The freshman class of 2025 is like no other before. They missed out on a lot of high school experiences, with their last year and a half all online. As they start college, the pandemic continues to change the way they take classes and socialize.

In this episode, host Zaidee Stavely and reporter Ashley A. Smith discuss how this year’s freshman class in the California State University system will also be the cohort of students examined in four years to see if the university accomplished its goals to increase graduation rates.

Guests:

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Among those most affected by distance learning throughout the pandemic were students who are learning English as a second language — about 1.2 million students in California. This week host Zaidee Stavely talks with a teacher in Baldwin Park Unified in Los Angeles about how she’s welcoming back English learners with lots of opportunities to practice speaking and making her classroom a place where students can build a community to ease the anxiety and stress caused by the pandemic.

Guest: Charlene Fried, English teacher, Sierra Vista High School, Baldwin Park Unified School District; Lecturer, California State University Los Angeles; Adjunct professor, Loyola Marymount University.

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All public school students in California will now be eligible to eat breakfast and lunch for free — regardless of family income.

Host Zaidee Stavely and reporter Ali Tadayon discuss what impact the state’s new universal school meals program could have on schools and children. Also, a director of nutrition in a high-poverty district tells us how offering free meals to all students in her district got more students to class on time, improved school culture and helped stem hunger.

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The pandemic has sparked high levels of anxiety and grief, with countless students losing loved ones to the virus. Host Zaidee Stavely talks with senior reporter Carolyn Jones about how teachers and counselors are preparing to make schools places of healing that focus on mental health and wellbeing. A school counselor from Los Angeles shares how students and parents are feeling more anxious than ever, and what she’s done to try to alleviate some of that stress.

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Hello to listeners of This Week in California Education.

We’re pleased to introduce EdSource’s new podcast, Education Beat: Getting to the heart of California schools.

Join us each week as we cover everything from preschool to college, bringing you the personal stories behind the headlines.

As California students and teachers head back to in-person school this fall, we’ll be looking at how schools are preparing to help students with grief and loss caused by the pandemic, why it matters that California will be offering free school lunch to everyone and how teachers are preparing for their first day of class.

We’ll visit with freshmen starting their first year of college under the yoke of Covid. We’ll hear how one woman in Oakland adopted a whole class of first graders and helped get them to college. And how a college student in the Central Valley cut short her education to help her family, when her dad’s green card application was denied and he was stuck in Mexico.

We want you to hear the voices that are too often drowned out in the broader conversation: parents, teachers, and the students themselves.

Look for the first episode of Education Beat the first week of August, and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.