Samantha Tran

July 16, 2020

Parents must have a say in districts’ distance learning plans under new California law

The Legislature has set minimum standards for distance learning; parents and students can demand a more extensive approach.

May 7, 2020

California school funding formula has a spending loophole; is a recession the time to fix it?

School districts argue budget cuts warrant spending flexibility; equity advocates argue high-needs students need resources they're entitled to.

January 9, 2020

New efforts to make school spending in California more transparent

State board makes it easier to follow the money; two bills would impose even stricter reporting requirements.

October 25, 2019

Dueling tax measures in 2020; sizing up Tim White's impact on CSU

This week: We discuss retiring CSU Chancellor Timothy White's impact and why two competing taxes on the November 2020 ballot would be problematic.

August 8, 2019

Smaller classes, more novice teachers: the 'tradeoff‘ for low-income California schools

A new study overcomes challenges from a lack of transparency to compare schools' spending under the Local Control Funding Formula.

November 14, 2018

New California coalition agrees on next steps to improve schools, student achievement

The Alliance for Continuous Improvement releases a "GPS" guide that calls for improving on sweeping changes already in place: new education standards, a more equitable funding system and higher expectations for student success.

John Fensterwald

Testing and Accountability

July 10, 2018

Pressure builds to change how California measures student progress on state tests

Student advocacy groups and academics are seeking to adopt a model other states use to calculate the impact of students’ test score growth, but state staff urge patience.

John Fensterwald And Mikhail Zinshteyn

Federal Education Policy

December 27, 2017

Federal government finds flaws in California’s plan to improve lowest-performing schools

Is state board exercising flexibility or violating the Every Student Succeeds Act?

John Fensterwald

Testing and Accountability

November 6, 2017

Stagnant California test scores pose problem; state board may rejigger how to rate districts

State may change color configurations on the school dashboard to reduce the number of districts and student subgroups requiring county assistance.

John Fensterwald

Federal Education Policy

July 17, 2017

State board, advocacy groups fundamentally disagree over plan for complying with federal education law

Is the state's bare-bones response to the Every Student Succeeds Act a shrewd tactic or a missed opportunity?

John Fensterwald

Testing and Accountability

March 2, 2017

School, parent groups urge state board to give more weight to high school tests

The coalition believes the new school dashboard minimizes the importance of 11th-grade Smarter Balanced results.

John Fensterwald

State Education Policy

July 11, 2016

How to decipher the state's proposed school and district report cards

The state board hopes parents and the public will embrace a multi-colored dashboard.

John Fensterwald

Discipline

October 2, 2014

State introduces tools for school change

With districts working this fall to put into action their first locally created school accountability plans, the California Department of Education rolled out a new online resource center on Thursday designed to help schools change.