In the past decade, California’s public schools have lost about 420,000 students – nearly the population of Oakland. For most districts in the state, fewer students mean fewer dollars, forcing districts to stretch already thin resources. But it doesn’t have to be that way if state leaders equip districts with the resources and freedom to...

In south Los Angeles — where Black children grow up at the intersection of systemic inequities and untapped potential — reading is nothing short of a revolutionary act. Literacy here is more than a classroom skill; it’s a tool of self-discovery, resilience and civic power. As school administrators and educators, we’ve witnessed how access to...

This story was originally published at EdSource With a state mandate looming, the Los Angeles Unified School District this week joined other districts in preparing to introduce a semester of personal finance by the Legislature’s 2027-28 deadline.  The LAUSD school board gave the go-ahead on Tuesday while stipulating that elements of financial literacy and economic...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...