Achievement Gap

January 15, 2020

San Francisco Bay Area parents declare state of emergency over district’s failure to educate black children

Parents want the district to allocate $7.2 million to improve services for the district’s 5,000 African-American students.

November 18, 2019

Students talk through math in this California school. Now test scores are rising.

Math scores for Latino students have more than doubled at Robbins Elementary since 2014-15.

November 15, 2019

Two community colleges show how students can succeed without remedial math courses

Two California community colleges stand out in efforts to help students take for-credit math courses instead of remedial courses.

October 16, 2019

Four lessons I learned from California’s Hollister prep on closing learning gaps

Improving student learning requires both academic rigor and flexibility in working with students based on their individual needs.

October 11, 2019

Push to increase the number of teachers of color in California classrooms gains momentum

Increasing the number of teachers of color in California classrooms is a top priority for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

October 10, 2019

How did students at your child’s school do on Smarter Balanced tests?

Readers can access results for California’s Smarter Balanced tests taken by students in the spring in nearly 10,000 school statewide.

September 23, 2019

Poverty levels in schools key determinant of achievement gaps, not racial or ethnic composition, study finds

Researchers say the concentrations of black and Hispanic students in high-poverty schools should still be a focus of education reform.

March 24, 2019

Schools lack a clear view of Asian and Pacific Islander discipline disparities, study finds

The study found that students from Southeast Asian countries, like Vietnam and Cambodia, had suspension and expulsion rates that were 2 to 3 times higher than those from China, Japan and other East Asian countries.

David Washburn

July 25, 2018

Improving California school environments focus of pilot program

UCLA and two county education departments are collaborating to train teachers and administrators throughout the state on alternatives to traditional discipline.

David Washburn

June 20, 2018

California budget deal includes extra funding for students with lowest test scores

Persistence pays off for Assemblywoman Shirley Weber with a compromise resulting in $300 million in one-time spending.

John Fensterwald

June 6, 2018

Good news for C students and English majors – tech jobs are for you, too, study says

Too many students think 'STEM is only for the smartest of the smart,' while millions of jobs go unfilled.

Carolyn Jones

May 22, 2018

Latino, African-Americans have less access to math, science classes, new data show

New data from the Office of Civil Rights shows wide gaps in advanced math and science enrollment.

Carolyn Jones

April 17, 2018

African-American students would get extra funding under proposal before Legislature

Bill would modify the Local Control Funding Formula to add money for the lowest-performing student group; it could violate the law barring preferential treatment based on race or ethnicity.

John Fensterwald

April 16, 2018

Focusing on the language skills of English Learners key to boosting math scores

An Education Trust–West report highlights successful strategies some California districts implemented to improve English learners' performance in math.

Ashley Hopkinson

April 9, 2018

California makes significant gain in reading on much anticipated national test

San Diego, Los Angeles and Fresno make notable growth among urban districts in the 2017 NAEP.