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Getting Down to Facts

In Getting Down to Facts, more than 100 leading California and national researchers produced three dozen studies examining a decade of sweeping changes and pressing education issues. EdSource will track the impact of the reports as state and local leaders continue to transform PreK-12 in California.

March 21, 2019

California school district pension payments: How EdSource did this story

EdSource analyzed state data to determine how per-student payments to employee pension funds increased for most districts from 2013-14 to 2017-18.

Rose Ciotta
March 19, 2019

New training for California preschool teachers to help bilingual children prepare for kindergarten

The trainings teach preschool teachers how to help children learn English and keep their home languages, so they can be more successful in kindergarten and beyond.

Zaidee Stavely
March 4, 2019

California Supreme Court stops short of allowing school districts to modify existing pensions

Supreme Court reaffirms pension reform law's elimination of one benefit but larger challenge to modify pensions of teachers and other public employees will await a future decision.

John Fensterwald
February 4, 2019

Gun violence in schools and college affordability highest priorities for California voters, poll finds

Voters polled view early childhood programs as important but don't rank them as top priorities and are lukewarm about spending more for them.

John Fensterwald
January 24, 2019

Planned school closures in Oakland Unified have parents, teachers and community members on edge

Oakland Unified faces a budget deficit, in part because students are choosing charter and private schools. The district enrolls only 58 percent of the nearly 63,000 school-age children who live in Oakland.

Theresa Harrington
January 1, 2019

California education issues to watch in 2019 — and predictions of what will happen

Place your bets: curbs on charter schools, passage of universal preschool, more money for K-12, more teacher strikes and the resignation of Betsy DeVos; an untested governor and volatile president may affect the odds.

John Fensterwald, Yuxuan Xie, And Justin Allen
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
November 8, 2018

Most California school construction bonds, parcel taxes pass

Voters approved about 80 percent of 112 school facility bonds and 8 of 13 parcel but a lot of votes remain to be counted.

John Fensterwald
October 29, 2018

California school districts make new investments in teacher evaluation

San Juan Unified is one of the California school districts making investments in its teacher evaluation system. The district adopted a System of Professional Growth in 2016 that focuses on feedback and mentoring of teachers who are being evaluated.

Diana Lambert
School Finance
October 25, 2018

Jerry Brown awaits his day in court on pension reform

The governor wants California Supreme Court to give public agencies, like school districts, the ability to change pension benefits for current workers in hard times.

John Fensterwald
October 11, 2018

A future in flux: what next for the California Department of Education?

Without a lot more money, the next state superintendent of public instruction must clarify the department's role under local control.

John Fensterwald
Getting Down to Facts
September 30, 2018

The case for spending a lot more on California schools

Two panels of teachers and principals were asked to design minimal staffing, programs and resources to meet state expectations for educating all students in California. Their finding: Add $22 billion to the tab.

John Fensterwald
September 27, 2018

California’s persistent teacher shortage fueled by attrition, high demand, say newly released studies

The teacher shortage has worsened in recent years as state funding for education improved and districts began lowering class sizes and bringing back programs, increasing the demand for teachers, according to new studies.

Diana Lambert
September 18, 2018

New findings from Getting Down to Facts II

Watch John Fensterwald in conversation with Sean Reardon and Deborah Stipek on early childhood education.

John Fensterwald
September 17, 2018

Multifaceted reforms needed to reach California’s education goals, research project finds

Getting Down to Facts II finds strong support for education reforms but also obstacles to student achievement and a need for more funding.

John Fensterwald