برچسب: again

Changing careers might mean becoming a student again – and that’s OK
When I decided to enroll in community college, my goal wasn’t to get a degree — I wanted a new job.

I have my bachelor’s degree in acting and was a professional actor until the pandemic. At 25, I was happy with my life as an actor. My calendar was even booked out for the entire year, performing in theaters across the state of Washington.

A week before I was laid off from a theater contract, I saw a video of NPR host Korva Coleman reading the hourly headlines. I watched her effortlessly move through the segment as she held her script and pressed play on audio clips, while simultaneously keeping herself to time. It felt like watching live theater for the first time.

“I wish I could do that,” I thought.

I never got another acting contract after the pandemic, and all of a sudden, I was 28. My acting resume suddenly looked useless to me and my other resume was just a list of odd jobs I did to support myself as an actor.

My plan before the pandemic was to move to Los Angeles to further my career. I still made the move even though I let acting go. The only thing I still had in common with my previous life was my commute to work as a waitress — listening to the news. I thought about Korva Coleman operating a radio board.

I wasn’t alone in having an existential career change crisis at this time. In 2021, a U.S. Catalyst/CNBC poll said that 50% of employees wanted to make a career change because of the pandemic. I spent my days off looking at job postings for my local NPR affiliate stations that I wasn’t qualified for. I would get frustrated that I couldn’t intern because I wasn’t a student.

That’s when I decided to enroll at Pasadena City College. I started last spring with the goal of landing an internship — being a student was just a title to qualify.

Everything I did during my first semester was strategic. I picked Pasadena Community College because it offered internships directly with LAist (formerly KPCC), a non-profit newsroom. I enrolled only in classes that would give me resume-building skills and certificates. By the end of my first semester, with only a couple completed courses, I networked my way to landing the internship position at LAist.

This past summer marked the end of my yearlong internship and, through no fault of my own, I do not have a job.

It still takes all my willpower not to count this as a defeat.

I told myself the title of student was just a qualifier for the internship, but I still made sure I got straight A’s. I took on leadership positions at the school newspaper while I was doing my office work for LAist in class. Anytime I wasn’t at school or at my internship, I was working as a server at a restaurant to pay my bills.

More than 65% of community college students are working more than part-time, according to recent research. And, according to a survey by the RP Group, a nonprofit research center affiliated with the California community colleges, one-third of would-be returning community college students haven’t re-enrolled because they’ve prioritized work.

After this year, I wasn’t planning on enrolling back in school for the fall. But then my journalism professor approached me to be editor-in-chief for the campus newspaper, The Courier. I didn’t respond to him for weeks because I was still in the mindset that my return to college was strictly for the career. Being a student doesn’t pay for my rent, gas and food.

When I was a student in my undergraduate theater program, a professor told me that you should only take an acting job if it meets two of three requirements:
1. It is a paid job and it pays well,
2. It offers an opportunity to network and grow as an actor,
3. And/or it is a dream role.
In other words, should an opportunity only fulfill one of these requirements, don’t bother with it. However, you should not expect every opportunity in your life to meet all three points. Those are few and far between.

I thought about her advice a lot when I returned to college at PCC. Taking the role of editor-in-chief barely makes two out of the three requirements — but then I remembered that this list was to help you with taking jobs in your career, not for being a student.

Being the editor-in-chief this semester has allowed me to push myself to be a better reporter, a stronger editor and a peer to turn to if a student needs help. I get weekly joy from reading work from my classmates who chose to show up simply because they want to learn.

For the first time in this academic journey to change careers, I have found myself at peace being a student learning in a classroom. While I’m still anxious about the unknown, I’m allowing myself to appreciate that I made the first step on this long journey towards a new career.

•••

Laura Dux is a second-year journalism and radio broadcast major at Pasadena City College and editor-in-chief of the student-run newspaper, The Courier. She is a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.

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.
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04/05/2025
Thousands of California educators issued pink slips again this year

San Diego Unified teachers protest pink slips before a school board meeting last year. The district plans to issue 30 preliminary layoff notices this year.

Courtesy of San Diego Education Association

San Francisco Unified announced the evening of March 13 that it will not lay off classroom teachers.

California school districts are again turning to layoffs to shore up budgets shrunk by declining enrollment, expiring federal Covid relief funds and a leveling off of state funding. So far, more than 2,300 school employees have received preliminary layoff notices, and the number is expected to grow.

More than 2,000 of the pink slips have gone to credentialed school staff — primarily teachers, school nurses and librarians, according to the California Teachers Association, which represents 300,000 school employees.

State law requires that districts send pink slips by March 15 each year to any employee who could be laid off by the end of the school year. Although many of the layoff notices are withdrawn by May 15 — the last day final layoff notices can be given to tenured teachers — the annual practice is criticized by many for demoralizing school staff and causing disruption to school systems.

“Layoffs are devastating and chaotic to our school communities and harm student learning conditions,” said CTA President David Goldberg. “This is even happening in communities like Pasadena, where educators and students lost their homes in wildfires. Our union will not stand by. We will demand that every single one of these notices is rescinded in the coming weeks.”

Pasadena Unified has issued 117 preliminary layoff notices, including 115 to credentialed staff.

Districts tried to avoid large layoffs

Some districts tried to avoid large-scale layoffs by considering other options, including early retirement incentives. San Francisco gave buyouts to 300 veteran teachers and other staff, and Santa Ana Unified gave that option to 166 teachers, but ultimately both districts are still laying off staff.

In fact, the two districts have issued the largest number of pink slips in the state so far, according to CTA data. San Francisco Unified notified 395 teachers of potential layoffs and Santa Ana Unified sent pink slips to 351 teachers, according to the CTA. Santa Ana Unified Chief Business Officer Ron Hacker says that number has since been reduced to 280.

San Francisco Unified, the state’s sixth-largest school district, has been struggling to close a $113 million deficit that helped put it on the list of the state’s most financially strapped districts. The district has also sent preliminary layoff notices to 164 teachers’ aides, and to 278 administrators and other staff.

Santa Ana Unified is attempting to reduce a $180 million structural deficit, but it also needs to reduce staff, Hacker said. In 2018, the school board decided not to pursue layoffs despite overstaffing and a structural deficit. The overstaffing problem continued through Covid when funding was tied to a state stipulation that districts can’t lay off employees, he said.

“The Covid relief grant funds are no longer flowing, and they’re expired, so we’re at the point now where we can’t sustain the counseling ratios and the class sizes that we have,” Hacker said.

The district also plans to make cuts to supplies, services and capital outlay to help balance the budget, Hacker said in an interview last month.

“That being said, 80% of our budget is salary and benefits, so the only way to tackle that entire structural deficit is to include positions too,” he said.

Most districts overstaffed

Some school districts avoided making staffing cuts despite declining enrollment, said Michael Fine, chief executive director of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.

“I think if you were to look at some statewide data on staffing versus enrollment, you’d see that almost everybody’s overstaffed in some fashion, at least on the certificated side, which is where we see that data,” Fine said.

Data on support staff, also known as classified staff, is not being collected by the state, he said.

District offered early warning bonuses

Santa Rosa Elementary School District and San Ramon Unified issued more than 100 pink slips to teachers and other credentialed staff in recent months, with the districts sending out 151 and 129 pink slips respectively, according to the CTA list.

Santa Rosa City Schools is trying to trim its budget by $30 million to reduce a structural deficit. The district, which operates 24 schools, has lost 3,000 students over the last decade.

Instead of offering an early retirement incentive, which wouldn’t save money for the district, Santa Rosa Unified gave employees bonuses if they gave advance notice that they wouldn’t be working at the district next school year, said Lisa August, associate superintendent of business services. Employees who gave notice by Jan. 31 received a $1,000 bonus, $750 if they gave notice by Feb. 15, and $500 if by Feb. 28.

The CTA list does not include many districts still in the process of issuing layoff notices, or whose unions did not report their numbers. Among them is Berkeley Unified, whose school board voted last week to notify 180 employees, 10 of whom are teachers, that they could lose their jobs, according to Berkeleyside.

Oakland Unified, which is on the state’s list of most financially strapped districts, also plans to issue 97 pink slips to teachers and central office staff, according to district information. And, Oxnard Union School district projects it will issue 91 pink slips to school staff, including 41 teachers and counselors, according to the Ventura County Star.

Layoffs can make recruitment harder

Layoffs can hurt teacher recruitment and make it more difficult to find teachers for hard-to-fill positions teaching special education, science, math, special education and English learners.

Teacher layoffs during the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, are widely considered to be one of the causes of the current teacher shortage because they discouraged people from entering teacher preparation programs. In recent years, enrollment in teacher preparation programs in the state has declined.

It’s unclear how many teachers will actually be laid off before next school year, as many pink slips are rescinded after district officials review credentials, expected retirements and projected enrollment numbers at school sites, and hearings with an administrative law judge are held to determine who stays and who goes.

The annual process can be nerve-wracking for teachers, especially those at the bottom of the seniority list, who could be issued pink slips in consecutive years.

“More than 2,000 educators have received a notice that they may not have a job next year, and tragically, that number increases each day,” Goldberg said. “These are the people who show up every day to teach and care for students in public schools across California — teachers, school counselors, social workers, instructional aides, custodians, and more.

“At a time when our students deserve a stable learning environment, smaller class sizes, and more mental health support, it is unconscionable to even think about laying off public school educators,” Goldberg said.

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15/04/2025
California lawmaker again attempts to make computer science class mandatory

Across more than two dozen Fresno County school districts, Quiq Labs, a tech education company, teaches students science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics through afterschool and summer or winter break enrichment programs.

Photo courtesy of Quiq Labs

Despite decadeslong efforts through legislation, funding and advocacy, California’s schools have still not caught up with — and are falling further behind — three dozen other states in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course.

According to the national 2024 State of Computer Science report, 52% of high schools across California offered computer science in the 2023-24 school year.

In other states, statewide policy has been pivotal in expanding access to computing skills for all students.

What is computer science?

Computer science, as described in the computer science academic content standards adopted by the State Board of Education, is “the study of computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles … implementation and impact on society.” Proposed legislation has included the desire for students to go beyond using technology to understand how and why those technologies work.

Assemblymember Marc Berman, for the third time, has introduced legislation to require every public high school to teach a computer science course, a mandate that will bring access to the 48% of California schools that do not offer a single class.

Because Assembly Bill 887 would require schools to implement computer science by the 2029-30 school year, it would expand access to all of California’s students in a way that initiatives have not been able to.

“Not having a requirement,” Berman told EdSource last year, “it’s not yielding the progress that our students deserve.”

The percentage of computer science classes offered statewide has increased slightly in the last 10 years because of legislation supporting standards and course development, funding for teacher training and on-the-ground efforts to address challenges in diverse communities across the state.

In 2014, legislation ordered the Instructional Quality Commission to develop computer science standards. Also, legislation established a method for computer science to satisfy graduation requirements in math.

In 2016, the state passed legislation to allow educators in other disciplines to pursue computer science certification with required coursework.

In 2018, the state adopted its computer science standards to ensure students received high-quality content in the subject.

In 2019, the governor and superintendent of public instruction appointed a committee to develop a long-term strategic plan for the state to provide computer science courses to all students. Computer science is approved to count as a science credit.

In 2021, the state budgeted $20 million to computer science: $5 million for the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, which is professional development for teachers, counselors and administrators, and $15 million for teacher certifications and a statewide coordinator.

Under the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, the state created Seasons of CS, California’s year-round computer science professional learning program.

In 2023, the California Department of Education granted $50 million to expand existing educator professional learning in math, science and computer science. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation, requiring the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish a work group to develop a teacher preparation pathway for computer science to boost the number of qualified course teachers.

For two consecutive years, a bill similar to AB 887 failed to come out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which considers the fiscal impact of proposed legislation.

According to the Appropriations Committee’s analysis of the 2024 bill, about 425 school districts would have had to purchase instructional materials and provide professional development to teachers at an unknown cost. The Department of Finance opposed the bill because implementation would cost $50 million to $73 million in ongoing funding from Proposition 98.

In 2023, Berman’s first iteration of the bill requiring all high schools to teach computer science stalled, in part, because of a lack of teachers, CalMatters reported.

The state has, since 2016, invested more than $1.2 billion to address the state’s teacher shortage, including nearly $100 million for computer science teacher training. In 2021, $20 million was allocated to computer science in the state budget: $5 million for the Educator Workforce Investment Grant for professional development of teachers, counselors and administrators and most of $15 million for certifications of educators in other disciplines.

Efforts across California have supported over a thousand educators.

For example, the Small School Districts’ Association, through a nearly $4 million federal CS4NorCal grant, has provided intensive summer workshops for nearly five years as well as ongoing training, coaching and networking throughout the year for educators in small and rural school districts in six Northern California communities of Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta and Siskiyou counties, said Kathy Hamilton and Karen Mix, director and co-director for the grant.

As a result, teachers have integrated computer science into agriculture, communication, media, digital literacy, math, science and general education classes, electives and clubs.

A Redding teacher rotates between five schools to make sure students have access to computer science at least once a week. Middle school teachers have added computer science to their schools’ elective wheels for students to rotate through.

Collaboration between regional and statewide organizations focused on computer science as well as partnerships with local entities that can support program growth and development have also been critical in increasing the number of qualified teachers and expanding access, advocates say.

In the 2018-19 school year, Modoc County high schoolers had no access to any computer science courses, but numerous nonprofits and community organizations have over the last few years participated in training opportunities to better collaborate in the development of computer science. The nonprofit Advancing Modoc, which eventually began leading the implementation, recruited tutors and other staff to support the initiative. Some educators have since integrated computer science into core content classes and offered elective courses.

The professional development, which included year-round training, has led teachers to provide computer science classes, merge concepts into other subjects or offer lessons through electives or clubs.

Even with robust professional development, some challenges persist, particularly the reluctance or inability of administrators to include computer science courses in school offerings.

“In the past, teachers were reporting back to us in our research, ‘I need support from my administrator to make sure that computer science gets on the master schedule, that we are providing more classes to reach more students,’” said Julie Flapan, an educator and researcher leading two initiatives to expand access and participation in computer science.

Amy Pezzoni, computer science teacher at Modesto City Schools, told EdSource last year that passionate teachers are not enough.

“You need admin to support you. You need the district to be on board with you,” she said, noting the importance of a legislative mandate.

Computer science advocates statewide and nationally have recommended a legislative mandate to bolster California’s efforts and increase access to the course.

Since 2013, the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, an organization of over 100 nonprofit, advocacy and industry groups across the country, has made policy recommendations for states to “address the urgent need to build capacity in computer science education,” including statewide policy.

“Strong policies, supported by resources, action, and implementation, are key to building the capacity needed to improve student access, participation, and experience in computer science education,” according to the national computer science report, which the coalition authored.

Legislation requiring schools to offer computer science has been implemented in states such as Arkansas, where all high schools offer computer science, and in neighboring Nevada, where 96% of the state’s high schools offer the course, based on the 2024 report.

Alabama also passed legislation in 2019, phasing in the computer science requirement, starting with high schools, followed by middle and elementary schools. This has resulted in an increase from 57% in the 2019-20 school year to 94% this past school year in the rate of high schools offering computer science and more than 90% of middle and elementary schools teaching computer science.

Akin among Arkansas, Nevada and Alabama is the adoption of the recommended policies and actions by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition.

Although California has implemented most of the policy recommendations — a state plan, state position, funding, K-12 standards, certification programs and allowing it to count for other subjects — the state has not created programs at higher education institutions to encourage aspiring teachers to gain exposure to computer science; nor has it required all schools to offer the course or mandated it as a graduation requirement.

Due to the policy recommendations and the state, regional and local efforts, there’s been a double-digit percentage increase of high schools offering computer science since the 2018-19 school year — still far from the national average of 60%.

In both the 2023 and 2024 national computer science reports, the authors encouraged California to require all high schools to offer at least one computer science course, “as it would greatly help support the 48% of high schools that currently do not offer any (computer) science courses.”

The 2025 legislative attempt to do so passed out of the Assembly Education Committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee in late March.

If computer science courses become a requirement, some schools, such as small, rural schools, will have a harder time offering computer science because of a teacher shortage. Often, educators are already teaching multiple grades and/or subject areas on top of other duties.

Integrating, or merging computer science into another subject area, may be the best short-term solution to providing the content to students, especially when semester- or year-long courses aren’t offered, said Kathy Hamilton, who works for the Small School Districts’ Association.

“Integration needs to be one of the delivery mechanisms if you want to truly provide access for all students around the state,” she said.

And it will be.

Aware of the unique challenges that some schools face, the legislation acknowledges the need for a course requirement to offer some flexibility. It would require the state’s computer science coordinator to develop an implementation guide that includes “varied computer science course options to best meet local capacity and context,” including computer science concepts being integrated or merged into other subjects.

And thanks to federal and statewide funding and advocates’ regional and local efforts, there are now scores of teachers trained and ready to teach or integrate computer science. Whether that is enough to compel the Legislature to require all schools to teach computer science is unknown.

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12/04/2025