Education Beat EdSource

University campuses have been roiled by turmoil over the latest war between Israel and Hamas. Pro-Palestinian protesters made little progress in finding common ground with administrators on many University of California campuses. Encampments came down not through mutual agreements but when administrators called in police.



But what happened at UC Riverside, a campus with a reputation for being welcoming to Middle Eastern students, was different. Protesters were able to forge a deal with administrators without the arrests or violent clashes with police. What can other universities learn from the deal reached on the Riverside campus?



Guests:




Samia Alkam, UC Riverside doctoral student and lead negotiator for pro-Palestinian students



Michael Burke, higher education reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource:




How pro-Palestinian protesters at one UC campus got a deal



UC has $32 billion in assets targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters, but no plans to divest



UCLA chancellor faces Congress, says he regrets not removing encampment sooner



College commencements face disruption from pro-Palestinian protests



Police tear apart encampment, disperse protesters on UCLA campus




Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This episode is hosted by EdSource’s Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

On any given day, thousands of calls go out from California schools to the police. But there isn't a lot of public data about why police are called to schools, or what they do when they get there.



As part of a sweeping statewide investigation into school policing, EdSource obtained nearly 46,000 incident logs documenting calls to police from and about 852 schools in almost every California county. The data offers a first, raw look at why school staff summon police. Why does this data matter and what can it tell school administrators, police, parents and students?



Guests:




Rose Ciotta, Investigations and Projects Editor, EdSource



Thomas Peele, Investigative Reporter, EdSource



Daniel J. Willis, Data Reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource:




Calling the Cops Database



When California schools summon police



Call records show vast police presence in California schools



Going police-free is tough and ongoing, Oakland schools find



San Bernardino County: Growing hot spot for school-run police



Safety concerns on the rise in LAUSD; Carvalho looks to police




Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

In San Jose’s Alum Rock Union School District, students from third to eighth grade gather after school to learn how to play guitar, trumpet, violin, guitarrón, and vihuela, and to sing mariachi music.



What is the impact of a bilingual music program like this one? With new funding available from California's Prop 28, can districts expand programs like this one or will they have to do something new?



Guests:




Zaida Ramos, Program Director, Alum Rock Union School District Mariachi Program



Karen D'Souza, Reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource:




Mariachi program teaches history and culture as well as music



Arts education: Will misuse of funds undermine the Proposition 28 rollout?




Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

California lawmakers set the average class size for transitional kindergarten, a new grade for four-year-olds, at 24 kids, with 1 adult for every 12 students.



It’s generally agreed upon in early education field that smaller class sizes and more adults make for higher quality preschool, with more one-on-one attention and better supervision. In many preschools licensed by the state, one adult is required for every 8 children.



But some districts are not staffing their TK classrooms to meet the 1:12 ratio, or they’re going over the class size. Some teachers say it's a safety issue.



Guests:




David Hunter, Transitional kindergarten teacher, Fresno Unified



Lasherica Thornton, Reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource:




These districts and charters were fined for violating TK requirements



TK staffing ratios are often unmet, teachers say; why some districts escape fines




Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

As a wave of protests on university campuses call for a ceasefire in Gaza and for universities to divest from companies with military ties to Israel, student journalists have emerged as crucial sources of information. 



At some schools, student journalists are the only regular source of news on campus grounds, especially when campuses have shut down to non-students. In some cases, they’ve scooped mainstream media, with the most accurate, up-to-date coverage. 



Increasingly, student journalists are doing this work under threats of arrest and violence.



Guests:




Chris Woodard, Managing editor, The State Hornet



Betty Márquez Rosales, Reporter, EdSource



Mallika Seshadri, Reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource: As protests surge across college campuses, student journalists report from the front lines



Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.

California has one of the lowest rates of English literacy in the U.S. Almost one third of adults in the state can do little more than fill out a basic form or read a very simple piece of writing in English. Many of them are immigrants.



Experts say programs aimed at addressing poor literacy reach only a fraction of adults who need help. One way to reach them is to bring classes directly to the workplace.



Guests:




Marcelina Chamu, Janitor



Emma Gallegos, Reporter, EdSource




Read more from EdSource: When you can't read a medicine bottle: California immigrants struggle with low English literacy



Education Beat is a weekly podcast hosted by EdSource’s Zaidee Stavely and produced by Coby McDonald.