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  • Commission decision could move thousands of new teachers into the workforce quicker

    Commission decision could move thousands of new teachers into the workforce quicker


    A teacher helps a student with a math problem.

    Credit: Sarah Tully /EdSource

    Thousands of teachers could be added to the state’s workforce next school year because of a California Commission on Teacher Credentialing decision to offer teacher candidates who almost pass their teaching performance assessment a chance to earn a preliminary credential without retaking the test.

    Beginning early next year, teacher candidates who come within -1.0 standard error of measurement — generally about two or three points — of passing either the California Teaching Performance Assessment or the edTPA, can earn their credential if their preparation program determines they are prepared, commissioners voted on Friday. This decision will not impact teacher candidates who take the Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers. 

    “To be clear, the recommendation is not proposing lowering the standard, rather it would expand the ways in which candidates could demonstrate their readiness to begin teaching,” said Amy Reising, chief deputy director of the commission on Friday.

    Performance assessments are required to earn a teaching credential in California. Candidates demonstrate their competence by submitting evidence of their instructional practice through video clips and written reflections on their practice. Student candidates who select the CalTPA must complete two assessments or cycles.

    “The secondary passing standard would be targeted toward candidates who fell just short of the current adopted passing standards set for these assessments, but may have demonstrated classroom readiness through other measures at the local level and within their programs,” Reising said. 

    Preparation programs can recommend eligible candidates for a preliminary credential by documenting that they have demonstrated proficiency in each of the seven domains in the state Teaching Performance Expectations, according to the commission.

    The decision came after commissioners reviewed a report at their October meeting that revealed that a majority of teacher candidates who failed performance assessments over the last five years were extremely close to passing. If the new standard had been used over the last two years, 2,000 of the 2,731 teacher candidates who failed cycle one of the CalTPA , 953 candidates of the 1,152 who didn’t pass cycle 2 of the CalTPA, and 360 of the 1,124 candidates who failed the edTPA would have passed the assessment and earned a credential, according to the commission.

    Teacher candidates whose score is too low on their performance assessment to take advantage of the secondary passing standard can work with their teacher preparation program to revise or resubmit their work, said Anita Fitzhugh, spokesperson for the commission. The assessment can be submitted at any time at no cost because the state waived the fees. It takes about three weeks to receive a score.

    Commission staff also plan to work with teacher preparation programs to develop a formal process to identify and support programs with low teacher performance assessment passing rates, according to staff reports.

    An enduring teacher shortage has put pressure on the state to remove hurdles to earning a teaching credential. In July 2021, legislation gave teacher candidates the option to take approved coursework instead of the California Basic Education Skills Test, or CBEST, or the California Subject Examinations for Teachers, or CSET.  

    The commission’s new plan isn’t without controversy.  One concern from speakers at Friday’s meeting was that the decision would undermine Senate Bill 488, which requires the commission to replace the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment with a teaching performance assessment.

    Commission staff said that the secondary passing standard for the two performance assessments will not impact the literacy performance assessment that is under development and is expected to be piloted in the spring and field-tested the following school year.

    “A separate standard-setting study will be conducted in Spring 2025 to recommend passing standards for the literacy performance assessment,” Reising said in an email on Monday.

    According to commission staff, a work group made up of teachers, administrators, mentor teachers and university faculty will convene in July to study and make recommendations on how to improve all three of the state’s performance assessments. It will consider best practices, the challenges of implementation and how to ensure reliable scoring. 

    More than 50 people submitted comments to the commission on the state’s performance assessments. Most urged commissioners to either eliminate or revamp the performance assessments. 

    “TPAs are vastly subjective, depending on who is scoring the assessment; rubric-based explanations and feedback upon results are very vague,” said Aly Gerdes, a teacher at Evergreen Elementary School District in San Jose. “I truthfully do not see the inherent value in CalTPA and believe it needs to be abolished or replaced with something that is worthwhile and will do more than add an extra stressor to teacher-candidates’ lives.”

    Many speakers and letter writers said the high-stakes assessment is detrimental to teacher candidates.

    “On a personal level, the stress and pressure associated with the TPA can be overwhelming,” wrote teacher Cheena Molsen.

    “The weight of high-stakes evaluations can adversely affect the well-being and morale of educators, potentially diminishing their effectiveness in the classroom. The toll it takes on the personal lives of teachers should not be underestimated, as the pursuit of excellence in education should not come at the cost of educators’ mental and emotional well-being.”





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  • Biden immigration order could help thousands of California children

    Biden immigration order could help thousands of California children


    A woman holds a placard saying “No human is illegal” during an August 7, 2023, march on the Golden Gate Bridge.

    Credit: Michael Ho Wai Lee / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

    Tens of thousands of children in California stand to benefit from a new executive order by the Biden administration that would provide a pathway to citizenship for their parents.

    Advocates said the new program will improve children’s financial security, physical health, mental health and will help them stay focused in school.

    Biden announced in June a new program that will allow undocumented immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens to apply for permanent residency without returning to their home countries, if they have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years and have no criminal record. In the past, undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens could apply for permanent residency, but they had to return to their home countries to finalize the process and could be barred from the U.S. for up to 10 years. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting applications in August.

    The Department of Homeland Security estimates that about 500,000 spouses of U.S. citizens and 50,000 children of applicants who are stepchildren of U.S. citizens will be eligible for the new program nationwide. About 120,000 spouses of U.S. citizens will be eligible for the program in California, according to an analysis by the organization FWD.us of data from the 2022 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

    Many of those eligible likely have children. An estimated 1 in 10 children in California have at least one undocumented parent, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. It is not clear how many of them also have a U.S. citizen parent.

    “When this was announced, it was like a huge sigh of relief,” said Mayra Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, a nonprofit children’s advocacy organization based in Los Angeles. “The opportunity that families are going to be able to stay together as they apply for permanent residency is a direct commitment to child well-being. It’s an acknowledgment that parents and caregivers are critical to children’s healthy development.”

    Some research shows that the fear of deportation of a parent or caregiver impacts children’s ability to do well in school. 

    “Absenteeism, repeating a grade and dropping out are all more likely” for children who have an undocumented parent, said Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, associate professor of education at UC Santa Barbara. She added that undocumented parents are also less likely to apply for public programs for which their U.S. citizen children are eligible, like Head Start, food stamps and public health insurance.

    Modesto resident Mirna Cisneros, whose husband and three children are U.S. citizens, said she was elated when she found out about the new policy.

    “Imagine, I even cried when I found out,” Cisneros said in Spanish. Still, she said she won’t truly believe it until she is actually able to apply for permanent residency.

    Cisneros came to the U.S. from Mexico in 1999, when she was 17. She met her husband in Florida, and later moved with him to California. Though her husband is a U.S. citizen, she has not been able to obtain permanent residency through him. She was going to apply, but stopped the process after realizing that she would have to return to Mexico and might have to stay there for 10 years.

    Cisneros said her three children, who are 17, 16 and 11 years old and are also U.S. citizens, have told her many times they are afraid she will be deported. She said her middle son told her, “’Mamá, I’m always thinking about what will happen if they grab you and take you to Mexico. I’m going to miss you. What will happen if we can’t see you?’”

    If she is able to get permanent residency, she said, it would allow her to work in better-paying jobs to help support her family. She currently bakes and decorates cakes from her home.

    Being able to apply for permanent residency would also give her children more flexibility and freedom to choose where they want to attend college, Cisneros said. Her oldest daughter is set to graduate from high school next year and has told her she wants to attend college out of state, in Florida, but because Cisneros avoids traveling by plane because of her immigration status, her daughter has been planning to give up that dream to attend school closer to home.

    “We know that as soon as they’re able to get a work permit and have the stability of knowing that they’re not going to be deported, that parent will be able to access better employment. That will mean better salaries, better types of jobs that allow parents to be more engaged in their children’s schooling, and that’s going to lead to mental and physical health benefits for parents and children,” said Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigrant families at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). The nonprofit organization was one of two dozen groups that sent a letter to the Biden administration in May asking for the change in policy.

    Cervantes pointed to research about how children benefited when their parents received work permits and protection from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, introduced by then-President Barack Obama in 2012 that has allowed hundreds of thousands of people who were brought to the United States as children to temporarily remain in the country and obtain work permits. In one study, children whose mothers were eligible for the deferral program had 50% fewer diagnoses of adjustment and anxiety disorders.

    However, Sattin-Bajaj expressed concern that many immigrants may be hesitant to apply because of the upcoming presidential election and the uncertainty of whether such a policy would be maintained under a new administration, particularly if led by former President Donald Trump.

    “I don’t have a lot of confidence that there’s euphoria right now, because things move so slowly, and it feels like a storm is brewing,” said Sattin-Bajaj.

    Top Republican leaders have rejected the program. Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign national press secretary, issued a statement saying, “Biden only cares about one thing — power — and that’s why he is giving mass amnesty and citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals who he knows will ultimately vote for him and the Open Border Democrat Party.”

    Those who qualify for the new program would not be able to vote until they receive citizenship, and they would not be able to apply for citizenship until three years after they get permanent residency.

    Speaker of the House Mike Johnson issued a statement saying he expects the program to be challenged in court and accused President Joe Biden of trying to “play both sides.”

    “The President may think our homeland security is some kind of game that he can try to use for political points, but Americans know this amnesty plan will only incentivize more illegal immigration and endanger Americans,” Johnson said.





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  • Thousands of LA students experience homelessness; we must act urgently to help them

    Thousands of LA students experience homelessness; we must act urgently to help them


    Encampments line the street that runs along Virgil Middle School’s lower field in Los Angeles County on November 30, 2022.

    Credit: Kate Sequeira / EdSource

    Homelessness and housing are at the center of political, policy and budget conversations across California, with indelible images of tents on sidewalks and people struggling against addiction and mental health often driving our understanding of the crisis.

    But homelessness is not only a story of encampments or shelters; it is a story of women, children and families, who are among the fastest-growing populations of people experiencing homelessness. These are too often the invisible faces of this crisis, and we must recognize them and act urgently to deliver solutions.

    According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, students qualify as homeless if they lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. This includes children who live doubled or tripled up with other families, in hotels, motels, shelters or other temporary arrangements.  

    Today, Los Angeles County serves 1.3 million students across 80 school districts, with 47,689 students identified as experiencing homelessness in 2022-23.

    These figures do not include our earliest learners — children from birth to transitional kindergarten — or the many families on the brink of housing instability, often one emergency away from becoming unhoused. Young children in unstable housing situations are among the most vulnerable, with their development and well-being deeply impacted by housing insecurity.  

    In Los Angeles County, voters are weighing Measure A, a citizens’ initiative that would repeal and replace the existing ¼ cent homelessness sales tax, set to expire in two years, with a new, ½ cent sales tax. The measure, tied to accountability and results, is expected to bring in $1.1 billion annually to the county to fund affordable housing, mental health and substance abuse services.

    Crafted by a coalition of housing experts, mental health professionals, labor leaders and community advocates, Measure A applies lessons learned from past efforts to expand investments in mental health and substance abuse services to get unhoused Angelenos off the streets and into treatment, increase resources for housing to make it more affordable for everyone, require accountability with clear goal-setting, regular audits and spending reports, and move funding away from programs that do not show proven results. 

    Measure A also establishes a new governance approach to deploy resources into one unified plan for addressing homelessness and the housing crisis. This plan is also informed by a Leadership Table made up of a cross-section of community leaders who will make funding and policy decisions about how these critical resources are spent that includes seats for education agency leaders and experts. 

    We believe that the innovations in Measure A would help develop stronger collaborations between school districts, housing agencies and nonprofits to offer wraparound services for families and create systems that make it easier for families to self-identify without stigma. By expanding housing programs that prioritize families and include transitional housing options connected to schools, we can better ensure that no student falls through the cracks.

    On the ground, our dedicated teachers, administrators and campus staff are navigating the challenges of homelessness with our families every day. For example, recently we had a single mother facing homelessness send her older daughter who had special needs to live with relatives, while she tried to find housing with her younger daughter. They moved around often, and getting to school was difficult.

    The school worked with the family to arrange transportation for the younger daughter so she could stay in school and helped the mother find crisis housing. Once the family was in temporary housing, the mom brought her older daughter back home, and the school helped set up transportation for her as well, allowing both children to attend school consistently.

    Measure A would help provide the dedicated resources for housing programs and critical services that our communities need to weather these challenges without disrupting their education to break the cycle of instability. 

    Without stable housing, students struggle to succeed academically and emotionally, leading to long-term consequences for our communities. By shifting some of the county’s homelessness funding toward preventive and family-focused solutions, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of children and help break the cycle of poverty and homelessness. 

    We must recognize the invisible faces of homelessness and prioritize their needs. We owe it to our students and families to ensure sustained funding, accountable spending, and a holistic, regional approach that expands our understanding of homelessness beyond individuals on the street to include students and families living in unstable housing situations. We must center on preventive and family-focused solutions, or risk losing the potential of an entire generation. It’s not just a matter of education; it’s a matter of equity, compassion, and justice, and a thriving future for California. 

    •••

    Debra Duardo, M.S.W., Ed.D., is the Los Angeles County superintendent of schools. Miguel A. Santana, is the president and CEO of the California Community Foundation.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. 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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  • New law could boost Social Security checks for thousands of retired California teachers

    New law could boost Social Security checks for thousands of retired California teachers


    Kindergarten students at George Washington Elementary in Lodi listen to teacher Kristen McDaniel read “Your Teachers Pet Creature” on the first day of school on July 30, 2024.

    Credit: Diana Lambert / EdSource

    The Social Security Fairness Act, signed by President Joe Biden on Sunday, will increase retirement benefits for many educators and other public sector workers, including nearly 290,000 in California.

    The act repeals both the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset laws, which reduced Social Security benefits for workers who are entitled to public pensions, such as firefighters, police officers and teachers, according to the Social Security Department.

    The change in the laws does not mean that California teachers, who do not pay into Social Security, will all get benefits. Instead, teachers who paid into Social Security while working in non-teaching jobs will be eligible for their full Social Security benefits, as will those eligible for spousal and survivor benefits.

    Teachers who had previous careers, or who worked second jobs or summer jobs, benefit from the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision, said Staci Maiers, spokesperson for the National Education Association.

    California is one of 15 states that does not enroll its teachers in Social Security. Instead, teachers receive pensions from the California Teachers’ Retirement System, or CalSTRS. 

    “This is about fairness. These unjust Social Security penalties have robbed public service workers of their hard-earned benefits for far too long,” said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association in a media release. “They have hurt educators and their families — and damaged the education profession, making it harder to attract and retain educators. And that means students are impacted, too.” 

    At a press conference Sunday, President Joe Biden said the Social Security Fairness Act would mean an increase on average of $360 a month for workers that have been impacted by the laws. There will also be a lump sum retroactive payment to make up for the benefits that workers should have received in 2024, Biden said. No date has been announced for those payments.

    “The bill I’m signing today is about a simple proposition,” Biden said. “Americans who have worked hard all their lives to earn an honest living should be able to retire with economic security and dignity.”

    “It’s a game-changer for a lot of educators,” said Kathy Wylie, a retired teacher who lives in Mendocino. Wylie, who is a few years away from drawing Social Security, worked for a technology company for 15 years before embarking on a 17-year career in education.

    She expects that the bump in retirement funds could encourage some veteran teachers to retire early.

    Biden signed the legislation following decades of advocacy from the National Education Association, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the California Retired Teachers Association. The bipartisan bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 12 and the U.S. Senate on Dec. 21.

    The amendments to the Social Security Act apply to monthly benefits after December 2023. The Social Security Department is evaluating how to implement the new law, according to its website.





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  • Thousands of California educators issued pink slips again this year

    Thousands of California educators issued pink slips again this year


    San Diego Unified teachers attend a school board meeting to protest pink slips last school year.

    San Diego Unified teachers protest pink slips before a school board meeting last year. The district plans to issue 30 preliminary layoff notices this year.

    Courtesy of San Diego Education Association

    San Francisco Unified announced the evening of March 13 that it will not lay off classroom teachers.

    California school districts are again turning to layoffs to shore up budgets shrunk by declining enrollment, expiring federal Covid relief funds and a leveling off of state funding. So far, more than 2,300 school employees have received preliminary layoff notices, and the number is expected to grow.

    More than 2,000 of the pink slips have gone to credentialed school staff — primarily teachers, school nurses and librarians, according to the California Teachers Association, which represents 300,000 school employees.

    State law requires that districts send pink slips by March 15 each year to any employee who could be laid off by the end of the school year. Although many of the layoff notices are withdrawn by May 15 — the last day final layoff notices can be given to tenured teachers — the annual practice is criticized by many for demoralizing school staff and causing disruption to school systems.

    “Layoffs are devastating and chaotic to our school communities and harm student learning conditions,” said CTA President David Goldberg. “This is even happening in communities like Pasadena, where educators and students lost their homes in wildfires. Our union will not stand by. We will demand that every single one of these notices is rescinded in the coming weeks.” 

    Pasadena Unified has issued 117 preliminary layoff notices, including 115 to credentialed staff.

    Districts tried to avoid large layoffs

    Some districts tried to avoid large-scale layoffs by considering other options, including early retirement incentives. San Francisco gave buyouts to 300 veteran teachers and other staff, and Santa Ana Unified gave that option to 166 teachers, but ultimately both districts are still laying off staff.

    In fact, the two districts have issued the largest number of pink slips in the state so far, according to CTA data. San Francisco Unified notified 395 teachers of potential layoffs and Santa Ana Unified sent pink slips to 351 teachers, according to the CTA. Santa Ana Unified Chief Business Officer Ron Hacker says that number has since been reduced to 280.

    San Francisco Unified, the state’s sixth-largest school district, has been struggling to close a $113 million deficit that helped put it on the list of the state’s most financially strapped districts. The district has also sent preliminary layoff notices to 164 teachers’ aides, and to 278 administrators and other staff. 

    Santa Ana Unified is attempting to reduce a $180 million structural deficit, but it also needs to reduce staff, Hacker said. In 2018, the school board decided not to pursue layoffs despite overstaffing and a structural deficit. The overstaffing problem continued through Covid when funding was tied to a state stipulation that districts can’t lay off employees, he said.

    “The Covid relief grant funds are no longer flowing, and they’re expired, so we’re at the point now where we can’t sustain the counseling ratios and the class sizes that we have,” Hacker said.

    The district also plans to make cuts to supplies, services and capital outlay to help balance the budget, Hacker said in an interview last month.

    “That being said, 80% of our budget is salary and benefits, so the only way to tackle that entire structural deficit is to include positions too,” he said.

    Most districts overstaffed

    Some school districts avoided making staffing cuts despite declining enrollment, said Michael Fine, chief executive director of the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.

     “I think if you were to look at some statewide data on staffing versus enrollment, you’d see that almost everybody’s overstaffed in some fashion, at least on the certificated side, which is where we see that data,” Fine said. 

    Data on support staff, also known as classified staff, is not being collected by the state, he said.

    District offered early warning bonuses

    Santa Rosa Elementary School District and San Ramon Unified issued more than 100 pink slips to teachers and other credentialed staff in recent months, with the districts sending out 151 and 129 pink slips respectively, according to the CTA list.

    Santa Rosa City Schools is trying to trim its budget by $30 million to reduce a structural deficit. The district, which operates 24 schools, has lost 3,000 students over the last decade.

    Instead of offering an early retirement incentive, which wouldn’t save money for the district, Santa Rosa Unified gave employees bonuses if they gave advance notice that they wouldn’t be working at the district next school year, said Lisa August, associate superintendent of business services. Employees who gave notice by Jan. 31 received a $1,000 bonus, $750 if they gave notice by Feb. 15, and $500 if by Feb. 28.

    The CTA list does not include many districts still in the process of issuing layoff notices, or whose unions did not report their numbers. Among them is Berkeley Unified, whose school board voted last week to notify 180 employees, 10 of whom are teachers, that they could lose their jobs, according to Berkeleyside.

    Oakland Unified, which is on the state’s list of most financially strapped districts, also plans to issue 97 pink slips to teachers and central office staff, according to district information. And, Oxnard Union School district projects it will issue 91 pink slips to school staff, including 41 teachers and counselors, according to the Ventura County Star.

    Layoffs can make recruitment harder

    Layoffs can hurt teacher recruitment and make it more difficult to find teachers for hard-to-fill positions teaching special education, science, math, special education and English learners. 

    Teacher layoffs during the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, are widely considered to be one of the causes of the current teacher shortage because they discouraged people from entering teacher preparation programs. In recent years, enrollment in teacher preparation programs in the state has declined.

    It’s unclear how many teachers will actually be laid off before next school year, as many pink slips are rescinded after district officials review credentials, expected retirements and projected enrollment numbers at school sites, and hearings with an administrative law judge are held to determine who stays and who goes.

    The annual process can be nerve-wracking for teachers, especially those at the bottom of the seniority list, who could be issued pink slips in consecutive years.

    “More than 2,000 educators have received a notice that they may not have a job next year, and tragically, that number increases each day,” Goldberg said. “These are the people who show up every day to teach and care for students in public schools across California — teachers, school counselors, social workers, instructional aides, custodians, and more. 

    “At a time when our students deserve a stable learning environment, smaller class sizes, and more mental health support, it is unconscionable to even think about laying off public school educators,” Goldberg said.





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