This Week in California Education EdSource

Hello to listeners of This Week in California Education.
We’re pleased to introduce EdSource’s new podcast, Education Beat: Getting to the heart of California schools.
Join us each week as we cover everything from preschool to college, bringing you the personal stories behind the headlines.
As California students and teachers head back to in-person school this fall, we’ll be looking at how schools are preparing to help students with grief and loss caused by the pandemic, why it matters that California will be offering free school lunch to everyone and how teachers are preparing for their first day of class.
We’ll visit with freshmen starting their first year of college under the yoke of Covid. We’ll hear how one woman in Oakland adopted a whole class of first graders and helped get them to college. And how a college student in the Central Valley cut short her education to help her family, when her dad’s green card application was denied and he was stuck in Mexico.
We want you to hear the voices that are too often drowned out in the broader conversation: parents, teachers, and the students themselves.
Look for the first episode of Education Beat the first week of August, and please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, Anne Vasquez, EdSource’s new executive director, outlines her vision for the organization. She reflects on how growing up in Miami — the daughter of immigrants fleeing Cuba penniless under Fidel Castro — shaped her perspectives on education and the dual roles of equity and merit in providing opportunities for all of California’s children.
The veteran journalist, newspaper executive and former chief digital officer for Tribune Publishing discusses how strengthening storytelling can widen EdSource’s audience of teachers and parents.
She was interviewed by podcast host John Fensterwald
Recent EdSource columns by Anne Vasquez:

A case for redefining merit in education
Why a return to the classroom was scary but worth it

Note: Our podcast will take a short hiatus and return later this summer with some exciting changes. Stay tuned for more details. 

At the end of April, Louis Freedberg stepped down after serving as EdSource’s executive director for a decade. During his tenure, EdSource broadened its mission to include education reporting, expanded its coverage to include early education and higher education, and increased its audience and impact significantly.
In his last podcast as co-host of “This Week in California Education”  – the 200th episode! – Freedberg reflects on how growing up in South Africa shaped his views of race relations and education in America. He discusses the challenges of education reporting in California during an era of local control,  and offers his perspective on the shifts in education policy and the ambitious agendas of governors Brown and Newsom. He outlines what his next writing project might be.
He was interviewed by co-host John Fensterwald.

The U.S. is confronting the rise of white supremacy, disinformation, and extreme threats to democracy — while a global pandemic has created the worst health and economic emergency of our time. How can educators cultivate the informed, engaged, and effective citizenry we desperately need to ensure the strengthening of a socially just democracy? Research shows that teaching controversial issues leads to students’ increased political knowledge, interest and engagement, but for a range of reasons educators often avoid it.
Events this week were a reminder of the controversial issues that teachers and students could take on, but often don’t. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict took another deadly turn, Republican leaders blocked efforts to set up bipartisan commission to look into the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, and the U.S. Supreme Court took on a case that could further erode a woman’s right to an abortion.
Hosted by Louis Freedberg, we  devote this week’s podcast to this critically important issue. Our guests are:

Pedro Noguera, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education, who authored a recent essay in Newsweek on “Tolerance doesn’t mean avoiding the ‘ugly’ side of U.S. history.”
Judy Pace, professor of education at the University of San Francisco, and author of Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). Check out Pace’s summary of key elements for effective teaching of controversial issues here. Her work is supported by  the Spencer Foundation.

Going Deeper: 

Educating for American Democracy: Excellence in History and Civics for All Learners,” iCivics, March 2, 2021.
Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse, National Academy of Education, May 2021.
The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education, Diana Hess & Paula McAvoy, 2016.

Resources for Educators

Civics Education Resources
Annals of Social Studies Research for Teachers (ASSERT)
Education for Sustainable Democracy (Podcast)

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spark the postsecondary aspirations of all families by creating $500 college savings accounts for all current low income public school students and future ones as they enter the 1st grade, with extra amounts for foster and homeless children, at a cost of $2 billion. The proposal was a surprise piece of his $20 billion, 5-year “transformational” package for preK-12 schools in the May state budget revision that he presented this week.
College savings accounts are not a new concept but they’ve never been done on this scale. We discuss the merits and specifics with two leaders of Oakland Promise, an organization that already has an extensive college savings plan and college readiness programs in place.
Also, we speak with UC Berkeley Law professor Christopher Edley, Jr. about why he wants to lead Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education for the next two years. Edley, a long-time advocate for education equity, will become the school’s interim dean in July, replacing Dean Prudence Carter who is stepping down.
John Fensterwald and Louis Freedberg are the co-hosts. Our guests are:

Mia Bonta, CEO, Oakland Promise
Amanda Feinstein, director, Brilliant Baby, Oakland Promise
Christopher Edley, law professor and incoming dean, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education

For background, read these EdSource stories:

Newsom proposes universal transitional kindergarten, new programs for low-income students
‘College Promise’ programs reaching more students in California

Like a Category 4 hurricane, Covid-19 has undermined the state’s newly built California School Dashboard and system of state and county support for schools deemed to need help for poor performance. It could be a few years before the system is fully back up and running.
Meanwhile, school districts and charter schools are getting tens of billions of dollars in state and federal Covid relief to spend. Advocates for low-income students are thrilled about the prospects for post-pandemic help for students but also worry a once-in-a-generation opportunity will be missed if money isn’t spent effectively.
This week, we explore these issues with:

Heather Hough, executive director of the nonprofit research organization Policy Analysis for California Education or PACE;
John Affeldt, managing attorney and education equity director for the public interest law firm, Public Advocates;
Sara Noguchi, superintendent of the 30,000-student K-12 district,  Modesto City Schools.

For background, read these EdSource stories:

Mental health, equity should be schools’ focus as students return, report says
$31 billion in federal coronavirus relief coming soon to schools, college students and universities
Find out how much California school districts and charter schools will get in Covid relief 
Local assessments an option if statewide tests aren’t viable during pandemic, California officials signal

Also of interest:



Reimagine and Rebuild California Schools: Restarting School with Equity at the Center