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California Lawmakers Pass Key Education Reforms

This story was originally published on EdSource. Lawmakers waited until the final hours of the final day of the legislative session to resolve two of the most contentious TK-12 education issues: confronting rising antisemitism in schools and clamping down on charter school fraud. Facing a stalemate on the former issue and a standoff between charter...
By EdSource Staff | September 18, 2025
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Why California’s Expanded Learning Needs More Than a Bigger Budget

Starting this week, California’s after-school programs will be required to provide more parent notification and consent — flowing from federal executive orders — another top-down mandate for programs already navigating considerable bureaucracy and funding uncertainty. While robust two-way communication between after-school providers and parents is vital, the notion that regulatory checklists and heightened administrative oversight...
By Patricia Burch, Jon Fullerton and Anna Saavedra | September 17, 2025
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Apprenticeships Aimed at Boosting Child Care Careers Have Been Flourishing

She wanted to earn credentials that would allow her to advance in the field, but it was slow going. Briones, 55, was working 40 hours a week at the San Francisco Bay area child care center and tending to her own family. It was tough to find the time and money to attend classes on...
By Alina Tegund | September 16, 2025
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Education as a Ladder: Charters Uplift Communities One Generation at a Time

This August, a group of wide-eyed sixth graders stepped off a school bus and onto Cal State Northridge’s campus. Some sixth graders look awestruck while others seem nervous. We often hear whispers like, “Do you think we’ll go here someday?” That line of thinking is exactly the point. At PUC Schools — Partnerships to Uplift...
By Jacqueline Elliot | September 11, 2025
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How a Sacramento Charter School Misused $180 Million and Became a Poster Child for Reform

This story was originally published on EdSource. Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools opened in Sacramento in 2014 with high ideals — to help adult students, many formerly incarcerated or new immigrants, to earn a diploma, improve English language skills, or learn a trade. Now, the school is one reason state legislators are considering increased...
By Diana Lambert, EdSource | September 10, 2025
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Why Are So Few Kids Reading for Pleasure?

A quarter-century ago, David Saylor shepherded the epic Harry Potter fantasy series onto U.S. bookshelves. As creative director of children’s publisher Scholastic, he helped design and execute the American editions of the first three novels in the late 1990s. But when the manuscript for J.K. Rowling’s fourth book landed on his desk, Saylor sat up...
By Greg Toppo | September 9, 2025
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Kids Shouldn’t Access Social Media Until They’re Old Enough to Drive, Book Says

Jean M. Twenge holds an unusual place among Ph.D. psychologists. For the past two decades, she has toggled between the obscurity of the academy and the glare of academic fame. The author of two college textbooks and five books for non-academic readers, she is equally at home researching and writing about adolescent mental health, sleep...
By Greg Toppo | September 4, 2025
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‘We’ve Been Successful at Protecting Our Kids’: Los Angeles Unified Claims Safety From ICE So Far

Last year, the Los Angeles YMCA held backpack giveaways for migrant families and needy students in public parks and community centers. This year the giveaways were held in classrooms, afraid that crowds of Hispanic families out in public would prompt an ICE raid. “We’ve had to modify how we do things,” said Omar Torres, senior...
By Ben Chapman | September 3, 2025
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LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Plan Remains Resilient Amid Complaint and Opposition

This story was originally published on EdSource. Many supporters and advocates of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Black Student Achievement Plan are beginning the school year with renewed hope after the school board voted to boost the program’s 2025-26 funding with an additional $50 million. Their optimism comes after years of challenges, from the...
By Mallika Seshadri | August 28, 2025
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Report: L.A. County’s Failure to Educate Incarcerated Youth is ‘Systemic’

This story was originally published on EdSource. Local government agencies in charge of youth violated the educational and civil rights of students in Los Angeles County’s juvenile justice facilities for decades by punting responsibility and inaction, according to a report released Wednesday. “Who has the power? Chronicling Los Angeles County’s systemic failures to educate incarcerated...
By Betty Márquez Rosales, EdSource | August 27, 2025