blog post Video: District Spending of One-Time Funds for Educational Recovery By Stephanie Barton Jul 19, 2023 PPIC researcher Julien Lafortune discusses how California school districts spent one-time funding to address COVID-19 disruptions to education, and an expert panel explores strategies for learning recovery and some key issues moving forward.
Report District Spending of One-Time Funds for Educational Recovery By Julien Lafortune, Laura Hill, Niu Gao, Joseph Herrera ... Jun 28, 2023 To address COVID-19 disruptions to education, federal and state programs directed billions in stimulus aid to K–12 schools. These programs allocated greater funding to lower-income and high-need districts—and California districts applied their early funds to health, safety, and technology. More recently, spending has prioritized learning recovery.
Report Achieving Universal Broadband in California By Joseph Hayes, Niu Gao, Darriya Starr, Amy Gong Liu Mar 29, 2023 In 2021, California invested over $6 billion to expand broadband infrastructure, address affordability, and promote digital literacy. This report examines barriers to installing broadband in underserved communities and offers recommendations as the state aims to close the digital divide.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Achieving Universal Broadband in California By Joseph Hayes, Niu Gao, Darriya Starr, Amy Gong Liu Mar 29, 2023 The COVID-19 pandemic spurred historic federal and state investments in broadband. Achieving universal broadband in California will require coordinated efforts among service providers, municipalities, and community organizations to overcome existing barriers and leverage funding opportunities.
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.
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.
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.
event The Effects of COVID-19 on Transfer-Intending Students in California’s Community Colleges Nov 3, 2022 The pandemic widened gaps in access for community college students—and the full effects are just beginning to emerge. PPIC researcher Cesar Alesi Perez will present findings on the impact of COVID-19 on transfer-intending students. Then an expert panel will consider these outcomes in light of pre-pandemic reforms and discuss actions the state can take to strengthen enrollment and narrow equity gaps.
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.
