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:

Read more from EdSource:

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 from third to eighth grade gather after school to learn how to play guitar, trumpet, violin, guitarrón, and vihuela, and to sing mariachi music.

What is the impact of a bilingual music program like this one? With new funding available from California's Prop 28, can districts expand programs like this one or will they have to do something new?

Guests:

Read more from EdSource:

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

California lawmakers set the average class size for transitional kindergarten, a new grade for four-year-olds, at 24 kids, with 1 adult for every 12 students.

It’s generally agreed upon in early education field that smaller class sizes and more adults make for higher quality preschool, with more one-on-one attention and better supervision. In many preschools licensed by the state, one adult is required for every 8 children.

But some districts are not staffing their TK classrooms to meet the 1:12 ratio, or they’re going over the class size. Some teachers say it's a safety issue.

Guests:

Read more from EdSource:

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

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:

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:

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.

Almost 2,000 teachers across California received notices they might be laid off this year, a huge increase compared to last year. School districts are facing budget cuts, with federal Covid relief funding expiring, enrollment declining and state funding leveling off.

Although some who got these "pink slips" will ultimately be asked to stay on, teachers say the threat of being laid off is demoralizing and layoffs affect the ability of districts to recruit new teachers.

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

Guests:

Read more from EdSource: Anxious California teachers with pink slips await word on jobs next school year

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

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:

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:

Read more from EdSource:

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:

Read more from EdSource:

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:

Read more from EdSource:

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