The entrance to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Following government warnings about the dangers of being in a war zone, California universities and colleges have safely evacuated their students who were attending study abroad programs in Israel. The future of those programs for the rest of the school year remains uncertain.
The U.S. State Department recently has categorized Israel as a Level 3 travel risk, which urges U.S. citizens to “reconsider” their travel and presence in the country “due to terrorism and civil unrest” in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s current retaliations in Gaza. The Level 3 ranking and family concerns were enough for the University of California and the California State University systems to take action. Level 4, the worst potential ranking, is an outright travel ban.
UC’s Education Abroad Program (UCEAP) reported that its students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have left Israel and are all safe. However, UC declined to say how many students were involved and where they are now. Mandatory travel insurance covered the evacuation expenses.
“We can confirm that students on UCEAP-sponsored programs are safe and have departed Israel. It’s our policy, following best practices on travel safety abroad, not to disclose the number of students in a given location or their specific location during emergency or urgent location changes,” Jennifer Monroe, UCEAP’s Director of Marketing, Communications, and Engagement, said in an email to EdSource.
The students are now taking online or hybrid courses in connection with Hebrew University, she said. And UCEAP “continues to evaluate the safety and security conditions at the program location and region to determine if in-person programming can continue,” Monroe added.
The California State University reported that a Chico State student in an internship in Israel has returned to California. Another student, from the CSU Northridge campus, was about to leave home to start a program at the University of Haifa but did not depart because of the situation there.
“We will be suspending our program and not sending anyone there, said Jaishankar Raman, director of CSU’s International Programs. “We are waiting until we see how the situation unfolds for the spring and we will await what the State Department advises us.” The Northridge student was offered a spot in other overseas programs but declined. He “decided not going anywhere now would be better and to assess the situation in the spring,” Raman said.
Three years ago, universities in California and across the U.S. canceled overseas studies programs as the pandemic took its toll worldwide. It took more than a year for some programs to reopen and then some other nations with higher Covid rates remained off limits for a while longer.
Many U.S. institutions are suspending programs to Israel for the time being and pausing plans for future programs, according to a statement from Caroline Donovan-White, an official with NAFSA: Association of International Educators, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that encourages and supports study abroad and exchange programs. Institutions rely on their existing risk management resources and tools like the State Department travel advisories to guide them in times like this, she explained. (NAFSA was founded as and used to be known as the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers.).
“The pausing of programs happens from time to time for many reasons and universities have plans and policies in place for those situations. Our members tell us they are in close contact with their students studying all over the world–not just in the Middle East–as they may feel especially vulnerable and isolated from their support network right now, particularly those of Jewish and Muslim faiths,” Donovan-White said.
The University of Southern California offers studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya in the Tel Aviv area (also known as Reichman University). But USC said that since no student had signed up this fall, no special action was needed.
“USC does not have any students studying in Israel during this fall semester. The university will not be offering study abroad programs in Israel this upcoming spring semester and is closely monitoring the situation in the area,” Anthony Bailey, Vice President for Global and Online Initiatives & Dean, USC Bovard College, said in a statement to EdSource.
Stanford University said it has no programs in Israel.
A student in Oakland’s Skyline High School Education and Community Health Pathway sculpts a clay model of the endocrine system.
Credit: Allison Shelley for American Education
Could collaboration between TK-12 schools, colleges and industries improve educational equity and opportunity for the most high-needs learners? California is betting that the answer is yes and is backing that belief up with a $250 million investment in the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program.
The success of California’s nearly 6 million public school students, 60% of whom are low-income, depends on the ability of educators and employers to provide seamless pathways to degrees and careers. This is no small feat and requires a big investment of time, energy and resources.
In 2020, amid the pandemic, 15 education organizations in the Central Valley, including school districts, community colleges and four-year institutions, joined forces to improve dual enrollment and skill-building opportunities and create more equitable pathways to college. The Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative has already launched thousands of learners on a path to and through college. Building on the initial success of this effort, the California Department of General Services has invested $250 million in the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program to fund career-oriented pathways and Recovery with Equity recommendations. Nine regional collaboratives received four-year funding in June 2022, and a second-round application to fund additional collaborative regions just closed on Oct. 3.
Too often, innovations in education and workforce development occur in silos, with little support to build a community of practice or align strategy. The goal of the K-16 grant program is to break down these silos and get regional entities working together to advance educational equity and workforce resilience. However, because such regional efforts are relatively new, little research and few resources exist to support them.
From our work supporting educational and workforce partners, here are a few lessons learned:
Focus on learners and equity. Partners in a regional collaborative are drawn together for one common goal: to advance equity of opportunity for learners. As such, keep learners at the center of all discussions. One suggested principle to guide the collaborative: Consider each student, no matter their age, location, or pathway as our collective responsibility, and use this orientation as a north star in decision-making.
Ensure balance. The composition of an educational collaborative matters. Representation and equity are essential in making high-stakes decisions — especially regarding dissemination of funding. To ensure the buy-in of partners, consider educational segments, geography and distribution of partners across education and industry. While postsecondary partners often have larger support structures, resources and student populations, the participation of TK-12 districts and county offices of education is crucial to the success of K-16 collaboratives. Thus, TK-12 partners may need additional financial backing to ensure equitable representation and influence.
Build deep and authentic employer engagement. Strong industry partnerships will drive pathway development in high-needs areas and enhance career education and work-based learning for students. Accomplishing this in a collaborative setting can be challenging. Because the worlds of public education and private industry have historically been separate, businesses/employers must be active participants in meetings and discussions. Talent pipeline management, an approach to workforce development, which positions employers as end customers of education supply chains, may be useful in such collaborations.
Dedicate staffing. A collaborative must have its own staffing to be effective and sustainable. Initiating a collaborative staffed only by volunteers presents challenges, as members, usually employed full-time, have limited availability. Dedicated staff can maintain momentum and handle daily operations, securing the collaborative’s success. Acknowledging members’ limited availability is essential. Providing support and, if feasible, incentives for participation can enhance engagement.
Design the funding model to be both equitable and sustainable. How the collaborative divvies up funds is a momentous decision that influences its ability to advance its priorities. Consider where funds will have the greatest impact. For example, while most rural high schools have far smaller head counts than urban high schools, they face greater challenges competing for grant funds and building career programs because of their geographic isolation and limited resources.
Wherever possible, leveraging existing funding toward a common purpose can remove silos and maximize sustained collaborative impact. For example the Community Economic Resilience Fund is a $600 million state grant program designed to promote sustainable, climate-friendly economic development and equitable pandemic recovery. Funds support regional communities in developing coordinated road maps for economic development, with an emphasis on the creation of high-quality jobs in sustainable industries. The CERF regions and timeline intentionally align with those of the K-16 Collaboratives grant program, and the two regional efforts should complement and support one another.
Finally, the K-16 Collaboratives Educational Grant Program expires in 2026, so designing the funding model to be sustainable is critical. In determining how to direct funds, think not only about what pilot initiatives will be sustainable but can provide proof of concept for replication and scalability through future investments.
An adage says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
In a recent panel on diversifying the health care workforce, Freeman Hrabowski, a former educational adviser to President Barack Obama, argued that the single most important policy change he would make would be, “more incentives to have people at different levels of education understanding both the strengths of other levels and the challenges they face. … We need policies that will have more substantive collaboration across levels.”
At every TK-16 school in California, there are bright spots of innovation and individual educators working tirelessly to make sure their students don’t fall through the cracks. Regional collaboration can harness and scale the impact of these individuals to advance systems change.
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Annie Sterling is a program manager at Capitol Impact, a Sacramento-based social impact consulting firm, and previously served for more than a decade as an English language arts and social studies teacher in California public schools. Natalie Lenhart, Lex Carlsson and Alex Taghavian of Capitol Impact contributed to this op-ed.
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.
From left, President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Credit: Official White House photo / Molly Riley and AP Photo / Rich Pedroncelli
For all of their differences, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. President Donald Trump have one thing in common: both are stealing from the future to pay for their budgets.
Trump’s thefts take the form of budget deficits that are financed by issuing U.S. Treasury securities that must be paid back by future budgets, plus interest, with money that future governments won’t be able to use for their own services. His latest budget is expected to add $4 trillion to the national debt.
Newsom’s thefts take the form of drawing from budget reserves that are supposed to be used to provide services during recessions and borrowings from Special Funds that are supposed to provide special services. Newsom has taken so much from budget reserves that his own Department of Finance forecasts the next governor will face his or her first budget without reserves. He also skips or shorts deposits to retirement funds that set aside money for future retirement payments to employees.
How did Trump and Newsom end up with deficits during an economic expansion? The short answer is that Trump cut taxes while Newsom increased spending. Deficits are expected to continue in both Washington, D.C., and Sacramento. To make matters worse, by issuing budget debt during economic expansions, Trump and Newsom set up future governments for a double whammy during recessions when those governments will have to cover Newsom’s and Trump’s thefts, even as their own tax revenues fall.
Another thing Trump and Newsom have in common is throwing people off of Medicaid rolls while throwing money at favored classes. Trump’s latest budget subjects adults to work requirements, reduces funding and adds administrative hurdles, while Newsom’s latest budget imposes asset limits, freezes enrollment of new undocumented adults, and levies new fees on enrollees. Trump’s favored classes are corporations, higher-income taxpayers, tip-based workers and Social Security recipients who got tax cuts, while Newsom’s favored classes are government unions that got more jobs and higher salaries, and entertainment companies that got more corporate welfare.
Trump and Newsom aren’t the only ones budgeting with thefts from the future. In his most recent budget, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho skipped an annual contribution to a fund set up to cover health care costs for retired employees. You would think he would know better since a principal reason for the deficit he is struggling with is past skips and shorts that have led LAUSD’s annual spending on retirement debt to nearly triple over the last 10 years to nearly $2 billion per year.
Each has their own reasons for their actions — Trump asserts that tax cuts will eventually produce more tax revenues, while Newsom and Carvalho assert that deficit spending is needed now — but all are adding to past thefts that are already robbing citizens of huge levels of resources. The federal government is already spending more every year on interest than the $833 billion it spends on defense; California is already spending as much on bonded and retirement debt than on the $23 billion it sends to the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges systems combined; and LAUSD is already spending nearly 20% of its revenues on retirement costs.
By their actions, Trump, Newsom and Carvalho have just added to those burdens. Our country desperately needs leaders who care about the future.
•••
David Crane is a lecturer in public policy at Stanford University and president of Govern for California, a political philanthropy that works to counter special interest influence over California governments.
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.
I have been a part of the Daily Titan staff since I was a freshman, and every week, we distribute a new print edition to City Hall, the public library and the police department.
The Fullerton City Council just made that illegal.
I’m in my second semester as editor-in-chief of the Daily Titan, Cal State Fullerton’s editorially independent student newspaper. I previously served on the paper’s editorial staff for two years.
On May 6, the Fullerton City Council voted 3-2 to reaffirm a policy that would ban nongovernmental publications from distribution on city property.
The council also voted to add a “community newspaper rack” to the library — a space that the Daily Titan can share with the community newspaper Fullerton Observer and any other entity that wishes to publish.
The best justification that City Council members provided for their decision-making was the potential for litigation from a local blog that had asked if it could distribute its papers on city property.
As editor-in-chief, I can’t help but interpret this as an attack on press freedom in Fullerton.
The Daily Titan regularly covers important items related to the city of Fullerton in addition to our campus coverage. In the past year, we’ve reported on a City Council candidate’s arrest, a parklet program that the city decided to eliminate despite public outcry, and the nearly $10 million deficit the city is staring down — to name a few.
I run a student paper, but my staff and I recognize the growing trend of news deserts — geographic areas with limited or no access to reliable, diverse and independent news.
Since Fullerton isn’t regularly covered by news outlets that meet that criteria, the Daily Titan steps up to help residents be informed. A growing number of college and high school newspapers across the country are doing the same thing.
And despite this setback with City Hall, we won’t stop doing our job.
The reporting of student journalists is now impacting communities like the local dailies of yesteryear, according to an article published in Poynter in April.
The article details how universities now build their curriculum around the notion that student journalism is more impactful than ever. Student journalists are stepping up and covering cities like paid reporters once did.
And while the Daily Titan doesn’t operate as a newswire service like the other university publications detailed in the article, we’re able to serve many of the same purposes.
The Daily Titan holds Fullerton city leaders accountable for their actions. Those same city leaders are making decisions as if we don’t matter.
At the April 1 council meeting, when the newspaper ban was first discussed, multiple City Council members used the term “free speech area” to describe where a proposed community newspaper rack would be in the library.
Their colloquial terminology for the proposed newspaper rack is laughable.
The mere notion that city property should have free speech restricted to a certain area is anti-democratic, and the lack of clear and just leadership from council members is disappointing. If we don’t like your policies, should we only sit at a certain table to discuss them?
Multiple City Council members — one who is also a professor at Cal State Fullerton — claim to support student journalism after the policy was enacted.
From my perspective, no, they don’t.
Supporting student journalism doesn’t mean breaking the status quo for an unclear reason.
Supporting student journalism doesn’t mean limiting the reach of important, unbiased news coverage.
Many student journalists first joined the Daily Titan to learn how to hold community leaders accountable through reporting and writing. The publication provides a platform for us to learn in a way we can’t in a classroom.
While we’re still doing that — and don’t plan to stop anytime soon — the Fullerton City Council succeeded in teaching us another lesson, a harsher one.
A lesson in how governments can work to suppress diverse voices.
A lesson in how student journalists can fall victim to petty City Council conflicts.
And a lesson that, given the Trump administration’s disdain for the press, is all too familiar.
Take the Associated Press (AP) for example: The wire service had to go to court to reinstate its ability to be admitted to White House press conferences after President Donald Trump didn’t like how AP refused to change a stylebook entry for the Gulf of Mexico.
As journalists, we can continue to fight for our right to exist. It’s a jarring reality that litigation might be the most effective way to accomplish that.
What citizens can do is pay attention to the City Council and think critically about its actions. And remember what’s happened in the past four years the next time they vote.
Remember that journalism needs to be protected and uplifted to support a free and fair democracy.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
California school superintendents have been leaving their jobs in large numbers this year. Many reached retirement age; others, tired of dealing with the aftermath of pandemic school closures, are retiring early or leaving for other jobs or business opportunities. Some are just looking for a change.
Then there are the superintendents who, having put off plans for retirement to help districts through pandemic closures, now finally feel comfortable enough to leave.
The result: a turnover of superintendents, with older, more experienced veterans being replaced by new, less experienced leaders.
EdSource interviewed five California superintendents who either recently left or are leaving their jobs, to better understand what compelled them to step down.
Covid, threats push Chris Evans to early retirement
Chris Evans retired as the superintendent of Natomas Unified after the 2022-23 school year. Credit: Jeff McPhee
Former Natomas Unified Superintendent Chris Evans has been the target of multiple personal threats in recent years, but in September 2021, the hateful rhetoric grew so intense that the school board agreed to pay for security for his home.
A school board meeting in September 2021 was abruptly canceled during public comment because of the raucous behavior of some in the audience.
Parents and members of the Sacramento community were upset about comments made by an Inderkum High School teacher who was secretly recorded claiming he kept an antifa flag in his classroom and encouraged his students to protest, according to media reports.
Evans announced at the meeting that the teacher had been put on paid leave pending an investigation.
“Following the Sept. 1 meeting, each trustee and Chris received numerous — 150-plus — disturbing emails that were forwarded, I believe, to local and federal law enforcement agencies,” said Susan Heredia, Natomas Unified board president.
“People would show up in front of my house, take pictures, speak to my children,” Evans said. “They would call the district and say they were headed to my house and would be intercepted going to my house.”
Last June, Evans stepped down from his position as superintendent at age 52, after 11 years leading the district. He had planned to retire at 55. He blames his early departure on the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For me, Covid did it,” Evans said. “Covid and everything that came from that — the politics of it. It was exhausting. That took two years off my career.”
Evans is still working in the district temporarily, helping first-time Superintendent Robyn Castillo transition to her new role. After that, he will focus on his new endeavor at Action-Oriented Leaders, an education consulting firm that focuses on helping superintendents and school boards problem-solve and troubleshoot, he said.
Brett McFadden opted for a quieter job closer to home
Brett McFadden left his job as superintendent of Nevada Joint Union High School District after the 2021-22 school year.Courtesy of the Monterey County Office of Education
Brett McFadden, 55, left his job as superintendent of Nevada Joint Union High School District in Grass Valley after the 2021-22 school year, primarily to be closer to his home in Aptos with his wife, an administrator at Monterey Peninsula Unified School District.
He was superintendent at Nevada Joint Union for four years before accepting a job as a deputy superintendent at the Monterey County Office of Education.
It was difficult being a school superintendent during the Covid-19 pandemic, McFadden said. Nevada Joint Union High School District, like others in the state, had contentious school board meetings that centered on issues like masking, vaccines and the teaching of critical race theory.
“We went from board meetings that were not that well attended to board meetings that would have 300-plus people because of one particular contentious issue,” he said.
The community had a long history of treating everyone respectfully before the pandemic, but that changed within months, McFadden said.
“We lost empathy and grace,” McFadden said.
There also was a sharp increase in vitriolic comments from the community, he said.
“You know you can take those with a grain of salt, but when you hear 30 or 40 of them, and then you’re accused of not caring about kids, or destroying the education of kids or destroying kids’ lives after you’ve committed your entire career and your entire sense of being as a human being, as a professional, to fostering students’ lives and opportunities, that takes a toll on people,” McFadden said.
Despite the difficulties of the last few years, McFadden misses working at a school district. He expects he’ll return to one in some capacity someday, although he isn’t sure when.
Normalcy and ‘the sweet spot’ entice Brian Dolan to retire
Brian Dolan will retire as superintendent of Dixon Unified School District after this school year.Credit: Stewart Savage, Abaton Consulting
Dixon Unified Superintendent Brian Dolan, 62, has reached the “sweet spot” — the age where superintendents begin to reap the best retirement benefits. He’ll retire after this school year.
Although Covid-19 took the fun out of the job for a while, Dolan is glad he stayed long enough to see things almost return to normal.
“If I were at retirement age, just coming out of Covid, I would’ve needed to work another year just to put a little shine back on the apple,” he said.
Three of the six districts in Solano County had their superintendents retire in the last three years, Dolan said.
“None of us are going out early, but all of us are going out as early as we can,” he said.
Other than some discontent during Covid-19 school closures, Dixon’s school board meetings haven’t had the drama seen in many other districts, Dolan said. They haven’t been contentious and Dolan hasn’t been threatened. But he acknowledges the jobs of all school employees have become harder.
Dolan has spent a quarter-century of his 35-year career at Dixon Unified School District — 13 as its superintendent. He still finds delight in talking to students who recognize him on the street or when he answers his door on Halloween. The youngest ones pronounce his name Mr. Donut.
“Wow. I wouldn’t change a thing for myself, because there are so many good things to come out of this as well, but it’s hard work,” Dolan said.
He doesn’t plan to sit out for too long — probably just the six months required by the state. Dolan sees himself doing administrative coaching or support, or working with student teachers in the future.
Cathy Nichols-Washer pushed back retirement until things got better
Cathy Nichols-Washer was the superintendent of Lodi Unified for 15 years. Credit: Ken Sato
Cathy Nichols-Washer, 60, stayed at the helm of Lodi Unified School District in northern San Joaquin County longer than she thought she would. After 15 years, she was the longest-serving superintendent in the district’s history when she retired at the end of last school year.
Like many superintendents, Nichols-Washer didn’t have the heart to follow through with plans to retire two years earlier, because the Covid-19 pandemic changed her plans.
“I just didn’t feel right leaving the district in the midst of all that,” she said. … “So I stayed, and then, after Covid was over and we kind of got things — I’m not going to say back to normal, but back to a place that felt good and comfortable — you know, on a good track again, then I felt comfortable leaving.”
During the pandemic, superintendents had to manage the district and get their job done, while dealing with the negativity directed at them at board meetings, on social media and through emails. Nichols-Washer found it particularly difficult to explain to the community why state Covid regulations were changing weekly, if not daily.
To make matters worse, everyone had a different opinion about the dangers of Covid, she said. Some staff members were afraid to come to work and some parents were afraid to send their children. Others were fighting every regulation, refusing to wear masks, choosing not to be vaccinated, said Nichols-Washer.
“And then there was anger, because people felt so strongly about the issue that it came out, in many cases, in a very aggressive manner,” she said. “And so board meetings got very contentious, packed board meetings, people yelling and screaming, unruly.”
Nichols-Washer understands why so many superintendents leave as soon as they reach retirement age. “You can’t blame them,” she said.
Gregory Franklin moved from Tustin Unified to professor post at USC
Gregory Franklin retired as superintendent of Tustin Unified in the middle of the 2021-22 school year.Credit: Courtesy of Gregory Franklin
Gregory Franklin, 61, retired as superintendent of Tustin Unified School District in Orange County in the middle of the 2021-22 school year to be a professor of education at the University of Southern California, a position he says doesn’t come around often.
Franklin said he could have started working at the university at the beginning of the school year, but he wanted to allow the school board to find a replacement without having to get an interim superintendent.
He has nothing but good things to say about the Tustin Unified school board, which he says puts the education of children first. He was superintendent of the school district for 10 years.
“There was a position that came open, and I applied for it,” Franklin said. “I was pretty close to retirement anyway, so I probably left maybe a year or two earlier than I would have otherwise.”
Being a superintendent has always been a hard job, but it became much harder after the pandemic school closures and the “really brutal politics at the district level” that followed, he said.
Anger at school closures morphed into anger at masking and other Covid regulations.
After the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, school districts took a look at what they were doing to contribute to the inequity, Franklin said. Schools started to diversify the range of novels and authors available in school so that students could see characters in stories that had similar backgrounds and family structures as their own, but that also made some people angry, he said.
Then LGBTQ+ rights and students’ right to privacy about their gender decisions bumped up against parental rights, making more people angry, he said.
“And so we had one thing after another, really starting in May 2020, that has spun things up,” Franklin said. “The number of irate speakers who come to school board meetings now to berate the superintendent, the school board, and school leaders — it’s hard for people. “
On Dec. 14, 2023, the California Department of Education updated the official California School Dashboard with the latest data for schools and districts. You can also view results for 2019, 2018, and 2017.* The dashboard shows achievement and progress, or lack of it, on multiple measures in color codes tied to performance metrics by the state. Enter a search term in the box to search by school, city, district or county. If a school or district does not appear, it means that no data is available. Detailed test scores are available on cells with an “i” (click to see more). For a full explanation, see the notes below the chart.
* The 2022 California School Dashboard only displays that year of results, without comparisons to the previous year, due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.
School Name, City and County
Chronic Absenteeism Rate
Suspension Rates
English Lang. Arts Performance
Math Performance
High School Graduation Rate
English Learners
Link
School Name, City and County
Chronic Absenteeism Rate
Suspension Rates
English Lang. Arts Performance
Math Performance
High School Graduation Rate
English Learners
Link
Notes to Database
Color Codes and Ratings: The dashboard includes five color-coded performance levels, based on a combination of current performance level and change over the previous year. The color spectrum ranges from red to orange to yellow to green to blue, with red signifying the lowest performance level and blue the highest.
More information about how the performance levels were calculated is available at the California Department of Education’s website here.
Column Headings:
Chronic Absenteeism: Proportion of students who miss 10 percent or more expected days of attendance in a school year. (For a student enrolled for 180 days, this would be 18 or more days.) Note: This indicator is not reported for high schools.
Suspension Rates: Based on a combination of current suspension rates and changes in those rates over time.
English Language Arts Performance: Student performance in Grades 3-8 and 11 on the English Language Arts Smarter Balanced tests administered in the current year, combined with whether scores improved, declined or stayed the same compared to the previous year.
Math Performance: Student performance in Grades 3-8 and 11 on the math Smarter Balanced tests in the current year combined with whether scores improved, declined or stayed the same compared to the previous year.
High School Graduation Rate: Combined four-year and five-year graduation rates, including current graduation rate along with whether rates have changed over the previous year.
For more information about how the performance levels were calculated, go to the California Department of Education’s website here.
For the full dashboard for each school or district, go here.
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, right, with students at Miles Avenue Elementary School in Huntington Park.
Credit: Twitter / LAUSDSup
Parents and guardians of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District offer mixed reviews of the nation’s second-largest school district, scoring it low on how it disseminates information and considers parents’ perspectives but generally high on the quality of education their children are receiving. Specifically, less than a quarter give the district an “A,” according to the Family Insights survey, conducted by GPSN and Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Equity for English Learners.
The 2023 survey also marks the second year of the district’s four-year strategic plan under Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who garnered approval from two-thirds of survey respondents.
Forty-one percent of parents in the survey give district schools a ‘B’ overall — and 43% give the same grade to their children’s individual campus.
“Families generally feel positive about the quality of teaching and instruction in their direct school and their own child’s academic performance, but gave mixed results on the district’s overall performance,” according to the report.
“Raising up family perspectives on the state of the district and its performance is key this year when we may expect to see progress from the many investments made to address learning loss and other impacts of the pandemic on students.”
The Penta Group, an independent research firm, surveyed a random sample of more than 500 district parents and guardians between Aug. 22 and Sept. 14, 2023 — asking them about the district’s progress and what they would like to see LAUSD focus on.
The survey sample was representative of Los Angeles families “with students attending district, magnet, pilot, and both affiliated and independent charter public schools, and aligns with key demographic variables of enrollment by grade level, race/ethnicity, school type, English learner status, language spoken in the home, board district enrollment, and family income level.”
Academics
According to the report, parents throughout the district say they are satisfied with their children’s education and would like to see LAUSD invest in more enrichment opportunities and individualized support. However, many do not understand how their child or the district as a whole is performing.
Specifically, 82% of parents surveyed say instruction at their children’s school is “good” or “excellent.”
Parents’ broader perception of LAUSD’s academic performance, however, paints a different picture. A little more than half of parents think the majority of district students perform at grade level in reading and math.
Three-quarters of LAUSD parents surveyed also think their own child is performing at grade level in core subject areas.
“As a family member, a parent or a guardian, you’re looking for the basic thing: Can my kids read? Can they do math at whatever level you think that’s appropriate?” said Ana Teresa Dahan, GPSN’s managing director.
“But … what type of words you’re reading and what your comprehension is really what differentiates having a basic skill versus being at grade level, and I think that’s like a nuance families don’t always understand.”
Families that make more than $60,000 are more likely to believe their child is performing adequately, the survey found. In contrast, only 28% of low-income families and 27% of families of English learners have the same confidence in their child performing at grade level.
“When you’re sending your kids to your neighborhood public school, there’s a trust that … the school is delivering on getting your kids at grade level,” Dahan said. “Unless someone is telling them that that’s not happening, I think they just inherently are trusting that it’s occurring.”
In previous years, the survey revealed a high demand for additional academic support as well as after-school and summer enrichment opportunities. And this year, the number of parents calling for that assistance — including one-on-one tutoring — increased even more.
Parents “recognize and respect the challenges schools are facing and teachers are facing” in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dahan said. “You can’t just expect a teacher or the school to solve the entire challenge of what the pandemic brought to students and families and communities.”
Fifty-six percent of parents name high-quality tutoring as their top priority for the district as a whole —– marking a 25 percentage point increase over the past two years. Meanwhile, 54% say they want to see LAUSD offer free, widely accessible summer programs.
And specifically at their child’s school, 85% of parents — and 93% of English learner families — say they want one-on-one or group tutoring on campus.
More than half of parents surveyed also voiced strong support for enrichment programs, including arts programs, sports and coding.
“We’re also seeing, for students in particular, what those 18 months of isolation did,” Dahan said.
“Families are recognizing (that) impact (on) their students, whether that means not wanting to go to school or not being happy at home. … They know that straight learning at school isn’t going to bring back the joy, right? So, it’s the enrichment opportunities that do that.”
Emotional support
Additional support for students’ mental health is also a top concern among the parents, with 45% of respondents naming counseling and therapy as their third priority for the district overall.
In comparison, 32% of parents made the same request in 2021, and 44% called for the same in 2022.
Food assistance
For the first time in the survey’s history, 38% of families called for food assistance to be more readily available on their child’s campus.
“The district has done a lot in the years (to feed students)” Dahan said.
“We know that the people most impacted coming out of the pandemic … continue to be families in low-income households. And, as different government financial support has faded away, I think we’re starting to see the effects of that in LAUSD.”
This year, 42% say the cost of internet is a barrier, while 34% said their challenges had more to do with securing a good quality connection.
Twenty-six percent, however, attribute their challenges to their geographical area.
Community involvement and communication
Parents also said they feel their input is increasingly insignificant to the district — and that they would like communication from LAUSD to improve, especially concerning academic standards.
Specifically, the number of parents who feel their thoughts matter “a great deal in school and district decisions” decreased by 9 percentage points, only accounting for 40% in 2023. That drop was even larger for low-income families, the study found.
Meanwhile, most families applaud LAUSD for timely and accessible communications, but more than half also say it “takes a lot of effort” to understand the messages.
Forty-eight percent of parents say they want to receive district communications via an app, while 44% said they prefer email.
More than half of the parents also say they want more information about academic standards and a better idea about what their child is learning in the classroom. Fifty-two percent also said they want to know whether district students are performing at grade level in the main subject areas.
“We want to ensure that families receive accessible and understandable information that aligns with their expectations and needs,” Dahan said. “That’s also going to be a factor not only just accessing programs, but their understanding of where their child is.”
A future in LAUSD
Despite mixed reviews in various areas, about 90% of families said they would likely keep their children in the district until they graduate from high school.
Respondents who said they are “extremely likely” to keep their children enrolled in the district, however, dropped by about 18 percentage points in the past year from 53% to 35%, according to the study. And the number of families who are “not very or not at all likely to stay” in LAUSD has increased from 3% to 8%.
Forty-two percent of families that voiced an interest in leaving the district — which included disproportionate rates of low-income families, families of English learners and white families — said they would most likely pursue a charter school.
Private schools lagged in popularity for those considering leaving the district and would be the first choice of roughly 32% of families, while 28% said they would take their child to a public school in another district altogether.
“Whatever perspective families had about communications, or even their policies, the district (and the superintendent) really did rate high,” Dahan said.
“Effective leadership plays a pivotal role in driving school improvement and meeting the diversities of our community. I think that is a signal that families think that the district is going in the right direction. It also underscores the importance of sustained leadership support in fulfilling these aspirations of our families and kind of fostering a thriving educational environment.”
During the week leading up to Dec. 28 and with Covid-19 strain JN. 1 having become dominant, the LA County Department of Public Health reported an average of 621 cases each day, marking a 25% increase from the previous week.
The Department of Public Health also said the figures are an “undercount” since most tests are done at home and not reported to medical staff. Meanwhile, for the first time this season, the county has entered the CDC’s “medium” category for Covid hospitalizations. Mask mandates have been reinstated in health care facilities.
“There have been notable, yet not unexpected, increases in COVID-19 reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” according to a news release from the LA County Department of Public health.
“While recent increases are significant, they remain considerably below last winter’s peak and common-sense protections are strongly recommended to help curb transmission and severe illness as the new year begins.”
Earlier this season, 23% of LA County residents participating in a text message survey said they had experienced a cough or shortness of breath within a week of Dec. 10, according to the Los Angeles Times.
More specifically, they reported that about 18% of specimens tested at Sentinel Surveillance Labs in LA County came back positive for the flu — marking a 4% increase from the previous week. And, in the week leading up to Dec. 16, more than 12% of specimens came back positive for RSV.
“Respiratory infections among children and adults are increasing this winter season. These infections are not limited to Flu and COVID-19,” read a message from LAUSD. “We are also seeing a rise in Respiratory Syncytial Virus, also known as RSV.”
Before going on winter break, between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12, LAUSD also reported 528 Covid cases, according to the district dashboard.
LAUSD and the LA County Department of Public Health suggest parents follow these guidelines for determining when a child should be home, come to school and how to stay healthy.
What should I do if my child tests positive for Covid?
Whether symptomatic or not, students with Covid should stay home for five days, following either testing positive or experiencing symptoms.
Those who are immunocompromised, however, may isolate for longer periods, according to the district.
If my child tests positive for Covid, when is it safe for them to return to the classroom? Do they need to provide a negative test result before coming back?
Students do not need to provide a negative antigen test to return to class between days six and 10. And following day five, if your child has been without a fever for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medicines, and their symptoms are improving, they can return to the classroom.
If, however, the symptoms come back after the isolation period, the student should test again, according to the district.
What does it mean if my child is a “close contact?” What do I do then?
If your child is in the same indoor space for Covid for 15 minutes within 24 hours with someone positive, they are a “close contact.”
In that case, the district asks that your child’s health be monitored for 10 days following the exposure. They also recommend masking and testing between the third and fifth days.
What about other illnesses like the flu or RSV? Do the same rules apply?
If your child has a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher — or if they are vomiting or have diarrhea — they should stay home, according to the district.
What should I communicate to the school? How do I ensure my child’s absence is excused?
If your child has Covid, upload the result onto the Daily Pass.
And regardless of the sickness, absences due to illness are excused. To excuse an absence, provide the school with documentation within 10 days of your child’s return to class.
If the school does not receive documentation, the absence will count as uncleared or unexcused, meaning it can count toward truancy.
Where do I find free Covid tests, vaccinations and treatments to keep my child healthy?
LAUSD provides Covid-19 home test kits at each school site. Libraries and other community centers may also supply tests.
Additionally, as of Nov. 20, the federal government provides each household with four home tests for free, according to the LA County Department of Public Health.
How do we stay healthy?
The LA County Department of Public Health suggests testing, not only if you have been exposed or have symptoms, but also if you have attended larger gatherings or have visited individuals who are more susceptible to illness.
They also recommend washing hands frequently and masking in crowded indoor areas as well as in spaces that are poorly ventilated to prevent Covid, RSV and the flu.
I was traveling recently when my daughter called for help with her algebra homework. Faced with a challenging problem, I wanted to confirm my understanding before guiding hers. As someone studying artificial intelligence in education, I was curious: Could ChatGPT help?
I typed in the problem: “Given the equation y=abx, if b is less than one, what happens to the graph as x gets larger?”
ChatGPT shot back an answer” — “Asx increases, the graph tends to approach 0” — though no explanation was included. (I realized I should have asked for one in my initial prompt). The AI’s use of the word “tends” left me feeling unsure of my own comprehension, and I like to deeply understand a math concept before explaining it to another person (in this case, my own kid). So I asked ChatGPT: Why?
The AI spat out an explanation for its solution, but confused and dissatisfied with its answer, I continued to probe. “But … why … I don’t understand … why?” After a few more exchanges, my decision to keep pushing for clarification was justified when, to my surprise and satisfaction, ChatGPT stated: “I appreciate your patience. I misspoke again. I apologize for any confusion. I made an error in my previous message.”
Though I was able to effectively conclude my cross-country tutoring session, my concerns lingered. What if I’d accepted the original answer as truth? What if I hadn’t pushed several times for the AI to justify its response? And what if I’d been … an eighth grader trying to use ChatGPT to help me complete my algebra homework?
Artificial Intelligence has become an integral part of our lives, and its presence in classrooms and schools is becoming ubiquitous. While AI has the potential to greatly assist students and educators, now, perhaps more than ever, we need to strengthen our uniquely human critical-thinking skills. My experience using ChatGPT sheds light on the importance of approaching AI tools with a discerning mindset and offers the following lessons:
Challenging AI is a vital 21st century skill.
My interaction with ChatGPT underscores the necessity for students to be equipped with the ability to challenge and question the information provided by AI. While these tools are powerful, they are not infallible. Students must be equipped with the ability to use these tools and, more importantly, with the skills to challenge and question the information they receive.
Students need the confidence to ask probing questions.
Persistence played a key role in my ability to uncover inaccuracies in the AI-generated information. Students need the confidence to ask probing questions and challenge AI responses to avoid accepting misleading conclusions. Educators should emphasize the importance of persistence when engaging with AI tools, encouraging students to pursue both accuracy and conceptual understanding.
Beyond correct answers, embrace the learning process.
While AI can provide correct answers, its limitations become apparent when delving into the intricacies of the learning process. The purpose of education isn’t only about obtaining correct solutions; it is about understanding the underlying concepts, asking meaningful questions and engaging in a dynamic dialogue with the material. AI tools should enhance this process, not overshadow it.
Cultivating a mindset of curiosity and skepticism
As we integrate AI into educational settings, educators must cultivate in their students a mindset of curiosity and healthy skepticism. Students should be encouraged to view AI as a resource but not an infallible authority, and they should learn to ask follow-up questions to reach their own conclusions. We should all embrace the 2-year-old inside of us and constantly ask: Why? Why is that? And why is that?
Teach the tool, not just the subject
The incorporation of AI into educational practices necessitates a shift in our pedagogical approaches. This involves imparting not just technical skills but also fostering a critical understanding of the tools students interact with. Educators should integrate lessons on effectively using and questioning AI into their curriculum. This will ensure students grasp the subject while developing a critical understanding of their learning tools.
Conclusion
My exploration of the exponential decay equation with ChatGPT symbolizes the broader challenges and opportunities presented by AI in education. While AI offers incredible potential, it demands a massive recalibration of our educational approaches. Let us embrace the responsibility to guide students in navigating this landscape with discernment, curiosity and the confidence to question. In doing so, we can equip them not just with correct answers but with the skills to navigate the dynamic intersections of technology and learning in the years to come.
I ran this essay through ChatGPT and asked it to suggest a good call to action for my conclusion, and will let the AI have the last word:
In the ever-evolving classroom of the future, the most powerful tool may not be the one with the most answers but the one that empowers us to ask the right questions.
(Follow the entire interaction with ChatGPT in the screenshots below.)
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Jonathan Osler is a nonprofit consultant and was formerly a high school teacher, principal, and CalTeach faculty member.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
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