School reopening

State test results show California students overall performed much worse in math and English language arts than pre-pandemic, but a persistent achievement gap didn't worsen, as initially feared. Photo Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

K-12 Education

California student test scores plunge — but some achievement gaps narrow. See how your school compares.

The results — the most thorough look yet at the pandemic's toll on learning — left education officials and experts neither surprised nor hopeless.

By

Joe Hong

and

Erica Yee

• October 24, 2022

Kindergarteners wear masks while listening to their teacher amid the COVID-19 pandemic at Washington Elementary School in Lynwood on Jan. 12, 2022. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Newsletters

Get ready for new school mask rules, California

CalMatters is dedicated to explaining how state government impacts our lives. Your support helps us produce journalism that makes a difference. Donate now. Today is a day that millions of Californians have been anticipating with eagerness, dread and uncertainty: After three weeks of buildup, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is finally set to announce an update to the […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• February 28, 2022

Alisson Argueta, 8, is given a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a back-to-school clinic in South Gate, Los Angeles on August 12, 2021. Photo by Lucy Nichols/REUTERS

WhatMatters

Big COVID changes could land today in California

As soon as today, the Newsom administration could unveil a key prong of its strategy for treating COVID as an endemic virus.

By

Emily Hoeven

• February 14, 2022

WhatMatters

Are California schools failing students of color?

Proposed Oakland school closures have reinvigorated debates over learning loss and educational inequities widened by the pandemic.

By

Emily Hoeven

• February 7, 2022

$The San Francisco Unified School District Building in San Francisco on Dec. 2, 2021. Nina Riggio for CalMatters$

WhatMatters

Vaccines, grades, tests, math: Equity becomes flashpoint in California schools

Equity. That’s one of the buzzwords that will likely dominate conversation in California’s capitol next month, when state lawmakers return to Sacramento to consider, among other things, possible legislation to remove the personal belief exemption from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s student COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Stressed school leaders have mixed feelings about that, with some warning it […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• December 6, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom cites California’s strong economy and low infection rates of COVID-19 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Sept. 14, 2021. On Nov 10, he extended an emergency order. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

WhatMatters

Newsom extends COVID emergency rules

Citing a possible surge in COVID cases and short-staffed hospitals, Newsom extended parts of his emergency order through March 2022.

By

Emily Hoeven

• November 15, 2021

People pass by a vaccination verification station at the entrance to the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest in San Jose, on Aug. 13, 2021. Photo by Anda Chu, Bay Area News Group

WhatMatters

Are California’s vaccine rules making inequality worse?

Will California’s strict vaccine rules help bring an end to the pandemic that has disproportionately ravaged communities of color — or further entrench and widen those longstanding disparities? Answering that question is an increasingly urgent task for elected leaders and public health officials: Starting today, customers must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• November 8, 2021

California Gov. Gavin Newsom tours a new COVID-19 testing facility on Oct. 30, 2020, in Valencia. The state is working with corporate partner PerkinElmer to run the lab which will enable the state to process an additional 150,000 COVID-19 tests per day. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez, AP Photo/Pool

WhatMatters

State renews $1.7 billion contract with troubled COVID lab

California renewed a huge contract for a COVID-19 testing lab so plagued with problems that state health officials warned it could lose its license.

By

Emily Hoeven

• November 1, 2021

More than a thousand gathered in front of the California Capitol building to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom's stay at home order and demand that the state re-open on May 1, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

WhatMatters

Parents plan school walkout over vaccine mandate

Today, thousands of California parents are expected to keep their kids home from school as part of a statewide protest against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recently announced student vaccine mandate. Around 2,500 people are slated to protest in front of the state Capitol building in Sacramento for an event called “Our Children, Our Choice,” according to […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• October 18, 2021

WhatMatters

Why many California students keep missing school

While Gov. Newsom brags about students returning to classrooms, an EdSource report found many districts are experiencing a massive uptick in chronic absenteeism.

By

Emily Hoeven

• September 28, 2021

School Reopening