Topic

Early Learning

Quality early care and education are critical to prepare California children for school and their lives in general. But a large percentage of children do not have access to high quality early childhood education programs. The coronavirus pandemic has caused financial strife for early learning programs trying to meet health and safety guidelines and keep staff and children safe. But the public health crisis has also illuminated the essential nature of the early learning and care field and reinvigorated hopes to expand preschool access to more children.

California's Reading Dilemma

August 17, 2022

A movement rises to change the teaching of reading

Scientists, teachers, and parents battle over the best way to teach reading amid a literacy crisis.

Karen D'Souza

Transitional Kindergarten

August 15, 2022

What parents should know about getting kids ready for transitional kindergarten

This year even more than usual, teachers say, parents might want to help their children prepare for TK.

Karen D'Souza

Student Well-Being

August 10, 2022

What’s new this school year? Changing Covid protocols, universal TK, later start times and more

California's school year will begin with fewer Covid protocols, universal transitional kindergarten, more afterschool programs and community schools, and later start times for older students.

Diana Lambert

Early Learning

July 27, 2022

Can infants learn math? State-backed pilot project in Fresno aims to find out

A statewide pilot project in California is aimed at boosting the confidence of early childhood educators, child care providers and elementary school teachers to teach math.

Ashleigh Panoo

K-12 Enrollment

July 24, 2022

Enrollment decline: LAUSD's Carvalho says families leaving the state or choosing to home-school

LAUSD and other school districts nationwide are still trying to figure out the whereabouts of children who did not return to school after the pandemic.

Thomas Peele

Commentary

July 11, 2022

More teachers, outreach needed to support California's youngest English learners

California can create a national model for expanding educational opportunities for students and crafting groundbreaking policies that serve to properly identify and serve dual language students.

Patricia Lozano and Feliza Ortiz-Licon

State Education Policy

July 1, 2022

California's new budget includes historic funding for education

The $128 billion total for schools and community colleges gives a big boost for the funding formula and after-school programs, with a promise for an expansion of Cal Grants for college assistance.

John Fensterwald And Yuxuan Xie

Commentary

June 29, 2022

Child care access is key to pandemic recovery for California's children, working families

California must expand and support access to child care options even as transitional kindergarten rolls out.

Connie Leyva

Commentary

June 28, 2022

Even incremental support for early ed teachers can help ease the child care crisis

Incremental changes could go a long way toward addressing the teacher shortage and provide more families with access to child care.

Anthony Felix

Credentialing

June 17, 2022

California to create teaching credential covering pre-K through 3rd grade that requires literacy training

State commission hopes new credential will help attract thousands of teachers for transitional kindergarten; literacy advocates press for strong literacy standards.

John Fensterwald

Commentary

June 2, 2022

We can stop the Head Start classroom crisis

Low wages for Head Start teachers are causing classrooms to close, leaving children without services and risking our financial future.

Anna Ioakimedes

Early Learning

May 20, 2022

Should kindergarten change in California?

Children from low-income families often start school with fewer academic skills than their more affluent peers, experts say, an issue exacerbated by the pandemic.

Karen D'Souza

Commentary

May 19, 2022

A comprehensive reading plan is the only way to address our early literacy crisis

The failure to teach California’s three million low-income students to be effective readers is the ultimate existential threat.

Todd Collins

Literacy

April 29, 2022

An unmet promise: Early literacy for all in California

Educators and advocates at an EdSource roundtable urged state leaders to expand research-based teacher training on early literacy and "take responsibility" for California's literacy crisis.

Ali Tadayon

Commentary

April 27, 2022

How to restore California’s ailing child care system: Pay the teachers

Polls show that Californians have the will to invest in child care and teachers’ wages. Do the governor and lawmakers?