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  • All California students should be empowered to be ready for UC and CSU admission

    All California students should be empowered to be ready for UC and CSU admission


    Making Waves Academy, a charter school in Richmond, tries to instill a college-pursuing attitude while leaving room for kids to enter a career after graduation if they wish.

    Courtesy: Making Waves Academy

    There is a troubling trend in California that makes affordable and quality higher education — which is meant to be a public good — not even an option for most students, particularly Black and Latino students. It’s the inequity of students completing the “A-G” courses required for admission to the University of California and California State University systems. More than half of all students, and over two-thirds of Black and Latino students, did not meet these requirements — too often because the courses were not offered or the students didn’t know they were needed. This means they are ineligible for admission into California’s public universities.

    As CEO of a grade 5-12 charter school in Richmond, I believe the A-G requirements should be seen as an asset rather than an obstacle for California schools. The requirements are transparent and attainable. They help prepare students academically, support eligibility for California’s public universities, and open up a variety of opportunities for students’ future career pathways. Ultimately, this helps alleviate inequities in education, the workforce and the economy.

    At our school, our goal is that 100% of our students are ready for college while also embracing, supporting and celebrating students who want to pursue early post-secondary career options. Within the Class of 2024, 95% of our graduates are pursuing higher education, and within that group, 71% are planning to attend University of California or California State Universities campuses. Among our 1,000 or so fifth through 12th graders, 99% are students of color, and 85% are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

    Here is how school and district leaders can build a culture around supporting students in meeting the A-G requirements.

    Align your curriculum to the A-G requirements

    Students don’t know what they don’t know. And they don’t always know there are specific course requirements to be eligible to attend public universities. It is our responsibility as school leaders and systems to align our curriculum to the A-G requirements and remove that burden on individual students.

    The good news is that this is not a very heavy lift. In California, students are already required to take a variation of core academic subjects listed within the A-G requirements, such as English, history, science and math. Making sure students are taking a lab science class, a third year of a world language, or a math up to Algebra II are small but meaningful adjustments to their course schedules that would help more students meet the A-G requirements, thus meeting eligibility requirements for UC and CSU campuses. 

    Get creative to track individual students

    For every college and career counselor in California, there are 464 students. It’s no wonder 56% of California students experience barriers to meeting the requirements. Instead of relying solely on counselors, make the most of advisory period. Advisory period teachers can reinforce college readiness and help track individual students’ progress on the A-G requirements. Our advisory teachers track the same cohort of students from ninth through 12th grade. With this support, students can also practice their agency by being actively involved in mapping out their courses and paying attention to their post-graduation plans, which serves them well whether they ultimately pursue college or not.

    Be inclusive of non-college-going students

    It is important to note that a culture that embraces the A-G requirements and college readiness and a culture that embraces a continuum of college and career options can and should live side by side. It is a both/and approach not an either/or approach. Allow for both. When you align to the A-G requirements, you ensure that students meet the “floor” for college eligibility. Build further understanding with students on the continuum of attainable pathways. For example, the A-G requirements can also align with career technical education, which integrates core academic courses with technical and occupational ones. This way, students can explore career interests and still remain eligible for college. Knowing the range of options available means students can choose what’s best for them.

    Communicate early and often with parents and families 

    California has some of the world’s best and most affordable opportunities for higher education. Tragically, many students and families don’t know these opportunities are attainable. The importance of the A-G requirements and information around college affordability must be communicated to students and families early and often. Ideally, regular updates and information sessions start with students and families in middle school. For example, we set clear expectations with students and families at fifth grade orientation. We talk to them about the A-G requirements being built into our curriculum and about our school culture around college readiness. Time and time again, we see ecstatic students and families when they realize college is accessible and attainable.

    It’s our responsibility as school leaders or school systems to provide the necessary courses and support to bridge the inequities between high school to college and careers. The logistical challenges are surely outweighed by the opportunities: more racial representation in higher education, an increase in economic mobility for students from low-income backgrounds, and a more diverse and educated workforce.

    •••

    Alton B. Nelson Jr. is the CEO of Making Waves Academy in the Bay Area city of Richmond.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. We welcome guest commentaries with diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • UC, Cal State, community colleges should work together to boost transfer rates, auditor says

    UC, Cal State, community colleges should work together to boost transfer rates, auditor says


    The Transfer and Reentry Center in Dutton Hall at UC Davis helps transfers get acclimated to their new environment.

    Credit: Karin Higgins/UC Davis

    Few students who intend to transfer from California’s community colleges do so successfully. To reverse that trend, the state’s public college systems will need to work collaboratively.

    That’s the finding of a report released Tuesday by the California State Auditor, which, at the direction of the state Assembly’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee, examined the state’s community college transfer system. 

    Only about 1 in 5 students who entered community college between 2017 and 2019 and intended to transfer did so within four years, the audit found. Rates were even lower for Black and Latino students, as well as for students from certain regions of the state, including the Central Valley.

    Many students struggled to navigate what critics call a complex transfer system in California, with variations in transfer requirements across the University of California and California State University systems, the audit found. 

    The report recommends that UC and CSU work with the community college system to streamline the transfer process. UC should consider widely adopting the associate degree for transfer (ADT) model that is already in place at CSU, and the systems should also share more data, according to the audit’s recommendations. The Legislature could also step in and appropriate funding to help CSU and UC better align their transfer requirements.

    Complexity leads to low transfer rates

    Students wishing to transfer often face obstacles that prevent them from getting to a four-year university. If students are considering multiple four-year universities for transfer, that often means a different set of requirements for each.

    For example, the auditor reviewed six potential four-year campuses to which a community college student studying computer science could transfer: UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, CSU San Marcos, San Diego State and Stanislaus State. 

    The course requirements vary greatly across the four-year campuses. UC San Diego and San Diego State require potential transfer students to complete a course in intermediate computer programming, whereas the other four campuses do not. UC San Diego is also the only campus to require an additional calculus course. Meanwhile, that campus does not require students to take differential equations, but UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara do.

    The audit calls out the ADT as a promising model at CSU, but even that has shortcomings, the report notes. The ADT, created in 2010, is a two-year degree that is no more than 60 credits and is fully transferable to CSU.

    Although completing the ADT guarantees a student admission into CSU, it does not guarantee students admission to a specific major campus. That’s a problem, the audit notes, because transfer-intending students are more likely to enroll if they’re admitted to their preferred program.

    UC, meanwhile, has not adopted the ADT at all and instead relies on its own transfer programs, such as the transfer admission guarantee. That program does admit students to specific campuses and majors, but not all campuses participate in the program, and for those that do, some majors are excluded. UC’s three most selective campuses — Berkeley, Los Angeles and San Diego — are the three that do not offer the transfer admission guarantee.

    Among the transfer-intending students who entered community college between 2017 and 2019, 21% transferred within four years and less than 30% did so within six years.

    Among Black students, between 16.1% and about 17.3% successfully transferred within four years for each cohort. For Latino students, between 14.5% and 15.6% in each cohort transferred in that time frame. That compares to more than 28% of white students in each cohort and as many as 30% of Asian students. 

    There were also differences depending on a student’s location.

    The audit found that community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego regions, for example, had higher transfer rates than colleges in the Central Valley, Inland Empire and northern parts of the state.

    “One factor contributing to this difference may be the distances between community colleges and CSU and UC campuses in those regions. Students are more likely to transfer to a nearby university for a variety of reasons, including challenges associated with relocating,” the audit states.

    That’s true for students at Lassen Community College in northeastern California, according to an administrator there. The administrator told auditors that “proximity is a major barrier” for transfer-intending students. The closest CSU or UC campus is Chico State, which is still more than a two-hour drive. In fact, about three-quarters of students who did transfer from Lassen went to an out-of-state university.

    Streamlining transfer 

    The report offers several recommendations to lawmakers and the public college systems that could streamline the transfer process.

    Auditors recommend that lawmakers consider providing funding to the colleges to align requirements and make the ADT more widely accepted across the state. 

    The community colleges and the four-year systems could also do their part to improve the ADT. For the community colleges, that means analyzing why certain community colleges don’t offer the ADT for some majors. CSU, auditors recommend, should do the same for campuses that don’t accept the ADT for certain majors and then determine whether their reasons make sense.

    UC should either widely adopt the ADT model or, for campuses unwilling to do that, ensure that their transfer options “emulate the ADT’s key benefits for streamlining course requirements,” auditors say. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom did sign Assembly Bill 1291 to create a pilot program at UCLA in which students beginning in 2026-27 will get priority admission if they complete an associate degree in select majors. The pilot will eventually expand to more campuses, though some students and advocacy groups criticized the legislation because it won’t guarantee students admission to their chosen campus.

    The audit also recommends better data-sharing between the three systems. 

    The community college system could share data with UC and CSU about students who intend to transfer, which UC and CSU could use to better tailor their advice to those students. 

    Additionally, UC and CSU could share more data with the community colleges about the students who successfully transfer, which could help the community colleges better evaluate their transfer efforts and determine which ones are most effective.

    Sonya Christian, chancellor of the community college system, said in a letter responding to the audit that the system looks forward to working with UC, CSU and lawmakers to implement the report’s recommendations, but said there could be challenges, including with data-sharing.

    Christian said consistent and timely data remains a “persistent challenge” for the system because of its decentralized nature, which requires each of the 73 local community college districts to individually report data to Christian’s office. 

    “The lack of a common data platform hampers our ability to collect timely and reliable data on transfer rates and gaps and hinders our ability to be able to accelerate transfer for the students of California through real-time data sharing with four-year system and institutional partners,” she said.

    But, Christian added, she has made it a priority since becoming chancellor last year to improve those processes and “let the data flow.” 

    “I look forward to carrying forward recommendations around improvements to our data, research, and system-wide policy leadership,” she added.





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  • New Cal State Bakersfield president says campus should see Kern County’s education problems ‘as our own’

    New Cal State Bakersfield president says campus should see Kern County’s education problems ‘as our own’


    A portrait of Vernon B. Harper, Jr.

    Vernon B. Harper Jr.

    Courtesy of California State University, Bakersfield

    Vernon B. Harper Jr. is scratching the word “interim” from his nameplate at California State University, Bakersfield. 

    Harper, who has served as the university’s interim president since the end of 2023, was named CSUB’s permanent president on Wednesday, the second day of a Cal State board of trustees meeting dominated by discussions about the financial pressures facing the university system. The system is projecting a $400 million to $800 million budget gap in 2025-26 as state leaders signal their intention to reduce funding for CSU.  

    CSU Bakersfield has been able to prevent students from feeling the effects of a reduced budget, Harper said, buoyed by growing enrollment this school year. His focus is on making what he calls a “pivot towards the community” — expanding programs to boost the number of Kern County high school graduates and community college transfer students who enroll at CSUB. The Central Valley is growing rapidly but has lower college attainment than the rest of the state. 

    Harper envisions the university taking a more active role alongside local K-12 schools to increase the number of students who meet A-G requirements, the coursework that makes students eligible to start college at a Cal State or University of California campus. Only 36% of Kern County high school graduates completed such coursework in the 2022-23 school year, according to state education data, compared with 52% of high school graduates statewide. 

    “That’s the real transition that the institution is making. It is to accept those problems as our own,” Harper said. “We’re partnering with our K-12 providers and making sure that we’re doing absolutely everything we can to raise that statistic. We’re not just going to sit back passively and watch our community go in a direction that we don’t want it to go.”

    One example of the work Harper hopes to get done: CSUB’s teacher education program is forming a task force with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office and the Kern High School District in a bid to increase the number of students who are A-G qualified, he said.

    The campus is also experimenting with ways to get local students thinking about college even before they leave middle school. It recently started a pilot program with four middle schools and four high schools in which students as young as 12 will receive notices that they are guaranteed admission to CSUB so long as they meet A-G requirements. 

    “We’ve seen that with young people, especially in under-resourced populations, their vision is truncated by their circumstance,” Harper said. “Whatever we can do, we have a responsibility to do, to extend that vision as far as it can go.”

    The past decade has seen rising graduation rates at CSUB. Among first-time, full-time freshmen who entered Cal State Bakersfield in 2017, 49% graduated in six years, an almost 10 percentage-point increase from 2007. But the school has not caught up to some of its Cal State peers. Systemwide, the six-year graduation rate for the same group of students in the fall 2017 cohort was roughly 62%. 

    Harper said that the intervention that seems to have the most impact on improving graduation rates is pairing students with an academic adviser who works with them throughout their time at CSUB, guiding them through unforeseen challenges, like switching into a course that fits the student’s work schedule.

    “As much as we can invest in that activity, the more positive outcomes that we (see),” he said.

    The university is also experiencing some of the same longstanding graduation equity gaps that exist across California higher education. The six-year graduation rate among Black students who entered CSUB as freshmen in the fall 2017 cohort was 40%, lagging Asian, Latino and white students. 

    Harper has backed several CSUB initiatives to attract and retain Black students. Harper said that community college students at Bakersfield College who participate in the Umoja program, which includes courses on African American culture as well as mentorship and academic counseling, will find they can continue receiving similar support now that CSUB has its own Umoja program for transfers. The campus plans to open a Black Students Success Center in the spring and has already hired a group of faculty members whose work is focused on minoritized communities, Harper said.

    Harper’s tenure as CSUB’s permanent president begins at a moment when the California State University system is raising financial alarm bells.

    Cal State leaders are anticipating that a $164 million increase in revenue from tuition hikes will not be enough to alleviate other stresses on its budget. The system expects that state general fund revenue will drop nearly $400 million, according to a September budget presentation, and that $250 million in compact funding will be delayed. The university system also faces rising projected costs, including for basics it can’t avoid like increased health care premiums and utilities expenses.

    Speaking at a Sep. 24 meeting, trustee Diego Arambula said the university system has “almost been too effective at making these cuts year over year over year” without explaining to legislators the impact those budget reductions are already having on students.

    “We are doing everything we can to make them as far away from students, but a hiring freeze is a hiring freeze, and that does impact students if we’re not bringing someone into a role that we know is important,” Arambula said. “It’s impacting our staff, who are taking on more to try and still meet the needs of the students who are here.”

    CSUB officials last spring said they planned to cut the school’s 2024-25 net operating budget by about 7%, citing a decline in enrollment and increased salary and benefits costs. The school had less than a month of funding in its rainy day fund in 2022-23, slightly less than the net operating budget across the CSU system at that point.

    But Harper said enrollment this year is up between 4% and 5%, driving tuition growth that is alleviating some budget pressure. The campus also has made temporary cuts to areas that aren’t student-facing, he said, such as professional development. 

    “We’ve been able to really, really shield any negative effects on students,” Harper said.

    Harper succeeds Lynnette Zelezny as president. He was previously Cal State Bakersfield’s provost and vice president for academic affairs. He will receive a salary of $429,981 and a $50,000 housing allowance.

    Harper was first hired at CSUB in 2016. Prior to his arrival at Cal State Bakersfield, he worked at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Wilkes University of Pennsylvania and the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia.

    He holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in rhetoric from West Chester University and a doctorate in human communication from Howard University. He served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve.





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  • What schools should know about the liability insurance crisis in foster care

    What schools should know about the liability insurance crisis in foster care


    Koinonia Family Services is one of the foster family agencies that received a letter of nonrenewal. Their policy expires in 2025.

    Credit: Ourpromiseca/Instagram

    A seismic disruption of the foster system is underway in California, with no clear solution in sight for the 9,000 school-aged children whose lives and schooling may be severely impacted.

    Most foster family agencies in California either lost liability insurance coverage on Sept. 30 or will lose it once their current policies end after their insurer pulled out of the market.

    “A blanket non-renewal would cause a collapse of the California foster family system,” the company, Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California, acknowledged recently.

    The agencies cannot remain open without liability insurance, and few companies offer the required coverage for the agencies, which manage thousands of foster families caring for roughly 9,000 foster children statewide.

    Some agencies that managed to acquire coverage in recent weeks complained that the premiums are exponentially higher than what they paid previously.

    The insurance crisis currently affects only the foster families managed through the state’s more than 200 agencies, not those managed by their local counties. The impact may be far-reaching, however, especially if counties have to take on a significant number of foster families from agencies.

    Families are screened and certified to foster in two ways: directly by their local counties or through private nonprofits that counties contract with called foster family agencies.

    No matter how a foster care family obtains its certification, it must retain insurance to protect against potential liabilities.

    As agencies decide on their next steps, advocates say educators should keep in mind that some of their students might be part of the foster youth at risk of being displaced from their homes.

    This guide explains how the crisis occurred, what it means for foster youth, and what school staff can consider as it unfolds.

    What do foster family agencies do?

    Agencies are known for providing 24/7 support to foster families, which can include, but is not limited to:

    • Training foster families to advocate for children’s educational rights, such as establishing individualized education plans
    • Facilitating reunification visits between the foster youth and their biological family
    • Providing tutoring services
    • Providing transportation to and from extracurricular activities that the foster parent might not be able to work into their schedule
    • Supporting foster families as they become mentors for biological parents reunified with their child

    Families fostering through agencies often expect to receive a higher degree of support than a county might be able to offer.

    Why is this happening?
    Nonprofit Insurance Alliance of California previously insured 90% of foster family agencies in California, but they issued letters of nonrenewal to all of those agencies in late August.

    The company said foster family agencies are “uninsurable” because they are “being set up as scapegoats” and “held accountable for the wrongful acts of others beyond their scope of control” in cases where children are harmed.

    The nonrenewal letters came less than a year after a jury awarded $24.8 million in December to three siblings who were sexually abused in a foster home certified by a Northern California foster family agency that failed to complete many of the required screenings and assessments prior to placing children in the home.

    The nonprofit insurance alliance insured the agency and initially rejected multiple settlement offers from the three siblings. The insurer instead took the case to trial, where the jury awarded a settlement higher than the siblings’ initial offers.

    The non-renewal decision also came after recent legislation extended the statute of limitations for reporting child sexual assault and provided a three-year window for victims to sue in cases where the statute of limitations had expired. The changes also allowed for damages to be tripled in certain cases.

    Who is impacted by the insurance challenge?

    The challenge affects foster youth and families whose lives are in limbo as their agencies confront the issue, agencies that are ending services in the face of sudden increased insurance costs, counties that might be managing greater caseloads amid their own staff shortages as foster families potentially transfer under their care, and the people whose jobs might be on the line if foster cases are transferred from agencies.

    Roughly 9,000 youth out of over 41,000 total foster youth in California live with families overseen by agencies.

    They are some of the highest-needs children and teens within the foster system, said Christine Stoner-Mertz, CEO of California Alliance of Child and Family Services, which represents foster family agencies. Many are medically fragile, identify as LGBTQ+, are older and sometimes have other teenage siblings, or they have significant behavioral challenges.

    The families who foster them are burdened with uncertainty as they figure out if their agency will remain open and if their foster children will remain in their homes.

    Counties are verifying the scope of the problem, at times transferring families into the county foster system to avoid displacing children. They are checking in with local agencies to ascertain if they received a notice of non-renewal and how long their policies are in effect, said Eileen Cubanski, interim executive director of County Welfare Directors Association of California.

    But counties are rife with problems as it is, with shortages of staff and foster homes.

    Tiffany Sickler, executive director of a foster family agency called Koinonia Family Services, received a notice of non-renewal, but their policy doesn’t expire until next year.

    Even so, some of her agency’s families have transferred to counties, believing that is their only option for keeping their foster children at home.

    Agencies sustain themselves by taking on foster cases; losing a foster family leads to a reduction in revenue and caseloads. If this continues, Sickler said it could ultimately lead to staff layoffs.

    What happens to foster youth?

    Many children’s lives are expected to be disrupted, particularly those whose agencies are shuttering or losing coverage before they can transfer families to counties or another agency.

    In those cases, foster youth might be moved to placements far from their schools of origin, requiring them to transfer and lose connections they may have developed at school.

    Some may be moved to placements that allow them to remain at their school of origin, but advocates say the disruption in their home lives is likely to impact their education.

    “If you’re worried about where you’re going to sleep, how well do you show up? Even if you’re physically present, how well do you show up to learn in the classroom?” said Cubanski. “It’s those added traumas and stressors, I think, that really play a significant role in the educational trajectory of these youth.”

    Some agencies whose insurance policies ended Sept. 30 got coverage with other companies. In such cases, foster youth remain in their current homes with no disruptions. But agencies are reporting increased premiums anywhere between 30% to 400% from their previous coverage.

    “Many (agencies) are saying, ‘We don’t know exactly how we’re going to get the money, but we’re going to do this at least for a year’ in hopes that maybe there’s a broader solution that gets put in place to keep kids and families stable,” said Stoner-Mertz. “At this moment, that’s the best case scenario because people are concerned about kids’ stability on a very broad level, and certainly education is a component of that.”

    Advocates are hopeful that some relief might come their way via the state. The state’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, issued a notice in August “encouraging all property and casualty insurance companies licensed or doing business in California” to offer the coverage that agencies need, but it remains unclear how many companies have heeded the call.

    “What we need is the state to really step in to really stabilize the market,” said Stoner-Mertz, who said her organization is discussing solutions with the Department of Social Services and the Department of Insurance.

    What should educators know?

    Advocates say educators and school staff are likely unaware that foster youth may be displaced due to the insurance crisis. They suggest checking in with youth and their foster families to better understand what might be happening with their placements.

    On a larger scale, advocates are looking to build a coalition to focus on the insurance issues — and they are hoping that schools will join.

    That’s because “schools are facing this exact same problem” of insurers seeking to exit their market due to increased settlements related to child sexual abuse cases, according to Stoner-Mertz and Adrienne Shilton, vice president of public policy and strategy at the California Alliance of Child and Family Services.

    “It’s a huge issue far beyond these very niche organizations,” Stoner-Mertz said.

    The starting point would be to ensure children are not hurt, she added. If they are hurt, they should have their day in court.

    In that process, Stoner-Mertz said the challenge for a coalition would be: “How do we ensure that they’re getting their needs met and that there are systems that are not destroyed in the process that they also need?” she asked.

    Can families transfer to their local county or another agency?

    They can, but one challenge with transferring to counties is that the families certified through agencies are accustomed to a higher level of support, said Shilton.

    Additionally, agencies can work with families who live across the state, making transfers more complex than they may initially appear.

    Stoner-Mertz provided the following example: Some families have foster children from different counties. If that family transferred from an agency to a county, “then how does that get sorted out in terms of what county takes on that placement?”

    Advocates also have significant concerns about counties’ capacity to take on a currently undetermined number of youth and families.

    “It’s a big lift for some counties. … We’ve certainly heard from LA that they are not equipped to take on the number of families that could potentially end up having to be transferred,” Stoner-Mertz said.

    Advocates say staffing shortages play a role in that diminished capacity, but often, there is also a difference in philosophy.

    County child welfare programs are “very child-only focused” and agencies are family-focused, said Sickler, meaning that counties often provide services solely for children, while agencies often provide services for the entire foster family.

    “You can’t just leave the foster families kind of out in the wind and just offer services and programs to the kids that are in their home,” said Sickler, whose agency works with families across 11 California counties. “You have to support the family — I mean, if you want a successful outcome anyway.”

    Families can also transfer between agencies, a process recently streamlined by legislation.

    Assembly Bill 2496 was initially championed by the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance of California. Its original text included provisions that limited the insurer’s liability, which advocates said deteriorated victims’ rights to sue.

    The bill’s text was amended at the eleventh hour, removing the provisions and instead streamlining the transfer of families between agencies by removing administrative burdens.

    The company responded to the amended bill by announcing the non-renewals and stating that “foster family agencies are being set up as scapegoats” in claims of child abuse.

    They also announced they will immediately terminate coverage, rather than non-renew, of agencies that take families from an agency utilizing the new streamlined process.

    The bill will “substantially increase the risk to California FFAs and the children they serve,” the company wrote in the announcement, stating that the bill allows for “transfers with a less-rigorous vetting process.”

    The announcement threw a wrench into an already complex series of events, advocates said. “Frankly, what has been the bigger burden has been the insurer itself,” said Cubanski.

    “They’ve asserted that the bill makes those families riskier, makes the children less safe,” she continued. “I cannot vehemently enough object to that characterization. It really is about trying to streamline some of the administrative paperwork burden — there is nothing different about the risk or the level of safety of these families.”

    A previous version of the story incorrectly noted that the non-renewal decision came after “recent judicial changes” and misquoted the insurance company regarding the agencies’ insurability. The story has been updated to reflect that the non-renewal decision came after recent legislation signed into law in 2019 and to correct the company’s statement on agencies being “uninsurable.”





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  • Maybe we should get rid of the U.S. Department of Education

    Maybe we should get rid of the U.S. Department of Education


    Credit: Carlos Kosienski/Sipa via AP Images

    In 1994, I was the press secretary for the U.S. Department of Education when Republicans took over Congress and threatened to shut us down. My then boss, Secretary Dick Riley, would joke in almost every speech he gave that each morning his wife would open the newspaper and say, “Hey! looks like they’re trying to fire you again!” He regularly talked about it because it quickly became clear to us that people deeply believed in the Education Department’s mission and that the threats against us were bad politics.

    I was thinking of this when I watched Donald Trump’s 10-point plan for education.  I was struck by its contradictory nature of wanting to dismantle federal involvement in schools, while simultaneously trying to dictate curriculum and impose ideological policies. The department was established in 1979 to ensure resources were being spent on our nation’s poorest children.

    Now, three decades after my time at the department, the same battle is resurfacing with a new twist. At its heart, what Trump’s really proposing is a hollowing out of the department’s founding mission — not a true decentralization of power to states, but a reimagining of federal oversight as a tool for ideological control instead of a protection for our nation’s most vulnerable.  

    But here’s the paradox: Without a Department of Education and federal resources, there’s less leverage to enforce his ideological agenda. As a result, we may be in a bizarre quandary of having to choose between these two opposite visions. Given the choice between a Department of Education that no longer champions equity and no department at all, perhaps it’s time to consider the latter.

    The plan, as I understand it, is to move higher ed funding (Pell Grants and student loans) and education research to other agencies while providing equity-driven K-12 federal funds as block grants to be spent however states want.

    In California, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) ensures that schools serving students with the greatest needs — low-income students, English learners and foster youth — receive additional resources. With LCFF, we’ve built a system that both works and meets this moment (though we may also need to codify our clear commitment to special education). As someone who has spent decades in education policy, I don’t say this lightly — in fact, it breaks my heart. But this moment calls for different thinking.  The U.S. Department of Education has been a force for good in countless lives. But it should not stand if it’s dictated by ideological agendas. Quality education for all children must remain our North Star in California, because when we center our most vulnerable students, we all succeed.

    •••

    Rick Miller is the CEO of CORE Districts, a collaboration of nine large California urban districts. He previously served as press secretary for the U.S. Department of Education and as deputy state superintendent at the California Department 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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  • Why the state should bend spending rules for small rural school districts

    Why the state should bend spending rules for small rural school districts


    TRANSCRIPT

    Louise Simpson, superintendent of Mark Twain Union Elementary School District in Angles Camp, near Yosemite, is frustrated by state rules restricting how small rural districts like hers can spend expanded learning funding.

    Here’s why.

    What I’m hoping to do today is to light the fire so that we can explore unrestricting the expanded learning opportunity program funds.

    That was such a well-intentioned and important program for so many districts. It’s known by the acronym ELOP, and it was designed to make additional learning and enrichment opportunities in the school day. But it brought some really burdensome requirements with it, including a 9-hour day and 30 extra days of school.

    And while that sounds really great, what’s happened for our small rural districts, is the reality of creating a program just isn’t feasible. And I’ll tell you why:

    First, my kids are on the bus for more than an hour each way. They already have a big long day, and adding academics after school for enrichment is not super feasible for two reasons: One is we have a very difficult time finding qualified staff to run it. And the second one is, with the bus-driver shortage, we just don’t have the transportation.

    So, many kids that would benefit from this program really don’t have the opportunity, and they are being left behind.

    Our budget situation is so, so dire with steep declining enrollment, and we need to use the money that we’re already allocated for super-effective programs.

    I came out of retirement this year because this little system was struggling, and only one in 10 kids are proficient in math and only one in four can read — and that’s unconscionable.

    And I can fix it, but I need some help using the money that’s already been given to me to use during the day. We have a really cool program that we built with the Sierra K-16 Collaborative Partnership involving peer tutors. It allowed me to get $320,000 to fund an intervention teacher and pay 20 high school kids to come in and tutor my kids. And it’s working, but those funds expire in a year.

    I need that ELOP money to be made flexible so that I can teach our kids the core foundational skills they need to be successful. That includes being able to use it during the school day. So many folks can’t find a way to make this funding effective that they’re actually giving it back, and that’s not okay.

    We need to come to some agreements where it can be working for everyone. Let me take and share with you what unrestricting these funds could really do for kids.

    This is our peer tutoring program. It’s funded in conjunction with Sierra K16.

    (short video of tutors working with students)

    I hope you’ll join me in reaching out to all of our legislators and asking them to provide small rural districts flexibility in how we use those funds.





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  • California should continue to invest in teacher recruitment, retention, study says

    California should continue to invest in teacher recruitment, retention, study says


    Credit: Julie Leopo / EdSource

    California has spent more than $1 billion since 2018 on programs to aid in the recruitment and retention of TK-12 teachers. It must continue to make those investments if it wants to end the persistent teacher shortage, according to a report, “Tackling Teacher Shortages: Investing in California’s Teacher Workforce,” released last week.

    Major investments include $672 million for the Teacher Residency Grant Program, $521 million for the Golden State Teacher Grant Program and $250 million for the National Board Certified Teacher Incentive Program. 

    The state programs to recruit and retain teachers are gaining traction, but still need more time to show results, according to the national Learning Policy Institute (LPI), a nonprofit education research organization that released the report. But many of the programs are funded with one-time funds nearing expiration.

     The Golden State Teacher Grant Program awards up to $20,000 and the National Board Certified Teacher Incentive Program provides $25,000 to teachers who agree to work at a high-needs school.

    The Teacher Residency Grant Program funds partnerships between school districts and teacher preparation programs that pay teacher candidates a stipend while they learn alongside veteran classroom teachers. 

    Interest in all three of these state programs continues to increase, said Desiree Carver-Thomas, a senior researcher at LPI. But, because participation is still just a fraction of the overall teacher pipeline, it may take years until researchers will be able to tell whether the programs are actually helping to boost enrollment in teacher preparation programs, she said.

    “I think it’s important to mention that the teacher residency grant program and Golden State Teacher Grant program aren’t just subsidizing people who might go into the profession either way,” Carver-Thomas said. “Those individuals are being targeted by the districts where they’re needed, to the schools where they’re needed. It’s important that the kind of supply-demand alignment that the state is supporting can help to address shortages.”

     Linda Darling-Hammond is LPI president as well as the president of the California State Board of Education.

    Enrollment in teacher preparation programs dip

    Despite the investments, enrollment in teacher preparation programs dipped in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, the last two years state data is available. In 2022-23 there were 19,833 teacher candidates enrolled in teacher preparation programs, compared with 26,179 in 2020-21, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Teacher enrollment has been increasing incrementally each year between 2018 and 2021.

    The numbers are far behind enrollment in state teacher preparation 20 years ago, but there has been some progress, Carver-Thomas said. The Covid-19 pandemic could have impacted enrollment in 2021-22 and 2022-23, she said.

     “We don’t know what is on the other side of that 2023 data,” Carver-Thomas said.

    Teacher shortages impact poor communities the most

    The teacher shortage, especially in hard-to- fill areas like math, special education, science and bilingual education, persists despite proposed teacher layoffs and buyouts driven by declining enrollment and budget shortfalls.

    As a result of the teacher shortage, school districts continue to rely on under-prepared teachers on emergency-style permits. A larger number of these under-prepared teachers end up in schools in the poorest communities, according to research.

    In 2022-23, the state’s highest-need schools were nearly three times as likely to fill teaching positions with interns and teachers on emergency-style permits or waivers, compared with the lowest-need schools, according to the LPI report.

    Additional funding could be on the way

    California’s proposed state budget includes funding for recruitment and retention of teachers, including $50 million for the Golden State Teacher Grant and $100 million to extend the timeline for the National Board Certified Teacher Incentive Program. The proposed budget also includes $150 million in financial aid to teacher candidates through the new Teacher Recruitment Incentive Grant Program.

    The Golden State Teacher Grant Program, funded with $500 million in 2021, was meant to support teacher candidates over a five-year period, but the program’s funds are nearly exhausted. The new funding, if approved, would fund applicants in 2025-26.

    State lawmakers will make final decisions on funding by the June 15 budget deadline.





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  • California should emulate states posting gains on ‘nation’s report card’

    California should emulate states posting gains on ‘nation’s report card’


    Credit: Alison Yin for EdSource

    Once again, California’s scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress — often called the ‘nation’s report card’ — were disappointing across the board.

    Most news coverage, locally and nationally, focused on the stagnant post-Covid recovery nationwide. But this discouraging coverage overlooks a more positive development: Some states are continuing to see growth in student learning. And it’s happening because of focused, visionary state leadership — something California’s leaders would do well to learn from.

    A recent analysis by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University identified states that successfully leveraged federal Covid recovery funds to fuel academic improvement. It’s no accident that states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky are on the list of places where students have made gains over the past two years. These are all states that set a clear vision for how to improve curriculum and instruction in schools, are giving schools the necessary tools and resources, and are tracking outcomes to fuel continuous improvement.

    For example, in Louisiana, the state Department of Education first set a high bar for curriculum and instruction. Then it identified curricula that met that high bar; incentivized districts to adopt those curricula; identified effective curriculum implementation partners and provided funding for districts to hire them. While this may sound like a top-down reform effort, it was anything but: It included input from teacher leaders from the start, leading to changes like providing each district a single contact person for all state programs and working with teachers to develop Louisiana’s own literacy curriculum. Now, Louisiana is one of only two states where students’ scores have exceeded pre-pandemic results.

    Source: Edunomics (red arrows pointing out CA added by Jennie Herriot-Hatfield)

    California, unfortunately, has set no such vision for curriculum and instruction. The state creates lots of frameworks, but it’s unclear how those massive documents affect what’s happening in classrooms. (In my five years of teaching, I never heard about or used any state framework documents.) The state spent billions of dollars in Covid recovery funds, but didn’t use the funds to pursue any particular instructional improvement strategy, and failed to systematically track outcomes from different spending strategies.

    The states that have pursued instructional improvement with positive results seem to have two common characteristics: a visionary state education leader who makes this work a priority over the long term; and a willingness to learn from other states that have done this work. California hasn’t had either recently, but perhaps that could change, if parents, teachers, and other advocacy groups work together to influence current leadership or find new leaders willing to prioritize this work.

    California is a leader in so many fields — but not in education. Hopefully, that will change soon, with statewide elections less than two years away. With more purposeful state leadership, future NAEP score releases could someday highlight better results for California’s students too.

    •••

    Jennie Herriot-Hatfield is a K-12 education consultant, former elementary school teacher and public school parent in San Francisco.

    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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  • Employee Retention Statistics You Should Know In 2025


    Employee Retention Statistics You Should Know In 2025—Infographic

    Employee retention is crucial for businesses, as 31% of new hires leave within six months. This infographic examines statistics around it, revealing the reasons behind turnover, such as poor management, lack of advancement opportunities, compensation issues, and job insecurity. In 2024, nearly 46% of employees reported considering quitting, which could lead to significant loss of institutional knowledge and costs ranging from 30% to 400% of an employee’s annual salary for replacements.

    But what is employee retention? It refers to an organization’s ability to keep its employees, measured by the percentage who stay versus those who leave. For example, an annual retention rate of 80% indicates that 80% of employees remained with the company over the past year. While some turnover is normal due to various reasons like career changes or retirement, organizations should strive for a retention rate above 90%. Beyond just a statistic, employee retention is a strategy focused on ensuring workforce satisfaction and engagement. High turnover can lead to unexpected costs, loss of skills, decreased productivity, and can negatively impact company culture, making it difficult for employees to build relationships and collaborate effectively.



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  • Why Home Tuition Should Be More Than Just About Grades

    Why Home Tuition Should Be More Than Just About Grades


    In an increasingly competitive academic environment, it’s easy to fall into the trap of equating education with grades alone. While good marks can open doors to opportunities, true education encompasses far more. Home tuition, often viewed as a tool for academic improvement, has the potential to nurture emotional intelligence, self-discipline, and a love for learning. It’s time to reimagine home tuition as a holistic development platform rather than just a grade-boosting machine.

    The Limitations of a Grades-Only Approach

    Grades represent only a narrow aspect of a student’s abilities. They rarely reflect creativity, critical thinking, or emotional intelligence. Focusing solely on marks can create undue pressure and lead students to lose interest in subjects they might otherwise enjoy.

    Why Home Tuition Should Be About More Than Grades

    Here’s why home tuition should go beyond just academic performance:

    • Learning at One’s Own Pace: Home tuition allows for personalized teaching that adapts to the student’s speed and understanding. Tutors can clarify doubts, revisit tough topics, and accelerate lessons as needed. This builds confidence and mastery over memorization.
    • Developing Critical Thinking Skills: A good home tutor incorporates real-world examples, encourages discussions, and promotes logical reasoning. These practices help develop problem-solving and analytical thinking.
    • Encouraging Curiosity and Independent Learning: The right tutor acts as a mentor, sparking curiosity and a love for learning by encouraging questions and deep exploration of topics.
    • Building Self-Esteem and Motivation: Personalized attention allows tutors to motivate students and turn mistakes into learning opportunities, helping build confidence and resilience.
    • Enhancing Communication Skills: One-on-one sessions allow students to express themselves more freely and build effective communication habits that benefit them in academic and professional settings.
    • Teaching Life Skills: Home tuition can be a platform for teaching important life skills like time management, accountability, and goal setting.
    • Parental Involvement: Regular feedback from home tutors allows parents to stay updated on both academic and personal development.

    How TheTuitionTeacher Goes Beyond Grades

    TheTuitionTeacher is a home tuition platform that understands the value of holistic education. Here’s how they stand out:

    • Personalized Tutor Matching: Students are matched with tutors who suit their learning style, academic needs, and personality.
    • Emphasis on Conceptual Clarity: TheTuitionTeacher promotes understanding rather than rote learning, helping students build strong conceptual foundations.
    • Progress Tracking: Parents receive regular feedback and reports to track academic and personal growth.
    • Empowered Tutors: Tutors aren’t just educators—they are mentors trained to support emotional and intellectual development.
    • Flexible Learning Options: With online and offline classes available, TheTuitionTeacher adapts to each student’s schedule and preferences.

    Conclusion: Redefining the Role of Home Tuition

    While grades are important, they are not the sole measure of a student’s potential. Home tuition should foster a well-rounded individual by nurturing curiosity, resilience, emotional intelligence, and communication skills. TheTuitionTeacher is pioneering this shift by offering personalized, supportive, and holistic tutoring that puts the child’s overall development at the center.



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