This Week in California Education

This Week in California Education episodes:

• 07.30.2021

  Introducing Education Beat, a new podcast by EdSource

  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...

  
• 06.04.2021

  EdSource’s new executive director, Anne Vasquez, on forces that shape her views of education

  This week, Anne Vasquez, EdSource’s new executive director, outlines her vision for the organization. She reflects on how growing up in Miami — the daughter of immigrants fleeing Cuba penniless under Fidel Castro — shaped her perspectives on education and...

  
• 05.28.2021

  Louis Freedberg looks back at EdSource and education in a monumental decade in California

  At the end of April, Louis Freedberg stepped down after serving as EdSource’s executive director for a decade. During his tenure, EdSource broadened its mission to include education reporting, expanded its coverage to include early education and higher education, and...

  
• 05.21.2021

  Teaching controversial issues in a time of turmoil

  The U.S. is confronting the rise of white supremacy, disinformation, and extreme threats to democracy — while a global pandemic has created the worst health and economic emergency of our time. How can educators cultivate the informed, engaged, and effective...

  
• 05.14.2021

  Newsom’s $2 billion college savings account plan & Chris Edley on his new role

  Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spark the postsecondary aspirations of all families by creating $500 college savings accounts for all current low income public school students and future ones as they enter the 1st grade, with extra amounts for foster...

  
• 04.30.2021

  Pandemic puts school accountability in limbo

  Like a Category 4 hurricane, Covid-19 has undermined the state’s newly built California School Dashboard and system of state and county support for schools deemed to need help for poor performance. It could be a few years before the system...

  
• 04.23.2021

  Where are California’s 60,000 missing kindergartners? Also, surprise change in leadership at L.A. Unified

  This week, Los Angeles Unified Supt. Austin Beutner announced his resignation, effective June 30, after 3 years in charge. (On Friday, the school board named Megan Reilly, the districts current deputy superintendent of business services and operations, to be interim...

  
• 04.09.2021

  Gov. Newsom wants schools and colleges to reopen fully by fall. But will they?

  Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that school districts and the state’s 2- and 4-year colleges and universities should reopen to full in-person instruction after June 15. The California Department of Public Health announced the state would end the color-coded...

  
• 04.02.2021

  Summer learning’s promise: a first step to post-Covid healing

  After an enervating school year reeling from Covid, many students are looking at the prospect of a mind-numbing summer school with dread. To entice them and their teachers back to the classroom, some school districts are redesigning summer programs, recognizing...

  
• 03.26.2021

  The frontlines over ethnic studies are now local districts

  This week, we look at the future of ethnic studies in California high schools. Earlier this month, the State Board of Education adopted an ethnic studies framework after two years of rewriting and contentious public hearings generating tens of thousands...

  
• 03.20.2021

  On increasing college access, superintendent turnover, and Mills College’s closure plan

  “This Week in California,” EdSource’s award-winning podcast, takes a look at innovative ideas emerging from the governor’s office for ensuring that more students make it to college after the pandemic.  We also look at the multiple challenges facing school superintendents...

  
• 03.12.2021

  Learning pods and hubs, a pandemic innovation, thrive and evolve

  Learning pods popped up like mushrooms after Covid struck as the answer du jour for wealthy parents who could afford private tutors. But across the nation, nonprofits on their own or with districts, began creating more inclusive forms serving low-income...

  
• 03.06.2021

  Will $2 billion in incentives entice more schools to open their doors?

  Two-plus months after Gov. Gavin Newsom first proposed $2 billion in grants to coax school districts to send younger students back to school, the Legislature passed a significantly modified version with the same funding, and Newsom signed it this week. But...

  
• 02.26.2021

  Gov. Newsom lays out priorities for vaccinating teachers; uncertainties on standardized tests

  For weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom was saying that teachers should be be a priority to be vaccinated, but it wasn’t clear what he meant. This week, he put power behind his pledge to allocate 10% of the state’s vaccines to...

  
• 02.13.2021

  Assessing student progress during pandemic; new CSU chancellor on reopening campuses in fall

  How to grade students struggling to cope academically and how to measure the progress of English learners are two challenges teachers and schools face during the pandemic. This week we talk with EdSource reporter Sydney Johnson on different strategies to grade...

  
• 02.05.2021

  CTA president on vaccinating teachers; San Francisco school superintendent on ‘frivolous’ lawsuit

  San Francisco Mayor London Breed, expressing the frustration of many parents, sues San Francisco’s school board and superintendent to try to force city schools to reopen. Gov. Gavin Newsom, worried about further potential delays, clarifies that vaccinating teachers is a...

  
• 01.29.2021

  Should students return to school for in-person instruction?

  Arguably the most contentious issue of the pandemic is no longer over wearing masks but whether or how children can return to school for in-person instruction. And there is growing urgency. At stake is whether more children will return to school...

  
• 01.23.2021

  Linda Darling-Hammond and Ted Mitchell on President Biden’s plans for education

  President Joe Biden wasted no time: Inaugurated at noon Wednesday, by the end of the day he had, among other things, extended a moratorium on student loan repayment and affirmed the existence of the DACA program, and by Thursday, he...

  
• 01.16.2021

  Safe or unsafe to reopen schools now? Contrasting views from a superintendent and a physician

  This week, two people involved in the debate over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to provide $2 billion in incentives to school districts that agree to bring back elementary school students in February and March offer different perspectives. Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob...

  
• 01.08.2021

  Reflections on an insurrection, education predictions for 2021

  This week, John and Ryan Smith, external officer for the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, reflect on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and its impact on students watching the event, and they share 2021 predictions for education in California. John...

  
• 12.23.2020

  An overdue present from Congress; a site to honor inspiring teachers

  Heading into 2021, California’s K-12 districts, child care providers, and colleges and universities will get about $8.5 billion in federal coronavirus relief that Congress approved this week. Leilani Aguinaldo, governmental relations director for School Services of California, outlines the K-12...

  
• 12.18.2020

  How Covid has upended lives of families and plans of college freshmen

  This week, we hold a roundtable discussion with EdSource reporters Larry Gordon, Betty Márquez Rosales and with Rose Ciotta, the editor overseeing two ongoing projects on the impact of Covid-19 on California education. EdSource published the latest installments for both...

  
• 12.11.2020

  What’s next for the new early education Master Plan?

  It’s great or terrible timing for California’s new Master Plan for Early Learning and Care. The 112-page report from the Newsom administration outlines plans to expand preschool, child care and paid family leave, and boost pay and training for the...

  
• 12.03.2020

  California lawsuit charges ‘inequitable’ distance learning; Chancellor Tim White’s exit interview

  California is violating the constitutional rights of low-income children of color who are bearing the brunt of the shortcomings of distance learning statewide through deficient technology and ineffective instruction, a lawsuit filed this week is charging. The State Board of...

  
• 11.25.2020

  A daily dose of gratitude; a Cabinet post for DACA’s implementer

  Thanksgiving is Americans’ holiday to express gratitude. In a growing number of schools in California, students do this as part of their day. This week, we meet Brandi Quintero, chair of the English Department at Lindsay High School, who is...

  
• 11.20.2020

  Surprise: a big windfall for California schools; Rx for reviving civics education

  California’s highly-regarded Legislative Analyst’s Office caught doomsayers off guard this week with its annual financial outlook for the state budget: A fast economic rebound from a recession that has largely spared the richest Californians will produce a windfall of revenue...

  
• 11.14.2020

  Joe Biden’s transition team goes to work; purple haze falls on Elk Grove

  This week, President-elect Joe Biden named his 20-person education transition team headed by California State Board of Education president Linda Darling-Hammond. Martha Kanter, who served as undersecretary of education in the Obama-Biden administration, talks with EdSource about Biden’s big ideas...

  
• 11.07.2020

  Election post-mortem on Props 15 & 16, taxes and affirmative action

  This week, we gather some of California’s smart observers to talk about the election and its impact on schools. Pedro Noguera, dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, who debated Prop. 209’s creator Ward Connerly 24 years ago, shares his...

  
• 10.31.2020

  Why high schools steer clear of Biden-Trump; reopening in Capistrano

  What history and civics teacher wouldn’t relish teaching the Biden-Trump presidential election? Apparently many in California. This week, Devin Hess, an academic coordinator for the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project, elaborates on what podcast cohost John Fensterwald found in EdSource article...

  
• 10.24.2020

  If Prop. 16 passes, how might it make a difference for K-12 and CSU?

  On Election Day, Californians will have a chance to repeal the ban on affirmative action voters approved in 1996. Proposition 16, which is struggling in the polls, would permit applying diversity as a factor in public employment, contracting and education,...

  
• 10.17.2020

  With cameras running, an Orange County high school reopens; principals answer the call

  Throughout California, few high schools have reopened in counties where health data say they can. Scheduling can be a nightmare, social distancing is a challenge, and there are worries about the asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus to staff and families. This...

  
• 10.09.2020

  Distance learning: An EdSource poll, a parent’s lament, a teacher’s tips

  Parents are frustrated with distance learning, and are worried about students’ learning loss, but they and other voters give Gov. Gavin Newsom high marks overall on managing Covid-19. Those are some of  the highlights from a survey that EdSource released...

  
• 10.03.2020

  Drilling down on Prop. 15; treating wildfires’ trauma on children

  An initiative on the Nov. 3 statewide ballot presents the first attempt in five decades to modify Proposition 13’s all-but-sacred limits on property taxes. This week, we delve into Proposition 15. By requiring that commercial properties be reassessed every three...

  
• 09.26.2020

  On the hazards of returning to K-12 campuses, and declining community college enrollments

  This week, as school districts with 2.5 million of the state’s 6 million students become eligible to potentially reopen for in-person instruction soon, the California Teachers Association reiterated its apprehension that students and teachers will return to school without adequate...

  
• 09.12.2020

  Colleges brace for rising anxiety and depression amid pandemic

  With nearly three-fourths of 18-29 year olds reporting they are feeling down, hopeless or depressed, California colleges are attempting to respond to the rising mental health needs of students during the coronavirus pandemic. Isolation, with students confined to studying online, has...

  
• 09.05.2020

  Chico State’s failed reopening; Assemblywoman Shirley Weber’s hope for ethnic studies

  Covid-19 got the best of Chico State. A week after the college partially reopened dorms and classes for in-person instruction, it closed down due to rising infection rates among young people on and around campus. College President Gayle Hutchinson explains how...

  
• 08.28.2020

  Counties go on and off the Covid list; contention over Zoom cameras on kids

  Covid cases are up and down in different areas of the state, pushing counties on and off the state’s coronavirus monitoring list. On Friday, the monitoring list was replaced by a new color-coded ranking system announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom....

  
• 08.15.2020

  Coronavirus compounds education challenges in Central Valley

  Students and parents in California’s Central Valley faced enormous challenges even before Covid-19 tore through the region.  Only one in four young people in the Central Valley has an associate or bachelor’s degree, and the proportion is even lower for...

  
• 08.08.2020

  Bargaining over distance learning; prepping the next student leaders

  With back to school fast approaching and parents getting antsy, more school districts announced agreements this week with their teachers unions on what distance learning will look this fall. Negotiations overall have been difficult, so we check in with Shannan Brown,...

  
• 08.01.2020

  Sal Khan’s advice on preparing for and succeeding with distance learning

  This week, we devote the show to a conversation with Sal Khan, founder and CEO of Khan Academy — the Mountain View-based nonprofit provider of online classes and study plans that millions of students across the world use — about...

  
• 07.25.2020

  Parents worried about the fall plan ‘learning pods’ and micro-schools

  The news this week was full of accounts of California parents creating new forms of home schooling to fill the gaps they fear will result from prolonged distance learning. They’re forming neighborhood “pandemic pods” — learning pods and micro-schools led...

  
• 07.18.2020

  Two districts target learning loss; parents to get a say on distance learning

  This week, we focus on two districts’ plans meet the needs of students facing the biggest challenges adjusting to a distance learning regimen. The priority students — homeless, foster, and special needs students and youths furthest academically behind — would...

  
• 07.11.2020

  Covid-19 lawsuits: a school district worry and Michael Drake, UC’s new president

  Among the reopening anxieties keeping school superintendents up at night is the fear of being sued if a student or teacher comes down with the coronavirus. Would compliance with county directives offer protection? What constitutes a good-faith effort? Can the...

  
• 07.03.2020

  Linda Darling-Hammond on state’s new expectations for distance learning

  Aware that distance learning didn’t go well in many districts the first time around, the Legislature has imposed new requirements for the fall. This week, Linda Darling-Hammond, an education adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom and president of the State Board of...

  
• 06.27.2020

  State budget anxiety; Janet Napolitano on reopening UC

  This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders cut a deal on the state budget. For K-12 schools, that will entail borrowing billions, coping with the logistics of reopening during a pandemic and hoping Congress comes to the rescue. “We...

  
• 06.19.2020

  Victory for DACA recipients; get ready for another round of renaming schools

  Changing the names of schools named for slave-owning presidents and other leaders with racist views can be divisive. This week, school PTA president Maisha Cole tells us how she led a community process to rechristen Wilson School in Richmond, CA,...

  
• 06.06.2020

  Community colleges’ role in police training; summer academy for student leaders

  This week, in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, we focus on the training of police officers in California. Many go through programs offered by the state’s community colleges, and Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley says it’s important...

  
• 05.30.2020

  The tension between local control and state authority in a pandemic

  With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s guidance for reopening schools in the wings, superintendents are laboring to figure out how schools can adapt to a new regimen with masks, social distancing, temperature checks and hybrid schedules of school one day, distance learning...

  
• 05.23.2020

  UC drops SAT/ACT; districts connect with homeless students

  This week, the regents of the University of California bucked a faculty report and unanimously backed President Janet Napolitano’s recommendation to end the admission requirement that students take the SAT and ACT for admissions. UC plans to develop its own...

  
• 05.16.2020

  CSU’s Tim White on all online learning this fall; looming education budget cuts explained

  This week, California State University, the nation’s largest system of 4-year universities, announced that the fall semester would be all online. Chancellor Tim White explains the timing of the decision, the extent to which changing conditions of the coronavirus may...