Education Beat

Five years ago in 2021, EdSource launched Education Beat for the first time. Today, we say goodbye. This will be the final episode. Over the years, we've aimed to bring you personal stories of students, teachers, parents — regular people who bring EdSource stories alive by showing how education policy affects their lives.

In this final episode, editor-at-large John Fensterwald interviews Zaidee Stavely about the essence of Education Beat and what she aimed to accomplish, and we share some of the most memorable moments of the podcast over the years.

Guests:

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

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On a sweltering hot day at UC Merced in May 2025, three siblings crossed the stage in blue gowns and caps, to receive their diplomas. Watching with pride from the audience were their mother, father and younger sister.

This moment, with all of them celebrating together, was the culmination of years of struggle, dedication, and overcoming the challenges of a family navigating the U.S. immigration system. 

This episode is a peek back at a family featured on one of our very first episodes in 2021, after the older siblings' college dreams were temporarily derailed when their dad was forced to remain in Mexico after being denied a green card. Here's how they got back on track.

Guests:

Listen to past episodes about the Ruiz Gutiérrez family:

Read more from EdSource:

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

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Liliana Messinger was in fourth grade when she first turned to an AI chatbot for help with panic attacks. Over the years, she turned to AI again and again.

For a growing number of teenagers, AI chatbots have become a first stop when things get tough, in part because of the shortage of mental health therapists and counselors in schools.

This episode of Education Beat is a sneak preview of a special project about teenagers’ use of AI for mental health support.

Guests:

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

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

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:

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.

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Thousands of UC STEM professors have signed an open letter calling on UC to again require the SAT or ACT for admissions. They say they are seeing more and more students arriving to college so poorly prepared that they can't solve middle-school math equations.

But not all faculty agree that reinstating standardized tests would help with the lack of preparation. Many are concerned that requiring the SAT or ACT could exclude students from less privileged backgrounds.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource:

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

Subscribe at Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud

Texas offers more bilingual education than California and backs it up with more funding.

We visit an elementary school and a middle school in Austin, Texas, where students learn in Spanish and English. And we talk with a researcher about why Texas is so much farther ahead than California in bilingual education.

This episode, originally from 2025, recently won a Best Podcast Award from the California News Publishers Association.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: Why Texas is ahead of California on bilingual education

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

Subscribe at Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud

Under the current Trump administration, nearly 700 children in California have been detained and more than 400 deported, according to an EdSource analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley.

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

Guests:

Read more from EdSource:

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

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

When Bobbie Simpson decided to run for her local school board in Gateway Unified School District, in the far northern county of Shasta, she knew it might be difficult to win as a transgender woman. More than half the voters in Shasta County are registered Republican. A conservative Christian church that promotes LGBTQ conversion therapy and “believes in the ever-increasing government of God,” according to its website, is very influential in local politics.

But Bobbie ran anyway because she cares about schools. She pledged to bring the focus back to education and preserve the district’s social emotional learning programs, which had benefited her own kids.

And she won, with 57 percent of the vote, becoming the first transgender person known to be elected to a California school board.

For the most part, she says she's found acceptance and respect on the board and in her community.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: The journey of Bobbie Simpson: Transgender woman making strides on school board in deep red Shasta County

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

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube

Children with disabilities at Marie Bauer Early Education Center in Paso Robles are learning alongside peers who do not require special education services.

That’s unusual in California, where only 1 in 3 students with disabilities receive their preschool education in classrooms with their peers.

EdSource visited the Paso Robles Joint Unified school to talk with teachers, parents, specialists and administrators about why inclusive classrooms are so important for students with disabilities throughout their academic careers — and how they can help school districts financially.

Read more from EdSource:

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

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For 27 years, Yolanda Thomas has run a childcare business called Best Beginnings in her home in Contra Costa County. She usually has children start with her as babies and stay until they’re in kindergarten.

But in recent years, many parents are choosing to unenroll when their children are four and can attend public transitional kindergarten.

Across California, childcare and preschool providers say the state’s expansion of transitional kindergarten for all four-year-olds is drawing students out of existing programs while offering little support to help providers adapt. Many providers like Yolanda Thomas say they feel left behind.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: California’s childcare and preschool providers struggle amid transitional kindergarten expansion

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

Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube