Fresno Unified School District

August 27, 2021

Quarantines and teacher shortages: a double whammy for California districts

Independent study is now the only option for quarantined students; superintendents warn the regulations are too constraining.

John Fensterwald And Betty Márquez Rosales

Coronavirus

April 6, 2021

How California high schools plan to pull off ‘normal’ graduations

Ceremonies will be outside, probably in shifts, on a sports field with bleachers, or like Fresno and Natomas, in a big pavilion and minor league ballpark.

March 23, 2021

Coaches, mentors at California schools key to helping keep recent immigrant students engaged during pandemic

When the pandemic hit, many students who recently immigrated to the U.S. were not attending online classes regularly.

Betty Márquez Rosales And Zaidee Stavely

Coronavirus

March 4, 2021

Nurse shortage could make reopening school campuses more difficult

Without school nurses, it will be teachers and other school staff who will decide if a sniffle is a symptom of Covid-19 or just hay fever.

November 6, 2020

How California teachers are making bilingual education work online

With most instruction now remote and with less class time, students don’t spend as much time exposed to their new language.

September 15, 2020

Fearing distance learning, many parents opt for preschool instead of kindergarten

Some parents are also opting for preschool because a more familiar environment offers comfort during the pandemic.

September 10, 2020

California superintendents navigate how to reopen campuses while keeping students, teachers safe

Complicated, ever-shifting set of unique factors will affect school reopening plans.

June 5, 2020

Summer school may be another pandemic victim in some districts

Researchers found 61 of 100 districts nationwide plan to offer summer school, but many are not expanding programs or trying new things.

December 4, 2019

How California measures academic success is changing at some of the state’s largest districts

California’s CORE districts have the option of publishing growth data. Los Angeles will join Fresno, Long Beach and Oakland in doing so.

October 30, 2019

Reading scores drop in California, most states in much-watched national test

Nationwide scores on NAEP stalled for a decade in 4th and 8th grade while California's slowly rose – latest dip in 8th grade reading notwithstanding

John Fensterwald And Daniel J. Willis

School Finance

September 6, 2019

Gov. Newsom, lawmakers still negotiating K-14 construction bond

State officials have called for giving property-poor districts a bigger share of state funding.

July 2, 2019

How school districts can use limited resources strategically to enhance student success

Fresno Unified and San Diego Unified case studies show how districts can effectively target resources.

Joe McKown and Christina Baumgardner

October 30, 2018

Building relationships with preschool parents, one conversation at a time

To help preschoolers who are learning to speak in more than one language, one California school district is focusing on parent engagement through in-person interviews that are boosting parent participation in class activities.

Ashley Hopkinson

October 23, 2017

Until poverty eliminated, schools won't graduate 100 percent of students, expert says

California Dropout Research Project director says a student's GPA and course selections are better indicators of college readiness than test scores.

Theresa Harrington

August 31, 2017

Summertime is back-to-school time in state's largest districts

Starting school after Labor Day appears to be passe — at least among the 30 largest school districts in California.