blog post Financial Aid Applications for College Increase after New Law By Jacob Jackson May 3, 2023 Under a state law that aims to ensure graduating high school seniors seek financial aid, the number of potential first-time college students applying for assistance by the UC/CSU deadline increased 12% over the prior year.
blog post Declining Higher Education Enrollment Could Widen Inequality in California By Daniel Payares-Montoya, Tess Thorman, Joseph Herrera Mar 31, 2023 The gap between high and low incomes in California is wide and growing. Recent declines in college enrollment may make it harder for the state to address this economic divide.
blog post Exploring the Spike in Chronic Absenteeism among K–12 Students By Laura Hill, Emmanuel Prunty Mar 29, 2023 Nearly one in three California public school students were chronically absent in 2021–22, a share that is almost triple that in 2018–19. Rates of chronic absenteeism were highest among Black, Native American, and Pacific Islander students.
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 Are Summer School Programs Reaching Students Who Need Them Most? By Darriya Starr, Niu Gao Mar 3, 2023 Nearly three in ten California students attended summer programs in 2022, on par with the national average. In light of significant disparities in how the pandemic affected learning, we look at participation in these programs and the role new federal and state investments might play in expanding educational opportunities.
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.
blog post Investing in Schools to Address COVID-19’s Toll on Youth Mental Health By Shalini Mustala, Paulette Cha Dec 5, 2022 The pandemic had a devastating effect on the mental health of children and adolescents. Recent state investments to support schools’ efforts in early detection and intervention promise to play a critical role in countering this crisis.
blog post Improving Regional Representation among Community College Transfers By Cesar Alesi Perez, Vicki Hsieh, Hans Johnson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Nov 29, 2022 Transferring to a four-year college is critical to improving economic mobility among underrepresented student groups—but the actual likelihood of transferring is quite low and varies widely across the state.
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.