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  • The community college creating a home base for transition-age foster students

    The community college creating a home base for transition-age foster students


    Sky Celine Page, 20, in her subsidized home, which recently opened as part of a collaborative effort between Pasadena City College, Pasadena Community Foundation and First Place for Youth. “If I wasn’t here, and I didn’t have the opportunity to not pay rent, I probably wouldn’t be in school,” she said.

    Credit: Betty Márquez Rosales

    Sky Celine Page was not so sure that school was for her. She had spent the end of middle school ditching class and high school catching up on assignments as she moved between foster homes, and she was ready to quit college after performing poorly her first two semesters.

    “There was so much going on in my mind, and I was always so stressed out that I couldn’t just sit there and focus on schoolwork,” Page said.

    Nearly three years ago, she was couch surfing after leaving a foster home, and with nowhere to sleep consistently, school was placed on the back burner.

    Page is one of Los Angeles County’s transition-age youth — a term used to describe young adults aging out of the foster system. About 1,000 young people, 18 to 24 years old, age out in L.A. County each year, according to a 2024 report from the California Policy Lab. The same report also found that, in Los Angeles County, about 500 housing slots, including 206 housing vouchers, are available at any given time for youth who are no longer in care and have a closed case with the Department of Family and Child Services. This availability is likely insufficient to meet housing needs, and it doesn’t account for the challenges with accessing such resources, such as the difficulty of navigating complex public agencies.

    Studies have shown that transition-age foster youth have a higher risk of homelessness, but there is no reliable count of how many currently are. Housing instability, which at times includes changing schools often, disrupts relationships that students may form with classmates and educators, all of which has been linked to negative impacts on test scores and high school graduation rates, according to multiple studies, including a 2015 brief from the National Education Policy Center.

    A collaboration between Pasadena City College, Pasadena Community Foundation and First Place for Youth, an organization that supports successful transition of foster youth to adulthood, is providing housing to transition-age foster youth like Page, 20, who now lives in one of their units.

    A six-unit rent-subsidized apartment complex near Pasadena City College, where Page is now a student, opened last August. Ten additional units are being built next door.

    “Many of our students were going from group home to group home, carrying their stuff in a trash bag,” said David Sigala Gomez, educational adviser at the college’s program for students with experience in foster care, who provides case management to Page and her neighbors. “A lot of our students didn’t have much because they were moving around so much. So having the means to now buy new clothes, wear new shoes, it just brings a whole different perspective.”

    Page’s new, fully-furnished studio apartment is decorated in various shades of pink, with books and school supplies spilling out of her desk that doubles as the dining table where she enjoys journaling. She lives a short drive from her college campus, where she will soon earn an associate degree in health sciences as she pursues nursing.

    Page is finally stable and, as she put it, she is healing. Her life now is a paradigm shift from her life just a few years ago, when she was 18 and couch surfing. It is even further from her life at 14 when she first entered the foster system.

    ‘If I wasn’t here … I probably wouldn’t be in school’

    Page was 6 when her mother died. She and her brother were sent to Palmdale in northern Los Angeles County to live with their father and stepmother, whom Page described as “a horrific person.”

    Page tried to ignore both how her stepmother would lash out and make inappropriate comments about her and the silence from her father, who most often “turned the other cheek” during arguments, she said.

    At 14, Page hit a breaking point. She was in school, but would ditch class often and walk the hallways “trying to make sense of everything that was going on” at home. She made the decision to open up about her disruptive home life to a teacher, who called the Department of Family and Child Services.

    “After that, I never went back home,” Page said.

    A series of short-term placements later, she was living in a foster home in the Pasadena area, the city where she still lives. She struggled with the transition into foster care and with every move from one placement to another.

    “I look at that time and my heart was so broken … because I didn’t understand. I felt like I was being punished; I was trying to get help and now I’m around all these people I don’t know,” Page said. “I just didn’t realize at that time that it would be for the better, but it was hard. It was definitely a hard transition.”

    The constant moves also weighed on her academically.

    It’s an experience that Sigala Gomez, the educational adviser at Pasadena City College, noted is common among foster students. “I have really high-functioning students; their goal is a master’s degree, I have students who struggle just because of instabilities, moving from different schools,” he said, referring to the students he supports through the Next Up and STARS programs, both for foster youth. “For them, we really have to break it down: ‘Hey, you went to class two weeks in a row. That’s success. That’s a goal.’”

    Page enrolled in high school but felt self-conscious about how often she moved and because she “didn’t have the nicest things,” she said. So, she opted to enroll in Pasadena Unified School District’s virtual academy.

    It was there that she developed an interest in the sciences after completing an internship with the Huntington Medical Research Institute. When she fell behind on assignments in school, her teachers allowed her to catch up by turning in items late.

    Despite the disruptions to her education, Page knew she wanted to graduate from high school. She was aware of the stigma that some foster youth feel when they are unable to complete high school, and she was determined to avoid giving “anybody more of a reason to make them think that I was uneducated,” she said.

    It was around this time that she could no longer stay at the foster home where she had been living, so she put her items into a storage unit, and for the next half-year, couch surfed and worked two jobs.

    The social worker she was assigned to didn’t appear to understand that she needed help urgently, Page said, so Page reported her — the first time she had taken such an action.

    The next social worker quickly connected Page with First Place for Youth, an organization that seeks to break cycles of poverty among young adults aging out of foster care by providing housing.

    Page was housed in Alhambra within weeks of making that connection. By this time, it was the fall of 2022. She decided to continue her studies, leaning on her love of learning that she couldn’t tap into for so many years. She struggled, but still enjoyed learning. The commute to Pasadena City College wasn’t helping, especially using public transportation.

    She was unaware at the time that the same organization that had housed her was working on a collaboration to convert existing structures into housing near her campus.

    The effort included an initial $2 million housing loan agreement with Heritage Housing Partners, the project developer, approved by the City Council’s finance committee in 2022, upped to nearly $2.4 million in 2023, plus $200,000 from the Pasadena Community Foundation and $10,000 from California Community Foundation.

    The conversion was completed in August 2024, with First Place for Youth and Pasadena City College providing case management. The college also subsidizes the rent cost via Lancer Care, which is their basic-needs department, in conjunction with Extended Opportunity Programs & Services’ foster programs. The amount subsidized is $1,000 per unit, per month, said Sigala Gomez, and students must be transition-age nonminor dependents to qualify for a unit.

    Since moving into her new apartment, Page is feeling more confident, her grades have improved, and she now has the freedom to reflect on her childhood.

    “I’ve lived double the life experience,” said Page, contrasting herself with the average 20-year-old. “I’m figuring out, ‘OK, this is what 20-year-olds do. This is normal … this was not normal … this is part of my trauma.”

    Page has spent the past two years adjusting to life on her terms. She sees her current housing as her chance at being able to focus solely on school without the burden of unstable housing or the high cost of living in her neighborhood. And that was precisely the point of these housing units, Sigala Gomez said.

    With rent, utilities and most school costs covered, Page and her new neighbors have just one primary task: focusing on themselves as they enter adulthood.

    “It allows me to go to school without having to worry and stress about cost,” said Page of her housing. “If I wasn’t here, and I didn’t have the opportunity to not pay rent, I probably wouldn’t be in school.”





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  • What parents and students need to know about LAUSD’s cellphone ban

    What parents and students need to know about LAUSD’s cellphone ban


    Credit: Pexels

    The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted 5-2 to develop its new cellphone ban last August — placing the district more than a year ahead of the state’s requirement for districts to limit the use of smartphones by July 1, 2026.  Students should expect to have their cellphones off and tucked away starting on Tuesday. 

    District officials hope that keeping students away from their phones will both boost academic performance and support their mental health. 

    “Kids no longer have the opportunity to just be kids,” said school board member Nick Melvoin, who authored the initial resolution, in a statement released by the district. “I’m hoping this resolution will help students not only focus in class, but also give them a chance to interact and engage more with each other — and just be kids.” 

    Here’s what parents and students need to know about what lies ahead. 

    Where will students’ phones be kept?

    It depends on how each campus plans to implement the district policy. 

    In some schools or classrooms, students might simply have to turn off their phones and put them into their backpacks. In other schools, students will have to place their phones into a storage unit, including pouches that are sealed magnetically. 

    Are there any exceptions to the rule?

    Yes, students who need access to their phones for health-based reasons — or because they have an individualized education program or 504 plan — will be able to hold on to their devices. Students who need help with language translation will also be excused from the policy, along with students who have any other local needs. 

    What about cases where there is an emergency? 

    Whether students can access their devices during emergencies has been one of the larger concerns of parents and other community members.

    In short, if there is an emergency, students will be granted access to their devices if staff members decide it is safe for them to have them. 

    But, if a student asks to use their cellphone because they believe there is a potential threat, they won’t immediately be able to do so. Instead, the school will have to complete a threat assessment and develop a safety plan; depending on what they find, students may be granted access. 

    Can my child have devices other than cellphones? 

    No. The ban also applies to other devices that “provide similar smartphone functionality,” according to a district presentation. These devices include earbuds, smartwatches and smart glasses. 

    Will phones have to be tucked away all day — or just when learning is taking place?

    Yes, cellphones and similar devices will have to be tucked off and away throughout the school day, including during lunch and any other breaks. 

    Students will be allowed to use their phones on campus before and after school hours, however. 

    What are the ramifications for students if they don’t comply?

    Verbal reminders and referrals to a counselor or other campus designee would be given to students who are seen with a device. School administrators could also contact a student’s parent or guardian. 

    Will individual campuses be able to tweak things as they see fit? 

    Local School Leadership Councils throughout the district — composed of school personnel, parents, students and community members — will work to determine how best to implement the policy at their sites. 

    LAUSD’s policy requires each school to hold a Local School Leadership Council meeting while the cellphone policies are being implemented. 





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  • Fresno Unified teachers condemn district for plan to cut extra class time for students

    Fresno Unified teachers condemn district for plan to cut extra class time for students


    Fresno Unified School District will cut its Designated Schools program that provides 30 additional instructional minutes to over 24,000 students each day. Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla and around 100 educators protested the decision on Wednesday.

    Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource

    About 100 Fresno Unified educators slammed the state’s third-largest school system for its “unilateral” decision to eliminate a decadelong initiative for underserved students during a news conference Wednesday evening. 

    The district’s decision-making is being challenged as leaders face pushback for getting rid of a student-focused program that, from the district’s perspective, isn’t consistently meeting the needs of those students. 

    The district will cut its Designated Schools program, an initiative to improve student achievement through additional daily instruction. The district announced in January that the program, affecting about 40 schools, 24,000 students and over 1,250 educators, will end after this school year.

    Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla said educators feel devalued and disrespected because eliminating the Designated Schools program without input from the school community is not a classroom-centered decision as it takes money away from the classroom, from teachers and from much-needed resources. 

    “It is a huge cut to trust,” Bonilla said. “It is a huge cut to respect and to value in this district. And we’re here to say, ‘We’re not going to put up with it.’”

    For the superintendent and district staff, the main consideration in the decision to eliminate the program is its effectiveness: “Are we getting the return for the investment that we’re making?” asked interim Superintendent Misty Her. 

    “While we have gotten some results, they’ve not been consistent,” Her said. “We’ve not had consistent (growth) year after year.” 

    What are Designated Schools?

    At Designated Schools, which are intended to close academic gaps at a faster pace, students have 30 extra minutes of instruction each day, teachers have 10 additional work days for professional training, and campuses have a full-time teacher on special assignment to assist with reading or math intervention, costing the district $30 million annually.

    Designated Schools are typically located in neighborhoods with large numbers of students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. They serve vulnerable student populations that often start behind other groups. The extra time and resources are meant to catch students up by focusing on foundational skills they’re missing, teachers told EdSource. 

    Those students are going to lose 30 minutes of instruction every day, Bonilla said, equating the time to 90 additional instructional hours each year. 

    For example, during that 30 minutes of intervention time, teachers divide their classes into small groups by proficiency level and target students’ weak points. Teachers have the assistance of support staff who provide enrichment activities and targeted instruction.

    “Having that 30 extra minutes makes such a difference for these students, and we can see the gains, and we can see the growth that they make,” said Kate Hooper, a first grade teacher at Wilson Elementary, a Designated School.

    What does the decision mean?

    Designated School teachers are paid for the extra time and extra days they work, so eliminating the program means less pay for them. 

    Bonilla said the decision forces teachers to take a 12% pay cut, ranging from $651 to $1,150 each month. 

    District spokesperson Nikki Henry asserts that district officials stand behind their decision to end the $30 million program, but that much of what’s been communicated by the teachers union is “blatantly false” and “fear-based rhetoric.” 

    Nearly two-thirds of Designated School teachers will not see a pay reduction because there are already pay increases planned in their salary schedules, Henry said. In 2023, when the school district and teachers union reached a “historic” contract, the district agreed to 4.5% educator raises with a 2.5% bonus next school year. The remaining one-third of impacted teachers will see about a 2% decrease over two years. 

    Rather than keeping money in classrooms, Bonilla accused the district of wanting to pad its reserves and put the money toward consultants who, teachers say, don’t help them or students. According to Bonilla, the district’s reserves currently sit at about $234 million.

    Most of the money is already tied up by the district’s financial obligations, Henry said, explaining that only about 7%, or $121 million, belongs to the unrestricted reserves that can be used. The district plans to spend the reserves to a projected 4% in the next two years, she said. 

    Fresno Unified is in its second year of budget cuts with at least two more years of “tough decisions” ahead. Though cuts were at the district level for this school year, they will likely touch the classroom next school year, including consultant contracts, Henry said. 

    Much like other California school systems, the district is facing declining enrollment, less funding due to lower average daily attendance, and lower than expected cost of living adjustments from the state — all of which contributed to the decision to end the program. Now the district must add the volatility at the federal level to that, district officials said. 

    Is funding the only reason for the decision?

    The Designated School program seemingly includes all the components necessary to better student outcomes: more time with kids, more time for teachers’ professional learning and more support staff. 

    Henry said that in evaluating student growth over time, regardless of where student proficiency started, Designated Schools perform about the same as non-designated schools. 

    “You put $30 million a year into a program, and they perform similarly to non-designated schools,” she said. “There’s not a bigger growth.”

    And there should be, Henry said. The Designated Schools initiative was meant to show that with extra investment, schools make academic gains faster. 

    An analysis of the program, conducted by Hanover Research in the 2020-21 school year, also found that evidence of the program’s effectiveness on academic outcomes is mixed.

    “It’s just, more than anything, disheartening, coming from people who haven’t been in the classroom in a very long time,” Hooper, the Wilson Elementary teacher, said. 

    She and other teachers say they see the gains students are making. Devyn Stephens, another Wilson Elementary teacher, said she had a first grader who didn’t know their letters or sounds on the first day of school and is now able to read at a kindergarten or early first grade reading level, adding that she can’t imagine that being possible “without that 30 minutes.”

    Wilson Elementary third grade teacher Jessica Avila said the time is needed to ensure her students know how to read since the third grade curriculum is to read to understand, not learn to read. 

    There are “a few bright spots” in the data, the district admits, but not enough. The district did not provide the school-specific data it used to make its decision.

    Henry said after-school programs, which include homework help and intervention, will absorb the students who will no longer have 30 extra minutes of instruction in the classroom. Fresno Unified will also look to other programs that can make a difference.

    Since eliminating the program is a superintendent and staff-level decision, district staff won’t be recommending the program’s continuation in next year’s budget. Technically, the school board has the discretion and authority to add it back. 

    To many, that process is the problem. 

    “It’s not just the teachers that are suffering in regards to this lack of leadership, a lack of direction and student-focused decisions,” Bonilla, the teachers union president, said about a decision that affects tens of thousands of students. “They have not gone to our community whatsoever to have a discussion.”

    “If the district wants to own this, they need to come out and be real leaders and talk about it with the community.”





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  • Districts offer early retirement. Are students collateral damage?

    Districts offer early retirement. Are students collateral damage?


    San Francisco Unified School District office building.

    Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

    California school districts that are at risk of falling off the fiscal cliff are increasingly turning to early retirement incentives as a humane way to balance their budgets, but students could be the ones who lose.

    Many California school districts are facing large budget deficits brought on by continuing declining student enrollment and lower cost-of-living increases in state funding, said Michael Fine, chief executive officer of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team. Districts also have expanded their staffing in recent years, using federal Covid-19 funding that has since gone away.

    The state’s schools spend about 80% of their funding on staff salaries and benefits, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. This leaves districts to choose between unpopular options such as layoffs, school closures and early retirement incentives if budget cuts are needed.

    Early retirements often leave school districts with more inexperienced and under-prepared teachers, which research has shown can have a negative impact on student performance, particularly in high-needs schools.

    This school year, two of the state’s largest districts, San Diego Unified and San Francisco Unified, are offering to pay older, veteran teachers and staff to retire early. Santa Ana Unified and Paso Robles Joint Unified offered an early retirement incentive to their staff earlier this school year. 

    “Part of the cost savings that come with a SERP (supplemental early retirement plan) is, because school districts have a step and column salary schedule, that you realize savings by having teachers that are higher on the salary schedule retire,” said Amy Baer, associate superintendent of human resources for San Francisco Unified School District. 

    “They’re replaced with teachers who are lower on the salary schedule, so it would bring down the number of experienced teachers that you are going to have,” she said.

    In hard-to-fill areas, such as special education, math, science and bilingual education, districts sometimes have to hire under-prepared teachers who have not completed teacher training to fill vacant jobs.

    “We are concerned that the early retirement incentive could exacerbate the existing vacancies for special education we have continued to experience for the last five school years,” said San Diego Education Association President Kyle Weinberg.

    The districts are not excluding teachers in hard-to-fill jobs from retirement incentives. 

    “I think it would be difficult, if challenged legally, that you won’t honor a math credential, but you will honor an English credential (for the incentive),” Fine said.

    Deficits mean staff cuts

    San Francisco Unified leaders, with the help of state-appointed advisers, are trying to reduce the district’s deficit by $113 million. District officials estimate it will have to cut 535 positions, with about 300 coming from early retirements, according to district officials.

    To help meet that goal, San Francisco Unified is offering an early retirement incentive to all staff aged 55 or older, who have more than five years of consecutive service. In return, the district will pay them the equivalent of 60% of their current salary, according to documents from Keenan & Associates, the company administering the plan. The deadline to apply for the supplemental early retirement plan is Feb. 21. 

    San Francisco Unified officials have indicated layoffs will still be needed to bridge the district’s budget deficit.

    San Diego Unified offered an early retirement incentive earlier this school year as part of an effort to eliminate a $112 million projected deficit. The district had 965 employees, including 478 teachers, apply for the incentive — 27% more than expected by the Jan. 15 deadline. The district hasn’t announced how much they expect the retirements will save.

    The supplemental early retirement plan was open to employees eligible to retire under the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), or CalPERS, a public pension service for state workers, by June 30. The district is offering staff 70% of their pay, capped at $124,000 — the top step in the teacher salary schedule. The money will be put in an annuity and paid out over five years.

    District officials at San Diego Unified also have not ruled out layoffs, but expect them to be minimal. 

    “The higher number of people taking early retirement is another positive step toward our goal of delivering a balanced budget in June,” said Fabi Bagula, San Diego Unified School District interim superintendent, in a statement. “The increased number of retirees provides us an opportunity to work with site administrators to assess the way we have been doing things and reimagine our staffing approach to better serve our students and families.”

    Santa Ana Unified offered teachers and other certificated members of the teachers union an early retirement incentive in October, in an effort to reduce a $180 million structural deficit. Although 160 teachers accepted the deal, the district still expects to lay off at least 100 more certificated employees before the end of the year, said Ron Hacker, associate superintendent and chief business official.

    The school board recently voted to reopen the window for early retirement applications and to extend it until May, according to LAist.

    More under-prepared teachers

    Schools in San Francisco and San Diego counties made some of the most requests for emergency-style teaching permits and waivers during the 2022-23 school year, according to California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) data. 

    Districts request emergency-style permits to allow teachers who have not completed testing, coursework and student teaching, to work on provisional intern permits, intern credentials and short-term staff permits when they can’t find enough credentialed teachers. Waivers and limited-assignment permits allow credentialed teachers to teach classes on subjects outside their credential.

    San Diego County is among the top 10 counties to request intern credentials, short-term staff permits and limited assignment teaching permits in 2022-23, according to the CTC. San Diego Unified serves 114,000 students — just under a quarter of the students in San Diego County.

    That year, San Diego Unified had 55 teachers working on intern credentials, 68 on short-term staffing permits, two on provisional intern permits, 98 on limited assignment permits and three on waivers, according to state data.

     The district, the second largest in the state, had 5,051 teachers in 2022-23, the most recent year state data is available.

    San Francisco Unified, which serves 55,452 students, currently has 59 intern teachers and about 230 teachers on various other emergency-style permits, according to the district. 

    The district, which serves all but about 1,000 students in San Francisco County, has 3,364 TK-12 teachers and 128 early childhood educators. The county was listed among the top 10 counties to request district intern credentials and waivers during the 2022-23 school year, according to commission data. 

    Teacher shortage persists

    At a Dec. 10 San Francisco Unified school board meeting, parents and community members complained about long-term substitute teachers teaching in classrooms where there is no credentialed teacher.

    Parent Cheryl Thornton urged the board not to eliminate 500 positions, saying the district already is struggling with empty positions. “We should prioritize central office positions and look for extra funding,” she said.

    Another parent complained that her autistic son, who attends James Lick Middle School, has substitutes instead of a regular teacher. “We need a teacher as soon as possible,” she said.

    San Francisco Unified, like most districts, has a shortage of teachers in special education and other high-needs areas. District leaders say they don’t know yet whether losing veteran teachers in these subjects could result in more under-prepared teachers working on emergency-style permits.

    “It’s really too soon to say what the impact would be next year, but we are committed to making sure that our students do continue to get rigorous and enriching programs in our schools,” said Laura Dudnick, spokeswoman for the district.

    The San Diego solution

    In San Diego Unified, 57 special education teachers are taking the early retirement incentive, San Diego Education Association President Weinberg said. That means more classrooms being taught by long-term substitutes, he said.

    Concern from the teachers union resulted in a program that will retrain district teachers to be special education teachers while they work in those positions next school year. In a deal bargained with the union, the district will pay all the costs associated with earning a special education credential, he said. 

    The union will propose making this program a permanent part of its contract, and is working with unions in other large districts throughout the state to make similar agreements, Weinberg said.

    “We are optimistic that this will become the template for how we address the staffing crisis around special education moving forward, and provide a path for educators within our unit who are in more precarious contracts like temporary contracts or who would be potentially laid off or who are visiting (long-term substitute) teachers to be able to get a special education credential and make the commitment to teach in one of these vital special education roles,” Weinberg said.

    San Francisco is contracting with Keenan & Associates and San Diego with Pacific Life Insurance company to administer their early retirement programs. 

    “I have never seen an early retirement that actually saves the money that the vendor tells you it’s going to save,” Fine said. 

    Despite that, Fine supports the use of early retirement incentives.

    “I think we have to treat people with absolute dignity, and layoffs just destroy morale,” Fine said. “And when morale is destroyed, instruction is destroyed. So, when the morale of our teachers in the classroom is low, instruction is not as good as it should be. And you can’t harm kids that way. So I guess it’s a fine balance.”





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  • Pacifica’s ‘singing principal’ engages students through music

    Pacifica’s ‘singing principal’ engages students through music


    Student band members perform a concert at the Pacifica School District.

    Credit: Courtesy of Tom Stafford

    Tom Stafford has been singing his heart out since he was 5 years old, performing in a gospel trio with his sister, Pam, and their mother, Doris. The Stafford Family singers traveled all over Appalachia with their unique three-part harmony. 

    “My mother used to say I came out of the womb singing,” says Stafford, who grew up in Vanceburg, Kentucky, before studying music at Morehead State University and getting a master’s degree in education at the University of Louisville. 

    Tom Stafford, former music teacher, principal and arts coordinator for Pacifica School District.
    Credit: Courtesy of Tom Stafford

    The exuberant 61-year-old hasn’t stopped singing yet. When Stafford first landed at the Pacifica School District just south of San Francisco in 2002 as a choral director, he taught music to all the third, fourth and fifth graders. That’s well over 1,000 students a week.

    “It was pretty crazy,” he admits. “It was a lot. By the time I was done on Friday afternoon, I was toast. Thank God I was younger then. But, you know, I loved it. I loved that every kid in town knew me.”

    Over the years, Stafford has played many roles in Pacifica, including music teacher, bandleader, classroom teacher, principal of Linda Mar and Cabrillo schools and visual and performing arts coordinator. He was dubbed the “singing principal” because he sang to his students every day. It was his secret to spark engagement amid widespread student disaffection.

    “It’s a way to get their attention and help them listen to you and know that you are there and that you care,” he said. “The arts are always the first thing cut, and that’s sad because the arts help you build a strong foundation for everything else. Learning to read music early is going to improve reading in class. It’s going to improve the way kids think mathematically in class.” 

    Stafford retired last year, but his legacy lives on for Pacifica’s students because he remains the district’s unofficial music man, the architect of its ambitious sequential music curriculum. He has always believed that music matters in education.

    “We are aesthetic beings by nature,” Stafford said. “And because of that, having a music program allows kids to really explore who they are as individuals, as musicians, as students, as anything they really want to be. The arts in general allow for kids to experiment in becoming who they are.”

    Stafford stepped up when opportunity knocked, expanding the district’s ambitious music program, bolstered by new Proposition 28 funding. Despite declining enrollment and the budget woes it triggers, a challenge now facing many districts, Pacifica remains all in on music education. 

    “Their early commitment to expanding music education is a game-changer for their students,” said Allison Gamlen, visual and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Office of Education. “By offering a sequential, standards-based music program from TK through grade 8, they are ensuring that every child has the opportunity to develop creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills through music.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc9ekvnYdyg

    Check out a student performance from 2015 at Cabrillo School in Pacifica, which features an introduction by then-arts coordinator Tom Stafford, now retired.

    Stafford had to tap into multiple funding streams, combining private philanthropy with Proposition 28 money, to expand the district’s original music program to reach all grades from transitional kindergarten to eight. Finding music teachers amid a chronic staffing shortage was also a key challenge.

    “You have to leverage every dollar to make it happen,” he said. “You leverage the other funding you have so you can use Prop. 28 to pay the teachers.”

    While some school districts have been hesitant to jump on Proposition 28 arts funding, others have been chomping at the bit to bring the arts back into classrooms after decades of cutbacks. Under Stafford’s watch, Pacifica envisioned a symphony of learning, a program that gradually develops from transitional kindergarten to eight so that students emerge with a profound understanding of the art form. 

    “Depth of knowledge in music education, focusing on progressing skills over time within a single discipline, has profound benefits for students,” Gamlen said. “By prioritizing depth in music education, Pacifica is giving students more than just exposure. They’re equipping them with a pathway to mastery, self-expression and a lifelong love of the arts.”

    Even if students don’t become virtuosos, this deep dive into music will make a lasting impact, experts say.  Even students with a tin ear are likely to get the full cognitive boost that music lessons give the growing brain. For example, research suggests that even 45 minutes of arts practice, however rudimentary it may be, notably reduces stress. Skill is no obstacle. You can be drawing blurry stick figures or mangling chopsticks on the piano, and it still helps spark focus and concentration in the classroom. 

    “Sustained, high-quality arts education enhances academic achievement, social-emotional learning and overall student engagement,” Gamlen said. “Pacifica’s investment in music is an investment in their students’ success —both in school and beyond.”

    When Stafford stepped down last year, he passed the torch to Benjamin Gower, the district’s current visual and performing arts coordinator and band director. They both see music as a tool for building academic skills and emotional resilience in a generation hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. The program starts in transitional kindergarten with the basics of song, rhythm, and dance and builds until students join a concert band and specialize in a woodwind, brass or percussion instrument by eighth grade.

    “While the core subject areas teach us the important things we need to understand the world, it is art that helps us learn how to understand ourselves and to be able to live with and make sense of the world around us,” Gower said. “Music is what helps to do that for me and has impacted my life in almost every way I can think of, and it’s that idea that helped inspire me to become a teacher in the first place.”

    Immersing in music over time allows students to achieve a feeling of expertise, of charting their own course and following their passion, that can lead to greater knowledge and pride, experts say. 

    “Music requires students to develop critical thinking skills, organizational skills, understanding the need for teamwork, communication skills, the idea and concept of practicing for improvement,” Gower said, “while also helping boost their self-confidence and helping them to learn how to overcome difficult obstacles and tasks.”

    Pacifica School District students compete in an all-city band competition.
    Credit: Tom Stafford

    Some children will discover an instrument they will play their whole life. That musical acumen will help shape their identity, buttressing their love of learning. 

    “Sequential music and arts programs are essential,” said Merryl Goldberg, a veteran music and arts professor at Cal State San Marcos. “Deep learning in any subject teaches not only about the subject, but it also teaches one how to learn, how to be disciplined, how to embrace understanding, and to feel confident in one’s ability to understand, question and wonder.”

    Stafford has long seen music as a balm for the soul. He says he has always embraced this philosophy: “If you didn’t show up to help, then why are you here?”

    When he realized how much suffering and isolation children had weathered during the pandemic, he began holding “dance parties” during recess at school. He cranked up the music, from disco to K-pop, and invited all comers to bust a move. 

    “That was my favorite part of being principal,” he said. “I wanted to do something joyous. It was also the best move I ever made to maintain discipline.”

    The dance break gave students a chance to let off steam, which helped release frustrations and resolve behavior issues in class, and gave them a chance to bond with their peers. If he ever got too busy and had to cancel a dance party, students inevitably came knocking on his door. They didn’t want to miss out on a chance to socialize. 

    “They needed it, and they knew they needed it,” said Stafford, “Music is how you build bridges in a community. It brings people together.” 

    The best part of retirement for Stafford is finally having more time for his own music, such as his revue “Totally Tom.” He says doesn’t miss the herculean administrative headache of running a school, but he does miss the kids.

    “I miss them every day.”





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  • In the age of AI, students urgently need access to computer science

    In the age of AI, students urgently need access to computer science


    Credit: Alison Yin for EdSource

    For school leaders, artificial intelligence (AI) might feel like the latest shiny new thing to tackle in education. 

    With ethical questions to reflect on, it may be shiny, but computer science teachers will tell you it’s not new — it’s been part of computer science education for 60 years. 

    Computer science is foundational to learning about artificial intelligence, including thinking critically about AI’s ethics and impacts, data and algorithms, and equipping students to use technology responsibly. Like learning to drive a car, it’s good to know what’s under the hood, and be aware of the dangers, troubleshoot problems, know where you’re going and how to get there safely.  If technology is driving the future, how can we prepare students to do the steering if they do not learn computer science in school?

    Yet, only 5% of California students take computer science in high school­, something we need urgent action to change.

    A high-quality computer science education offers a new way of teaching in the currency students understand best: with their technological devices. Learning to think computationally — using algorithms to construct learning — can be a tool for engaging students to think critically about technology’s influence in making meaning of their world. Whether we like it or not, the choice facing us now is: either we teach students how to use technology safely and be justice-minded creators of it, or risk students’ harm of getting used and manipulated by it.

    Despite widespread use of technology, school leaders are overwhelmed with decisions about teaching with AI tools and teaching about artificial intelligence in the classroom. Research conducted by the UCLA Computer Science Equity Project affirms that administrators struggle to juggle their overflowing plate of responsibilities. But instead of seeing AI as yet another thing to fit into the school schedule — one of the main reasons more schools aren’t offering computer science — understanding how it’s part of a high-quality computer science education can help expand access to this foundational learning.

    California’s computer science (CS) strategic implementation plan serves as a road map to realizing the state’s vision that all schools offer computer science education and all teachers are prepared to teach it. To make good on that plan, the Legislature funded the Educator Workforce Investment Grant, to provide professional learning in computer science for thousands of California’s educators. This comprehensive model of professional development, Seasons of CS, equips educators with knowledge and skills to engage students with culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy aligned with the state’s computer science standards (which classifies AI as a sub-discipline of computer science).

    California, a hub of innovation across industries, has made significant efforts to prioritize equity, access and engagement in computer science education, but remarkably, California lags behind the national average and 38 other states in the percentage of high schools offering at least one computer science course. As of 2021, just 34% of schools serving high proportions of Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Pacific Islander students offered computer science courses, compared with 52% of schools serving a greater proportion of white and Asian students. Despite student interest in computer science, not enough schools prioritize it because they are not held accountable for it by the state.

    Yet, exposure to computer science can impact college majors and increase earnings, especially for students of color who are underrepresented in computer science. 

    Educators need support bringing computer science to every student, regardless of their background, and school leaders have a role to play in bridging this gap. District and county-level supervisors can leverage state-level initiatives like the Math, Science, Computer Science Partnership Grant to build a pathway with more computer science class offerings that are integrated into other subjects.

    To ensure every student has access to this foundational knowledge that prepares them for college, careers and community engagement, every school should offer computer science education. This year, Assemblymember Marc Berman is re-introducing legislation that will add California to the list of states whose schools are required to offer CS. Assembly Bill 887 would require every high school to offer at least one course in computer science by the 2028-29 school year, with support for schools in rural and urban areas.

    Regardless of a student’s post-high school plan, computer science can help students grapple with the good and bad of technology, including effects of social media, biased algorithms that lead to inequitable outcomes, and controversial issues around privacy and disinformation that influences our democracy. All students should have access to the foundational learning computer science provides, building critical skills for our students’ future, no matter whether their future career is in tech or not.

    It’s not easy keeping up with the rapid change of technology’s newest tools, but one thing is clear: Computer science education can inspire students to become competent and confident navigating online life. Expanding access to opportunities to teach and learn computer science and ensuring all schools offer it, will help respond to the ever-changing landscape of technology and prepare students for our digital future.

    •••

    Julie Flapan is a researcher, educator and the director of the Computer Science Equity Project at UCLA Center X, School of Education and Information Studies and co-lead of the CSforCA coalition.

    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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  • Cal Poly Humboldt will cover gap between tuition and aid for eligible students next fall

    Cal Poly Humboldt will cover gap between tuition and aid for eligible students next fall


    A new initiative at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, seeks to allay students’ doubts about whether they can afford to enroll there. If there is a gap remaining after traditional financial aid awards, Humboldt says it will pick up the balance starting in the fall.

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s Green & Gold Guarantee makes it the second among the 23 California State University (CSU) campuses to launch a last-dollar tuition guarantee after California State University, Fresno began one last fall. Based on previous enrollment trends, the Humboldt program could cover as many as 2,000 students a year.

    The average award is expected to fill a gap of roughly $200 on average, not an enormous amount on its own but enough to provide a sense of stability to worried students, officials say. And by attracting and keeping more students, Humboldt hopes to continue its climb back from a drastic enrollment drop in the past decade. 

    Chrissy Holliday, Humboldt’s vice president for enrollment management and student success, said students will learn whether they are eligible for the guarantee soon after submitting financial aid applications, rather than having to wait for their entire aid package to be determined in detail. “It creates just a level of certainty that they wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said. 

    Cal Poly Humboldt’s guarantee program is open initially to new first-year and transfer students who are California residents or otherwise qualify for in-state tuition and meet financial criteria. It can continue for up to four years for full-time students and two for transfers. There is no separate application after filing the usual Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application. The guarantee at the campus of roughly 6,000 students covers tuition and mandatory fees — such as those used to fund health services and the student center — but does not cover other expenses like food and housing.

    Admissions trends suggest the program could benefit hundreds of incoming students, if not more. Cal Poly Humboldt estimates that 300 first-time students per year would have received the guarantee in 2023 and 2024 if the program had existed. The university additionally admitted an average of 1,700 applicants who would have been eligible had they chosen to enroll at Humboldt. 

    “When it comes to programs like this, it’s so, so helpful to students that are low-income, maybe first-generation, whose primary barrier to college access is going to be financial aid,” said Rachel Perry, who assists high school students with financial aid applications through her work with the North Coast California Student Opportunity and Access Program Consortium. “There are so many students who I see at my workshops every week that are discouraged because they feel like, ‘Even if I get some financial aid, is it going to be enough?’”

    California State University, Fresno, launched a similar initiative, Tuition Advantage, in fall 2024. Phong Yang, the interim vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Fresno State, said the program is a response to concerns from students who report in surveys that “the cost of college is always towards the top of their priorities.” Given that reality, university officials were also concerned about how the troubled rollout of the 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid might impact prospective students.

    In its first year, Fresno State awarded 111 students between $70 and $3,300 through Tuition Advantage, Yang said, at a total cost of roughly $200,000. It’s hard to gauge whether the new program was a deciding factor for those students in its first year, he added, but enrollment rose 3.6% this fall from 2023.

    Students weighing whether to pursue a college degree may have difficulty estimating how much their education will cost because the sticker price on many academic programs can deviate from students’ actual costs after scholarships, financial aid and loans. Living expenses can also add to students’ overall cost of attendance, adding to unpredictability.

    At Cal Poly Humboldt, a full-time, first-time undergraduate living off campus with family and receiving in-state tuition could expect expenses of $12,316 a year including food, housing and other costs before aid, according to federal data for the 2022-23 school year. An in-state student living on campus faced estimated expenses of $24,856 before aid. 

    But if a student qualifies for financial aid, that won’t be their final price tag. At Cal Poly Humboldt, in-state undergraduates in the lowest income bracket — those with a family income of $30,000 or less — faced an average net price of $8,090 for all costs in the 2022-23 school year after average aid awards, the most recent data available. Those in the next-highest income bracket, which is capped at $48,000, had an average net price of $9,623.

    The Green & Gold Guarantee could reduce tuition and fee costs further for selected students. Eligibility will be based on a measure of financial need called the student aid index, which is calculated when students apply for state or federal assistance to attend college. Manny Rodriguez, the director of policy and advocacy in California for The Institute for College Access & Success, said the program seems like it will support low- to moderate-income students, including those who receive a minimum or partial Pell Grant, a common form of federal aid. It also could support students who do not qualify for a Cal Grant because of factors like age or time out of high school, he said, even though they are Pell-eligible.

    Students who take a break from school or return to Humboldt after transferring to another institution lose eligibility. The guarantee is also not open to students in graduate, credential or extended education programs, nor to students who entered Humboldt before fall 2025.

    To be eligible, students must also be enrolled full time, maintain at least a 2.0 GPA and renew their financial aid application annually.

    Cal Poly Humboldt, formerly Humboldt State, has in recent years transitioned to a polytechnic university, concentrating more on science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs. 

    The university in far Northern California anticipated that its polytechnic status would bring a wave of new students after a period of decline. That prediction has proven at least partially true: The student body grew 5% between 2021, the year before its name change became official, and fall 2024. However, overall enrollment remains more than 30% lower than a decade ago in 2015. While Cal Poly Humboldt’s beautiful location attracts students, others have felt too far away from metro areas around the state. 

    Cal State data shows that another challenge has been retaining students who are already enrolled. Though Cal Poly Humboldt’s first year continuation rate has risen slightly in recent school years, it still lags most of its sister campuses in the CSU system. Across the CSU system, 83% of full-time, first-time freshmen who started in fall 2023 continued to a second year, while a slimmer 76% of Cal Poly Humboldt first-year students returned to the campus for year two. 

    Mary Mangubat, a Cal Poly Humboldt student who participates in the Students for Quality Education internship program, which is funded by the California Faculty Association, said one of her concerns about the Green & Gold Guarantee is that it’s not open to current students. “We as continuing students don’t get a lot of support or outreach from the university,” Mangubat said, “and so people often can’t sustain themselves here on this campus and they transfer out.” 

    The university anticipates that the program will cost about $82,000 annually. In its first year, it will receive one-time funding from the university’s contract with food vendor Chartwells, Humboldt VP Holliday said, and will be funded by tuition revenue going forward.

    This post has been updated with the legal name of California State University, Fresno.





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  • How CSU campuses are helping more students graduate on time, without debt

    How CSU campuses are helping more students graduate on time, without debt


    Student para-planners at the Chico State Financial Wellness Clinic provide the campus community with free financial planning and education services overseen by a licensed financial planner.

    Credit: Jessica Bartlett / Chico State

    There’s a group of students whose fate has largely been forgotten amid the shifting political and policy landscape of higher education. It’s young people from lower-income backgrounds who are taking classes and studying while also working, caring for their families, and struggling to afford housing and basic needs, such as food.

    As the shifts continue, institutions and their allies can step up and do more to ensure these students complete their studies and realize the lifelong benefits of graduating with a bachelor’s degree. And they can do so by prioritizing affordability, recognizing that cost is often a major barrier to student success.

    Consider the example of Dejanae Wilson, who graduated from California State University, Chico, last year with a bachelor’s degree in social science. While working toward her degree, she was also caring for three younger siblings. 

    “I had a lot on my plate trying to manage our finances and keep up with my courses,” she said. 

    To ensure that Dejanae could graduate on schedule and according to plan, she turned to the recently established Financial Wellness Clinic at Chico State. Thanks to consultations with both a student and a faculty adviser at the clinic, she managed the household budget and connected to campus resources (like the Hungry Wildcat Food Pantry), which offered her family crucial support.  

    “It’s easy to get caught up in the flow of life, your job, and taking care of people — and not realize there are resources on campus that can help,” Dejanae said.

    Across California State University’s 23 campuses, administrators, faculty and students are working diligently to support students like Dejanae to complete their studies on time and according to plan. From expanding mentorship, tutoring, and academic advising, to increasing access to financial counseling, to instituting early warning systems to identify and support struggling students, campuses are piloting a range of promising approaches to support student persistence and success. These approaches often build on existing campus policies and programs, making them impactful and achievable.

    The Financial Wellness Clinic at Chico State, led by finance professor Jaycob Arbogast in the university’s College of Business and staffed by finance students, is just one example of these practical and effective strategies. This well-organized and structured program, which seamlessly integrates classroom learning with practical experience to support student needs, was recognized for its effectiveness and bestowed the prestigious Catalyst Fund award by the National Association of Higher Education Systems. The awards recognize replicable programs and strategies that California’s public colleges and universities are pursuing to remove cost as a barrier to higher education.

    At CSU Channel Islands, another innovative initiative that received Catalyst Fund support has provided additional resources to students who are struggling academically so they can stay on track and reduce the time (and costs) of earning a degree. Launched in spring 2022, the initiative targets students who have nonpassing or incomplete grades and/or other indicators that they are not progressing academically. The program connects these students to faculty and peer mentors and special, cohort-based activities where they bond with other students and develop skills and mindsets that support their persistence and success.

    Early results from the program show that participating students’ average GPAs increased, and the percentage of students who graduated or returned for the following semester was higher than that of the general student population. Interestingly, one of the key benefits students point to is how the program builds connections with peers facing similar challenges. As one student said after participating in the program, “You are able to be part of a group that becomes your family, you learn about the experiences of other students, and realize you are not alone.”

    Supporting students to persist in their studies can take several forms. At Sonoma State University, students who are the first in their family to go to college are 47% of all undergraduates. As university officials started to see a decline in retention among these “first-gen” students during the Covid pandemic, they developed an early alert system that pings a student and connects them to their adviser and other support when a faculty member reports low test scores or attendance problems. At the end of the program’s pilot year in 2023-24, 97% of first-year, first-gen students enrolled in the program ended in good academic standing and returned the following fall.

    What’s happening at Sonoma State and the other CSU campuses is part of a broader commitment to closing the equity gap in higher education across a university system that, despite its uniquely diverse student population, continues to experience racial disparities in degree completion. It was in response to these disparities that CSU set a goal to increase graduation rates between 2015 and 2025. Thanks to Graduation Initiative 2025, the system has nearly doubled its four-year graduation rate for first-year students, and undergraduates are earning their degrees faster than ever before.

    Expanding access to a bachelor’s degree and supporting student persistence and success are core functions of the higher education system. In California and across the nation, campuses are showing it’s possible to do better, even in today’s uncertain political and policy environment. All it takes is creativity and a commitment to students who might otherwise struggle to achieve their college dreams.

    •••

    Dilcie Perez is a deputy vice chancellor and chief student affairs officer for the California State University system. Monica Martinez is program director for college success at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

    The opinions in this commentary are those of the authors. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Academic gaps ‘allowed to linger’ among California’s Black students over past decade, report says

    Academic gaps ‘allowed to linger’ among California’s Black students over past decade, report says


    Aleka Jackson-Jarrell, coordinator of the Heritage Program at Adelanto High in California’s High Desert, regularly meets with Black students to make sure they stay on track to graduate and meet A-G requirements that enable them to apply to a public university.

    Emma Gallegos/EdSource

    In the areas of chronic absenteeism, suspension and reading proficiency, the rates for Black students in California remain largely the same as they were a decade ago. That is the focus of a new report, Black Minds Matter 2025, which provides new insight and recommendations on education for Black students in California a decade after the first iteration of the report was published by Education Trust-West.

    “This report really meets the moment that we’re in when we’re seeing so many cuts to education funding and programs that are inevitably going to impact Black students,” said Melissa Valenzuela-Stookey, director of research at the prominent nonprofit behind the report that advocates for equity in education.

    Ten years ago, Black students were nearly three times more likely than white students to be suspended, and while suspension rates among Black students have since declined from 14% to 9%, the rate is still three times higher than white students, according to data from the California Department of Education included in the report. The chronic absenteeism rates are similar: in 2016-17, Black students had the second-highest rate of chronic absenteeism of any student group, just under Native American students — a statistic that remained the same in 2023-24.

    “None of the opportunity gaps or outcome gaps explored in this report are new — all have been allowed to linger over the past decade,” concluded the report authors.

    Black students represent about 5% of California’s student population from transitional kindergarten to 12th grade. That totals about 287,400 students, with about a third of them living in Los Angeles County, per 2023-24 state data. About 150,000 Black students are enrolled at institutions of higher education, both public and private.

    “We constantly have in the front of our minds that there are students and families and communities behind every single data point,” said Valenzuela-Stookey. “For that reason, it felt really important to not mince words and just bring to bear the information that we have about what conditions students and families are facing and are up against; despite the fact that they enter those systems with really ambitious aspirations, something is pushing against them, and that something is systemic.”

    The “ambitious aspirations” Valenzuela-Stookey mentioned refers to a finding by The United Negro College Fund in which 9 in 10 Black students agreed that earning a college degree is important, plus additional studies that found Black parents “are highly engaged and invested in their children’s educations, particularly in the early years,” per the report.

    The report, published Thursday, highlights multiple key findings, including:

    • The percentage of Black students in California at grade level in math increased from 16% to 18% in the decade since 2015-16 but has remained the lowest of all student groups
    • The gap between California’s Black and white students who have met or exceeded the state’s reading proficiency exams, known as California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, has not changed significantly since 1998
    • Three in 4 Black students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, which is 13 percentage points higher than the statewide average
    • The rate of Black students completing A-G course sequences in high school, which are required to attend the University of California and California State University systems, has increased by just 4 percentage points in the last decade
    • While the number of Black children enrolled in transitional kindergarten more than doubled from 2021 to 2023-24, the rate still makes up less than half of the number of Black 4-year-olds who are eligible to enroll
    • Black elementary school students report feeling sadness more frequently than any other student group
    • The number of Black teachers remained disproportionately lower than the share of Black students statewide; just over a quarter of school districts employ Black teachers at a rate proportionate to their Black student population
    • The rate at which Black students participate in dual enrollment increased by only 6 percentage points in the last seven school years, from about 11% to nearly 17%, while other student groups increased between 8 and 14 percentage points
    • Black college students in California face the highest rates of food and housing insecurity

    “This status quo is not an accident — it is the consequence of systems designed to produce unequal outcomes operating largely unchecked for centuries,” the report’s authors wrote. “It is also the consequence of incremental changes made in place of what’s called for: much more fundamental transformation.”

    A deeper look into some of the data cited in the report reveals alarming trends. For example, dual enrollment rates increased among all student racial groups between 2015-16 and 2021-22, per an analysis of state data by Policy Analysis for California Education, but Black students recorded the lowest rate of growth — at nearly 17% in 2021-22, just under the rate of dual enrollment participation for Asian students in 2015-16.

    Also, according to data from the California Community Colleges, within their first year in community college, Black students were completing and passing transfer-level coursework at a rate lower than their peers, with a difference of 30 percentage points between Asian students at 77% and Black students at 47%.

    While the report’s authors acknowledged the pandemic exacerbated some of the academic gaps, many existed long before Covid lockdowns began, and the data included in the report reflected that longevity. “It was really important for us to make sure that people had a long view of how entrenched these systemic inequities are because the solutions to them should follow from how long they’ve been baked into our systems,” said Valenzuela-Stookey.

    In addition to sharing the stark disparities, the report’s authors highlighted a handful of programs and initiatives they believe are working to close the gaps.

    These include a teacher residency program called The Village Initiative and created in collaboration with the Watts of Power Foundation; Los Angeles Unified School District; and California State University, Dominguez Hills. Fifteen Black male teachers were part of the program in 2023, and the partnership estimates they will place 113 fully credentialed, Black teachers in school over the next decade.

    Farther north, at Berkeley High School, the campus’ African American Studies Department is credited for the high rate of graduating within four years among the Black student population, at nearly 95% in the latest school year, compared to the statewide average of just over 86%.

    One of the overarching recommendations proposed by the authors was the creation of a Commission on Black Education Transformation, made up in part by Black students, parents and educators. This would be a standing state commission with the authority to make actionable decisions, including the allocation of resources to ensure follow-through from state and local agencies on policies related to academic progress for Black students.

    Other recommendations include:

    • Mandating that all high schools incorporate the 15-course A-G curriculum required for eligibility to the UC and CSU systems
    • Increasing award amounts for the existing Cal Grant program to aid students with non-tuition costs
    • Prioritizing the hiring and retention of Black educators in both TK-12 and higher education
    • Expanding pandemic-era supports, such as before- and after-school programming and academic tutoring
    • Requiring that all school staff receive training to end the disproportionate impact on Black students of punitive disciplinary practices
    • Modifying the state’s Local Control Funding Formula to target funds based on an index of metrics such as levels of adult educational attainment and homeownership rates
    • Instructing school districts to report “evidence-based strategies” aimed at supporting Black students in their Local Control and Accountability Plans

    Valenzuela-Stookey noted that her team sees both the progress and persistent gaps over the last decade “as a reminder that policy change is just the first step in closing a lot of these opportunity gaps that are highlighted in the report, and implementation and on-the-ground practice work is really the necessary next step if any of that is to come to fruition.”





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  • What college students hope, fear from the new presidential administration

    What college students hope, fear from the new presidential administration


    “I am an immigrant, and I didn’t come here to do anything bad,” Mejias said. “They think that anybody who comes here, that is not from the U.S., has bad intentions. People don’t immigrate just because they want to leave their country. They immigrate because they want to change their future. They want to work and have a different life.”

    Mejias’ goal is to transfer to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo following the completion of the required computer science transfer courses at Saddleback College. Then Mejias wants to find remote work and return home to Venezuela.

    “I really miss my country, my people,” Mejias said. “I will see if I come back,” he added, because the changing social climate and attitude toward immigration in the U.S. has contributed to Mejias’ hesitation about a future visit to the states.

    He also feels more comfortable in California. “I’ve been to different states, and there you see people (who are possessive of) their territory. They carry guns and everything. I’m like, ‘Oh, I am going back to California,’” Mejias said. “I think because I am here in California, I feel way way more safe than being in any part of the U.S.”

    By Tasmin McGill





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