Policy Brief Policy Brief: Pandemic Changes to Medi-Cal and Implications for California’s Immigrant Farmworkers By Paulette Cha Mar 22, 2023 Pandemic changes to Medi-Cal made it easier for low-income Californians to stay enrolled and to access expanded services—improvements to care that may have helped immigrant farmworkers. The upcoming end of the public health emergency will reverse some of these changes, as advocates push to keep others permanent.
blog post Testimony: Assessing the Pandemic’s Effects on Student Learning, Absenteeism, and Graduation By Iwunze Ugo Mar 15, 2023 At an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing, PPIC’s Iwunze Ugo discusses how K–12 students are faring as California emerges from the pandemic. His testimony focuses in part on test scores from 2022, the first full administration of state standards tests in nearly three years.
Explainer Is College Worth It? By Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Cesar Alesi Perez, Vicki Hsieh, Hans Johnson Mar 8, 2023 Rising college costs and a reluctance to take on debt lead many students and families to wonder if college will actually yield a brighter future with higher earnings and better jobs. In this explainer, we explore whether the benefits of a college degree outweigh the costs.
blog post Crisis Communication Suffers During Natural Disasters By Jeffrey Mount Jan 12, 2023 Walloped by a series of atmospheric rivers, California is grappling with an unfolding natural disaster. In any disaster, communication is key—but this past weekend, our senior fellow Jeff Mount gained firsthand experience of some of the challenges facing our fractured communication systems.
blog post Test Scores Show Six-Year Setback for California Students By Darriya Starr, Emmanuel Prunty, Joseph Herrera, Iwunze Ugo Dec 14, 2022 Recently released standardized test scores show sharp declines in proficiency among the state’s fourth graders—reversing nearly six years of progress. The declines were sharpest among Black, Latino, and low-income students but do not appear to be tied to length of school closures during COVID.
Report English as a Second Language at California’s Community Colleges By Olga Rodriguez, Laura Hill, Daniel Payares-Montoya Nov 28, 2022 Colleges began implementing reforms aimed at improving English as a Second Language pathways in fall 2021—during a historic pandemic. We cannot yet disentangle the impact of reforms from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, but an analysis of early implementation finds that colleges have made significant progress.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: COVID-19 Emergency Funding and California’s Higher Education Systems By Jacob Jackson, Kevin Cook, Darriya Starr, Chansonette Buck Nov 16, 2022 Just before the pandemic hit, state funding for higher education was high and increasing, student outcomes were improving, and programs for students in need were robust. COVID-19 sent shocking changes through these educational institutions’ means and methods of operating.
Report COVID-19 Emergency Funding and California’s Higher Education Systems By Jacob Jackson, Kevin Cook, Darriya Starr Nov 16, 2022 Federal dollars offered timely, substantial support to the state’s higher education systems during the worst of the pandemic. Funding for students, online instruction, and social distancing measures made up key spending allocations.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government By Mark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Rachel Lawler, Deja Thomas Oct 26, 2022 Key findings include: Proposition 30 on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has lost ground in the past month, with support among likely voters now falling short of a majority. Democrats hold an overall edge across the state's competitive districts; the outcomes could determine which party controls the US House of Representatives. Four in ten likely voters are satisfied with how democracy is working in the US. Many Californians have negative perceptions of their personal finances and the US economy this election season.
blog post What’s Ahead for Education Recovery in California? By Niu Gao, Julian Betts, Bruce Fuller, Laura Hill Oct 20, 2022 National test scores show that the pandemic caused major disruptions to student learning, with especially large effects on Black, Latino, and low-income students. In the coming months and years, we will be studying strategies that the state’s school districts use to help students recover, and recover equitably.
