Top 3 Programming Languages To Learn In 2025—Infographic
Technology is growing at lightning speed, making programming skills more valuable than ever. If you are a student, a working professional, or considering a career switch, choosing the right programming language is crucial. But with so many options, which are the best? In this infographic, we explore the top 3 programming languages to learn in 2025: Python, JavaScript, and Java.
Why Learn Programming In 2025?
The demand for software developers is continually rising. Companies are investing in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, websites, and mobile applications, which are high-demand areas for programmers. Below are a few reasons why programming is essential to learn in 2025:
• Programming language skills can secure you high-paying jobs in various fields like data science, AI, full-stack development, etc. • There is an ever-increasing demand for automation and AI-based applications. • There are many opportunities for entrepreneurship, such as building your own software, website, or app.
Students in a combined second- and third-grade at UCLA community school talk in pairs.
Credit: Allison Shelley for EDUimages
“It takes a village.” When it comes to raising a child, we hear this phrase often. It takes extended families, neighbors and close friends to raise a child. It not only takes the support of society as a whole, but also the systems we’ve built. It’s an effort that starts at home but extends to the doctor or clinic’s office, to extracurricular activities and to school.
Anyone who regularly interacts with youth has the unique opportunity to help them feel seen, heard and supported. Our early care providers, educators and others who work in these environments, like coaches, librarians or receptionists, have many of these opportunities and are often the first line of support for today’s youth — especially those who have experienced trauma or adversity.
Research suggests that adverse childhood experiences — or ACEs — like homelessness, loss of parents or loved ones, abuse, neglect, violence or illness—can affect a student’s ability to learn as well as their behavior in the classroom. This can show up in a variety of ways, but research shows children with three or more ACEs are five times more likely to have attendance issues, six times more likely to have behavior problems, and three times more likely to experience academic failure.
But even one caring adult can make all the difference for a child who’s struggling.
That’s why it’s so important to continue to give our early care providers, educators and other school personnel tools and resources to help our young people manage stress and achieve the healthiest version of themselves. Safe Spaces: Foundations of Trauma-Informed Practice for Educational and Care Settings is a free, self-paced training designed to help educators, school personnel and child care providers understand and respond to trauma and stress in our youth. This resource, launched by the Office of the California Surgeon General, helps to reshape these critical interactions with youth who may be overwhelmed or need additional support by using effective strategies that can lead to healthier lives.
Safe Spaces is grounded in research and was developed in collaboration with experts in education and youth mental health. Through case examples, strategies, videos and practices, individuals gain the education and tools they need to be that pillar of support in a child’s life. Those who complete the training will also receive a certificate of completion from the Office of the California Surgeon General.
This training was made possible with funding from the California Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative. Safe Spaces is just one piece of a larger effort to reimagine the systems that support California’s children and youth.
In August 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California’s master plan for kids’ mental health, a multiyear effort to more holistically serve the state’s diverse children, youth and families. The California behavioral health initiative is at the very core of that plan. Additional investments include $4.1 billion to develop a community schools strategy that connects kids and families to essential health, mental health and social services alongside high-quality, supportive instruction with a strong focus on community, family and student engagement. To date, the State Board of Education has awarded grants to fund 1,028 schools to become community schools or expand their existing programs.
These investments in mental health and wraparound services for young people are designed to meet Californians where they are and make a tangible difference in their lives.
We continue to be inspired by the drive and passion of so many educators, early care providers and school personnel who are nurturing our youth. This training is just one example of how we can support them along the way.
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Diana Ramos is California’s surgeon general and a public health leader dedicated to improving health care quality and equity.
Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun professor of education emeritus at Stanford University, president of the California State Board of Education and an adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit today against Chino Valley Unified asking the San Bernardino County Superior Court to end a district policy that requires school staff to tell parents if their child asks to be identified by a different gender or name, or accesses a bathroom or program that don’t align with the gender on their official records.
The lawsuit also asks the court to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the district policy immediately to protect the safety of transgender and gender-nonconforming students in the school district while the court case proceeds.
“In its function, in its text, and in its context this policy is disruptive,” Bonta said at a news conference Monday morning. “It’s discriminatory, and it’s downright dangerous. It has no place in California, which is why we have moved in court to strike it down.”
The Attorney General’s Office filed the case after completing a civil rights investigation of the district. The investigation found that the policy, passed on July 21, discriminates against transgender and gender-nonconforming students, violates their constitutional and civil rights, and threatens their mental, emotional and physical well-being, Bonta said.
“Let’s call this policy what it is. It’s a forced outing policy,” Bonta said.
The policy violates the constitutional right of all California students to be treated equally, regardless of their gender, gender identity, or gender expression, Bonta said. It violates California’s equal protection clause, and it violates California’s constitutionally protected right to privacy, he said.
Transcripts and recordings of the Chino Valley Unified board meetings reveal that trustees were motivated by a desire to harbor animosity, discrimination and prejudice, Bonta said.
“Transgender and gender-nonconforming students were described as suffering from a mental illness and perversion,” Bonta said. “There were claims that policies protecting these students are a threat to the integrity of our nation and the family system as we know it. One board member even went as far as to publicly state that transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals need non-affirming action from their parents to get better.”
Chino Valley Unified officials weren’t notified that the lawsuit was filed until after media outlets began to report on it Monday morning, said Andrea Johnston, district spokeswoman, in an email.
Johnston did not provide a district official for an interview with EdSource, saying district officials were still reviewing the lawsuit with attorneys. But, Johnston did dispute Bonta’s allegation that the policy puts transgender students at risk.
“The district’s policy does protect transgender students by requiring staff to notify CPS/law enforcement if the student believes they are in danger or have been abused, injured, or neglected due to their parent or guardian knowing of their preferred gender identity. In these circumstances, CVUSD staff will not notify parents or guardians, but rather, wait for the appropriate agencies to complete their investigations regarding the concerns shared by the student.”
Johnston said that the district has been transparent in its dealings with the Attorney General’s office on the matter, providing it with all the requested documents and records.
“Superintendent (Norm) Enfield spoke with the DOJ’s legal counsel weekly to confirm the district was providing requested files, which had changed several times from the original subpoena,” she wrote in the email.
Students who submitted declarations for the lawsuit said the board policy has made them fear for their safety and has caused them to become withdrawn in school.
“It presents students with a terrible choice, either walk back your rights to gender identity and gender expression, to be yourself, to be who you are, or face the risk of serious harm, mental harm, emotional harm, physical harm,” Bonta said of the policy.
“We are standing up for our children today, not allowing their rights to be trampled, not allowing them to be put in harm’s way by a school board who is not complying with California law,” Bonta said.
Letty Kraus knows her way around the arts ed world. She started teaching dance at the ripe old age of 15, while she was still in high school.
First she convinced her old middle school to let her teach a dance class for kids after school. Then she started landing jobs at performing arts summer camps.
Letty Kraus
When she grew up and became a history teacher in the early ’90s, there were no history jobs open, so she went back to teaching dance. She has also consulted on educational programs for the California Department of Education.
Now Kraus uses her passion for the performing arts as director of the California County Superintendents’ statewide arts initiative.
My parents made sure I had private music instruction and dance lessons. In school, musical theater brought music and dance together. I enjoyed harmonizing and discovered that I liked comedic parts since getting a laugh was the ultimate positive feedback. I was always told that I would never be a lead actress or a good enough dancer to go anywhere with a career, but nobody ever questioned my ability to make people laugh, so I made the most of that.
How did that arts exposure impact your path in life?
Participating in theater and dance productions in high school, and later in the community, laid the foundation for becoming a professional adult — not in the arts, but in my career.
Arts productions taught me everything — discipline and practice, preparation, being reliable and accountable to others, teamwork, empathy and how to navigate through challenging situations. These are the most important values for me in what I do, and they came from the arts. Personally, I relax by attempting to play my piano, and I love to immerse myself in trying to learn watercolor when I have time off.
Some people think of dance as an esoteric discipline, but isn’t physical activity critical to keeping kids happy?
You are absolutely right about kids needing to move. Unfortunately, I think schools tend to gravitate to visual arts and music, but what we are advocating for with school districts is to take an inventory of what they are offering, identify where there are opportunities to expand, and that includes in each arts discipline. So, there is great potential to expand dance programs. However, there is a challenge in that we will need more credentialed dance teachers. There are few programs given that the dance credential, and also the theater credential, was only recently reinstated in California.
Do you think Proposition 28 can change the way people see the arts?
My hope for changing the perception of the arts with Prop. 28 is that the public gains a greater understanding of the arts as core curriculum. Arts is not just a loose, creative, fun “activity,” throw out the paint and let the kids play. There is a very serious approach to arts instruction. Allowing kids to experience, explore and study in depth helps them access college, career, and be productive and happy in civic life. Kids need this from TK (transitional kindergarten) all the way through to 12. Arts are fun, and they are serious, and you can have a career in the arts if you choose.
How did we let the arts get cut from the public schools, and how hard will it be to build it back?
Well, as we all know, Prop. 13 (passed in 1978) changed everything and produced generations with varying experiences in the arts. Privilege comes into play as well. Some folks have benefited from private lessons. Others have not. Some find their way to the arts in spite of that. Prop. 28 offers a tremendous opportunity to build it back, and one that we know the public supports. But we will have to support our schools and districts to engage in the work and thoughtfully plan for how to grow programs.
What should parents know about the new funding coming to their school?
They should know that the intent of Prop. 28 is that parents are part of the planning process for how to expand programs. They should be helping schools think about what kinds of culturally responsive offerings there should be. Parents and families are important partners.
What do you think people outside the arts most need to know about how arts ed can touch children’s lives?Perhaps especially now, post-pandemic?
With everything that has happened, I can’t think of a more important time for students to have the arts so they can exercise creativity and develop skills that empower them to express themselves in multiple ways, make positive connections and develop agency over their futures.
As the philosophical foundations of our 2019 arts standards note, arts are part of societal fabric. They are part of our well-being, means of connection, help make creative personal connections, a path for community engagement and also a profession. Essentially, they offer an outlet for student voice.
Do you worry about the lack of arts educators out there right now?
Absolutely, but I know that my colleagues and the state superintendent are all committed to exploring multiple ways to address this problem. If we can be smart about it and leverage the Prop. 28 waiver, which is still in development, this would actually be the least of my Prop. 28 worries right now. We have problems with how the teaching profession is perceived, but hopefully, we have enough people working on this that we will make some gains.
What is your biggest concern with the rollout?
The delay of guidance or absence of guidance around supplement vs. supplant, baseline data, and waivers will have a chilling effect and LEAs (local educational agencies) will have to return funds because they are not clear on the rules. Ultimately, this exacerbates existing inequities in our system related to access to arts education.
What issues would you like to see addressed by the waiver?
In my opinion, if the guidance developed was approached thoughtfully by CDE (the California Department of Education), it could offer some flexibility as schools scale up their Prop. 28 implementation efforts. For example, schools may want to add staff to teach the arts but may lack a facility for that. They might propose a short-term waiver of the 80/20 requirement, so they could address that need. Also, in some rural settings, there have been arts positions posted that have remained unfilled. If a school cannot hire a credentialed or certificated staff to provide arts education, rather than return the Prop. 28 allocation, that waiver could allow for providers from community arts organizations. The Prop. 28 language says that a waiver could be provided “for good cause.” Good cause should include what is going to bring more arts education to the students that need it the most.
What is your mission with the California County Superintendents’ arts initiative?
The California County Superintendents believe that all California students from every geographic region and at every socioeconomic level deserve in-depth arts learning as part of the core curriculum. The statewide arts initiative works at all levels to strengthen and expand arts education in California public schools and increase student access to sequential, standards-based arts education through a full complement of services utilizing the statewide county office of education infrastructure. One of its key purposes is to build educator capacity.
Trump has an almost mystical view about tariffs. He thinks that they are a payment that a country makes to the U.S. in return for selling their products here. He thinks that the U.S. will collect so many billions in tariff payments that the government can keep cutting taxes. He doesn’t understand that the cost of tariffs is paid first by American retailers, but ultimately by consumers. Tariffs mean higher prices for everything that is imported.
He apparently never learned in high school about the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of 1930, which led to retaliation and ultimately contributed to the Great Depression.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has some lessons for Trump. Given Trump’s belief in his own great intellect, it’s doubtful that he’s interested in learning anything new.
Krugman writes:
Many investors seem to have deluded themselves into believing that Trump was done disrupting world trade, and some economists, myself included, were hoping that we wouldn’t keep having to write about stupid, feckless trade policy. But here we go again.
By now we were supposed to have scores of trade deals signed. Instead… Trump began posting letters on Truth Social (diplomacy!) telling a variety of countries that they would face high tariffs on Aug. 1. The first two letters were to South Korea and Japan, both told that Trump would put a 25 percent tariff on all their exports. Some countries are facing even higher tariffs. Overall, the tariff rates announced so far look very close to the widely ridiculed Liberation Day tariffs announced on April 2.
Honestly, I’ve written so much about tariffs that it’s hard to find new things to say. But let me offer a few notes on where we seem to be now.
These tariffs are really, really high
One way to look at the newly announced tariffs is in the light of history. The infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 pushed the average tariff rate to about 20 percent. So far every country that has received a letter will be facing rates higher than that.
Another way to look at it to ask how much we would expect these tariffs to reduce trade. The key number is the elasticity of substitution in world trade — the percent fall in imports caused by a one percent rise in import prices. The median estimate from many studies is 3.8, which implies that in the long run 25 percent tariffs will reduce trans-Pacific trade by almost 60 percent. That’s a lot.
Side note: If I were a government employee, this post would probably be flagged for DEI because I just used the word “trans.”
There were never going to be genuine trade deals
These tariffs are going to hurt South Korea and Japan, although they’ll hurt U.S. consumers even more. So why didn’t Korean and Japanese negotiators make big enough concessions to satisfy Trump?
Because there was nothing for them to concede. South Korea has had a free trade agreement with the United States since 2012, so most U.S. exports to Korea face zero tariffs. Japan, like other wealthy nations, has very low tariffs on most goods. Neither country, then, was in a position to offer big tariff reductions, because their tariffs were already minimal.
Here’s part of Trump’s letter to South Korea, alleging that the country’s “Tariff, and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers” are responsible for the bilateral trade imbalance:
Notice that Trump offered no specifics — because there aren’t any. How were the South Koreans supposed to end unfair trade practices that exist only in Trump’s imagination?
Here’s an analogy that occurred to me: Imagine that you have a belligerent neighbor who threatens to take revenge unless you stop dumping trash on his lawn. You reply, truthfully, that you aren’t dumping trash on his lawn. His response is to accuse you of being intransigent and slash your car’s tires.
The only possible out here would be a series of fake deals, in which countries pretend to have offered significant concessions and Trump claims to have won big victories. Some people still think that will happen — the new tariffs aren’t supposed to take effect until Aug. 1. But the tone of those letters and Trump’s clear obsession with tariffs make me doubt that he’ll call the tariffs off, in part because of my last observation: Attempts to mollify Trump always end up emboldening him to demand more.
Why make a deal with a man who will surely break it?
As I already mentioned, South Korea and the United States have had a free trade agreement (KORUS) since 2012. This agreement wasn’t some vague memorandum of understanding. It was the result of years of tough negotiation, followed by intense political debate in both countries before our respective legislatures passed the enabling legislation.
Yet Trump is simply ignoring that hard-won agreement. His letter to the South Koreans doesn’t even mention KORUS, let alone explain why the United States is reneging on its solemn promises.
Japan doesn’t have a free trade agreement with the United States. But it does have Most Favored Nation status, which means that under international trade law it is entitled to face tariffs no higher than those America committed to under the last major global trade agreement, the Uruguay Round that concluded in 1994. Again, these tariff commitments weren’t embodied in some casual memorandum. They were the result of years of negotiation, whose results had to be approved by Congress.
And again Trump isn’t even trying to explain why he’s going back on a longstanding U.S. commitment.
The point is that Trump doesn’t feel bound by trade deals America has made in the past. Why should anyone expect him to honor any new deals he makes, or claims to make, now?
Obviously this behavior isn’t unique to tariffs. Many domestic institutions, from law firms to universities, have discovered that attempting to appease Trump buys you at best a few weeks’ respite before he comes back for more.
It’s possible that the governments receiving Trump’s tariff letters haven’t figured that out yet. But they will. And my bet is that the TACO people — Trump always chickens out — are wrong in this case. I’ll be happy to be proved wrong, but right now it looks as if deeply destructive tariffs are really coming.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (left) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (right).
Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource & Gage Skidmore/Flickr
There’s a saying in politics that most people will vote for the candidate they’d rather have a beer with. I’ve been thinking about this a lot after hearing that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed to a televised debate.
Personally, I’m dreading it. Our national political discourse has already degenerated below the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It’s impossible to escape the constant fighting in the press, social media and text chains of family and friends.
I think it’d be more interesting if Gavin and Ron had to explain their views on a topic like education over drinks. I started to imagine what it would be like to be stuck between them in my local bar.
They were already there when I walked in. DeSantis was dressed in his Navy intelligence officer uniform. He was nursing a vodka soda and kept furtively scanning the crowd for threats. Newsom was in the seat to my left and halfway through an expensive wine that he’d obviously brought with him.
Both were staring at the local news on TV. When it started playing a story about the learning that kids had lost during the pandemic, DeSantis pointed at the screen and said, “That’s what happens when your politicians let teachers’ unions shut down schools for two years. In Florida, we prioritized our kids and parents.”
Hearing this, Newsom snorted and said, “In California, we prioritized safety. Florida ignored the science and made dangerous decisions that put everyone at risk.”
“What a load of crap,” said DeSantis. “We had just about the same mortality rates and kept our schools and businesses open. You kept them closed and forced people to wear masks long after everyone got vaccinated.”
“At least we believed in vaccination,” yelled Newsom. “You guys were taking deworming pills for horses.”
I laughed at the joke and said to Newsom, “You’re right. The anti-vax, horse deworming pills and other conspiracy lunacy kept us from getting back to normal.” Then I turned to DeSantis, “But you’re right that California, like many blue states went overboard with school shutdowns and severely damaged kids’ learning and mental health. The state and local leaders who should have advocated for those students, especially the most vulnerable ones, did nothing and that should forever stain their consciences.”
Newsom looked shocked that I wasn’t in total agreement with him. After all, Californians, especially those in the Bay Area, are only supposed to think one way. His silence inspired the DeSantis to start another line of attack. “Truth is, it wouldn’t matter if they’d kept the schools closed. The kids in them weren’t learning anything anyway. Florida is in the top five nationally in reading and math and our kids were years ahead of California students before the pandemic. That’s why so many of your parents are leaving your state and choosing ours.”
Newsom took a huge slug of red wine and snorted, “Our kids learn what your kids aren’t allowed to like ethnic studies and African American history. We teach the truth. You whitewash it.”
I looked to my left and raised a toast. “Great line,” I said. “But he,” pointing to my right, “has another good point. We are way behind Florida and many other states in teaching reading and math. They’ve been at this work for years. We don’t even have a state-wide reading and math strategy. I think it’s amazing that we have an ethnic studies requirement but what’s the point if our students can’t read the books that tell our nation’s story, good and bad?”
DeSantis downed his vodka soda and pumped his fist.
DeSantis looked furious. “Of course, they can say gay,” he said. “What they can’t do is have any discussions of sex before third grade or indoctrinate them into critical race theory, so they hate their country and white people. Our anti-woke agenda is overwhelmingly supported by parents and voters in Florida and nationally.”
“It’s just more censorship,” said the Newsom. “You deny the reality of our nation’s history and human sexuality.”
I complimented Newsom for another good line and then said to DeSantis. “You make some good points. The language police are miserable, self-righteous scolds and the CRT people clearly overreached by describing every white person as privileged and racist. Parents should know what their kids are being taught in the earliest grades, but there’s a difference between talking about sexual acts and describing family structures that include gay and lesbian parents. You seem hellbent on delegitimizing those.”
“And don’t forget how they treat transgender people. That’s even worse,” said Newsom.
“So, we should let them play women’s sports?” said DeSantis.
“Yes. And use the bathroom of the sex they identify with,” said Newsom.
“Hold on,” I said. “I think that most people agree that letting transgender males play women’s sports is unfair. But there appears to be active effort to deny their existence as human beings, which just seems cruel,” I said. “Who cares about how they identify or what bathrooms they use?”
This seemed to make them equally angry. They turned away from me, which was fine because I’d had enough of being stuck in the middle. As I paid for my beer, I wondered what I’d do if I had to choose between these guys in an election.
I mostly leaned to the left, but Newsom hadn’t shown political courage when many urban school districts refused to open many months after mass vaccination, nor done much to improve teaching and learning; but he said all the right things.
On the right side, DeSantis had prioritized students and families during the pandemic and his students were doing much better academically; but everything he did came with a dose of 1984 and a whiff of Voldemort.
Then there was the fact that neither of them drank beer.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
When Allyson Najera enrolled at Irvine Valley College in 2021, she worried her higher education outlook was bleak.
Najera was admitted to and planned to attend San Diego State University that year, but her family couldn’t afford it, and she instead enrolled in community college with the intention of transferring. She knew of family members who went to a community college and never transferred to a four-year university.
“I was very scared that was going to happen to me,” she said. “I remember crying the first time I went to campus.”
Yet two years later, Najera is getting ready to start her first term at UCLA, where she was successfully admitted as a sociology major. She credits her experiences at Irvine Valley: working with committed counselors, getting academic research opportunities and enrolling in an honors program that had a strong track record of transferring students to UCLA. Her time at community college was “the exact opposite” of what she initially expected it to be.
Courtesy of Allyson Najera
Allyson Najera
Najera isn’t the only transfer success story from Irvine Valley. In a state where transfer is often confusing and difficult for students, some community colleges, including Irvine Valley, are doing it better than most. Among Irvine Valley students who completed at least 12 units and left their community college, one-fourth of them transferred to either a University of California or California State University campus, according to a 2022 analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California. Along with Pasadena City and De Anza (in Cupertino), that was the highest mark in the state, where the average was about 17% of those students.
In some cases, officials acknowledge, the colleges have inherent advantages, like geographical proximity to four-year universities. But officials also say their specific programs and efforts also deserve credit, like proactive transfer centers, strong academics and extracurriculars that keep students motivated.
“Obviously, UC Irvine is just a few miles away. There’s CSU Fullerton, even Long Beach State. They’re all within driving distance,” said Loris Fagioli, Irvine Valley’s director of research and planning. “Compare that to some community colleges that are more rural and remote, and it’s much tougher for the students they’re serving to transfer.”
“But then again, there are other community colleges that also have those advantages and they aren’t doing as well,” he added.
Transfer culture
At Glendale Community College, there’s an emphasis on convincing students that community college isn’t an alternative pathway, but the predominant pathway to getting a four-year degree, said Ryan Cornner, the college’s president. At Glendale, about 23% of students who earned at least 12 credits successfully transferred to UC or Cal State.
“More than half of CSU graduates started at a community college. Almost one-third of UC graduates started at a community college,” he noted. “Building an effective transfer is convincing students that this isn’t a second chance or backup; this is a legitimate pathway to get to the university you want to attend.”
One way they do that at Glendale is with a proactive transfer center. Rather than waiting for them to schedule appointments, counselors are constantly checking in with students who have declared an intent to transfer and making sure they’re staying on track.
When students do seek out an appointment at Glendale, it’s easy to get one, said Mike Borisov, who is transferring this fall to UC San Diego.
Borisov earned the credits he needed for transfer by taking classes at both Glendale and Los Angeles Valley colleges. He found it was much easier to get in front of counselors and seek help at Glendale.
“LAVC is a great campus, but transfer counselors weren’t as helpful as the ones at Glendale. It was harder to meet in person because they were always booked up, while at Glendale, it’s more intimate and the counselors really know their students,” Borisov said.
Glendale even offers a one-credit class focused on the transfer process, designed to help students better understand it, all while they earn a transferable that is transferable to the state’s four-year universities.
“It’s really just meant to familiarize students with the transfer process: what the requirements are for transfer, the application timeline, how to prepare successfully for the application, how to write personal statements well,” said Bridget Bershad, a counselor at Glendale.
Making sure students have that knowledge, whether it’s through a class or meeting with counselors, is imperative because the transfer landscape is “extremely complex,” said Fagioli, the Irvine Valley official.
Fagioli said Irvine Valley’s transfer center is similarly proactive, regularly reaching out to students to make sure they know what they need for transfer.
“Because as soon as you change a major, as soon as you switch from wanting to transfer to Fullerton to another CSU, all these requirements change,” he said. “So you need very good and knowledgeable people who are up to date with all the nuances.”
In a recent EdSource survey of current and former community college students, more than half said the process of transferring to a four-year university is difficult. Many of them cited access to counseling as a roadblock; only about one-third of respondents said it is easy to schedule an appointment with a counselor.
At some campuses, their record on transfer attracts the students. De Anza College has one of the highest transfer rates in the state and is particularly successful at sending students to the top UC campuses, namely Berkeley, UCLA and San Diego.
Students come from outside De Anza’s Santa Clara County home base, said Marisa Spatafore, associate vice president of communications.
“And they say they want to transfer, that they want to go to UCLA or Berkeley,” Spatafore said. “And the tagline our college is known for — ‘Tops in Transfer’ — that’s based in reality. And students understand that.”
Getting students involved
Beyond making sure students can navigate the transfer process, campus officials said it’s also key that students have opportunities to get involved on campus so they feel a connection to their college community and stay motivated. In some cases, their extracurriculars can even bolster their applications to UC and Cal State campuses.
De Anza College, for example, has 18 learning communities designed to connect students to a network of classmates, faculty and advisers who share something in common. There are communities for current and former foster youth, male students of color and students identifying as LGTBQ+. There’s even one for students who need extra help in math to connect them to counselors and tutors.
“We’re really trying to meet students where they are with these communities so that they develop a community with other students and with the faculty members, to really support their unique needs,” Spatafore said. “Even if they’re not a cohort going through the same exact classes, they still reap the benefit of that personal support, that personal attention and working with other students.”
At both Irvine Valley and Glendale, officials emphasized the strength and size of their honors programs offered to students. Students who are accepted into the programs get special access to honors courses and get an honors recognition on their official transcripts, which can help when applying to competitive four-year universities. Students in the honors program across majors at Irvine Valley, for example, are essentially guaranteed to be admitted to UCLA if they complete the program, said Fagioli.
Najera was admitted to the honors program at Irvine Valley, and so she was able to do her own research project on how the social media platform TikTok glamorizes eating disorders among female powerlifters between the ages of 12 and 25.
She even presented that research at several conferences, including ones at Stanford University and Pepperdine University.
“I think that’s something that’s very unique with Irvine Valley College. I remember going to the UC Berkeley transfer day, and a lot of students from different community colleges told me they’ve never had experience with research because their community college didn’t offer that opportunity,” Najera said.
In addition to bolstering her college applications, she said it was also important to “get my feet wet” with research because it gave her a clear direction and made her realize she wanted to attend a university where she’d have more research opportunities. That was a big reason she focused on going to UCLA, where she hopes to conduct research at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. She chose UCLA over UC Irvine and Tufts University, a private college near Boston.
“This experience at IVC has taught me to never have a closed mindset or let any sort of stigma get in the way,” she said. “Now I actually understand that I have a purpose in my life. IVC helped me with finding that direction.”
Let’s face it. “Republican” is now the very meaning of immoral and all what being immoral implies. Recognizing, of course, all of us are imperfect in varying ways—the reality of life. Still, why would any self-proclaimed Christian or other supposedly moral person even think to vote for a Republican in these times?
EJ: What does being immoral imply?
AI: Being immoral generally implies behaving in ways that go against established moral principles or ethical standards. It’s not just about breaking rules—it’s about violating ideas of right and wrong that a society, culture, or individual holds sacred.
Here’s what that can include:
Disregard for others’ well-being: Acting selfishly, cruelly, or with intent to harm.
Violation of social norms: Lying, stealing, cheating—anything that undermines trust or fairness.
Lack of conscience or guilt: Feeling no remorse for actions that hurt others.
Ignoring responsibilities or duties: Especially when those duties are rooted in ethical obligation (like neglecting a child or abusing power).
Important nuance: Morality isn’t one-size-fits-all. What’s considered immoral in one culture or belief system might not be in another. That’s why philosophers love debating this stuff—where do we draw the line between personal freedom and ethical behavior?
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Marcus Epps, a resident in the Black Educator Teacher Residency, teaches a math lesson to a third grade class at Castle Elementary School in Bakersfield.
Credit: Emma Gallegos / EdSource
California needs to do much better for Black students, and the efforts to do so as of late are few, far between and watered down.
For years, our state has been looked to as a leader on education equity and pointed to as a model for other states on equitable funding and other programs. Yet from its inception, the Local Control Funding Formula has left out Black students, the student group denied the most support and resources from schools. And despite years of “equity” being an increasingly heard buzzword in Sacramento, we are still seeing alarmingly low progress on academic outcomes.
Now, in the wake of increasing hostility around acknowledging the legacy of slavery and its continued impact on Black people in America, the recent rollback of affirmative action, and an all-out assault against teaching the truth in classrooms around the country, California leaders need to be as bold with their actions as they are with their rhetoric.
Take, for instance, the current state of California’s ethnic studies course requirement. Ethnic studies help broaden awareness of the experiences of Black people, ensuring Black students see themselves reflected in the curriculum, and improve Black students’ academic achievement. In 2021, state leaders approved the course as a requirement that all graduating high school seniors must complete by 2030.
While the California Department of Education has taken some initial steps to support implementing this new requirement, there is much more to do to make universal ethnic studies a reality — as Gov. Gavin Newsom recently pointed out in a letter to districts. Implementing ethnic studies now requires a concerted effort from state and district leaders. First, district leaders must prioritize developing locally adapted curriculum, adopting high-quality instructional materials, and ensuring teachers have high-quality professional development opportunities.
Districts should also consider innovative ways to fully incorporate and align ethnic studies with other offerings, like dual enrollment, so that students can take college-level ethnic studies courses and simultaneously fulfill the high school graduation requirement while earning college credits. Districts should also be communicating with students and their families to ensure they are aware of the new requirement and upcoming opportunities to take the course.
Lastly, these and other implementation needs come with costs that the state has not yet fully addressed. Legislators should provide targeted financial resources in the state’s next budget cycle to guarantee ethnic studies implementation is fully funded and on track.
Effectively implementing ethnic studies is not a panacea that will eradicate racism from California schools. But it is a tangible step, one that is all the more important in the wake of an increasingly aggressive backlash against addressing the hundreds of years of oppression experienced by Black people in America. In fact, numerous California district leaders are welcoming this backlash through their own discriminatory actions, with multiple school boards around the state restricting teachers from discussing race in their classrooms. To be frank, this is not just a Florida problem.
We seem to shy away from a more honest conversation in our own state, at times almost dismissing racist occurrences as outliers and pointing fingers at other states from a supposed mantle of progressivism and anti-racism. But for the Black students in Anaheim who were threatened with images of guns and racial slurs from fellow students, for the Black students in Dixon who were posted about online, labeled as monkeys by a fellow student, these occurrences are not outliers, they are part of what living in California means to them. Our commitment to valuing diversity must include not just denouncing these incidents, but taking tangible, proactive actions to prevent them while uplifting Black students.
California can truly be at the forefront of the national movement to definitively reject the white nationalism that is increasingly creeping into the mainstream — but only if we prioritize tangible action as much as compelling rhetoric. We should be the state that leads the way in not just passing legislation, but in developing and implementing policies and practices that center serving Black students and other marginalized students, knowing that ultimately all students will do better if we prioritize the students currently at the margins.
From funding decisions and ethnic studies implementation to the policy changes suggested by the California Reparations Task Force, the state has a myriad of tangible strategies to pull from that are completely legal even in the face of the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action — and now is the time to double down on such strategies. After all, as goes California, so goes the nation.
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Natalie Wheatfall-Lum is director of TK-12 education policy at The Education Trust–West, a statewide research, policy and advocacy organization focusing on educational justice and closing achievement and opportunity gaps for underserved students, especially students from lower-income communities.
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Ed Johnson says: 
