There’s a quiet crisis in America’s schools, and within it, an opportunity. Across the country, classrooms are struggling to find and keep teachers. This isn’t just a staffing issue; it’s a deeper reckoning with how we value public education and the people who carry it forward. The pandemic accelerated what was already happening: Fewer young...

As a new school year begins, many students — especially students of color, LGBTQ youth, and children in immigrant and mixed-status families — are carrying more than just the weight of academic expectations. They are navigating a world that feels increasingly unsafe, where political threats, discrimination and immigration enforcement have become part of their daily...

For Alicia Albek, a home-based child care provider in Los Angeles, Jan. 7 began like a typical Tuesday. She opened her child care program, Alicia’s Place, at 8 a.m. as she had for almost 30 years. Six infants and toddlers arrived ready to play and learn. Around 10:30 a.m., Albek received a call from a...

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...