Education

Cal State joined the University of California in ending its use of an admissions test for freshmen. Now the system is creating a new set of eligibility criteria, the first change since 1965. The plan is to focus on student high school grades and life experiences.

California needs tens of thousands of teachers and assistants to expand public school to all 4-year-olds. Private and nonprofit preschools worry they’ll lose their staff.

A Senate bill would alter the Cal Grant program, opening up additional funds to students attending private colleges and changing transfer-student targets.

NCAA rules and state law now allow student athletes to earn money from sponsorship deals, and a few are cashing in big time. But how will players make sense of the contracts companies are offering them?

Despite sinking overall enrollment, some community colleges in California are seeing more students come back. Targeted state aid is likely helping, but so is more in-person instruction.

California’s schools are struggling to staff up — despite billions in state money flowing to school districts to remedy teacher shortages. Grants have helped but, educators say, they aren’t enough.

The revised draft of the state’s proposed math framework, which became embroiled in controversy last year, insists students can reach high-level math classes under its recommendations.

Lawmakers approved a legislative Hail Mary they say will allow UC Berkeley to admit all the new students it planned to this fall, undoing a judge’s enrollment cap. Without the bill, the campus said it would have needed to defer admissions and move other students online to satisfy the judge’s order.

California will soon lift the mask mandate for children in schools and child care facilities, but experts say the move is premature.

The CalMatters College Journalism Network spoke with first-generation college students across the state about the challenges they face on campus.