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  • California School Dashboard released for the 2022-23 School Year

    California School Dashboard released for the 2022-23 School Year


    Students work together during an after-school tutoring club.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    For the first time since 2019, the California Department of Education has fully updated the California School Dashboard that tracks the annual progress of K-12 students on factors such as standardized test scores, chronic absenteeism, suspensions and graduation rates.

    Since its rollout in 2017, the dashboard aims to show the progress of students at the state, district and school level using a color-coded system. It breaks this information down by 13 student subgroups, such as English language learners, disabled students and race and ethnicity. Friday’s update provides a snapshot of the progress made between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years, representing the aftermath of the pandemic’s peak.

    Red signals the poorest performance, followed by orange, yellow and green, while blue signals the best performance. State officials say that anything below green indicates the need for attention and improvement. Amidst the pandemic, the state stopped releasing this information in 2020.

    The dashboard relies on some data, such as test scores and chronic absences, that was released in October. Other data — such as graduation rates and how many students met the entrance requirements to California universities, one measure of career and college readiness — were released Friday.

    For the first time, this year’s dashboard adds a color-coded score to measure how many English learners are making progress toward proficiency on the English Language Proficiency Assessments of California (ELPAC).

    On chronic absenteeism and English learner progress, the state’s status was yellow, a midway point between blue and red. The state’s status was orange — the second-worst status — for its suspension rate, graduation rate and performance on standardized tests for mathematics and English language arts.

    State officials said the results demonstrate California schools are making progress in the wake of the pandemic, which witnessed sharp declines in standardized test scores and a surge in chronic absenteeism.

    “Recovery from the pandemic has been a long process all across the country,” said California State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond, in a statement. “While we have a long way to go, these results show that California is making strides, especially in enabling students to get to school and graduate ready for college and careers.”

    The rate of students graduating from high school who met the minimum course requirements to attend a CSU or UC reached an all-time high: 45.15%. That number has continued to steadily increase throughout the pandemic, up from 41.24% in 2016-17.

    The statewide four-year graduation rate is 86.2%, a decline from last year’s all-time high of 87%. State officials attribute 2021-22’s peak to a loosening of state graduation requirements and grading policies at the height of the pandemic. Officials say this most recent dip is due to a return to pre-pandemic policies.

    The dashboard’s color coding system takes into account both whether a metric is high or low, and also whether that metric has declined, maintained or improved within the past year.

    For instance, the orange ratings for math and English language arts test scores reflect the fact that after huge dips from pre-pandemic scores, there was little change from the previous year’s scores. Math scores edged up 2.6 points and English scores dipped 1.4 points. 

    The state’s chronic absentee rate in 2022-23 was 24.3%. That means nearly a quarter of students missed 10 or more days of school that year. That is a 5.7 point dip from the previous year’s all-time high of 30%. However, it is still a historically poor rate, roughly double the 2018-19 rate of 12.1%. Chronic absentee rates were above 20%, the worst category, in 62% of districts.

    Data shows that chronic absenteeism surged nationwide in the wake of the pandemic, and it hit nearly every school district. Experts have said that sick days from Covid and quarantining can account for part but not all of the rapidly increasing absentee rates. The CDE trumpeted the state’s declining chronic absenteeism rate.

    “This is encouraging news, and our work is not complete,” said Superintendent Tony Thurmond, in a statement. “We have made an unprecedented investment in services that address the needs of the whole child. We can see that those efforts are paying off, but this is only the beginning.”

    But some questioned whether the dashboard’s metrics provide a meaningful portrait of progress in the state.

    The dashboard was created before the pandemic when there were a different set of assumptions about what progress would look like in schools, said Heather Hough, executive director of PACE, a Stanford-based education research organization. Metrics didn’t tend to surge or nosedive year to year before the pandemic. Improvement on metrics like chronic absenteeism or standardized test scores are worth noting, she said, but the dashboard’s focus on one year of change can be misleading.

    “That can mask the concern that we should still be having: A lot of students are far behind where they have been, and large portions of students are not attending school,” Hough said.

    The color coding system has implications for which schools are eligible for additional assistance. Skyrocketing chronic absenteeism rates were largely responsible for a surge in schools that were eligible for differentiated assistance. In 2019, 333 school districts were eligible but by 2022 that number shot up to 617. This year 466 school districts were eligible.

    Advocates for English learners also worry that the way that the dashboard presents metrics is downplaying an urgent issue in education.

    The dashboard shows that about half (48.7%) of English learners in the state advanced at least one level or remained at the top level of English language proficiency, based on their scores on the ELPAC, a test English learners are required to take every year until they reach proficiency. This is about the same number who progressed as last year.

    CDE considers this to be a yellow score — a medium number of students making progress toward English proficiency, and not much change in how many did so. In order to reach green, the number of students making progress toward English proficiency would have to increase by 2 percentage points.

    Martha Hernandez, executive director of Californians Together, an organization that advocates for English learners statewide, said fewer than 50% of English learners making progress each year should be considered very low, or red, rather than medium, or yellow.

    “That seems to be a passing score, so to speak, and really doesn’t create the sense of urgency to really focus on the needs of English learners,” Hernandez said. “We really think the state has low expectations for districts having students make progress.”

    Hernandez said if students advance one level each year, they would achieve proficiency in six years, which is a reasonable expectation based on research. When students take longer than six years to achieve proficiency, they are considered long-term English learners and can struggle in middle and high school.

    Californians Together has advocated for the state to change indicators for English learner progress. The group believes that districts or schools should receive a high, or green, level of progress if at least 70% of English learners progress at least one level in one year. Currently, the state considers 55% of English learners progressing at least one level to be high.

    About a third of English learners (32.7%) in the state remained at one of the same lower levels of English proficiency as the year before on the test. Almost one fifth (18.6%) decreased one level in English proficiency.

    Districts achieved varied scores on English learner progress – 66 were red, 215 orange, 152 yellow, 192 green, and 43 blue.

    In addition, Californians Together criticized the fact that the dashboard rates English learners’ scores on English language arts and math tests together with the scores of students who have achieved proficiency in English in the last four years.

    “It’s a very, very weak picture of the needs of English learners,” said Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, strategic advisor for Californians Together.

    Melissa Valenzuela-Stookey, director of P-16 research at Ed Trust-West, said that the nonprofit that advocates for justice in education, is planning to dig into the data to get insight into what is happening for the state’s most marginalized students, but the initial data is concerning.

    “This data shows that the status quo for students of color is unacceptable, and we’re making alarmingly slow progress — but it also points to schools and districts that are proving that we can do better,” Valenzuela-Stookey said.





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  • July 4th: No Celebration for Me Today

    July 4th: No Celebration for Me Today


    I have always been a patriotic American. I love the United States.

    To me, this country has always represented the words of welcome–the poem by Emma Lazarus– attached to the statue of Liberty.

    Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

    With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

    Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

    A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

    Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

    Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

    Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

    The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

    “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

    With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

    The golden door is closed.

    We no longer want those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

    We arrest and deport “the homeless, tempest-tost” to brutal countries where they know no one.

    Trump promised to expel rapists, murderers, “the worst of the worst.” I was in agreement.

    Instead, people with no criminal records are being arrested: in their homes, their workplaces, their schools, on the streets.

    Mothers, fathers, children, students, hard-working people who committed no crime. Even tourists.

    My father’s father immigrated from Poland to the U.S. in 1858. You read that right. He was a teenager. My father, his youngest child, was born in 1903. My grandfather, who arrived penniless, became a butcher in Savannah.

    My mother fled from little Bessarabia at the end of World War 1, arriving on a large ship filled with home-going American troops. She, her mother, and her little sister did not speak English. They had just enough money to buy train tickets to Houston, where my grandfather worked as a tailor and saved up enough money to send for his family.

    My mother was 9 years old when she arrived. She always loved this country passionately.

    If my family had not left Europe, they would have all ended up in a concentration camp and been gassed, as were all their relatives who remained behind.

    My family was raised in Houston with a deep sense of love and gratitude for America.

    Do I want open borders? No.

    I want a fair immigration system that is orderly and just. What is happening today is horrible. Frightening. Ugly. Disgusting.

    I am embarrassed by the sight of masked men grabbing people off the streets, embarrassed that they beat people up, handcuff them, drag them away in unmarked cars. Embarrassed that such things could happen here. Not in America.

    But that’s not all.

    We have a President who is vulgar, coarse, ignorant of history, and admires the worst dictators in the world. Putin. Kim Jung Un. The thug in El Salvador.

    He picks fights with our friends, neighbors, and allies. He threatens to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal. He threatens to leave NATO. He abandons Ukraine, which has bravely fought off the Russian war machine since 2022.

    He insisted on a budget that will eventually kick millions of people off Medicare. He killed SNAP, which provided food assistance to people who need it. He defunded green energy. He defunded any federal programs intended to mitigate climate change.

    He killed USAID, withdrawing food and medical care for millions of people. People will die of hunger and of preventable diseases.

    Whatever he doesn’t like is “woke,” “Marxist,” “radical left.” Whatever requires kindness, compassion, and care for others is “leftwing” and “woke.” In his evil worldview, kindness and compassion are for suckers.

    He claims to be a Christian and relies on his Christian nationalist base, the people who think America should be a “Christian nation.” If any of them had ever read history or even the Constitution, they would know that the Founders insisted upon religious freedom and opposed ANY establishment of religion. They most certainly did not want their new nation to have a religious character.

    In short, we currently have a government that ignores the Constitution, that is animated by cruelty, and that revels in fomenting hatred of others.

    That’s why I will not celebrate today.

    But I pledge to work towards restoration of the America I love. So long as I have breath, so long as I can type, I will devote my days to reclaiming the dream.



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  • Community college students serve as basic needs support guides for peers

    Community college students serve as basic needs support guides for peers


    Xavier Navarro, left, was a student ambassador while attending Santa Ana College. In this photo, he was tabling with his adviser, Hope Nguyen.

    Over 50 community college students in California currently serve as resource guides for peers in need of stable housing, food access and other basic needs.

    The students are part of the California Community Colleges’ Student Ambassador Program, which trains students to share information on available resources, including CalFresh and housing stipends with their fellow students. The program uses peers to share such resources in an effort to reduce the stigma around accessing basic needs services.

    “They’re students on the campus, on the ground floor, knowing what students need, knowing how their campus operates, what works, what doesn’t,” said Yuriko Curiel, an ambassador program specialist.

    The need is acute. According to a recent report by The Community College League of California and the RP Group, only 32% of the 66,741 students who responded to their survey felt secure in meeting all their basic needs. Over half of respondents were concerned about running out of food; 3 out of 5 students experienced housing insecurity, and 1 in 4 reported experiencing homelessness.

    Anecdotes from two recent student ambassadors, Adela Gonzales and Xavier Navarro, highlighted the program’s impact.

    Gonzales said in a recent interview that she spoke with a student who was on his way to a Riverside City College parking structure where other students had died by suicide. The student told her that he was heading there because he was contemplating doing the same. But on that day, he came across Gonzales, who was handing out pamphlets regarding various student services, including mental health support.

    Adela Gonzales was a student ambassador for two years at Riverside City College.

    “I was able to talk with him … give him a little bit of validation, and then walk him to the Student Health and Psychological Center,” said Gonzales, who is studying biochemistry and sociology. “I still message him here and there to see how he’s doing.”

    She said what most stood out in her work as an ambassador was how only a few students were aware of the campus’ psychology center or their crisis text hotline. Her interest in supporting other students prompted her to join the program two school years in a row.

    At Santa Ana College, Navarro was working at the campus food pantry when he met a fellow student veteran, named Louie, who didn’t have a home.

    Meeting Navarro, who was a student ambassador at the time, led to Louie being quickly connected to resources, including a housing voucher to book a hotel room for about a month, food assistance via CalFresh, a free bus pass, and a job at the same food pantry where he met Navarro.

    “He was hurting, and it hurts you as a person because you want to help … and now that you have the tools, why not?” said Navarro, who is now an accounting student at Cal Poly Pomona University in Southern California.

    It was Navarro’s own experience as a veteran that helped facilitate the initial conversation with Louie.

    “We care about the students, we want the students to succeed,” Navarro said. “Because college is hard, it’s expensive, and it can be challenging. Not having a home, not having food. … Caring goes a long way, especially for a college student.”

    Students’ identities are crucial in connecting with their peers, said Curiel, the program specialist who was an ambassador before she graduated from San Bernardino Valley College.

    Yuriko Curiel was a student ambassador and now works as a specialist for the program
    Courtesy of Yuriko Curiel

    “Not only are they connecting with peers, they’re connecting with people who reflect their own community,” she said, noting that Navarro is a veteran; Gonzales, a former foster youth; Curiel was balancing work and school as a single mom during her time as an ambassador.

    Ambassadors also often understand being food or housing insecure. Gonzales and Navarro, for example, both relied on CalFresh in the past. Gonzales also received a housing grant while enrolled in college because she couldn’t afford her rent after a roommate moved out of their shared apartment.

    Gonzales and Navarro said that a common response they got from students was disbelief that they might qualify for CalFresh, the state’s food assistance program. Complex eligibility rules for students is a known barrier to the program.

    “Not everybody on campus knows what’s available to them and how they can access, and even when they access that, there are still questions,” Gonzales said. “Being able to point them in the right direction and get the right information for them is very important.”

    The ambassador program was launched in 2016. Students who join are expected to put in at least six to eight hours each month, for which they receive a stipend of $1,500 after completing the program.

    The first cohort in 2016 included 20 students, while the current group includes 53 students. Previous groups have included over 100 ambassadors, according to Sarah London, external and executive communications director with the Foundation for California Community Colleges, which operates the program.

    “The fluctuation in numbers is solely based on available funding,” said London. “Ideally, we’d have hundreds of ambassadors every year, so we strive to bring on more philanthropic funders to support and help us grow these efforts in the future.”

    While student support services vary at the state’s 116 community colleges, some examples include CalFresh application assistance, low-cost auto insurance, a mental health crisis text hotline, and emergency financial aid grants, among others.

    Students interested in joining the program must apply for a position and meet eligibility requirements, which include being at least 18 years old, enrolled in at least one unit for the fall and spring semesters during the school year in which they’re applying, and availability to attend a Zoom training.

    Gonzales, Navarro and Curiel were all encouraged to apply for the program by staff members managing student organizations they had joined.

    For example, Gonzales was part of Guardian Scholars, a chapter-based organization on college campuses that helps support former foster and homeless youth, before learning about the ambassadors program. A staff member with the group noticed that Gonzales often took the initiative by sharing basic needs information with her peers and suggested she apply to be an ambassador.

    “I’ve always enjoyed providing resources for all my foster sisters,” she said, adding that joining the ambassador program felt like an extension of what she was already inclined to do in her personal life.

    Student ambassadors use a variety of strategies to reach their peers, such as tabling during campus events, creating social media posts, sending out mass emails about available resources, and presenting to their classmates during class breaks.

    “This is really investing in our next generation of leaders,” Curiel said. “I see our dean of student services coming out of this, our basic needs coordinators, or people doing public policy; I think that’s just the power of the program.”





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  • Career Technical Education: A pathway for arts educators

    Career Technical Education: A pathway for arts educators


    A teacher shows 12th grade students how to construct a small animal house.

    Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education

    Ina Gutierrez lives for the opera. She has a master’s degree in classical voice as well as a decade of singing and performance under her belt. 

    She tapped into that lifelong passion to teach music and choir to fourth and fifth graders for two years in Kern County using emergency credentials, and she loved every minute of it but had to stop teaching once that credential ran out. 

    She now often works as an adjunct professor at CSU Bakersfield, where she teaches “Music in the Classroom,” a class that shows teachers how to share music with children. Gutierrez feels frustrated that she is qualified to show teachers how to teach but can’t teach actual students. She attempted to get a Career Technical Education credential for music but was told she couldn’t use it for elementary school teaching. That broke her heart.

    “I would love to be teaching children music,” said Gutierrez, a 38-year-old mother of two who lives in Bakersfield. “Art is so important for children to experience, especially music. It is unique because it simultaneously builds independence and community. In a world where children are playing less outside and addicted to screens, having music in schools shouldn’t be a luxury.  It’s vital in building a more compassionate, caring and happy society.”

    While many arts education advocates are championing the use of the CTE credential as the state struggles to attract new staff to teach the arts in the wake of Proposition 28, the state’s historic arts mandate, there’s a big hitch for those who want to teach elementary students. It was originally designed for use at the secondary level because it is employment-oriented. 

    Basically, unless the class has a clear career-based element, like a fifth grade broadcasting class, candidates like Gutierrez might get rejected. Many districts will only greenlight CTE holders to teach middle school, junior high and high school. That’s why some arts education advocates are pushing for reform.

     “The CTC language, unfortunately, is from the Eisenhower era when boys took shop, girls took home economics and nobody thought about ‘jobs’ or ‘careers’ until spring of their senior year in high school,” says Austin Beutner, the former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, who authored Proposition 28. “In today’s world, all of this is career-related, and it starts in elementary school.” 

    Given the state’s teacher shortage and the heightened need for art educators in light of Proposition 28, some are losing patience with the bureaucratic hoops aspiring arts teachers must jump through.

    “It is frustrating to see good, qualified individuals being rejected from teaching due to complex bureaucracy,” said Gutierrez’s husband, Greg, who comes from a long line of teachers. “In order for California to fix the teacher shortage, this problem needs to be addressed. We need a process that is easy for potential teachers to work through.”

    Bob Woods-LaDue, Gutierrez’s brother-in-law, has hit the same obstacle. He was told he had to get his music class reclassified as a technical class to be eligible to use the CTE credential.

     “I can’t help but wonder how many teachers are in an uphill battle that don’t know how to advocate for themselves in the credentialing process, and getting different answers from different people,” Greg said. “It doesn’t seem like an encouraging environment based on his experience thus far and my wife’s similar experience.”

    Beutner, for one, is pushing to have the system streamlined so that there are fewer roadblocks for teachers who are dedicated to bringing the arts into elementary classrooms as well as secondary ones.

    “Change is hard, but it has to happen,” he said. “California schools will need to hire about 15,000 additional arts teachers to fully implement Prop. 28. Half of the teachers will be needed in elementary schools. There are nowhere near enough traditionally credentialed arts teachers to fill that need.”

    Some experts warn that teaching elementary requires a different skill set than secondary. That’s one drawback in widening CTE credential usage, they say. 

    “I am not sure about broadening it,” said Eric Engdahl, professor emeritus at CSU East Bay and past president of the California Council on Teacher Education. “While it could be a stopgap to fill the arts teaching shortage, are the people teaching it with substantial industry experience appropriate to be teaching at an elementary level given the developmental differences in learning?”

    Some working artists may need to bone up on educational best practices before entering the classroom, and Buetner suggests professional development be provided. 

    “A concern some may have is whether a CTE teacher, even with their content mastery, is ready to be in a classroom with third graders,” Beutner said. “A sensible approach would be to build in some guardrails, maybe a CTE teacher in elementary needs to work alongside a grade level teacher for a semester while participating in a certain set of CTE professional development courses.”

    For many, teaching the arts is a dream gig, a way to enrich lives as well as stimulate higher levels of critical thinking in a generation hard hit by pandemic-related learning loss.

    “Music is an amazing way to bring that joy to students, invite creativity to the classroom and build connections between students as well as teacher to student,” said Gutierrez. “It is in an environment like this that students can and will learn better. I love music for music’s sake, but music is a great tool to incorporate in teaching language arts, math, science and history.”

    While the CTE program has long been associated with trades and vocations such as auto repair, plumbing, and culinary arts, it can also be a viable pathway to becoming an arts educator. Other routes include being a traditionally credentialed arts teacher or a classified staff member, although that role commands lower pay. 

    One of the key CTE pathways lets artists with considerable experience in their field, from dance and digital arts to jazz, use that expertise in the classroom. They must have three years of work experience directly related to each industry sector named on the credential and meet other administrative requirements. 

    “The CTE credential allows people who have 1,000 hours of experience in the field to come into teaching, bring all that experience, that wisdom that they’ve got,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education, during a recent arts ed conference at UCLA. “We hope many, many artists will come in and secure the credential.”

    One big upside to the CTE credential is that, unlike teaching artists who need a credentialed teacher to remain in the classroom while they teach, CTE teachers can fly solo. That frees the classroom teacher up, creating time to work one-on-one with students, email parents back and meet with colleagues.

    “When CTE teachers are teaching a course, then the regular classroom teacher can be doing other things,” said Darling-Hammond. “Our staff are stretched very thin. So we want to use this as a win-win for students and for staff in all of our schools.”

    The greater accessibility of the CTE route, its fewer barriers to entry, may also invite a more diverse range of teachers than more traditional pathways, experts say. 

    “Let’s roll up our sleeves and bring the CTE standards into the 21st century,” said Beutner. “The alternative is millions of students in elementary schools across California will not have the chance to participate in arts and music.”





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  • Randi Weingarten: Trump’s Big Bad Bill Is Good for His Billionaire Buddies

    Randi Weingarten: Trump’s Big Bad Bill Is Good for His Billionaire Buddies


    The American Federation of Teachers released a statement by its President Randi Weingarten:

    Contact:
    Andrew Crook
    607-280-6603
    acrook@aft.org

    AFT’s Weingarten on Senate’s Big, Ugly Betrayal of America’s Working Families

    As we prepare to celebrate our independence, the promise of the American dream, of freedom and prosperity for all, is now further out of reach.’

    WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the Senate passed President Trump’s billionaire tax scam:

    “This is a big, ugly, obscene betrayal of American working families that was rammed through the Senate in the dead of night to satisfy a president determined to hand tax cuts to his billionaire friends.

    “These are tax cuts paid for by ravaging the future: kicking millions off healthcare, closing rural hospitals, taking food from children, stunting job growth, hurting the climate, defunding schools and ballooning the debt. It will siphon money away from public schools through vouchers—which harm student achievement and go mostly to well-off families with kids already in private schools. It’s the biggest redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich in decades—far worse, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, than the version passed by the House.

    “But if you only listened to those who voted yes, you wouldn’t have heard anything like that. You would’ve heard bad faith attempts to rewrite basic laws of accounting so they could assert that the bill won’t grow the deficit. You would’ve heard false claims about what it will do to healthcare and public schools and public services, which are the backbone of our nation.

    “The reality is that the American people have rejected, in poll after poll, this bill’s brazen deception. As it travels back to the House and presumably to the president’s desk, we will continue to sound the alarm and let those who voted for it know they have wounded the very people who voted them into office. But it is also incumbent on us to fight forward for an alternative: for working-class tax cuts and for full funding of K-12 and higher education as engines of opportunity and democracy.

    “Sadly, as we prepare to celebrate our independence, the promise of the American dream, of freedom and prosperity for all, is now further out of reach.”

     ###

    The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.



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  • California colleges worry about lawsuit challenging funding for campuses with many Hispanic students  

    California colleges worry about lawsuit challenging funding for campuses with many Hispanic students  


    At a recent Latino-themed graduation ceremony at California State University, Channel Islands, a student’s cap proclaims that nothing is impossible with family.

    Courtesy of CSU Channel Islands

    Top Takeaways
    • California colleges and universities have received more than $600 million in program grants.
    • Challenger successfully sued Harvard to end affirmative action in admissions.
    • Five UC campuses, 21 Cal State schools and many California community colleges are Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

    Each year, most of California’s public colleges and universities are eligible for extra federal funding for a simple reason: They enroll high numbers of Latino students. 

    The federal government sets aside millions of dollars in grants annually for colleges classified as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, a designation earned by having an undergraduate student body that is at least 25% Latino. In total, California colleges and universities have received more than $600 million in HSI grants since federal funding for the program began in 1995.

    California, with its large Latino population, has the most HSI campuses in the nation — 167, or more than a quarter of the 602 HSIs in the country. That includes five of the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses, all but one of California State University’s 22 regular campuses and the majority of the state’s community colleges. 

    But now, California colleges classified as HSIs are facing an uncertain future and could be at risk of losing that designation and funding if a recently filed lawsuit is successful.

    The lawsuit was brought in U.S. District Court by the state of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions, the same group that successfully sued Harvard to end affirmative action in admissions. It argues the criteria to become an HSI are unconstitutional and discriminatory against other ethnic groups and that all colleges serving low-income students, regardless of racial composition, should be allowed to apply for the grants currently available to HSIs.

    Colleges are eligible for the HSI designation if they sustain Hispanic enrollment of at least 25% and at least half of their students are low income. The designation allows them to apply to the competitive grant program. The money is meant to be spent on programs that could benefit all students, not just Latino students, proponents note. 

    So many California public campuses have the HSI designation in large part because of the state’s demographics: 56% of the K-12 enrollment is Latino. 

    The legal challenge is distressing to some officials and students who say the HSI grant funding has allowed many California campuses to improve their student support services, such as by offering faculty development as well as adding counseling and student retention programs that benefit Latino students and others.

    “A lot of these campuses depend on HSI funds. And with that potentially being stripped, there is going to be a loss of vital infrastructure,” said Cristian Ulisses Reyes, a graduate student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he has been part of an effort to help that campus earn HSI designation by next year. 

    Supporters of HSIs have been anticipating the possibility of a challenge to the program since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, particularly with the White House’s increased hostility toward diversity, equity and inclusion programs, said Deborah Santiago, the CEO of Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit focused on the success of Latino students in higher education. 

    “So this lawsuit feels like a culmination of all those fears,” she said.

    The lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon as defendants. It’s not clear to what degree the department will fight the lawsuit. The Department of Education did not return a request for comment. 

    Edward Blum, a conservative activist and president of Students for Fair Admission, said in an email that the explicit Latino enrollment threshold requirement for HSI designation is, in his view, illegal.

    “That means otherwise qualified institutions are denied access to millions in federal support solely because they lack the designated racial mix. That’s racial preference disguised as education policy,” he said. 

    The lawsuit was filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and the plaintiffs argue that all colleges in Tennessee serving low-income students should be eligible for grants currently available to HSIs. 

    “Funds should help needy students regardless of their immutable traits, and the denial of those funds harms students of all races. This Court should declare the HSI program’s discriminatory requirements unconstitutional, letting colleges and universities apply regardless of their ability to hit arbitrary ethnic targets,” the lawsuit states.

    The lawsuit would create a lot of problems if the case goes against HSIs, but in the immediate future, it doesn’t change anything, said Santiago of the Excelencia in Education group. “There’s still going to be an application, as far as we know, for competitive grants this year, and institutions that have HSI funds are able to continue to use them,” she added.

    California State University, Channel Islands, recently held its 2025 Sí Se Pudo Recognition Ceremony, an annual graduation celebration hosted at the campus.
    Courtesy of CSU Channel Islands

    California State University, Channel Islands, has been an HSI since 2010 and now has a student body that is about 60% Latino. Achieving and maintaining the designation has likely helped the campus recruit Latino students over the years, said Jessica Lavariega Monforti, provost of the campus.

    “Students are savvy today and they want to know what programs are available to support their success,” she said. 

    The campus, since 2010, has received $42 million in HSI-related funding, which includes National Science Foundation grants for which HSIs are eligible to apply. 

    One of the programs created with that funding, called the CSUCI Initiative for Mapping Academic Success, launched campuswide in 2022 and aims to help students who are struggling academically. They are then set up with faculty in weekly workshops to get back on track. So far, according to Lavariega Monforti, retention for students in the program is 7% higher than their peers.

    The majority of students who have participated in that program are Latino, but like many initiatives funded by HSI grants, it is not exclusive to Latino and Hispanic students.

    The campus has also used HSI funding to train faculty in culturally responsive pedagogy, improve outreach to nearby community colleges to increase transfers, and offer mentorship for students to prepare for their careers after graduation.

    “I think what we’re most proud of is that we have been truly student-centered in our approaches,” Lavariega Monforti said. “I hope we get to continue to do this because this is about the ways in which our institution is able to invest back into our community.”

    About 150 miles north of the Channel Islands campus, another Cal State campus, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is in the process of trying to earn its own HSI designation. This past fall, Latino and Hispanic enrollment at the campus hit 25% for the first time. Campuses must maintain that threshold for two years before they can apply for the designation. 

    If the campus becomes an HSI next year, every CSU campus would have the designation. As of now, the only other campus that is not an HSI is California State University, Maritime Academy, but that is soon to be merged with San Luis Obispo. 

    Across UC, five of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses are HSIs: Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz. Another, Davis, achieved eligibility this past fall by crossing the 25% threshold of Latino enrollment. UC hopes for every campus to eventually have the designation, including UCLA and UC Berkeley.

    Reyes, the San Luis Obispo graduate student who also earned his undergraduate degree there, is hopeful that the HSI designation will still exist by the time the campus is eligible to apply. He helped launch the campus’s push for HSI designation while working in the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, including helping to plan a symposium on the effort in 2023. 

    Reyes is a first-generation college student and said connecting with other Latino staff and students helped him find his way and succeed on the campus. 

    He first enrolled as a biology major, but was failing classes and on academic probation in his first year. Then he met with a counselor who happened to be Latina and helped inspire him to change his major. He also ended up joining the Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, a Latino fraternity that he said ended up being the “backbone” of his time on the campus. 

    Getting the HSI designation and potential federal funding would allow the campus to add more services to help future students, Reyes noted. But after seeing the lawsuit that was filed targeting HSIs, he’s worried the campus might never get to that point.

    “It kind of felt like attacks were inevitable to happen, but actually seeing that was frightening and worrisome for me,” he said.





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  • What the new state budget holds in store for education

    What the new state budget holds in store for education


    California State Capitol in Sacramento.

    Credit: Juliana Yamada / AP

    This story was updated June 28 to reflect that Gov. Newsom signed the budget bills.

    Top Takeaways
    • Education remains largely protected despite a weak budget.
    • Compromise allowed UC and CSU to dodge large proposed cuts.
    • TK-12 schools see new funding for early literacy, after-school and summer school, and teacher recruitment and retention.

    Education will remain mostly shielded from the pain of weak projected state revenues in a 2025-26 budget compromise between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature. The deal means that public universities, in particular, will dodge bigger cuts proposed by Newsom in January.

    The Legislature passed a budget on Friday, and Newsom signed a series of bills later in the day. They include Assembly Bill 121, which includes details on TK-12 and early childhood education; AB 123, which covers higher education, and AB 102, the overall budget.

    TK-12 schools will receive significant one-time funding for new or expanded programs, thanks in part to higher revenue in the current year than the Legislature expected.

    The surplus, along with deferrals – an accounting gimmick in which some payments to districts are delayed – will help bridge the gap from a drop in revenue expected in 2025-26. It will enable the state to keep transitional kindergarten on track to fully expand to all 4-year-olds this fall.

    Kevin Gordon, president of Capitol Advisors, called it “a remarkable budget in a remarkably bad budget year.”

    “There are so many really, really painful cuts being made on the non-school side of the budget,” said Gordon, who lobbies on behalf of hundreds of school districts statewide. “TK-12 does very, very well in comparison.”

    How well are schools funded in this budget?

    Schools and community colleges are guaranteed a minimum level of funding each year — typically 40% of the state revenues — thanks to Proposition 98, a constitutional amendment voters passed in 1988. Funding for TK-12 schools and community colleges is projected to drop $5 billion from 2024-25 to about $114.6 billion.

    The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in this budget is 2.3%. The federal formula that determines it feels anemic in a state with such high housing costs.

    “A COLA at that level, while relatively normal, will feel like a cut at the local level because fixed costs at a school district rise each year 4.5-5% without making any adjustments — just doing what they did the year before,” said Michael Fine, CEO of FCMAT, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. “That has to be made up locally some other way.”

    However, a new, one-time $1.7 billion discretionary block grant should help districts address any shortfalls created by declining enrollments and rising expenses.

    How about universities?

    The University of California and California State University systems were mostly spared. Neither system faces cuts, but 3% of their base funding will be deferred until 2026-27. That amounts to $129.7 million for UC and $143.8 million for CSU. In the meantime, both systems will be able to access a no-interest loan to cover the difference in 2025-26.

    The budget also defers previously promised 5% funding increases for both systems until future years. In 2022, Newsom pledged 5% budget increases for UC and CSU in exchange for the systems working toward a number of goals, including increasing graduation rates and enrolling more California residents. Rather than getting those 5% increases in 2025-26, 2% of the hike will be deferred for both systems until 2026-27 and the remaining 3% will be deferred until 2028-29.

    There is also $45 million in new funding for Sonoma State University to help support a plan to turn around the campus, which has been forced to eliminate about two dozen degree programs and discontinue its NCAA Division II sports because of CSU cost reductions. 

    Who are the winners and losers in this budget?

    New initiatives for early literacy and a new mathematics framework are getting a lot of financial support. There’s a robust expansion of after-school and summer programming, as well as support for new teachers. More details about those are below.

    One of the biggest losers in this budget is ethnic studies. There’s no funding for the 2021 legislative mandate that was supposed to be offered at high schools this upcoming school year. It was supposed to be a required part of a high school diploma beginning in 2029-30.

    This is “extremely disappointing” for advocates of ethnic studies, according to Theresa Montaño, a professor of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, who advocates for ethnic studies through the university level.

    Some districts will move ahead with their own ethnic studies requirements, but Montaño is worried that many districts will see it as an excuse to drop it altogether. Montaño said supporters will continue to advocate for legislators to fund ethnic studies, particularly through the professional development of teachers new to the discipline.

    Montaño doesn’t know specifically why the initiative was dropped from the budget, but she has heard rumblings that controversies in local districts and the federal government’s push to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives may have contributed to its demise.

    How is the budget balanced?

    Accounting maneuvers balanced the budget mostly through a combination of deferrals and one-time funding.

    The Prop. 98 rainy day fund will provide $405 million, which will be completely depleted by the end of 2025-26. The budget also defers $1.88 billion of Prop. 98 funds a few weeks after the end of this budget year.

    The Legislative Analyst’s Office, which offers nonpartisan fiscal analysis, isn’t a fan of these methods, and criticized them in the Governor’s May Revision. It recommended that the budget avoid deferrals and instead reject some of the new one-time spending proposals. That advice was largely not heeded in this final budget.

    Why is this such a tight budget year?

    California’s budget is always volatile due to its reliance on the whims of the stock market and the wealthy. We’re not in a recession, but federal tariff increases have created economic uncertainty. Newsom blamed federal economic changes for the shortfall between his January and May proposals.

    Devastating fires in Los Angeles have also, to a lesser extent, affected the state’s economy and resulted in increased state spending. 

    The outlook for the budget may worsen further, depending on whether there are cuts to education at the federal level.

    How else did community colleges fare?

    On top of the cost-of-living adjustment, the budget features new funding for the state’s system of 116 community colleges. That includes:

    • $100 million to support enrollment growth in 2024-25 and $139.9 million to do the same in 2025-26
    • $20 million for emergency financial aid
    • $15 million for Dream Resource Liaisons, college staff who support undocumented students
    • $25 million for the Career Passport initiative

    However, the budget also reduces some funding for the system, including cutting $150.5 million for the Common Cloud Data Platform, a project to help colleges share data with one another. 

    What about financial aid?

    The Cal Grant, the state’s main program for financial aid, will get more funding as a result of caseload increases. Funding for the Cal Grant will be $2.8 billion in 2025-26. 

    What is the state doing to recruit teachers?

    Over the past decade, the state has allocated $1.6 billion for strategies to counter the teacher shortage, which seem to be effective. One lingering question has been whether that priority will continue after Newsom leaves office.

    Newsom and the Legislature answered with $464 million in the 2025-26 budget — enough to continue three recruitment programs and add a new one, paying candidates seeking teaching credentials $10,000 stipends for student teaching. Unpaid student teaching has been cited as a primary reason teacher candidates fail to complete their credentials. The budget includes:

    • $300 million in new funding for student teacher stipends
    • $70 million to extend the Teacher Residency Program
    • $64 million to extend the Golden State Teacher Grant program, which offers college tuition for those who agree to teach in hard-to-staff subjects or underserved districts
    • $30 million to extend the National Board Certification program, which offers a professional learning community, pathways to leadership, and tools to deepen teachers’ impact

    How is California boosting early literacy?

    Newsom this year threw his support behind major legislation to change how children are taught to read, and is jump-starting the process with substantial funding. Advocates wish this had happened a few years ago when the state was swimming in post-Covid funding, but nonetheless are thrilled.

    Assembly Bill 1454, which is likely to pass the Legislature this fall, calls for the state to choose evidence-based textbooks and professional development programs that include phonics and strategies of “structured literacy.” The budget will include $200 million for training teachers in transitional kindergarten through grade 5 — enough money to reach about two-thirds of teachers, said Marshall Tuck, CEO of the advocacy nonprofit EdVoice, co-sponsor of the bill. And it will increase funding for hiring and training literacy coaches by $215 million, on top of the $250 million already appropriated.

    “Gov. Newsom has made early literacy a state priority in a tight budget year when there are few new expenditures. Investing nearly a half-billion dollars is great for kids,” Tuck said.

    What about math?

    Math instruction received some new money in the budget, although not of the magnitude of literacy. The $30 million in 2025-26 for professional development will be on top of the $20 million last year for training math coaches and school leaders in the new math frameworks adopted two years ago. County offices of education, working with the UC-backed California Mathematics Project, will lead the effort. An additional $7.5 million will create a new Math Network.

    The effort shows potential, but “implementation and rollout will be key,” said Kyndall Brown, executive director of the Mathematics Project. It will take hundreds of millions of dollars to provide for what’s very much needed: a math specialist in every elementary school, he added.

    What does the budget include for transitional kindergarten?

    The budget includes $2.1 billion to fund the final year of expansion of transitional kindergarten, an extra grade before kindergarten, which will be available to all 4-year-olds beginning in the fall. This includes $1.2 billion ongoing to reduce the ratio in TK classrooms from 1 adult for every 12 children to 1 adult for every 10 children.

    How is the budget tackling the state’s child care crisis?

    The budget provides $89.3 million to increase rates for subsidies provided to all child care and preschool providers that serve low-income children.

    It does not increase the number of children to be served by subsidized child care beyond the current year’s number. The Legislature set a goal to serve 200,000 new children by 2028, compared to 2021-22, but so far has only increased the number of subsidies available by 146,000.

    The budget also reduces the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program by $30 million. This program allows foster care families to have immediate access to child care for children placed in their care. The reduction is less drastic than what had been proposed by the governor.

    How did after-school and summer programs fare?

    More families will be able to take advantage of after-school and summer programs thanks to increases in the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program. These programs both extend the learning day for students and serve as a form of child care for working families.

    At the press conference for his May revision, Newsom touted this expansion as a “big damn deal.”

    This budget lowers the threshold for school districts to be eligible for this funding. Previously, only school districts where 75% of their students were socioeconomically disadvantaged, English learners or foster youth were eligible. The budget drops that eligibility cutoff to 55%. 

    Will universal school meals continue?

    This budget continues to guarantee two free school meals a day for every child. There is also $160 million in one-time funding for kitchen infrastructure that improves a school’s capacity to serve minimally processed and locally grown food. That funding can also be used for that locally grown food itself. Of that, $10 million is specifically dedicated to nutrition staff recruitment and retention. 

    Does this budget address any cuts to education by the Trump administration?

    No.

    Education funding has been a major target of the second Trump administration. This includes some cuts — many challenged in court — to federal grants for teaching preparation and research. It also includes a bid to shrink and ultimately shutter the U.S. Department of Education. The administration has also specifically threatened California’s funding because of its inclusion of transgender students in athletics or sexual education.

    But you won’t find any attempt in the state budget to respond to what is happening in Washington. That’s partially a consequence of it being a weak budget year, but it’s also the right thing to do, despite the fact that educators are on edge about potential cuts, according to Gordon, who is a consultant for hundreds of school districts in the state.

    “If the state rushed in and paid for everything, it lets [the federal government] off the hook,” he said.

    Is there money for schools affected by the Los Angeles wildfires?

    The fires affected both school enrollment and taxes, which won’t be paid by those affected until fall. The budget sets aside $9.7 million to backfill taxes. TK-12 schools, including charter schools, that rely on attendance for their state funding will be held harmless for any major dips.

    Graphics by Andrew Reed.





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  • John Merrow: It’s Not Enough to Oppose Trump. What Are We For?

    John Merrow: It’s Not Enough to Oppose Trump. What Are We For?


    John Merrow was the education correspondent for PBS for many years. Now, in retirement, he continues to write and help us think through the existential moments in which we live.

    He writes:

    More than five million demonstrators in about 2000 communities stepped forward to declare their opposition to Donald Trump, on June 14th. “No Kings Day” was also Trump’s 79th birthday, Flag Day, and the anniversary of the creation of the American army.

    So now we know what many of us are against, but the central question remains unanswered: What do we stand FOR? What do we believe in?

    Just as FDR called for Four Freedoms, the Democratic party needs to articulate its First Principles.  I suggest three: “The Public Good,” “Individual Rights,” and “Rebuilding America after Trump.” 

     THE PUBLIC GOOD: Democrats must take our nation’s motto, E pluribus unum, seriously, and they must vigorously support the common good.  That means supporting public libraries, public parks, public schools, public transportation, public health, public safety, public broadcasting, and public spaces–almost anything that has the word ‘public’ in it.

    INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: Because the fundamental rights that are guaranteed in our Constitution are often subject to interpretation, debate, and even violent disagreement, Democrats must be clear.  Free speech, freedom of worship, habeas corpus, and other fundamental rights are not up for debate, and nor is a woman’s right to control her own body.  

    Health care is a right, and Democrats must make that a reality.  

    Conflict is inevitable–think vaccination requirements–and Democrats should come down on the side of the public good.  

    Because Americans have a right to safety, Democrats should endorse strong gun control measures that ban assault weapons that have only one purpose–mass killing. 

    REBUILDING AMERICA AFTER TRUMP:  The Trump regime was and continues to be a disaster for a majority of Americans and for our standing across the world, but it’s not enough to condemn his greed and narcissism, even if he goes to prison.  Let’s first acknowledge that Trump tapped into serious resentment among millions of Americans, which further divided our already divided country.  

    The challenge is to work to bring us together, to make ‘one out of many’ in the always elusive ‘more perfect union.’  The essential first step is to abandon the ‘identity politics’ that Democrats have practiced for too long.  Instead, Democrats must adopt policies that bring us together, beginning with mandatory National Service: 

    National Service: Bring back the draft for young men and women to require two years of (paid) National Service, followed by two years of tuition or training credits at an accredited institution.  One may serve in the military, Americorps, the Peace Corps, or other helping organizations.  One may teach or work in distressed communities, or rebuild our national parks, or serve in other approved capacities.  JFK famously said “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”  Let’s ask BOTH questions.  

    Additionally: 1) Urge states to beef up civic education in public schools, teaching real history, asking tough questions.  At the same time, federal education policies should encourage Community schools, because research proves that schools that welcome families are more successful across many measures.

    2) Rebuild Our Aging Infrastructure: This is urgent, and it will also create jobs.

    3) Adopt fiscal and monetary policies to address our burgeoning national debt. This should include higher taxes on the wealthy, emulating Dwight Eisenhower. 

    4) Adopt sensible and realistic immigration policies that welcome newcomers who arrive legally but close our borders to illegal immigration.

    5) Rebuilding America also means rebuilding our alliances around the world.  Democrats should support NATO and Ukraine, and rejoin efforts to combat climate change. 



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  • Districts need more options to ensure stability, continuity for students

    Districts need more options to ensure stability, continuity for students


    A teacher kicks off a lesson during an AP research class.

    Credit: Allison Shelley / EDUimages

    As a former teacher and principal, and a current school board member, I am intimately familiar with the impact of the teacher shortage and consider it one of California’s most pressing and intractable problems. To address this multifaceted issue, schools need a wide array of options, including Assembly Bill 1224, pending state legislation that would increase continuity of instruction when teachers are out on leave and when a school struggles to fill a teacher vacancy.

    Authored by Assemblymember Avelino Valencia and co-sponsored by the California Schools Boards Association, the Association of California School Administrators, the California County Superintendents, and the California Association of School Business Officials, AB 1224 would allow substitute teachers to serve in a single classroom for up to 60 days, provided the school district or county office of education can demonstrate it made reasonable efforts to recruit a full-time teacher before retaining the substitute. Until every classroom has a qualified full-time teacher, let’s at least make sure every classroom has a consistent one.

    When the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated already dire teacher shortages, the state temporarily expanded the 30-day limit on substitute teaching to 60 days, a measure that was effective in responding to vacancies and extended absences. That statute expired in July 2024, but with upcoming Senate Education Committee amendments, AB 1224 would revive its provisions for another three years. Using the lessons learned from the successful trial run, the bill would extend the time a substitute can stay in a single assignment from 30 to 60 days in general education and from 20 to 60 days in special education.

    In a perfect world, every classroom would have a fully certificated teacher on the first day of class, the last day of class and every day between. As a lifelong educator, I know the value of having a full-time teacher share their learning and wisdom with students on a consistent basis. But there simply aren’t enough full-time teachers to go around. So, we must make policy and governance decisions that reflect the current reality while simultaneously working to build a better system that sets substitutes and students up for success. 

    Local educational agencies rely on substitutes, but current law forbids a substitute teacher from serving in the same classroom for more than 30 consecutive days. In cases where a school district or county office of education cannot identify a full-time teacher, such as a mid-year departure or one that occurs before the start of the school year, this can lead to a revolving door of substitute teachers that disrupts instruction and destabilizes the classroom environment. These impacts are felt most acutely in low-income and rural schools, and the burden falls disproportionately on English learners, minority students and students from families of modest means. Without AB 1224, students already cycle through different substitutes every few weeks, so the real debate isn’t about lowering standards, it’s about increasing stability.

    An insufficient pipeline of newly credentialed teachers and attrition from the profession means that the teacher shortage will persist. Thus, staffing schools — particularly in hard-to-fill areas like special education, math and science — will remain a daunting task. AB 1224 responds to that challenge by adding another tool to the toolbox that schools can use to fill gaps in their instructional workforce.

    Critics of AB 1224 claim it would diminish the push to recruit credentialed educators. Real world evidence shows the opposite. Examples abound of LEAs raising salaries, implementing incentive pay, offering signing bonuses, expanding mentorship programs, deploying advertising campaigns, hosting virtual and in-person job fairs, building staff housing for educators, and developing internal pipelines through teacher academies or programs for classified staff who want to transition to the teaching profession. Additional guardrails to preserve the primacy of full-time teachers include collective bargaining agreements governing the hiring process and a bill provision requiring that schools document their efforts to recruit full-time teachers.

     It’s disingenuous to suggest extending substitute assignments would undermine the search for long-term solutions to the teacher crisis. It’s also poor logic based on a false binary and an idealized labor market that doesn’t actually exist. This is not a choice between AB 1224 or full-time teacher recruitment; we can and must pursue both remedies. New federal and state programs targeting the teacher shortage are promising but take years, if not generations, to bear fruit when immediate relief is essential. Waiting for long-term pipelines to mature does nothing for students in classrooms today — AB 1224 provides the immediate help schools need to increase stability in the classroom.

    •••

    Bettye Lusk is president of the California School Boards Association. Lusk is a former teacher and principal in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, where she currently serves on the Board of Education. 

    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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  • 5 Benefits Of Data Analytics For Businesses In 2025


    5 Benefits Of Data Analytics For Businesses In 2025—Infographic

    In 2025, data analytics will continue to be a powerful tool for businesses across industries. As companies seek to stay competitive, the advantages of leveraging data analytics have become more apparent. Here are five key benefits for businesses in 2025:

    1. Improved Decision Making

    Data analytics empowers businesses to make informed decisions based on real-time insights. By analyzing data trends, patterns, and customer behaviors, companies can forecast outcomes more accurately. This leads to better strategic decisions, allowing businesses to respond to market shifts, optimize operations, and meet customer needs more effectively. With predictive analytics, businesses can anticipate potential challenges and opportunities, ensuring that decisions are proactive rather than reactive.

    2. Increased Efficiency

    Data analytics helps streamline business processes by identifying inefficiencies and bottlenecks in operations. Through data-driven insights, businesses can automate repetitive tasks, reduce operational costs, and optimize resource allocation. By monitoring performance metrics, companies can identify areas for improvement, allocate resources more effectively, and ensure that processes run smoothly. Increased efficiency not only saves time but also boosts profitability by cutting unnecessary expenses.

    3. Better Customer Insights

    One of the most valuable aspects of data analytics is the ability to gain deep insights into customer preferences and behavior. By analyzing customer data, businesses can segment their audience, understand buying habits, and personalize marketing efforts. This enables companies to tailor their products, services, and communication strategies to meet the specific needs of their target market. Enhanced customer insights foster stronger relationships, improve customer satisfaction, and drive brand loyalty.

    4. Enhanced Risk Management

    Data analytics plays a crucial role in identifying and mitigating risks. By analyzing historical data, businesses can spot potential risks, from financial issues to cybersecurity threats. With the ability to predict possible risks and assess their impact, companies can take proactive measures to minimize damage. This leads to better financial stability, improved compliance with regulations, and the ability to adapt to unforeseen challenges quickly.

    5. Greater Innovation

    Finally, data analytics drives innovation by providing businesses with insights that spark new ideas and solutions. By examining trends, customer feedback, and market data, companies can identify untapped opportunities for product development or process improvement. This fosters a culture of continuous innovation, where data serves as the foundation for creativity and new business ventures. With data at the core of decision-making, businesses can stay ahead of competitors and remain agile in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

    Conclusion

    In summary, data analytics offers businesses powerful tools to improve decision-making, increase efficiency, gain customer insights, manage risk, and drive innovation. As companies continue to embrace these technologies, the benefits will only grow, helping them thrive in an increasingly data-driven world.



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