lucinda Lee Katz, Retired teacher and administrator

Read more from EdSource: Q&A: How the 50-year-old case that transformed English learner education began

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

The pandemic forced colleges and universities to move most courses online. But even today, many colleges and universities continue to offer online classes, and more than half of students nationwide are taking them.

These courses offer more flexibility and the possibility of enrolling more students. But what do students think of them? EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps asked students on seven campuses across the state.

Guests:

Ally Valiente, Student at Sonoma State University and Member of California Student Journalism Corps
Kelcie Lee, Student at UC Berkeley and Member of California Student Journalism Corps
Also featuring the voices of students Eli Baker, Stephen Chase, and Isabella Uhlik.

Read more from EdSource: What California college students think about online classes

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

For young people who have been incarcerated, it can be hard to find a job or get the training they might need to start a career or go to college.

California is trying to change that, with a program called #CaliforniansForAll Youth Jobs Corps, which places people ages 16 to 30 in jobs for a few months or up to a year and helps them prepare for careers that they might not otherwise be able to access.

Guests:

Kaelyn Carter, Member, #CaliforniansForAll Youth Jobs Corps
Ebony Richardson, Re-entry Coach, Rubicon Landscape Group
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: California's Youth Job Corps offers a second chance at career, higher education

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

As a child, Blanca Rubio was given coloring books rather than reading lessons, because she didn't speak English fluently. Now, she is spearheading an effort to require California school districts to teach all the basic skills needed for children to learn to read, based on research.

How will reading instruction change if a new bill authored by Rubio becomes law? What obstacles might it face?

Guests:

Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), California State Assembly
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Setting aside local control, legislation would mandate how to teach reading in California
Advocates for English learners and the 'science of reading' sign on to joint statement
California's plan to change literacy instruction advances
California does little to ensure all kids read by third grade
A movement rises to change the teaching of reading

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

The vast majority of students in California graduate from high school, but most don't complete the classes needed for admission into the state’s public universities.

Black and Latino students are the least likely to finish these courses, known as A through G requirements.

Victor Valley Union High School District is determined to change that.

Guests:

Aleka Jackson-Jarrell, Coordinator of the Heritage Program, Victor Valley Union High School District
Emma Gallegos, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Most California high school seniors shut out of even applying to the state’s universities
Find out how many seniors finished A-G courses at your high school on this interactive map

Education Beat is a weekly podcas*t hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely. This episode was produced by Jennifer Molina.***

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Maria O's daughters were in kindergarten and third grade in Los Angeles Unified.

They didn't get a working computer from the district and had to connect to Zoom classes on their parents' phones. But Maria was even more concerned about the other children in their classes, who she noticed were not showing up at all or were not interacting with their teachers.

So Maria decided to fight for them. Her children are two of 15 students in Oakland and Los Angeles who sued the state of California over unequal educational opportunities provided during the pandemic. Now, the state has settled, bringing billions to schools to focus on students who were most affected.

Guests:

Maria O., Plaintiff, Cayla J. vs. California
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: California agrees to target the most struggling students to settle learning-loss lawsuit

Education Beat is a weekly podcas*t hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely. This episode was produced by Jennifer Molina.***

As California schools ramp up arts education, they may need 15,000 new teachers who are passionate about both the arts and teaching the next generation.

One person with both those passions is Guillermo Tejeda. He's a jazz musician and former classroom teacher who's currently developing music production curriculum for kindergarten through eighth grade.

Guests:

Guillermo Tejeda, Musician and teacher, The Neighborhood Orchestra Collective
Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Teacher uses jazz to explore California history, race and culture
Gov. Newsom’s budget proposal calls for expanding arts ed pathway

Education Beat is a weekly podcas*t hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely. This episode was produced by Jennifer Molina.***

California State University faculty announced a historic week-long strike, after months of negotiations. So students braced for a week of missed classes.

Then, something surprising happened. After one day, a deal was reached.

The strike did what months of back-and-forth discussions couldn’t — improve faculty wages and working conditions.

How significant was this strike? What did faculty win?

Guest:

Aimee Escalante, Lecturer, Cal State Monterey Bay

Other voices:

Leora Freedman, Chancellor for human resources, California State University
Kate Ozment, Professor, Cal Poly Pomona

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource’s Ashley A. Smith and produced by Jennifer Molina.

When Giselle Meza found out she was pregnant, she was worried her classmates would judge her, and she had no idea when or if she would finish high school. But now, after joining a teen parent program, she's committed to graduating and going on to community college to become an ultrasound technician.

How do teen parent programs help students finish high school and go on to college or careers? And how do they help the babies they are raising?

Guests:

Giselle Meza, Student, Helping Our Parenting Students Excel (HOPE), Kings Valley Academy
Lasherica Thornton, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Hanford program supports teen parents while they finish high school

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely. This episode is produced by Jennifer Molina.

Every January, we turn to our resident fortuneteller, John Fensterwald, for his predictions of what will transpire in California education in the coming year.

This year, he predicts a state budget deficit will create financial stress for schools and contentious statewide ballot issues will create stress for voters.

Guest:

John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: California education issues to watch in 2024 — and predictions

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely. This episode is produced by Jennifer Molina.

Estela López grew up in South Central Los Angeles, and she still lives and works just minutes from her childhood home. She has served in neighborhood schools for 30 years, first as a teacher and now as the principal of Dolores Huerta Elementary School.

She has made it her mission to make sure her school is a refuge for children in the neighborhood, and her reach extends far beyond the walls of her school to help families secure housing, healthcare, and food.

When she was grieving the loss of her oldest son, the children at her school helped her heal.

Guests:

Estela López, Principal, Dolores Huerta Elementary School, Los Angeles Unified School District
Mallika Seshadri, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: ‘My mission’: Dolores Huerta Elementary Principal Estela Lopez extends support to community

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

It can be overwhelming for any parent to advocate for support in school for a child with a disability. But parents who don't speak much English face another major hurdle: getting accurate and timely translations of the documents and meetings so they can understand them.

Some parents report waiting months or even a year for translations of their children's special education documents. A bill in the California legislature could help, but its future is uncertain.

Guests:

Carmen Rodríguez, Parent, San Francisco Unified School District
Zaidee Stavely, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Immigrant parents report faulty, slow translation of special education documents

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource's Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

More California superintendents are leaving to go to other jobs, or retiring, than ever before. The stress of the pandemic, politics and even violent threats all play into superintendent turnover.

Why are superintendents leaving? And what are districts doing to try to retain and attract them?

Guests:

Chris Evans, former superintendent, Natomas Unified School District
Diana Lambert, reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Threats, stress and politics pushing school superintendents out the door
Why five superintendents decided to walk away from their jobs
Superintendents: Well-paid and walking away

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Two years after schools returned to in-person learning, students are struggling to meet math and English standards on statewide tests. Their mental health is also suffering and they're missing lots of days of school.

EdSource brought together a panel of experts to discuss what schools and districts can do to re-engage students, and how teachers can energize and learn from each other. There was one very strong theme — the need for students to feel like they belong at school.

Guests:

Adalberto Hernández, Principal, George Washington Elementary School, Madera Unified School District
Chris Collins, Data and assessment coordinator, Cajon Valley Union School District
Yolie Flores, President and CEO, Families in Schools
Heather Hough, executive director, Policy Analysis for California Education
John Malloy, Superintendent, San Ramon Valley Unified School District
John Fensterwald, Editor-at-large, EdSource

Read more from EdSource and watch the roundtable:

Boosting student success after Covid is a team effort, panel says
Flat test scores leave California far behind pre-Covid levels of achievement

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

As a saxophonist in Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band in 1985, Merryl Goldberg traveled to the Soviet Union to meet up with another group of musicians, The Phantom Orchestra.

The Phantom Orchestra would be sharing more than good tunes with Merryl. They’d also pass along information, including the names of people who wanted to escape the Soviet Union, which Merryl and her friends would then smuggle back to the United States.

To do this, Merryl made up a secret code, hidden in sheet music.

Now Merryl's spy days are long behind her. But she is still passionate about how music and other arts can enrich other fields, including cybersecurity.

Guests:

Merryl Goldberg, Professor, California State University San Marcos
Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Merryl Goldberg, a music professor on a mission to spread arts education

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Bonnie Pérez took child development classes at night while working as a nanny during the day. But she didn’t see a lot of other nannies in her classes, largely because the classes were all in English.

Bonnie saw an untapped group of people with lots of hands-on experience working with kids and who could help fill a shortage of preschool teachers in the state.

A new California law removes barriers to allow more students to enroll in courses taught in Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, Korean and other languages.

Guests:

Bonnie Pérez, Professor of child development, West Los Angeles College
Michael Burke, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: Community college students can take classes in their native language under a new law

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Students new to the country often find themselves in the classrooms of teachers with very little training or support in how to meet their unique needs.

Listen to veteran teacher Jenna Hewitt King describe how her first day teaching newcomers made her feel like a new teacher all over again — and how a new law, Assembly Bill 714, could begin to provide guidance and data for teachers like her.

Guests:

Jenna Hewitt King, Teacher, San Leandro High School
Zaidee Stavely, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Teachers of recently arrived immigrant students to get help under new law
Commentary: Our newcomer students deserve better

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource’s Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

The California State University board of trustees voted last month to increase tuition 6 percent every year for five years, beginning in the fall of 2024.

The rate increase will affect both undergraduate and graduate students, and there’s been vocal opposition from students, faculty and staff.

EdSource’s California Journalism Corps fanned out to ask students how they think the tuition hike could affect decisions to enroll at Cal State.

Guests:

Olivia Keeler, Journalism student and member, California Student Journalism Corps
Arabel Meyer, Journalism student and member, California Student Journalism Corps
Ashley A. Smith, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Cal State students will see 6% tuition hike
CSU students sound off on impact of upcoming tuition increase
Cal State graduation rates remain flat for second consecutive year

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Fresno teachers are voting this Wednesday on whether or not to strike, if the union and the district can’t come to an agreement on class size, teacher pay and benefits.

The first and only time Fresno teachers have been on strike before was 45 years ago, in 1978.

What can we learn from those who were involved in both sides of that strike?

Guests:

Barbara Mendes, retired teacher, Fresno Unified School District
Nancy Richardson, former school board president, Fresno Unified School District
Lasherica Thornton, reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Lessons from the 1978 teachers strike in Fresno
Fresno Unified teachers very likely to strike. Here are the issues
Fresno teachers union rejects district’s offer of pay increases, expanded medical benefits

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

A high school drama teacher was removed from the classroom in Temecula Valley Unified, after a parent complained students were reading the Pulitzer-prize-winning play, “Angels in America,” about the AIDS epidemic in New York during the 1980s.

It’s the latest in a series of efforts by newly elected conservative school board members to change curriculum in the district. What happened in the months after the teacher’s removal? And how is it affecting other teachers and students?

Guests:

Greg Bailey, Drama teacher, Temecula Valley High School
Mallika Seshadri, Journalism resident, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Learning at Temecula Valley Unified suffers as censorship fears rise
LGBTQ+ students in conservative crosshairs
Temecula Valley Unified CRT ban has created a hostile school environment, lawsuit says
Temecula Valley Unified reverses course and adopts state-approved social studies curriculum
Temecula board again votes to reject textbooks, despite warnings from Newsom
Conservatives are waging a war for control over California school boards

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Patrick Acuña spent 30 years behind bars advocating for higher education. Despite having several learning disabilities, he found that education was the path forward to repairing his life and helping his community.

Guests:

Patrick Acuña, senior at UC Irvine
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource: After 30 years in California prison, he starts new life at UC Irvine

Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource’s Ashley A. Smith and produced by Coby McDonald.

When Natale Canepa was stuck at home to take college classes online in 2020, he was miserable. He couldn’t get outside as much to see nature, and he couldn’t whistle, his favorite pastime.

So when in-person classes returned to San Diego State, Natale celebrated by whistling at his favorite pocket of nature on campus — the turtle pond.

Now known as the Turtle Pond Whistler, Natale spreads joy and has attracted more students to the turtle pond.

How can green spaces like the turtle pond raise students’ spirits and improve mental health?

Guests:

Natale Canepa, Student and turtle pond whistler, San Diego State University
Noah Lyons, Journalism student and member, California Student Journalism Corps

Read more from EdSource: More college campuses leveraging the outdoors to support student mental health

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

There’s a glaring problem since schools reopened for in-person instruction post-pandemic — lots of kids are missing class.

The number of students in California absent for 10% or more of the school year has more than doubled since before the pandemic. Almost 2 million California students were chronically absent in 2021-22, the most recent year for which data is available.

What are the root causes of students missing school? And how are school districts addressing this problem? Hear from a parent, school leaders and researchers from around the state.

Guests:

Hedy Chang, Founder and executive director, Attendance Works
Tom O’Malley, Superintendent, Modoc Joint Unified School District
Erica Peterson, Director of education and engagement, School Innovations and Achievement
Ofelia Sofía Ryan, President of the Association of Pupil Services and Attendance Counselors, Los Angeles Unified School District
Renee Slater, Mother and teacher, Rio Bravo-Greeley Union School District
Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

California’s dramatic jump in chronically absent students part of a nationwide surge
Watch the roundtable: Reaching kindergarten parents is key to addressing dramatic post-pandemic rise in chronic absenteeism, panel says

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

Arts and music have long been slashed from many school budgets, but all California schools are about to see new, ongoing investment in the arts — equal to about $1 billion this year.

Listen to the story of one arts teacher and hear from our reporter about how art can help students grow, and what students and parents can expect to see at their schools.

Guests:

Allison Gamlen, Visual and performing arts coordinator, San Mateo County Office of Education
Karen D’Souza, Reporter, EdSource

Read more from EdSource:

Allison Gamlen’s journey from actor to arts educator
Behind the scenes: California’s new arts education plans
Proposition 28, a windfall for arts education, but implementation poses challenges
Arts education funding in California: How will Proposition 28 roll out?

Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

When anti-Asian hate crimes spiked in 2020, history teacher Jeff Kim wanted to respond "with love and wisdom." His answer: a Korean-American studies class.

Inside the first women's program at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, incarcerated women are working to rebuild their lives by pursuing these higher degrees.

Listen to how one mom is fulfilling a childhood dream to become a teacher, even joining classes from a hospital bed.

In one superintendent's case, he's increased the number of high school graduates and students who attend college.

Three graduates from the Class of 2022 share how the pandemic helped them learn how to make the most out of life and strive for their goals.

EdSource reporters Thomas Peele and Ashley A. Smith discuss their reporting on the outcomes of sexual harassment and misconduct complaints at CSU.

Listen to how one teacher thinks the framework will bring math alive for her students, and to a reporter discuss the controversies surrounding it.

Two recent Supreme Court decisions will have a disproportionate effect on Black and Latino students.

Preschool teachers use information from family interviews to plan curriculum and incorporate songs and books in children’s home languages.

Nearly three years ago, the Creek fire devastated the community of Big Creek and the town’s only elementary school.

When Ana Franquis' family was evicted, they had nowhere to turn. They found help with the school district.

In Selma Unified School District in the Central Valley, two therapy dogs are helping destigmatize mental health services.

A lunch lady's response after the Oklahoma City bombing sparked a new understanding of how school staff can help students recover from disaster.

Talk show topics range from political affairs to chess to dating advice and even an old-time radio drama, based on original scripts from the 1950s.

Proponents say it would allow undocumented students to have the same access as other students to research and other campus jobs. Critics say it would encourage unauthorized immigration.

As a record snowpack is poised to melt and send rivers surging over their banks, an EdSource analysis finds more than 1 in 5 schools are at risk of flooding.

Reading aloud can help students with fluency, knowledge and vocabulary and boosts their own reading skills.

Many 2022 high school graduates launched their own businesses, selling everything from beauty products to photography sessions.

Zaidee Stavely visits a school that’s had an uncommonly high degree of success with teaching English learners to read.

EdSource reporter, Carolyn Jones, recently visited the country on a mission to help develop the country's K-12 media literacy guidelines.

In Oakland, Hattie Tate has found some innovative ways to give students the best possible shot following release from detention.

A Central Valley dad was finally able to return to the U.S., after almost four years separated from his family by a Trump-era immigration policy.

Can this program help more students get bachelor's degrees and at the same time help restore a region devastated by wildfires?

A new program seeks to give students both an income and a leg up in their careers.

Not many student teachers want to sign up for residency programs, because the stipends are small, or nonexistent.

A middle school science teacher inspires his students by engaging them in his journey preparing to become an astronaut.

A Hmong-English dual language immersion program in Fresno Unified helps children learn their grandparents' language and culture.

An uncle who helped his niece and nephew learn to read is now an early literacy tutor for other kids at his neighborhood school.

Black students face increasing rates of depression and suicide. One group of young people in California is working hard to reverse that.

Those advocating for more funding for Black students, as the lowest performing group in the state, say the governor's proposal misses the mark.

New school board member Joshua Brown has autism and is one of only a handful of people known to have autism nationwide to serve in public office.

The largest academic strike in U.S. history ended with a landmark agreement between UC and graduate student teaching assistants and researchers.

John Fensterwald gets out his crystal ball and tells us a fortune – what he thinks might happen in California education in the new year.

Thousands of students left California's community colleges. Listen to one student's difficult decision, and what colleges can do to win students back.

Covid robbed students of learning, especially in math, after more than a year of attending high school from home. What are colleges doing to help?

A little-known court decision from last year makes it easier to pass parcel taxes. Could this be a game-changer for low-income school districts?

Host Zaidee Stavely talks with a student whose college path was transformed by a house for formerly incarcerated students and with a reporter about how this program came about.

Listen to what they and others have to share about what teachers need to know, in order to best serve English learners, and what quality training for teachers of English learners looks like.

A student shares how taking college courses while still in high school helped her get ahead in college and save on tuition. But access to these courses remains uneven across California.

This week we hear from an attendance counselor who tracks down missing students and tries to get them back to class.

Conservative candidates aim to fight against teaching about racism and racial equity and the acceptance of different gender identities.

Kids say the library is a safe place to do homework, read and have fun. City leaders say the building would be better for a police station.

Kenya Abner struggled to find student housing for her family. Twenty years later, her daughter ran into the same problem.

A recent settlement requires the state to closely monitor a school that allegedly used physical restraint and isolation as punishment.

This week, we visit a county library trying to boost literacy and a love for books among teenagers who are incarcerated in the juvenile hall.

Why do so many children struggle to read? And why are we still debating over how they should be taught?

Despite efforts to limit remedial classes in California, many colleges are still offering them. What would it take to eliminate these courses?

Students from low-income families are more likely to have uncredentialed teachers than students from wealthier households.

On the one-year anniversary of Education Beat, we take a moment to look back at the year's episodes.

High schoolers in Oakland and Berkeley helped get measures passed to give 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote in school board elections. Now they wonder why the measures still haven’t been implemented.

A teacher at one child development center shares how she uses math concepts all day, even during a diaper change.

Students learn to interview and write articles, and they get a boost in confidence, crucial for participating fully in class.

Lodi Unified spent a chunk of its federal Covid relief funds to send students to a two-week summer camp at a local university.

One California State University campus will begin sending mental health professionals to respond to crisis calls, instead of only police.

A new analysis concludes that Prop 13 contributed to a widening wealth gap and – for decades – inadequate funding for public schools.

Many parents haven't found tutoring options at their children's schools.

Fremont High School in Oakland has seen its enrollment jump, and the number of students who qualify for college admission has nearly tripled.

Many colleges don’t allow children in on-campus housing or even in their emergency housing programs for homeless students.

After a difficult and isolated year of distance learning, student behavior in Lynda White's middle school classroom quickly descended into chaos.

Community schools provide many services for kids and families - health care, mental health therapy, housing assistance, and more.

Students who have survived a school shooting or shooting threats share how those experiences have impacted them.

A student from the University of Texas at San Antonio details how a graduation help desk cleared his way to the finish line.

High school seniors share their struggles and triumphs, including a mental health website for kids.

Some say we need to look beyond colleges and instead find new bilingual teachers among bus drivers, teachers' aides, and attendance clerks.

A small town in the Central Valley could turn its community library into a police station, but not if some kids have their way.

College students wrote a bill that would require California colleges to print a local mental health hotline on student I.D. cards.

Teachers have to get creative to get students excited about math and make up for lost time, after a year of distance learning.

School district administrators discuss some ways to increase attendance and enrollment, through porch visits or creating a district-run homeschooling option.

One mom who lived in her car for almost a year, through a school district safe parking program, now helps feed her neighbors still living in their cars.

Supt. Carvalho intimately understands the challenges and promises of families who speak languages other than English at home.

Some child care workers are leaving the profession. Others are feeling crushed and frustrated by their circumstances.

There just aren’t enough drivers willing to work for the hours and pay districts can offer them.

Too few students are successfully making the jump from California's community colleges to four-year universities. What's holding them back?

Peer counseling can provide a safe place to work through difficult family problems, stress, and depression. What are the benefits and pitfalls?

Adjuncts cobble together part-time work at multiple colleges, hoping for a full time job that never materializes.

Principals share how they're coping and what could help them and the teachers who work with them to stay in the profession.

Gavin Newsom and state legislators are pushing to develop a tool to screen every young student in California schools for dyslexia.

We discuss how California school districts are working to prepare and retain more Black teachers, and a Black teacher shares his experience.

As some districts run out of substitutes to step in for sick and quarantined staff, teachers and students demand more Covid testing and better masks.

Blind students sued the Los Angeles Community College District claiming that they weren’t given accessible materials in math classes.

John Fensterwald takes us for school lunch, cooked from scratch by fifth and sixth graders.

We hear from a theater teacher who had students build a Hogwarts scene and a custodian who started an after-school chess club, with COVID relief funds.

How did these award-winning counselors from California's Central Valley become so good at what they do? How did their own experiences shape them?

Can transgender students use restrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity? State law and students in Chino Valley Unified overwhelmingly say yes.

This week, we look at how one district uses robotics to help speed up and deepen learning for long-term English learners.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for districts to meet the needs of students most impacted by the pandemic.

The organization has made changes from adding posters of Black role models to classroom walls to removing police officers from schools.

Thousands of special education students are in limbo, because they can't enroll in independent study, but have health risks that prevent them from attending in person.

Anaya Zenad and her peers changed their middle school name to Betty Reid Soskin, to honor the oldest National Park ranger and a local civil rights icon.

Could juvenile detention facilities look more like college campuses, with the same opportunities provided?

Host Zaidee Stavely discusses the hopes and challenges posed by this enormous expansion, with reporter Karen D'Souza.

As California school districts face a severe substitute shortage, some district staff are playing musical chairs to fill positions.

Three siblings have to put their college plans on hold after their stepdad took steps to get a green card – only to be separated from his family for more than two years.

A school bus driver started giving away books on her bus and realized that lots of kids didn't have books at home. She shares how she joined up with Dolly Parton to bring more books to kids.

An Oakland woman “adopted” a class of first graders and promised to pay for their college educations. What did she learn?

Host Zaidee Stavely talks with reporter Betty Márquez Rosales about the frustrations shared by parents and district officials. A parent from Mojave Unified in Kern County shares the heartbreak she feels after her sons' struggles with distance learning seem destined to repeat in independent study.

Host Zaidee Stavely and reporter Ashley A. Smith discuss how this year’s freshman class in the California State University system will also be the cohort of students examined in four years to see if the university accomplished its goals to increase graduation rates.

Host Zaidee Stavely talks with a teacher in Los Angeles about how she's welcoming back English learners by making her classroom a place where students can build a community to ease the anxiety and stress caused by the pandemic.

What impact will the state's new universal school meals program have on schools and children? Host Zaidee Stavely takes a deeper look with reporter Ali Tadayon and Stephanie Bruce, nutrition services director, at Palm Springs Unified.

Host Zaidee Stavely talks with reporter Carolyn Jones and a school counselor about how schools are preparing to focus on mental health and wellbeing.

Education Beat, a new podcast from EdSource, will debut August 5. Join host Zaidee Stavely each week as she explores everything from preschool to college, bringing you the personal stories behind the headlines.

New Executive Director Anne Vasquez reflects on her childhood as the daughter of immigrants and outlines her vision for EdSource.

John Fensterwald interviews his co-host, Louis Freedberg, who is stepping down as head of EdSource, about growing up in South Africa and getting kids excited about learning in the United States.

This week Louis speaks with Dean of Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, and Judy Pace, professor of education at the University of San Francisco, about teaching controversial issues.

This week we discuss the merits of creating a $500 college savings account for all low-income public school students, and pose this question to Christopher Edley, Jr., the incoming dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education: why this job now?

Calbright College president makes a case to keep California's new online community college; new data reveal who's actually back in school.

This week: School districts are getting billions in federal and state Covid aid. How will the public know if it will be spent effectively?

LA Unified Supt. Austin Beutner calls it quits; we discuss why. Missing kindergartners cause the biggest state enrollment drop in 20 years; we ask what's next.

We explore Gov. Newsom's pronouncement that K-12 and community colleges should open fully after June 15. What will it take to make it happen?

This week: Summer programs can provide a transition to post-Covid school reopening; students' needs are great and districts have funding.

Disagreements over ethnic studies now shift to districts; guided by new state guidelines, they must decide how a course will be taught.

This week: innovative ideas emerging from the governor's office for ensuring that more students make it to college; the multiple challenges facing school superintendents during the pandemic; Mills College in Oakland is closing its doors.

This week, learning hubs. Robin Lake of Center on Reinventing Public Education, tells how they're innovating. Lakisha Young, a learning hub pioneer in Oakland, updates us.

Views are split on whether a $2 billion plan to coax schools to reopen will work. Fresno Supt. Bob Wells say yes to an extent. A Carlsbad activist says it'll fall flat.

Gov. Newsom moves up some teachers for Covid shots; Alameda Supt. L.K. Monroe explains the policy. State Board ED Brooks Allen sums up the status of standardized tests.

EdSource reporters share insights on grading students, measuring English learner progress and new California State University chancellor Joe Castro's priorities.

San Francisco Supt. Vincent Matthews fires back at a city lawsuit to reopen schools; CTA's E. Toby Boyd insists vaccinations are critical for a safe return.

Divisions among parents and teachers form as pressure mounts in California to bring back elementary school students to school for in-person instruction.

Linda Darling-Hammond, who led President Biden's transition team on education, and Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, detail Biden's immediate and post-pandemic plans for schools and colleges.

Fresno Supt. Bob Nelson explains urban districts' opposition to Gov. Newsom's reopening plan while Dr. Jeanne Noble of UCSF says it's safe to return to schools by Feb 1.

This week, John and Ryan Smith, external officer for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, reflect on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and its impact on students watching the event, and they share 2021 predictions of education in California.

Leilani Aguinaldo of School Services explains new federal Covid aid for K-12; Teacher Stories website founder Ken Futernick tells how to express gratitude to teachers.

Carl talks with Scott Marion, executive director of the Center for Assessment, about the challenges of standardized testing during and after the pandemic.

With the pandemic decimating family incomes, some students go to work instead of college; CSU counsels freshmen to stay in school, take a full course load.

We explore the ambitious goals of California's Master Plan for Early Learning and Care to expand preschool, child care and opportunities for dual-language learners.

An attorney suing the state explains why distance learning is violating Black and Latino students' constitutional rights; departing CSU Chancellor Tim White looks back and ahead.

Listen to high school students read gratitude notes to classmates; meet Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden's nominee to run Homeland Security; he crafted the DACA program.

LAO's deputy analyst on why K-14 schools can expect a big surplus, not cuts, next year. Plus, a study confirms schools minimize civics ed – at their peril.

This week: Martha Kanter, the former undersecretary of education, discusses Joe Biden's higher ed goals. Elk Grove Supt. Elk Grove sees "purple" further delaying school reopening.

This week, we delve into results of Props 15 & 16 and speculate on a Biden presidency with USC's Pedro Noguerra, union President Jeff Freitas, LA Partnership's Ryan Smith.

This week: Distance learning compounds challenges of teaching a divisive presidential race. Also, how the children returned in Capistrano.

Carl speaks with California Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond about the challenges of guiding the country's largest school system through the pandemic and his vision for the state's future.

This week, we explore implications of Prop. 16, rescinding the ban on affirmative action, on funding, hiring, and diversity for K-12 and CSU.

Carl Cohn speaks with Michael Feuer, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University, about the possibility of a new administration and how that might affect American education.

An Orange County principal explains how his high school met multiple challenges to reopen; UCLA Prof. John Rogers on principals' unheralded responses to Covid-19.

This week: EdSource's poll on distance learning (low marks from parents); excerpts from a frazzled mom's diary and a teacher's techniques to motivate kids.

Carl talks with the leaders of the state's professional associations of school counselors and school psychologists about the challenges of delivering mental health services to students in the time of COVID-19.

This week: opposite views on Prop. 15, an initiative to raise commercial property taxes, and a look at wildfires' lingering trauma on kids.

Carl Cohn talks with Stacey Adler, Superintendent of the Mono County Office of Education, about the challenges facing her small, Eastern Sierras district in the time of COVID-19.

Teachers union insists Covid-19 protections must be in place; leader of state's largest community college hopes students can rebound in the spring.

Carl Cohn talks with Washington Unified School District school board member Jackie Wong about the challenges facing the district in the time of COVID-19. She also describes her work with GRACE, a non-profit dedicated to eradicating child poverty in California.

Humberto Hernandez, a psychologist at Cerritos College in Norwalk, explains how that college is expanding teletherapy to help students deal with financial, academic and life challenges; Camille Horrigan-Slajus, a psychology major at Santa Monica College, tells how Active Minds, a national organization that focuses on young people’s wellbeing, is encouraging students to seek services that are available.

Chico State President Gayle Hutchinson discusses a doomed effort to reopen amid Covid-19; Assemblywoman Shirley Weber celebrates the passage of ethnic studies.

Should teachers require kids to keep Zoom cameras on? Also, two county superintendents on opposite ends of the Covid watch list.

Carl Cohn talks with Cristina de Jesus, the President and CEO of Green Dot Public Schools California, a charter school network of nineteen middle and high schools, serving 11,500 students in Los Angeles.

Carl Cohn talks with Orange County Department of Education superintendent Al Mijares about the unique challenges facing the district as fall approaches.

Don Shalvey of San Joaquin A+ talks about how to increase college attainment, and Brian Biederman, the new superintendent of Stockton Unified, says distance learning is going well, but 8 to 10 percent of students not accounted for on online rolls.

How San Juan Unified and its teachers reached a deal on distance learning and how Ed 100 is inspiring student leaders.

Carl Cohn talks with L.A. Catholic Archdiocese Superintendent Paul Escala about the unique challenges facing his schools amidst multiple crises.

Sal Khan, creator of the free online learning site that bears his name, offers advice on what effective and engaging distance learning should look like when schools reopen this month.

Carl Cohn talks with Fresno Unified School District superintendent Bob Nelson about the unique challenges facing the district as fall approaches.

Worried about distance learning, families set up "learning pods." UC Prof. Janelle Scott discusses them. Lakisha Young describes a "hub" for Black and Latino families in Oakland.

Carl Cohn talks with Sonoma Valley Unified School District superintendent Socorro Shiels about the unique challenges facing the district as fall approaches.

This week: West Contra Costa & Palo Alto superintendents address learning loss. Teach Plus' Sarah Lillis urges parents to speak out for quality distance learning.

Carl Cohn talks with Victor Valley Union High School District Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams about plans to reopen schools in the fall.

We explore what districts can do to protect against coronavirus lawsuits and discuss UC's new president, Michael Drake.

Carl Cohn talks with San José Unified Superintendent Nancy Albarrán about plans to reopen schools in the fall.

Linda Darling-Hammond outlines new requirements for distance learning; reporter Zaidee Stavely discusses parents' worries about returning to schools.

Carl Cohn talks with Hemet Unified Superintendent Christi Barrett about plans to reopen schools in the fall.

Fresno Unified's superintendent sizes up the new state budget; departing UC President Napolitano discusses reopening campuses and repealing Prop. 209.

COMING JULY 1st: Each episode, California education expert Carl Cohn will talk with a leading school superintendent about the immense challenge of reopening schools amidst the coronavirus pandemic and the movement for racial justice.

This week: the PTA president who led the effort to rename a school after Michelle Obama; Maria Blanco of the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center on the unexpected court ruling preserving DACA.

This week, Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Oakley calls for a reexamination of training programs for police in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

2 views of local control during COVID-19 – Palos Verdes Supt. Alex Cherniss: fewer safety restrictions; Heather Hough of PACE : stronger state expectations for learning.

This week: UC regents decide to abandon the SAT and ACT exams. Plus, how districts are reaching homeless students and what more they could do.

This week: Chancellor Tim White explains why the CSU's 23 campuses will be all online this fall ,and EdSource reporters review education cuts in Gov. Gavin Newsom's bad news budget.

This week: School consultant John Gray discusses potential ways to cope with a devastating revenue shortfall projected for K-12 schools next year.

This week: Gov. Newsom's announcement on resuming school in late July surprised everyone; high school seniors faced a dilemma on Decision Day

This week: Consultant Bob Blattner gives his take on dire revenue forecasts; noted high school teacher Larry Ferlazzo shares how he's staying in touch with students.

This week: We explore the issue of student wellness during a pandemic; and students from Granite Bay High School read excerpts from their journals of life at home, under social isolation.

Nearly half of Kern County's 47 districts will share a platform letting teachers choose common lessons and activities or create their own.

In a flurry of actions and decisions, California OKs pass/fail grades and commits to delivering internet to 100,000 families.

Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley on how the California Community Colleges have gone online in response to the coronavirus. Plus how Cal State LA's college newspaper is covering the big story.

With long closures coming, Linda Darling-Hammond promises the state will be a partner; Jill Baker of Long Beach describes her district's plan for online learning.

As California colleges cancel in-person classes in response to the coronavirus, we explore their readiness to deliver instruction online.

This week: We explore questions as to why Proposition 13 appears likely not to pass; and Orange County Superintendent of Schools Al Mijares discusses how the county is preparing for the coronavirus.

This week: Jeff Vincent, director of the Center for Cities and Schools at UC Berkeley, explains what Prop 13 would do and how the money would be distributed; and Chris Funk, superintendent of East Side Union High School District, lays out the case for teacher housing.

This week: Leslie Hsu Freeman, manager of dual enrollment for Oakland Unified, describes Oakland's dual enrollment program and the value it brings for first-generation college students; and we discuss the weeklong protests at Berkeley High.

This week: EdSource reporter Larry Gordon summarizes a new UC faculty task force report that recommends requiring the SAT or ACT for freshmen admissions; and Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, shares why the organization opposes the use of the tests.

We discuss with researcher Randy Capps of the Migration Policy Institute the Trump Administration's new restrictions on who can seek green cards for permanent residency.

This week: CSU Chancellor Timothy White explains where things stand with the plan to require an additional year of quantitative reasoning; and San Francisco State President Lynn Mahoney describes what the university is doing to increase the graduation rate.

This week: We interview a Bakersfield teacher about how a residency program benefited her; and four education leaders share their views of what they liked and would have liked to hear in Newsom's budget presentation.

This week: We interview the LAUSD superintendent about the turbulent teachers' strike that shook the district and drew national attention one year ago.

John Fensterwald debates predictions for big events in California education in 2020 with Ryan Smith of the Partnership for LA Schools.

This week: We help deliver care packages to stressed-out CSU East Bay freshmen and get two views on a state audit critical of district spending on high-need students.

This week: LA County Superintendent Debra Duardo cites low performing student groups' progress, while USC Professor Morgan Polikoff faults the dashboard design.

This week: We explore San Mateo County schools' strategies on mental health and the California School Boards' decision to put off a $15 billion tax for schools.

Learn what schools are doing right, and what has yet to be done.

This week: We explore the issue of gun violence and how school counselors are dealing with it and the multiple areas of stress in students' lives.

This week: We revisit Proposition 187 — the anti-immigrant initiative that California voters passed 25 years ago; and superintendent of schools in Placer County, Gayle Garbolino Mojica, discusses how her 16 districts were able to lessen disruptions from multiple days of electrical blackouts in October.

This week: College students in evacuation centers worry about missed time; school districts turn suspensions into opportunities to change behavior.

This week: We discuss retiring CSU Chancellor Timothy White's impact and why two competing taxes on the November 2020 ballot would be problematic.

This week: Tim Shriver, a pioneer in the burgeoning field of social-emotional learning, tells why it's essential and what it looks like when done well.

This week: We explore confounding math test scores with Silicon Valley Education Foundation's CEO and evidence of adversity facing black youths in LA.

This week: We review Fair Pay to Play, California's law on behalf of college athletes, and Gov. Newsom's role in forging a charter school compromise.

This week: We take a look at how students and teachers are helping to raise awareness, and shape action in the fight against global warming.

This week: We interview Jesus Sanchez, a community organizer and founder of Gente Organizada, and Iris Villalpando, a student leader, about why they fought so hard to change spending priorities in Pomona Unified School District; and we speak with reporter Zaidee Stavely about a bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would require every school to offer at least one full-day kindergarten class.

This week: We interview Jeff Vincent, of the Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley, about whether the proposed $15 billion bond measure will solve funding inequities; and we interview Laura Schifter, the policy director of a new coalition, ED2020, whose goal is to persuade presidential candidates.

This week: We interview Michael Kirst, the former president of the State Board of Education, about why adopting a ranking system for district and charter schools can be arbitrary and unhelpful; and we also discuss the possibility of a state construction bond for K-12 and community college facilities on the March 2020 ballot.

This week: We discuss big changes that could affect the state's charter school law; and we also interview two key players with opposite perspectives on a controversial proposal by the California State University chancellor's office to require a fourth year of math.

This week: We interview David Kirp about his new book, The College Dropout Scandal; and we chat with Cal State Long Beach President Jane Conoley about efforts, starting in local high schools with the Long Beach Promise, to build an institutional culture that helps students to pursue and thrive in college.

This week: We interview the new superintendent of Paradise Unified, about how the district is preparing for the emotional needs of students on their return to school; and we also interview Fernando Garcia, from the Border Network for Human Rights, about the existential threat to Latino and immigrant communities that a white supremacist shooter exposed.

This week: We take a look at some of the key issues that California lawmakers will take up next week when they end their summer vacation.

This week: We interview the president of the California Science Teachers Association to discuss the need for more physics teachers, as California schools move to implement new science standards; and we explore a new report that calculates the true cost of quality early education in California for all kids under 5.

This week: Two educators involved with a collaboration by 10 California districts to raise achievement under the Common Core math standards share their insights; and we discuss the Gates Foundation’s Networks for School Improvement initiative.

This week: We discuss the compromises that the Newsom administration proposed on Assembly Bill 1505, and hear testimony from San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten; and we talk with Todd Ziebarth of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, about how events in California fits in with what is happening around the country.

This week: We interview Dr. Jonathan Goldfinger, chief medical officer of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, to discuss a new parent survey created to identify children facing adverse experiences, such as violence, neglect or divorce; And we talk with Lisa Eisenberg, the policy director of the California School Based Health Alliance, about how hundreds of school-based health clinics will use the survey.

This week: We interview the executive director of CARSNet, an organization run by the Alameda County Office of Education that offers bootcamps and tutorials in charter school responsibilities; and we talk with Kyla Johnson-Trammell, who has faced a teachers strike and possible insolvency during her first two years as Oakland Unified superintendent.

This week: We dissect Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first education budget to see which campaign promises he kept and which new directions he’s taking.

This week: We explore reasons for the Los Angeles Unified's Measure EE defeat and talk with LASUD board member Nick Melvoin and David Tokofsky, a former board member and strategist for the district administrators' union; and we reveal the name of California's new online community college.

This week: Listen to students and counselors in rural California put a human dimension on disturbing data about why children struggling with poverty and isolation are staying out of school; and find out why a huge proposed increase for special education has become a major disagreement between the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

This week: After an intense debate, legislation that could substantially reduce the number of new charter schools in California got just enough votes to pass the Assembly; and we interview Tom Epstein, president of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, which extended Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley’s contract.

This week: Linda Darling-Hammond talks about a new study that focuses on school districts in California that achieved higher test scores for all or most students than their demographics predicted; and we discuss the new SAT "Adversity Score".

This week: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks to reporters about school choice and her latest initiative; an update on California's efforts to reduce remediation courses in community colleges; and the governor's revised budget proposal.

This week we talk with California school finance expert Kim Rueben about several ways the state could generate additional funds to support public education in the state.

This week, arguments for and against the bills seeking to limit charter school growth and how state bond money for facilities could be more fairly distributed.

We review U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris' plan to boost teacher pay $315 billion over a decade and discuss the push – and push back – to letting school districts give the SAT or ACT to all students instead of the state's 11th grade standardized tests.

Tina Kim of the nonprofit College Track shares low-income kids' views of rich parents' tactics to get kids into prestigious colleges (they know what they're up against). Alameda County Schools Supt. L. Karen Monroe discusses what's ahead for Oakland Unified, and a look at California Community Colleges' slow start to transfer more students to CSU and UC.

We speak to Gov. Gavin Newsom's new advisor on early childhood, Giannina Perez, about the governor's ambitious agenda. Then hear UCLA Professor John Rogers on nationwide survey of high school principles that reveals how the incivility and tensions of politics under President Trump are percolating into the classroom.

Gov. Newsom signs bill requiring more transparency from charter schools but makes no commitment for further restrictions; state Supreme Court issues decision on public employee pensions, and we discuss the implications.

Tentative agreement to end Oakland teacher’s strike. And, what one district is doing to attract and retain nurses. Plus, a preview of EdSource’s upcoming webinar on California’s pension crisis, Wednesday, March 6.

With Oakland Unified teachers on strike, a parent and an overworked school nurse give their take on why a job action is needed. We discuss a bill to impose on charter schools the same public disclosure laws applying to school districts.

This week, California's new State Board of Education president; the state's lowest performing schools; using immigrant students' home languages to build their confidence; and an Oakland school tries out a novel approach.

Oakland Unified could be the second district in California this year to go through the wrenching experience of a teachers' strike. In this week’s podcast, Louis talks with EdSource reporter Theresa Harrington about the overwhelming vote by teachers to authorize a strike — and when it could happen.

We also talk with EdSource’s Larry Gordon about the big push at the California State University to improve graduation rates and how far many campuses have to go to reach their goals.

This week, can teachers and L.A. Unified shed their acrimony from a strike and work together? Can the district afford commitments it negotiated? School board member Nick Melvoin and UCLA Professor John Rogers discuss the impact of the 7-day strike.

This week, Louis and John interview EdSource early education reporter Zaidee Stavely and Erin Gabel, deputy director of the state commission First 5 California, about the dramatic plans for expanding access to early childhood development and education in Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal.

This week, we play an excerpt of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond's inaugural remarks, and our exit interview with Michael Kirst, who is stepping down as president of the State Board of Education.

This week, Louis and John speak with retiring Gov. Jerry Brown about his philosophy of education and his views on charter schools, the use of student data and what education leaders agree will be his most important contribution: the Local Control Funding Formula.

This week, John and Louis review memorable events and stories from 2018 and revisit some of John's predictions for the year and how they turned out. Plus an update from EdSource reporter Zaidee Stavely about the effect on children of the Trump administration's proposed restrictions on granting green cards to immigrants who have received government aid.

This week, John and Louis discuss the impending teacher strike in Los Angeles Unified School District with KPCC reporter Kyle Stokes, who has reported extensively on the crisis. They also speak with Kyla Johnson Trammell, superintendent of Oakland Unified, which is facing budget turmoil, school closures and tensions with teachers.

This week: John speaks with Ed Trust-West's Carrie Hahnel on California's new career and college indicator for the school dashboard. And Marty Alvarado of Jobs for the Future talks to Louis about California's investment in creating career pathways from high school into college and the workplace.

This week, what's ahead for DACA recipients? Louis and John talk with EdSource reporter Zaidee Stavely, who has been following the issue, and hear from Salvador Cruz-Matus, a senior at CSU San Marcos who dreams of becoming an American citizen with a Ph.D. in plant biology. Also, the state's new data on suspensions and expulsions in California schools.

We analyze reasons for Tony Thurmond's victory over Marshall Tuck as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. We also speak with Mariam Abdullah of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, who cites the benefits of raising a grateful child.

This week, an interview with Mandy Corbin, assistant superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education, on a devastating wildfire's toll on families and schools. She helped coordinate the response to the state's last big wildfire a year ago.

This week, political observer and education consultant Kevin Gordon explains why the race for state superintendent, a position with little power to make policy, is attracting $50 million in spending. Louis recalls a contentious state superintendent campaign a half-century ago.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tony Thurmond gives his take on the role of big money donations in the campaign. He explains how he'd rebuild the California Department of Education and why a "pause" in approving new charter schools is needed.

This week, EdSource higher ed reporter Larry Gordon discusses financial pressures that are forcing many Cal State students to work multiple jobs and the toll it takes on their grades. A Fresno State senior describes life juggling college and work.

This week, Marshall Tuck, candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, lays out his vision for the job and plans for strengthening the California Department of Education and expanding state's education data system. He, Louis and John also discuss the role of money in this race.

This week: The fourth year of Smarter Balanced test scores. Louis and John discuss the results and when the state should expect to see more progress. Plus bills the governor signed and vetoed, and his decision not to extend the state's ban on suspensions for defiance and disruption.

This week, diving deeper into EdSource's special report, Tainted Taps, which looks into lead levels in faucets and drinking fountains in California schools.

This week, Louis and John discuss some of the highlights from Getting Down to Facts II – a 2-year project with 36 different studies looking at a range of education challenges and successes in California – with principal investigator Susanna Loeb and AIR economist Jesse Levin.

This week: The Legislature passes a bill making the start of the school day for middle and high schools no earlier than 8:30 a.m. And Gov. Jerry Brown signs legislation banning for-profit charter schools in California.

This week: The movement away from remedial math and English courses — which do not count toward the credits needed for a degree and can derail many students — at California’s 114 community colleges and the California State University system.

This week: The 5-year, $16 million grant awarded to California's CORE Districts to prepare low-income African-American and Latino students for success in college. Plus key bills on the governor's desk, including a ban on for-profit charter schools and three measures to make schools safer.

This week we look at the push in Sacramento to give school districts the option of substituting either the SAT or ACT for the current 11th grade Smarter Balanced assessments.

This week: efforts to reconstruct playgrounds to become more welcoming and accessible to all children.

This week: the battle between health advocates, who want to convince more cities to tax sugary drinks, and the powerful beverage industry, plus the reasoning behind, potential benefits from and challenges facing California’s new online community college

This week: Louis speaks with Carl Cohn about his experiences during a 50-year career as a leader in California education. Cohn will retire next month as the first executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a small state agency with the vital role of guiding county offices and school districts on the state's new system of school improvement.

This week: Louis and John speak with John Deasy, the former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, who on June 1 became superintendent of Stockton Unified, a 40,000-student district 1/15th as big as L.A. Unified. Louis and John also play an excerpt from Gov. Jerry Brown's remarks to California Community Colleges' board of governors in which he urges them to pursue the promise of a new online college.

This week: Conservative groups launch a campaign to persuade teachers and hourly school workers to drop out of their unions following the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus v. AFSCME decision. And Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approves California's plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

This week, John Fensterwald interviews Jonathan Raymond, president of the Stuart Foundation and the former superintendent of Sacramento Unified School District, about his new book, Wildflowers: A Superintendent’s Challenge to America. It is a treatise about “whole child education” and what schools can — and must — do to make sure that every child thrives.

This week: the podcast is devoted to exploring the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, in which the court struck down as unconstitutional the fees that teachers and other public employees were forced to pay to their unions as the cost of being represented by them.

This week: Former rivals Newsom & Villaraigosa vow to work together to defeat Republican Cox in the race for Governor, CA Community College system shifts to "performance-based budgeting" & the story behind $300M in new funds for low-performing students in the budget.

This week: John and Louis discuss the financial outlook for education in Gov. Jerry Brown's final state budget, which includes enough money to reach the goal Brown set for his K-12 funding formula and forgo tuition increases for Cal State and UC.

This week: an entire episode devoted to the June 5 CA primary results with special guests Mark DiCamillo, director of the UC Berkeley IGS Poll & Professor Fernando Guerra, an expert on L.A. politics at Loyola Marymount University.

This week: What the leading candidates for state superintendent of public instruction have to say about how to keep schools safe, how to attract effective teachers to low-performing schools, whether to declare a moratorium on charter schools & more

This week: Recording from the Education Writers Association National Seminar, Louis and John discuss diversity in education and school discipline, two themes of the conference. Plus updates on CAs race for Governor and State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

This week: Michael Kirst's impact on California education, trouble-free Smarter Balanced assessments in math and English language arts, and the primary election for governor and state superintendent of public instruction heating up.

This week: Who is Austin Beutner and why was he chosen the next superintendent of Los Angeles Unified? For two different views of his appointment, Louis and John speak with Nick Melvoin, vice-president of the school board, and John Rogers, a professor of education at ULCA.

This week: how rural schools are bringing cutting-edge tech to their students, the wave of teacher strikes across the country and their implications for CA and the value of teacher diversity especially in a state where students of color now comprise three-quarters of public school enrollment.

This week: CA's push to get more young people registered to vote and to the polls, millions in pro-charter money pouring into the gubernatorial race is bringing K-12 education to the forefront & the implications of CA's shockingly high childhood poverty rate

This week: encouraging news for CA in this year's National Assessment of Education Progress or NAEP, two new school funding bills on the horizon, and an introduction to Gema Quetzal Cardenas, the next student representative on the State Board of Education

This week: Very high chronic absenteeism at continuation high schools serving at-risk students, upcoming State Board approval of the plan for the Every Student Succeeds Act; a preview of California Road Trip, a new podcast about California schools taking on difficult academic challenges.

This week: CA Charter Schools Association endorses Villaraigosa for Gov., a surprise increase in federal funding for child care and education in the new budget, the state's new plan to deal with disproportionate numbers of inexperienced and ineffective teachers in low-income schools & more

This week: candidates for state superintendent of public instruction discuss their visions for the future of public education in CA at a forum at USC.

This week: audio from student protests across the state during the National School Walkout; the politics behind gun control regulations and how they affect CA; the ongoing dispute between the fed government & CA over its state ESSA plan.

This week: education leaders on the Kerner Commission at 50, including Learning Policy Institute president Linda Darling-Hammond, co-directors of UCLA's Civil Rights Project Gary Orfield and Patricia Gándara, The Education Trust president and former U.S. secretary of education John King, and Hewlett Foundation education program director Kent McGuire.

This week: an upsurge in student activism for gun control following the school shooting in Florida; a new report on disproportionate suspension rates of black students in California; State Senator Nancy Skinner makes a pitch for her bill to extend the current ban on suspending students for "willful defiance"; and a proposal in the state Senate to increase base funding.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: voters have a more positive view of the CA School Dashboard than expected, LCFF funds are improving grad rates and math scores — especially for low-income students, Brown asks for more budget transparency from districts, and Newsom & Villaraigosa running neck and neck in the race for Gov.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: A push to offer SAT or ACT to 11th graders in place of Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests, the growing battle between CA & the U.S. Department of Education over how to count and serve the state's low-performing students, an for the 1st year more Bay Area charter schools closed than opened.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis Freedberg and John discuss Governor Jerry Brown's comments on education during his 16th and final state of the state speech. Plus tuition hikes on the horizon for UC and CSU students.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: how the state is pitching teaching as a career to help alleviate the teacher shortage, CA sticks to its ESSA plan despite criticism from the U.S. Dept of Ed & a closer look at the lack of homeschool regulations in the wake of the Perris child abuse case.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis and John discuss the release of CA's 2018-19 budget — Gov. Brown's last. Despite predicting an economic recession Brown proposed a burst of education spending for early ed, K-12, higher ed and other initiatives. Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis and John make predictions about the biggest education issues on the horizon in 2018 including the fate of CA's Dreamers, the upcoming SCOTUS decision on public employee union dues, the impact legal marijuana will have on state's teens and more.

This week: John and producer Sarah Tan review key education developments in 2017 and look ahead to what to expect in 2018.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: is the new CA School Dashboard too complicated to be useful for parents? What's working, how can it be improved and how are other states presenting the same information. Plus big changes proposed for credentialing requirements for special education teachers.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis discusses the release of California's much anticipated new school accountability system. He's joined by California Collaborative for Educational Excellence executive director, Carl Cohn and Pivot Learning CEO Arun Ramanathan.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: a focus on Gov. Brown's push to establish a new online-only community college; who the online degrees are meant to reach and who online classes work best for, plus the release of the CA School Dashboard the dept. of ed is releasing next week.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: the effect the Republican tax bill may have on the California state budget, the surprisingly rosy forecast for K12 and community college funding, and how a state-mandated school safety plan may have averted a greater tragedy this week in Rancho Tehama.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis and John take on a hot issue in California; chronic absenteeism. Why is tracking chronic absenteeism important? How extensive is the problem in CA? Why are students chronically absent? What should schools be doing about it? What are other states' effective strategies? And what's next for this issue?

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: suspensions and expulsions are down dramatically in CA schools — though racial gaps persist, how will LGBT history be covered in CA classrooms and a new Seal of Civic Engagement for high school diplomas.

This week: Louis and John discuss what's happening in the California races for governor and state superintendent of public instruction and where the leading candidates stand on major educational issues like universal preschool, charter school regulation, teacher tenure and the Local Control Funding Formula. Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis covers two of the nearly 100 education-related bills signed by Gov. Brown this week: a possible free year of tuition for all full-time, first-year community college students and a prohibition on expelling students from state-funded preschools.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: California abolishes the high school exit exam, wine-country fires are having an impact on schools, State Board of Education President Mike Kirst says special education is in "big trouble."

This week: Pedro Noguera on creating inclusive environments for all children, especially the state's most vulnerable, and the story one of the Bay Area's 15,000 homeless students trying to finish school without a stable place to call home.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Louis and John talk to education leaders across the state for their take on the newly released results of the third year of Smarter Balanced assessments. What does it mean that scores are flat in the 3rd year, and how much importance should be placed on them versus other measures of student success?

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: what happened in the waning hours of California's legislature session, plus CSU's faculty is rebelling against recently announced changes in remedial education and math requirements.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Executive Director Louis Freedberg, Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald and EdSource reporter Carolyn Jones discuss a very busy week for education in California.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: How CA schools and universities are responding to the DACA repeal, interviews with DACA recipients at U.C. Berkeley, how 9/11 changed the way we talk about immigration & an education leader's warnings about LCFF implementation.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: controversial legislation to create a state-run STEM school, a lawmaker's plan to audit districts' use of LCFF funding, big changes in when school starts for CA's biggest districts, and a 2+ week delay of the release of Smarter Balanced test scores.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: how teachers are addressing the controversial events of the summer with their students, CA's draft ESSA plan draws criticism from ed non-profits, and new programs to turn bilingual teachers into bilingual educators.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: A new national poll by Education Next found a drop in support for charter schools and a polarizing impact of President Trump on education issues, the California Budget and Policy Center on the potential impact of vouchers, and Bay Area high school students discover roots in their communities.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Big changes to the way CA awards teaching credentials, holding K-12 responsible for reducing the number of students who need to take remedial courses in college, fun ways teachers are incorporating the solar eclipse into their curriculum.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Cal State makes big moves on multiple fronts to help more students graduate and graduate on time, plus FCMAT's new CEO on declining revenue, rising expenses, and other challenges CA school districts are facing

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: A tax proposal to free up more money for districts, a new AP computer science course attracting girls and students of color and a settlement in a school discipline lawsuit that focusing on implicit bias

This week: A frank report released by the California Community Colleges with a roadmap to increase transfer and grad rates and a rally in Sacramento organized Californians for Justice in defense of the Local Control Funding Formula and the finance and school reforms it's put into place.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: CA state board grapples over final ESSA plans with just one meeting left, a roadmap for bilingual education in CA post Prop. 58, the fate of teacher tenure bills & more! Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Should school districts be required to do more detailed reporting on how they spend state funds? Where in CA should educators go to produce more college graduates? How do some school districts convince students to take math courses — over the summer no less?

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: Trump's budget cuts cause fissures in the charter school movement, the implications of SCOTUS's church preschool playground decision, CA CORE districts' request to be declared "innovation zones," and the push for school districts to be more assertive diagnosing children with dyslexia

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: CA legislature approves FY18 budget, with increased funding for K-12 schools, DeVos criticizes charter advocates who don't support other "school choice" options & Netflix CEO commits to long-term campaign to increase charter enrollments

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week: ongoing efforts to extend the length of time it takes to get teacher tenure in CA, what schools can do to prevent youth suicide & strategies to reduce superintendent turnover

Produced by Sarah Tan

In this edition of "This Week in California Education,” Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald bring you a special podcast from the Education Writers Association national seminar in Washington D.C. this week. They sought out national education leaders to get their perspectives on how California is doing on its education reforms, and its new "California School Dashboard" that ranks schools on multiple measures, not just test scores.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week Louis and John focus on money matters — Gov. Brown's sending $1B to schools...in 2 years, what President Trump's budget means for California and Congress restores Pell grants for summer school. Plus predictions for next week!

Produced by Sarah Tan

A closer look at the charter school wars in Los Angeles, in light of the run-off elections on Tuesday for the two remaining undecided seats on the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education.

Produced by Sarah Tan

In this week's episode: California Department of Ed taking advantage of the Trump admin's more hands-off approach to education, CA Charter School Association flexing its muscles politically, a new partnership between Khan Academy and offices of education in Southern California

Produced by Sarah Tan

Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald take on the new push in the Legislature to increase probationary period for new teachers from two to three years, districts looking for help ending limits the state has placed on the amount of money they can keep in budget reserves, and Trump fails to follow through on his education pledges in his first 100 days — which critics say may be a good thing.

Produced by Sarah Tan

This week we bring you a special edition of "This Week in California Education," recorded at the One Voice Assembly sponsored by the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA) in Sacramento this week. The event focused on how to promote greater college access and completion among California's Latino students, who make up 3.4 million of the state's 6.2 million public school students.

Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald are joined by staff writers Jane Adams and Larry Gordon to discuss kindergarten vaccination rates, high school graduation rates, K-12 suspension rates and more.

In this week’s episode of This Week in California Education, EdSource Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald discuss California school districts financial footing, the importance of full-day preschool and kindergarten, and Betsy DeVos's most recent remarks on school choice.

In this week’s episode of This Week in California Education, EdSource Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald discuss funding for the state's challenged special education system, California pushback against Pres. Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities and how charter schools could benefit from Trump’s education budget.

In this week’s episode of This Week in California Education, EdSource Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald discuss Trump administration's cuts in education funding, the new California school dashboard, teacher layoffs, and signs of life in the race to be California schools chief.

In this week’s episode of This Week in California Education, EdSource Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald discuss the imminent release of the long-awaited California School Dashboard, the impact on CA of congressional vote to rescind ESSA accountability regulations, how Trump and DeVos are framing "school choice" as a civil rights initiative and more.

In this week's episode of This Week in California Education, EdSource Executive Director Louis Freedberg, and Editor-at-Large John Fensterwald discuss why California's per-pupil spending varies so much, Long Beach Unified's rejected effort to replace the 11th grade Smarter Balanced assessment with the SAT and the future of Common Core in California under the Trump administration.

Executive director of EdSource Louis Freedberg, and John Fensterwald follow up on Long Beach Unified's push to administer SAT test in place of Smarter Balanced in 11th grade and discuss Common Core, Dream Act grants, California's national ranking on AP tests, and the state's new accountability system.

Executive director of EdSource Louis Freedberg, and John Fensterwald discuss the use of the SAT exam in 11th grade in place of Smarter Balanced or PARC, Betsy DeVos's first full week as secretary of education, the future of ESSA regulation implementation, and the high price of preschool and child care in California.