برچسب: Education

California prepares to launch first phase of new education data system

After years of preparation inside and outside the state Capitol (shown), California has launched a website that gathers all sorts of education and career data in a single, searchable place.

Credit: Kirby Lee / AP

California has long lagged behind most other states when it comes to education data systems, choosing to focus on compliance rather than program improvement, but that could change later this year when the first phase of the Cradle-to-Career Data System is expected to go live.

The goal of the new statewide longitudinal data system, known as C2C, is ambitious. It will link data from multiple state departments and education institutions, from early learning through higher education, along with financial aid and social services. The data system is expected to provide resources for students planning for college and careers, as well as data to inform state leaders about effective educational strategies.

States have a responsibility to ensure that everyone has access to timely data to help them to understand how people are navigating education and career pathways, said Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, president and chief executive officer of the Data Quality Campaign, a national education advocacy organization.

The first phase of the rollout later this year will be a student dashboard that will allow anyone to look at student information, including demographics; number of homeless youth, foster children and students with disabilities; English learner status; drop-out rates, parent education levels; and age of entry into school. The dashboard will not include information about individual students, but can be disaggregated by region, district and state, according to the Cradle-to-Career website.

Another dashboard will follow, reporting on teacher preparation, credentialing, hiring, retention and educator demographics. The data will be provided by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

“This is an exciting moment because we are right on the cusp of seeing the value of connecting these data in one place,” said Christopher Nellum, executive director of The Education Trust-West, a social justice and advocacy organization. “We are going to see very soon the value in individual data providers sharing their data. And that will result in these two dashboards that are coming online very soon.”

Nellum was appointed to the C2C governing board by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but chose to be interviewed for this story as the director of EdTrust-West.

C2C could make state a data leader

When the Cradle-to-Career Data System is built out, there will be query builders, interactive tutorials and videos, and a library of tables, reports and research. Eventually, researchers will be able to request more comprehensive data from C2C staff.

The data system is housed and managed by the California Government Operations Agency, which was established in 2013 to improve management and accountability of government programs.

“I don’t have any doubt they can get this done,” said Paige Kowalski, executive vice president of the Data Quality Campaign. “They’re well staffed. They have been doing a great job.”

The Data Quality Campaign has been critical of California in the past for its siloed approach to data collection and reporting, but its leaders are optimistic about the new data system.

“I think the work that the state has done on Cradle-to-Career since 2019 has been absolutely flawless and phenomenal, and I just cannot say that about any other data effort I’ve ever seen in any state over the last 20 years,” Kowalski said.

C2C will not only allow the state to play catch-up with the rest of the nation, but could make it the leader in linking data from early education to employment, she said.

Cost of project unclear

It’s not entirely clear how much the Cradle-to-Career Data System will cost. The program has spent $21.4 million so far, with another $10.4 million committed to future work, but not yet spent, according to C2C staff.

During the planning process that began in 2019, the state allocated $2.5 million to plan the data system and another $100,000 each to 15 state departments, universities and other organizations participating in the effort. It’s not clear if all that money was spent, or if some was returned to the state.

The state also increased annual funding to some state departments that provide data and other services to the Cradle-to-Career Data System, including $1.7 million to increase staff at the California Department of Education. It’s unclear how many other departments have received budget increases tied to C2C.

Sixteen partners to share data

The state has gotten key players to sign data-sharing agreements with C2C: The California Department of Education, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, Department of Social Services, Employment Development Department, Department of Industrial Relations, Department of Developmental Services and private universities.

The agreements are voluntary, with no penalty for departments or agencies that fail to provide data in a timely manner. So far, all the data has been submitted on time, according to board members.

“From 2022 to now, C2C has been working diligently with its data providers and its stakeholders to build a strong foundation to support a secure data linkage process given the scope of data C2C is bringing together,” said Angelique Palomar, deputy director of communications. “This includes establishing legal agreements across 16 entities, building the data infrastructure to securely receive and integrate the data across those partners, and the first submission of that data in October 2023.”

Data was submitted again in March, which will be the month partners will share annual data with C2C going forward, Palomar said.

The California Department of Education (CDE), which has fallen behind in providing up-to-date data on its website over the last seven years, will contribute about 70% of the data for C2C, according to CDE staff. It will use the additional state funding to hire more staff to help deliver the data for the project.

Bell-Ellwanger is hopeful all the partners will contribute data in a timely manner.

“These are data that belongs to taxpayers, not to one agency, or any person within the agencies,” she said. “And, so Californians, including researchers, journalists and the public, all deserve access to it.”

California is playing catch-up

C2C was a long time coming. California was one of only 11 states that did not have a data system with formal connections across two or more of the four core areas — early learning, K-12, post secondary and workforce — in 2021, according to the Education Commission of the States.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics is the nation’s gold standard when it comes to education-to-employment data systems, according to Kowalski. California looked to Kentucky when designing the California Cradle-to-Career data system, she said.

California has rolled out several education data systems over the last 30 years, but they have offered siloed information that couldn’t track whether students were successfully moving from school to the workforce.

In the late 1980s, California began to collect school-level data through the California Basic Educational Data System, known as CBEDS, a program still in use today.

In 1997, the state launched the California School Information Services (CSIS) system to streamline the collection and reporting of education data. But the system was obsolete less than five years later when No Child Left Behind became a federal law. CSIS lacked a unique identifier for each student, which the new law required to track student achievement.

In 2009, the state launched the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, also known as CALPADS. It includes K-12 student-level demographics, enrollment, grade level, course enrollment and completion, program participation and discipline data, according to the California Department of Education. A 10-digit number is linked to each K-12 student in California, but individual information on students is not made public.

Its companion data system, the California Longitudinal Teacher Integrated Data Education System, or CALTIDES, never went live. The data system would have tracked educator data to facilitate assignment monitoring and to evaluate programs, according to the CDE website. In June 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the $2.1 million the Legislature had put in the budget for CALTIDES, which forced the state to give back the $6 million federal grant it had received for the new database.

“He had a belief that Sacramento could not add much value to what districts were doing, and that data was definitely one of those things that was better left to locals,” Kowalski said of Brown.

Instead, CALPADS was built out to a basic level and put in maintenance mode, Kowalski said. But researchers kept beating the drum for data that was useful to people, she said. These are things other states have had for a decade.

Public included in planning

Gov. Newsom, having different views than his predecessor, made the Cradle-to-Career Data System part of his campaign for governor. In 2019, the Legislature passed the Cradle-to-Career Data System Act, which called for the creation of a data system to create support tools for teachers, parents and students; enable agencies to optimize educational, workplace and health and human services programs; streamline financial aid administration; and advance research on improving policies.

The state legislation included public engagement in the planning process and required that the 21-member advisory board include members of the public. The California law that mandated the data system also requires an annual survey of students and their families to ensure their voices and experiences guide the work, according to C2C.

This year, C2C officials are holding community meetings across the state to discuss what pieces of information should accompany the dashboards and how they should be displayed.

In Sacramento, community members asked for data disaggregated geographically, possibly by school district. Sacramento’s residents also want informational videos to help train people to use the dashboards. Oakland’s residents were interested in breaking the data down by demographic and educational factors.

“A few years ago, Gov. Newsom and the California Legislature really made it clear through their legislation around California Cradle-to-Career that they wanted this access that we’re talking about for students, families, educators, researchers and the public,” Bell-Ellwanger said. “So I do believe that they are aspiring for this type of transparency that we’re talking about that will also help to build trust in that data.”

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24/05/2025
How music education sharpens the brain, tunes us up for life

Elementary students practicing music at school.

Credit: Music Workshop

When Amy Richter was a little girl, her father often traveled for work. He often came home bearing gifts of music and record albums. They bonded while poring over all that vinyl, she recalls, exploring the world of music from classical and rock to bluegrass.

Richter’s love of music only grew as she got older, and she studied voice and piano. Diagnosed with dyslexia, she also found that music helped her cope with her learning disability. It helped her gain focus and confidence. That’s why she studied music therapy in college. She knows the power of music to supercharge our brains.

“Music really became the guiding force in my education and helped me to connect with other people, helping build confidence through performance, also helping with my mental health,” said Richter, who founded Music Workshop, a free music curriculum designed to cultivate a love of music from a young age, that can help schools beef up their arts offerings on the cheap. Schools across the country, including hundreds in California, from Yuba City to San Diego, now use her program. “It really became a tool in my life to better myself.”

To be sure, aficionados of the arts have long argued that art transforms us, but in recent years, neuroscience has shown just how music can shape the architecture of the brain. This cognitive research illuminates the connection between music and learning and gives heft to longstanding arguments for the power of music education that are newly relevant in the wake of California’s Proposition 28, which sets aside money for arts education in schools.

“The K-12 grades are the years in which brain function is most rapidly evolving and information from all different types of learning and subjects is being processed and absorbed, including connections across what we might think of as different school subjects, but they are all connected in our developing brains,” said Giuliana Conti, director of education and equity for Music Workshop, which is particularly popular at schools that often tap substitute teachers in an era of high teacher absences.

“Music education provides physical and auditory experiences that work like bridges for brain structures. As the brain processes musical sounds and body movements, neural pathways across different regions of the brain grow and strengthen. The more those pathways are activated, the more usable they become across time and other skill sets or learning experiences.”

Amid the ongoing crises in literacy and numeracy plaguing our schools, and the enduring sting of pandemic learning loss, many arts advocates are pointing to music education as a way to boost executive functioning in the brain. This enhanced cognitive function, often coupled with a surge in well-being, may be the secret sauce that makes music education such an academic powerhouse, research suggests. Music may prime the brain to learn.

“Music is this wonderful, holistic way of engaging almost everything that is important for education,” said Nina Kraus, a noted neuroscientist at Northwestern University who studies the biology of auditory learning, in a webinar. “First of all, we know that the ingredients that are important in making music and the ones that are important for reading and literacy are the same ingredients. So when you’re strengthening your brain by making music, you’re strengthening your brain for language.”

Kraus, who grew up listening to her mother play the piano, is passionate about the impact of sound, ranging from the distracting to the sublime, from noise pollution to Puccini, on the brain. The gist of much of her research is how thoroughly sound shapes cognition. Music training, for example, sets up children’s brains to become better learners by enhancing the sound processing that underpins language, she says.

While we live in a visually oriented world, our brains are fundamentally wired for sound, she argues. Reading, for example, is a relatively new phenomenon in human history, while listening keenly for a sound, say a predator, is a primal impulse deeply embedded in the brain. Put simply, what we hear shapes who we are.

“Music really is the jackpot,” as Kraus, author of “Of Sound Mind,” puts it. She has conducted extensive research showing that music education helps boost test scores for low-income children.

Music also helps us manage stress. Perhaps that’s one reason that offering more music and arts classes is also associated with lower chronic absenteeism rates and higher attendance, research suggests. Think of music education as lifting weights with your brain. It makes the whole apparatus stronger and healthier.

“Music is therapeutic because it helps us to regulate our emotions,” said Richter, who adds that a culturally relevant music curriculum can help engage a diverse student body. “It helps us to lower our cortisol levels. It helps promote relaxation. It helps us with focus and concentration. It also helps us with connection. Now more than ever, we know how important connection is, especially among our youth.”

In the post-pandemic era, these insights may well fuel the uptake of music classes in a state struggling with low test scores, but the implications for brain health actually go far beyond academic prowess and social-emotional well-being in childhood.

Indeed, early musical experiences may impart a lifelong neuroplasticity, Kraus has documented. Studies suggest that a 65-year-old musician has the neural activity of a 25-year-old non-musician. A 65-year-old who played music as a child but hasn’t touched an instrument in ages still has neural responses faster than a peer who never played music, although slower than those of a die-hard musician.

“What I would say to everyone who thinks about picking up an instrument: It’s never too late,” said Richter. “Even just practicing scales can help with cell regeneration. So I encourage adults to continue to learn music along the way, whether that’s picking up an instrument or listening to music, it’s always really important for brain development.”

Music pricks up our hearts and minds, as well as our ears. Children must persevere to master a piece of music and collaborate to perform it in the spotlight. They must learn focus, patience and grace under pressure. That kind of electrifying shared experience, working as a community, is something new to many of them, experts say.

“When music is more regularly incorporated as part of children’s everyday lives,” said Conti, “it can move the needle in their learning and development more effectively across many different parts of their lives: socially, emotionally, musically and academically.”

It’s the intangible effects of music education, the elements that can’t be reduced to data points and parameters, that strike Kraus as the most profound. Music builds a feeling of joy, a sense of belonging between musicians, and their listeners, that little else in our age of digital background noise can.

“Music connects us, and it connects us in a way that hardly anything I know does, so it’s very, very important,” said Kraus. “We live in a very disconnected world. Depression, anxiety, alienation, the inability to focus, all of that is on the rise. Intolerance is on the rise. Music is a way to bring us together.”

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24/05/2025
How California can help teachers deliver ‘whole child education’
Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

California’s educators are drowning in a sea of well-intentioned but fragmented statewide initiatives. It’s time for a unified approach.

In California, we often hear that our education system is designed to “support the whole child.” This language is found in the California Department of Education’s organizing framework and sprinkled throughout the state’s many education initiatives, including Community Schools, Expanded Learning, and Multi-Tiered System of Support. This commitment to whole-child development ought to come as good news, but because the state and its agents haven’t been clear or consistent about what they mean by “whole child,” or what an educator needs to do to support the whole child, it often leads to confusion and frustration instead.

This lack of clarity means that educators in classrooms, schools and districts feel overwhelmed by all the new, seemingly separate programs and initiatives the state asks them to implement. They respond to different funding requests, fill out various program plans and reports, and attend and provide different trainings for all of these initiatives, each one feeling like “one more thing,” all while trying to manage their core teaching responsibilities and engage students effectively.

Mai Xi Lee, social and emotional learning (SEL) director at the Sacramento County Office of Education, captured this frustration well: “We’re doing bits and pieces of the same work, but calling them different things. We create these arbitrary structures defining what we do — this is SEL, PBIS, MTSS, etc. We get locked into language that we, unfortunately, as an educational system, have put in place.”

Here’s the missed opportunity: There actually are clear descriptions of whole-child education and whole-child practices already embedded within each of the initiatives. A recent report from the Center for Whole-Child Education details specifically how these practices show up in the initiatives. It uses the guiding principles for equitable whole-child design, created by the Learning Policy Institute and collaborating organizations as part of the Science of Learning and Development Alliance, to define whole-child practices that are based on research.

State leaders and administrators can increase alignment and reduce stress among already-stressed educators by communicating more clearly and intentionally about the existing alignment. The five Guiding Principles provide a simple way to define what is meant by whole-child education. Young people learn best when they experience the following in an integrated way:
- Positive relationships with adults and peers
- Environments filled with safety and belonging
- Rich, engaging learning opportunities
- Intentional development of skills, habits and mindsets
- Additional integrated supports when needed
If state education leaders and administrators — who already reference “the whole child” throughout their efforts — would agree on and reference specific practices, such as these Guiding Principles, the increased clarity could cascade through the system. With consistent language from the state, then staff in county offices of education, district leaders and site administrators would better understand and be able to communicate specifically what a “whole-child” approach entails and how these principles are in fact shared across initiatives. For example, teachers would know that their work to develop positive relationships with students and create environments filled with safety and belonging is actually part of Social-Emotional Learning, Positive Behavioral Intervention Systems, Multi-Tiered System of Support, and Community Schools. In practice, these aren’t separate or siloed concepts or “one more thing” educators have to do — they are good teaching, creating the conditions in which students learn, grow and thrive.

The easy win here is for state leaders to agree on a short description of what they mean when they say “whole-child” and hew to that definition consistently and intentionally in guiding documents about different programs, strategies and initiatives. To reach consensus, a committee or task force of key leaders and staff who work on education initiatives could review the existing whole-child frameworks and their own guiding documents to define their shared language. This approach would clarify the state’s “whole-child” vision and provide consistent guidance about what educators should do to support young people, no matter what initiative they are working on.

Statewide clarity would be a huge relief to the thousands of educators who are doing their best every day to bring high quality teaching to their students, and who desperately need tools and systems that make their work easier, not more confusing.

•••

Katie Brackenridge is a consultant working with districts and county offices of education to plan and implement coherent whole-child practices.

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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24/05/2025
County Office of Education can take over West Contra Costa school budget

Credit: Thomas Galvez/Flickr

The West Contra Costa Unified School District may be on the verge of turning over control of its budget to the county after the school board rejected the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan on Wednesday night, limiting the chance of passing a 2024-25 district budget by July 1, as required by state law.

Without passing a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) — a document that sets district goals to improve student outcomes and how to achieve them — the board cannot vote on the proposed budget, said Kim Moses, associate superintendent of business services at West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD). The two are linked; the LCAP is a portion of the budget and gives the district a road map on how to allocate funding for its $484 million budget. The district risks losing local control over funding decisions. Trustees voting no said it didn’t reflect priorities of the community and was not transparent.

It’s a rare situation. Districts routinely pass budgets at the end of June to close the fiscal year and start a new one.

District and Contra Costa County Office of Education officials warn that a failure to pass a budget and LCAP by July 1 will cede financial control to the county office. The district can still act by midnight Sunday to avert a takeover, but district officials are assuming that will not happen. The board would still need to vote on the budget presented by the county.

The district also would face difficulties getting the county’s approval of the budget. The state Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), which focuses on helping districts solve and prevent fiscal challenges, found in a recent analysis that the district had overspent, and concluded that the school board had been unable or unwilling to make cuts.

In a statement to EdSource, Moses wrote she was “deeply disappointed” that the board didn’t pass the LCAP. The responsibility to adopt the LCAP and 2024-25 school year budget will be in the hands of county officials. Until they impose the new plan and budget, Moses said, the district will revert to operating under last year’s budget.

“We are confident that the county will review our circumstance with a student-focused lens and do what is necessary to support our students,” the statement said. “In the interim, we will be able to continue processing payroll without interruptions, and we will be able to maintain all expenses related to the general operating costs within the district, such as utilities, required materials and supplies, and other operational necessities.”

But because the district is functioning on last year’s budget, some schools won’t receive the funds they need, and the district can’t move forward with new goals set, said Javetta Cleveland, a school business consultant for West Contra Costa.

“This is really serious to go forward without a budget — the district cannot operate without a budget,” Cleveland said during the meeting. “The district can’t meet or establish priorities without a budget.”

Cleveland asked the board to reconsider approving the LCAP and have the Contra Costa County Office of Education approve the LCAP with conditions that would allow revisions after receiving feedback from parents. But that didn’t happen.

Budget shortfalls

District officials are projecting a $31.8 million budget deficit over the next three school years, with about $11.5 million in shortfalls projected for the upcoming school year. The plan was to use reserve funds over three school years to make up the shortfall.

To address budget shortfalls, the board has also had to eliminate more than 200 positions since last year. The most recent cuts were voted on in March. But at the same time, the district was dealing with three complaints, including allegations that the district is out of compliance with the law because teacher vacancies have not been filled and classes are being covered by long-term or day-to-day substitutes, which district officials acknowledged was true.

“While the result of last night’s board meeting complicates an already challenging financial situation, members of the community should know that WCCUSD schools will continue to operate, and employees will continue to be paid as we work through the LCAP approval process,” said Marcus Walton, communications director for county office. “At this point, it is the role of the Contra Costa County Office of Education to support WCCUSD staff to address the board’s concerns and implement a budget as soon as possible.”

FCMAT conducted a fiscal health risk analysis on West Contra Costa in March and found the district is overspending.

While the FCMAT analysis concluded the district has a “high” chance of solving the budget deficit, it highlighted areas it considers high-risk, including some charter schools authorized by the district also being in financial distress; the district’s failure to forecast its general fund cash flow for the current and subsequent year, and the board’s inability to approve a plan to reduce or eliminate overspending.

FCMAT’s chief executive officer, Michael Fine, was not available for comment.

The vote

President Jamela Smith-Folds was the only trustee to vote yes on the LCAP. She said she wants to see more transparency but that it’s important to keep local control over the LCAP and budget.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that there are things we need to do differently, but I think everyone is acknowledging that,” Smith-Folds said. “Now the next step after you acknowledge that is to show change and consistency.”

Trustees Leslie Reckler and Mister Phillips voted down the LCAP. Phillips said it was because he doesn’t believe that what the community asked for is reflected in the document.

“I have consistently advocated for a balanced and focused budget since joining the school board in 2016,” Phillips said in an email. “The proposed budget was neither. With my vote, I invited our local county superintendent to the table. I hope that she will work with us to create a balanced and focused budget that prioritizes the school district’s strategic plan.”

Reckler said that for the last two years, she had continued to ask staff to show how programs and the LCAP performed, how community feedback is being incorporated, and how money is being spent.

“I’m frustrated I have to spend an entire weekend trying to figure out the changes in the LCAP. It should be self-evident,” Reckler said during the meeting. “This document seems to be less transparent than ever before. I don’t know how else to get your attention, and I won’t be held hostage. For these reasons, I am voting ‘no.’”

Trustee Otheree Christian abstained, saying that there needs to be more transparency in the LCAP but did not elaborate further or respond to requests for comments on why he chose not to vote.

Board member Demetrio Gonzalez Hoy was absent because of personal family reasons, according to his social media post. He called the vote a failure of the board, including his absence.

In a recent meeting with the District Local Control Accountability Plan Committee (DLCAP), made up of parents and members of community organizations, committee members shared their frustrations, saying they didn’t feel heard and needed more information about programs, Superintendent Chris Hurst said. Gonzalez Hoy said he agreed with the committee that there needs to be more transparency and in regards to spending priorities, community leaders need to be heard.

“With that said, what we should have done is ensure that this does not happen in the future and that the DLCAP committee is taken seriously in their charge,” Gonzalez Hoy’s post said. “Unfortunately, instead of advocating for that and ensuring this occurs, I believe that some on our board want certain adults leading our district to fail and that’s really what led to a vote last night.”

During Wednesday night’s meeting, many community members asked the board to stop making staffing cuts and to reject the LCAP and budget proposals, saying that both proposals didn’t meet student needs, and disenfranchised low-income, English learners, and students of color. Some speakers questioned if the LCAP complied with the law.

The district team that put together the LCAP said the planning document complies with the law, according to Moses, as do the officials at the county office of education that reviewed the document. The county gives the final stamp of approval after the board passes the LCAP, and if something needs to be fixed, they can approve the document with conditions, she added.

“I do know, with any large document, nothing is perfect in the first draft,” Moses said during the meeting. “I’m not sure if there is something we need to take a look at, but if so, I’ll restate this is a living document; if we do find that there is an area that needs more attention, we’ll give attention to that area.”

Moses said she agrees with the advocates — the district needs to serve students better. She and the district are committed to strengthening communication with the community and explaining how the strategies in the 203-page document are helping students.

As of Thursday evening, an emergency meeting has not been scheduled. The next board meeting is scheduled on July 17.

The story has been updated to clarify how operations of the district will proceed moving forward.

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24/05/2025
Federal Judge Blocks Shutdown of Department of Education

When Trump promised to shut down the U.S. Department of Education during his campaign, he must have known that he couldn’t close down a department without Congressional approval. Everyone else knew it. He brought in wrestling entrepreneur Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education to preside over the Department’s demise. He never sought Congressional approval.

Elon Musk’s DOGS team did the dirty work, laying off half the Department’s employees, some 1300 people.

The most severely affected offices were the Federal Student Aid office, the Office for Civil Rights, and the Institute for Education Sciences (which oversees federal research and NAEP). The IES was eliminated, leaving future administrations of NAEP in doubt and disemboweling the government’s essential historic role in compiling data about education.

But today a federal judge ruled that the shuttering of ED was wrong and that everyone laid off should be rehired. Bottom line: a President can’t close a Congressionally authorized department by executive order.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the Education Department and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out two plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to dismantle the department. It marks a setback to one of the Republican president’s campaign promises.

The injunction was requested in a lawsuit filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts and the American Federation of Teachers, along with other education groups.

In their lawsuit, the groups said the layoffs amounted to an illegal shutdown of the Education Department. They said it left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.

In his order, Joun said the plaintiffs painted a “stark picture of the irreparable harm that will result from financial uncertainty and delay, impeded access to vital knowledge on which students and educators rely, and loss of essential services for America’s most vulnerable student populations.”

Layoffs of that scale, he added, “will likely cripple the Department.”

Joun ordered the Education Department to reinstate federal workers who were terminated as part of the March 11 layoff announcement.

The Trump administration says the layoffs are aimed at efficiency, not a department shutdown. Trump has called for the closure of the agency but recognizes it must be carried out by Congress, the government said.

The administration said restructuring the agency “may impact certain services until the reorganization is finished” but it’s committed to fulfilling its statutory requirements.

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23/05/2025
Controversial education issues still alive in GOP platform
An early arriving audience member sits amidst empty seats with campaign signs for former President Donald Trump at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. during the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday.

Credit: Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

While the assassination attempt on Donald Trump overshadowed discussion of policy issues at the Republican convention in Milwaukee on Monday, the GOP’s platform committee nonetheless adopted a 20-page party platform on Monday in which education features prominently.

The platform is a reminder that a slew of controversial issues, from how the racial history of the United States is interpreted to complex issues around gender identity, are still very much alive on the political stage.

The last time the GOP had a platform was in 2016, when Trump first ran for president, and it was a hefty 60 pages long. The current one is stripped down to a third the length reflecting what are core priority issues for the former president. Trump himself was key in shaping it — and his imprint is evident throughout, down to the use of capital letters in odd places.

As Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, the chair of the platform committee, said yesterday, Trump had “personally reviewed, edited, and approved” the platform.

Most of the platform consists of issues drawn from the culture wars that have roiled many school districts around the nation in recent years. In a typical pledge, the platform argues that children should be taught “fundamentals like Reading, History, Science and Math, not Leftwing propaganda.” The focus, it says, should be on “knowledge and skills,” not “CRT and gender indoctrination.”

Other party positions include:
- “Defunding” schools that engage in what the platform calls “inappropriate political indoctrination of our children using federal taxpayer dollars.”
- Supporting schools that “teach America’s Founding Principles and Western Civilization” while promoting “Fair and Patriotic Civics Education.”
- Championing the “First Amendment Right to Pray and Read the Bible in schools.”
- “Hardening” schools to protect against gun violence or other physical threats. “Hardening” typically refers to arming teachers, and erecting a range of physical barriers, from door locking systems to surveillance cameras, in lieu of gun regulation measures.
- Keeping on the front burner the GOP push for “Universal School Choice in every State in America,” the central goal of the first Trump administration and Betsy DeVos, his secretary of education.
The GOP platform draws ideas from, but does not specifically endorse Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s detailed blueprint for a second Trump term.

Trump has tried put some distance between himself and Project 2025, but that was mostly because of its extreme positions on abortion — including banning the abortion drug mifepristone — and not because of any major objections to its 44-page education blueprint.

Some key education items in the platform are recycled from earlier ones, and reiterate promises Trump has made on the campaign trail. That includes vowing to close the U.S. Department of Education and “send it back to the states where it belongs.” This is an idea that Ronald Reagan first proposed in 1985 — and which Republicans have yet to deliver on.

The platform also endorses ending teacher tenure, and giving educators merit pay increases — in contrast to union-negotiated contracts in which salaries are based principally on years worked, and the number of college course credits and degrees earned.

But even as the GOP pushes for federal education policies to devolve to state and local levels, the platform makes no reference to the fact that the federal government has relatively little say over what happens in schools. That is much more a function of state and local school board policies.

What’s more, only about a tenth of state and local education funding comes from Washington, D.C. For that reason alone, it is unclear how much of the GOP platform could actually be implemented.

Contrary to expectations raised when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made attacks on alleged “woke” education policies related to gender and racial identity a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, education issues have played a relatively small part in the presidential race so far.

That’s likely because other issues like inflation, immigration and abortion are now more salient among voters’ concerns. Another factor was that DeSantis’ focus on hot-button education issues proved to be useless in promoting his ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

So, while education is unlikely to be a major item of discussion at the GOP convention, or even in the remaining months of the presidential race, it’s clear from not only the party platform, but also from Project 2025’s detailed agenda, and Trump’s own recent statements, that numerous education issues that have sparked controversy and conflict are still very much on the GOP agenda.

And many if not all of them have the potential to be revived in a second Trump term.

This is the first of two commentaries on the education platforms of the GOP and the Democratic Party. This week the Democratic Party is expected to release its full education platform that delegates will vote on at its convention in Chicago in August.

•••

Louis Freedberg, a veteran journalist who has written about education in California and nationally for more than three decades, is interim CEO of EdSource.

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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21/05/2025
Adult education on K-12 campuses is so much more than you might guess

Adult education students at Huntington Beach Adult School in the Huntington Beach Union School District

Credit: Jorge Van Dyck / Huntington Beach Adult School

There’s an incredibly important program that takes place in the back lots of a number of K-12 school sites.

Adult Education serves students aged 18 and over in English as a second language (ESL), citizenship, adult basic education/adult secondary education (diploma and GED), and short-term career technical Education (CTE).

But their services to the schools they are housed in and the surrounding community are so much more. In fact, adult education staff and supporters have been espousing the benefits associated with Community Schools before the term became popular. They are that link schools don’t know they have to make sure parents know about and attend their District English Language Advisory Committee to help plan how funds will be used to support English learners, and they are often the link to immigration attorneys, financial literacy programs and a bridge to the training that so many parents of K-12 students end up needing.

Adult education also benefits students in the K-12 system. To put it simply, our immigrant students have immigrant parents, and assisting parents in learning the language and the school system’s processes in an English learner class is bound to pay off for the child as well. Also, offering short-term career technical education classes for those same parents to transition into once they have a grasp of the language (like in this medical assistant IET – integrated education and training program) is ultimately going to provide a more financially stable family structure that, again, benefits the child attending our K-12 schools. Finally, no matter how many redundant systems we put into K-12, students do drop out, and adult schools provide a place for that student to come back and finish their diploma or high school equivalency.

Yes, these folks are flexible, and their services complement the goals of our K-12 districts, which is likely why a decision was made a long time ago to house adult education within these institutions.

Unfortunately, flexibility is also a sore spot for adult educators. When the state budget gets pinched, adult education feels it first. In 2008-09, that meant cuts of 15% and 20%, and when the state government allowed for categorical programs — which previously could only be used for specific purposes — to be used flexibly, adult education funds were used to keep K-12 programs going, and many adult programs were decreased or even lost. By 2013-14, the Legislature introduced a package to eliminate school district categorical programs that targeted funding for adult education but salvage the adult education system by requiring districts to move into consortia beginning in 2015-16, joining community colleges and K-12 adult schools together in offering non-credit adult education. Schools moving to this system were asked to maintain 2011-12 levels of spending on adult education, which by then was at about 50% of 2008-09 levels.

So, it is understandable when an adult educator winces at the word “flexibility” and would rather it not even be mentioned in these bleak financial times. But the good news for California, its schools, and communities around those schools, is that California still supports its adult education system like no other state. The budget for adult education has actually grown in recent years. And, despite a recent Legislative Analyst Office report second guessing the funding structure it helped to create, adult educators feel the more they let folks know about the incredible wraparound services they provide for adults and children in the K-12 districts that are lucky enough to house them, then the more likely it will be for that elusive respect to be gained and programs sustained into the distant future.

The fundamental tasks of adult education are widely agreed upon and supported, even if many K-12 educators don’t know exactly what happens in those beige portables at the edge of their campus.

As alluded to at the start, those classes for adults are often tucked away in corners of larger campuses that are hard to find, and some forget they are there, and that’s generally OK with those who work there, since adult school employees know the value of their work is about so much more than that; they are flexible. They know that being right there on the campus where adult school parents’ kids attend is a great start.

Going back and forth between different sets and shades of beige portables on the four different campuses where Huntington Beach Adult School provides ESL classes, I have an appreciation for the often slighted portable and feel compelled to steal from William Carlos Williams to bring an end to this musing on the value of adult education.

So much depends upon

the beige portables

at the edge of campus

glazed in floodlights

filled with adult students

Credit: Jorge Van Dyck / Huntington Beach Adult School

•••

Philip Villamor is an assistant principal at Huntington Beach Adult School, which is a part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

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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20/05/2025
Education has been a significant interest of Kamala Harris since early in her career

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Monday during an event with NCAA college athletes. This is her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

Credit: AP Photo / Susan Walsh

The likelihood that Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president is inviting scrutiny of her positions on every public policy issue, including education.

By her own accounting, those views have been profoundly shaped by her experiences as a beneficiary of public education, as a student at Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley and later at the Hastings College of Law (now called UC Law San Francisco).

Just three months ago, in remarks about college student debt in Philadelphia, she paid tribute to her late first grade teacher Frances Wilson, who also attended her graduation from law school. “I wouldn’t be here except for the strength of our teachers, and of course, the family in which I was raised,” she said.

The most memorable moment in Harris’ unsuccessful 2019 campaign for president was in the first candidates’ debate when she sharply criticized then-Vice President Joe Biden for opposing school busing programs in the 1970s and 1980s.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me,” Harris said in the debate.

She was referring to Berkeley’s voluntary busing program set up in 1968, the first such voluntary program in a sizable city. Biden was apparently able to put the exchange aside when he selected her to be his running mate several months later.

At age 12, her family moved to Montreal where she attended a public high school, and then went to Howard University, the Historically Black College and University in Washington D.C. for her undergraduate education.

It is impossible to anticipate what if any of the positions Harris took earlier in her career, or as a presidential candidate five years ago, will be revived should she win the Democratic nomination, or even become president.

But they certainly offer clues as to positions she might take in either role.

When she kicked off her campaign for president at a boisterous rally in downtown Oakland in January 2019, she made access to education a major issue. “I am running to declare education is a fundamental right, and we will guarantee that right with universal pre-K and debt-free college,” she said, referring to pre-kindergarten.

By saying education is a fundamental right, Harris addressed directly an issue that has been a major obstacle for advocates trying to create a more equitable education system.

While education is a core function of government — even “perhaps the most important function,” as Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling — it is not a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. That has meant relying much more on state constitutions.

During her term as vice-president, she has played a prominent role in promoting a range of President Biden’s education programs, from cutting child care costs to student loan relief.

Last year she flew to Florida especially to take on Gov. Ron DeSantis over his attacks on what he dismissed as “woke indoctrination” in schools. In particular, she was incensed by the state’s middle school standards that argued that enslaved people “developed skills that could, in some instances, be applied for their personal benefit.”

DeSantis challenged her to debate him on the issue — an offer she scathingly rejected. “There is no roundtable, lecture, no invitation we will accept to debate an undeniable fact: There were no redeemable qualities to slavery,” she declared at a convention of Black missionary women in Orlando.

Earlier in her career, she was best known on the education front for her interest in combating school truancy — an interest that could be extremely relevant as schools in California and nationally grapple with a huge post-pandemic surge in chronic absenteeism.

Students are classified as chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of school days in the school year.

Nearly two decades ago, while district attorney in San Francisco, she launched a student attendance initiative focused on elementary school children. Each year, she sent letters to all parents advising them that truancy was against the law. Prosecutors from her office would meet with parents with chronically absent children. If they did not rectify the situation, they could be prosecuted in a special truancy court — and face a fine of up to $2,500 or a year in county jail.

By 2009, she said she had prosecuted about 20 parents. “Our groundbreaking strategy worked,” she wrote in an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle, citing a 20% increase in attendance at the elementary level.

When she ran for California attorney general in 2010, she backed a bill that enacted a similar program into state law. The law also subjected parents to fines and imprisonment for up to a year, but only after they had been offered “support services” to address the pupil’s truancy.

This tough stance put her on the defensive when she ran for president, and she softened her position on the issue. She said the intent of the law was not to “criminalize” parents. And in her memoir “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” Harris described her approach to truancy as “trying to support parents, not punish them.”

As attorney-general, she used the clout of her office to go after for-profit colleges she accused of false and predatory advertising, and intentionally misrepresenting to students the benefits they could provide. She was able to get a $1 billion judgment against the California-based Corinthians Colleges Inc. which eventually declared bankruptcy. ““For years, Corinthian profited off the backs of poor people – now they have to pay,” she said at the time.

During her presidential campaign five years ago, she made a major issue of what she labeled “the teacher pay crisis.” She said as president she would increase the average teacher’s salary by $13,500 — representing an average 23% increase in base pay. Almost certainly the most ambitious proposal of its kind made by any presidential candidate, the cost to the federal government would be enormous: $315 billion over 10 years.

To pay for it, she proposed increasing the estate tax on the top 1% of taxpayers and eliminating loopholes that “let the very wealthiest, with estates worth multiple millions or billions of dollars, avoid paying their fair share,” she wrote in The Washington Post.

Also on the campaign trail, she proposed a massive increase in funding to historically Black colleges and universities — one of which (Howard University in Washington, D.C.) she graduated from. In fact, she proposed investing $2 trillion in these colleges, especially to train Black teachers. She contended that if a child has had two Black teachers before the end of third grade, they’re one-third more likely to go to college.

Biden was able to push through a big increase in support for such institutions totaling $19 billion — far short of her goal of $2 trillion.

Many of her positions on education — including a push for universal pre-school, and making college debt-free — were aligned with those proposed by Biden, or ultimately implemented by him as president.

For that reason, there is likely to be continuity in her candidacy with much of the education agenda proposed by Biden.

But mainly as a result of lack of action in Congress and Republican-initiated lawsuits blocking his proposals, many of the administrations’s aspirations, like making community colleges free, doubling the size of Pell Grants, and student debt refiled, remain unfulfilled.

It will now be up to Harris — and the American voter — whether she will have the opportunity to advance that unfinished education agenda.

This story has been updated to include details about Harris’ education after her parents moved from Berkeley to Canada when she was 12.

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20/05/2025
How to get a high school education or learn English as an adult in California | Quick Guide

Tulare Adult School serves a community with some of the greatest need for adult education in the state.

Credit: EdSource/Emma Gallegos

Este artículo está disponible en Español. Léelo en español.

Do you (or someone you know) struggle with English? Did you drop out of school? Do you need help passing the citizenship test? Are you looking for a well-paying job that won’t require a bachelor’s degree?

California’s adult school system steps in to help adults who might have slipped through the cracks — or are newcomers to the country.

Many Californians can use the services of adult schools but are not taking advantage of the chance. Nearly 6 million Californians don’t speak English “very well” and over 4 million do not have a high school education, according to U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey data.

Nearly 3 out of 10 Californians struggle with basic English literacy. This can affect their ability to earn a good salary or navigate essential parts of American life, such as shopping, talking to a doctor or helping their children succeed in school.

This guide is aimed at adults in California who need to take classes that will help them improve their English, finish their high school education, become a citizen or get a better job.

Who can attend adult school?

Anyone 18 and over is eligible.

There are classes specifically aimed at adults who didn’t finish high school, immigrants, disabled adults, those who want to improve their parenting skills and adults who want to train for a career that doesn’t require a college education.

Where can I get an adult education?

There are three main places to get adult education in most communities: K-12 schools, community colleges and community libraries.

Most Californians looking for adult education attend classes offered by their K-12 school districts. These classes may be offered right on K-12 campuses and through parent programs — or they may be offered at stand-alone adult school campuses.

Community colleges also offer adult education. Adults who are interested in getting a degree or certificate sometimes find this an especially appealing option. English language and GED courses can help prepare students for college-level coursework. However, it is not a requirement to be on track for college to attend adult education classes at a community college.

Libraries have the added benefit of offering one-on-one tutoring with a trained volunteer for adult learners. This can be a good option for students who need help with a particular task. Adults who struggle with basic skills, such as writing, English or math, might sign up to get help so they can pass a driver’s test or write a business grant application. Libraries can also connect Californians with a virtual program, Career Online High School, that helps adults get their high school diploma. (More on that below.)

Some nonprofit organizations, employers or religious organizations also offer adult education. Organizations catering to adults who are immigrants, homeless or have a disability may offer adult education.

How can I find out what is available in my community?

Click here to view a map of offerings.

What kind of classes are offered?

The main types of classes offered by adult schools are adult basic education, adult secondary education, immigrant education, vocational education, education for adults with disabilities and education to help adults support their children in K-12 schools.

Adult secondary education helps adults get the equivalent of a high school education with courses that include math, science, social studies and language arts. This could be through a high school diploma (for more on that, see the next question) or taking GED or HiSET tests.

Adult basic education is essentially the foundation for high school. Adults who struggle with basic reading, math or digital literacy can take these courses, either on their own or to prepare for high school-level education.

Adult school students have a wide range of backgrounds, but in California, the vast majority are immigrants. Adult schools help immigrants improve their English skills, get their citizenship and learn more about how to navigate American society.

Vocational education at adult schools helps prepare Californians for a new career, typically with an emphasis on offerings that take much less time than a bachelor’s degree. Adult education — both at the K-12 and community college level — helps students by connecting them with apprenticeships or helping them pass industry certification and state licensing exams.

Some popular courses help prepare students for jobs in welding, heating and air conditioning technology, information technology support, court reporting and administrative assistant work. There are many programs for jobs in the health care fields, such as phlebotomy, vocational nursing, certified nursing assistant, pharmacy technician and medical coding.

Some classes offered can also help adults build key life skills, which can be especially important for immigrants and disabled adults. This could include financial literacy, parenting classes and digital literacy.

Can I get my high school diploma?

Yes. Even if it’s been decades since you set foot in a high school classroom and even if that classroom was not in California or the U.S., you can get a high school diploma. You may even be able to count some of your work experience for credit.

This can be a particularly useful option for adults who are just a few credits shy of graduation.

Just as with traditional high schools, the requirements for a diploma may vary. Both K-12 and community colleges offer classes that allow students to finish their high school diploma. Most community libraries also offer the opportunity to complete a high school diploma through a virtual program.

What other options are there to attain the equivalent of a high school credential in California?

The only authorized companies that can issue high school equivalency certificates in California are GED or HiSET.

There are many high school equivalency test preparation programs — including those offered through public adult education programs and libraries. However, the state of California cautions that certificates of completion for these programs are not official California high school equivalency credentials. Getting these types of credentials requires passing tests.

Can I get a GED in my native language?

Californians can get a GED in English or Spanish. There are no other languages available at this time. The certificate of high school equivalency does not specify what language the GED is in.

How much does adult education cost?

The vast majority of adult education classes are tuition-free. Students may face fees for the GED or HiSET tests or practice tests, assessment tests, textbooks and other materials used in the courses. On community college campuses, students may also pay campus fees. These fees vary widely by institution — particularly for vocational tech classes.

The program to become a vocational nurse at Bakersfield Adult School, for example, costs $7,000, while Downey Adult School estimates its whole program costs $16,999.

Can I attend school while I have a job?

One of the biggest hurdles for Californians who are interested in enrolling in adult school is simply finding the time to attend and study. There are classes held during the day, but many are offered in the evening and weekends as well, so classes are available to people who hold day jobs. There are also virtual classes.

What kind of virtual options are there?

Many institutions that offer adult education, such as local K-12 schools or community colleges, offer virtual options, which may include live teaching or asynchronous content.

Most public libraries in California also offer the opportunity to earn a high school diploma through the Career Online High School program. It is available to anyone 19 or older. Last year, the program was offered at 797 of the state’s 1,127 public libraries. The program offers not just a high school diploma, but career training, plus help with a resume and cover letter. Some of the career training offered includes child care, commercial driving, manufacturing, office management, customer service, hospitality and security professionals. Students are assigned an academic coach. You can either ask a librarian or take this survey online to see if this option is right for you.

Is child care or transportation offered?

This is not a common part of the offerings for adult schools, and it can be a big barrier to many potential adult school students. However, it is worth checking with your local schools. Some adult schools, colleges or nonprofits may offer child care, and some may offer transportation discounts or passes.

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20/05/2025
More outreach and access are needed in adult education, panel says

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TxSs3XHpA

Despite efforts across various sectors, adults throughout California continue to struggle to access education opportunities that can be critical for their family’s economic mobility.

The panel at EdSource’s roundtable, “Adult education: Overlooked and underfunded,” discussed how adults and their families can benefit from adult education, the common barriers to access and ways to overcome them.

“During the pandemic, our emergency room took in some of our most at-need people and triaged them to the right medical care that they need,” said John Werner, the executive director of Sequoias Adult Education Consortium at Thursday’s discussion. “Adult schools do very similar work with education.”

Barriers to adult education

Panelist Francisco Solano grew up in Mexico, where he earned a high school education but had no interest in continuing his schooling. About 16 years ago, he came to the United States and found himself working for salad-packing companies.

He eventually enrolled in adult education classes at Salinas Adult School and is now wrapping up a doctorate in molecular biology at UCLA.

But the road through his adult education was “exhausting” and “not convenient at all.”

“That’s what I see with my peers,” Solano said. “They are not able to get out of that lifestyle because it’s so difficult for them to be able to have a job that secures rent and food for the families and, at the same time, find time and resources to go to school or try something else.”

Solano also believes that larger companies do not want migrants like him to succeed because that would take away a source of cheap labor.

Rural areas — where barriers associated with time and distance are greater — have a high need for adult education.

Steve Curiel, the principal of Huntington Beach Adult School, said not enough conversations about adult education are held at the policy level because most people in elected positions are unlikely to understand the critical role it plays, having experienced more traditional educational journeys.

Raising awareness and marketing

Carolyn Zachry, the state director and education administrator for adult education at the California Department of Education, stressed the importance of raising awareness and sharing stories like Solano’s among potential students.

“That gives the courage to come forward and to walk in those doors of that school,” she said. “And once they’re inside those school doors, then that school community wraps around them and really supports them.”

Werner also emphasized the importance of actively seeking students. He mentioned specific efforts to speak to individuals at local community events, like farmers markets and flea markets. A TV or radio presence can also be helpful, he said.

Helping communities overcome barriers

Numerous organizations are enacting measures to expand access to adult education, including creating remote and virtual options as well as providing child care for students while they are in school.

Several panelists agreed that virtual learning can be a helpful way to bring educational opportunities to adults at home — though Kathy Locke, who teaches English as a second language in Oakland Unified, emphasized the importance of in-person instruction, so adults can learn the skills they need to succeed online.

“The more marginalized, the greater your need in terms of English level, the harder it is to access the technology to be able to use the technology to do distance learning well,” Locke said.

To improve access to online learning, Curiel said the Huntington Beach Adult School has provided laptops and channels for internet connection.

Providing child care is another way to help reduce barriers for adults.

“Our classes provide babysitting for our students to be able to come with their children. Their children go to child care, and then they’re able to come and learn,” Locke said.

“I think that as a district, we really named that as a barrier and really put our money where our mouths were, I think, and made that a priority to get adults in our classrooms, so that they can do the learning that they need.”

Broader benefits of adult education

Adult education also helps support a child’s education, the roundtable panelists agreed.

For example, a child’s literacy benefits when parents attend English language classes, Locke said. And parents are more likely to be involved with their child’s education later on.

“If you want to help a child in poverty, you have to help an adult in poverty,” Werner said. “Only the adult can go get a job tomorrow.”

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19/05/2025