Education

UC urged to encourage computer science in high schools

The University of California is being pressed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and a long list of high-powered CEOs to count computer science as a math course in deciding whether applicants meet its minimum standards to be considered for admission.

State Community College accreditor determined unfit after five decades

Steve Miller November 30, 2015

In deciding last week to remove the body that accredits community colleges in California, state commissioners erased five decades of authority and opened the door to a new oversight body. The move to get a new accreditation plan in place

Tough negotiations prompt UC enrollment to rise

James Poulos November 30, 2015

The dust has settled from Gov. Jerry Brown’s protracted budget negotiations with University of California president Janet Napolitano — to the benefit of 10,000 additional students greenlit for the UC system by the 2018-2019 school year. Meeting in San Francisco, the UC

CA continues to lead nation in “diploma-mill” colleges

Chris Reed November 25, 2015

The recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Education and state Attorney General Kamala Harris that 85,000 California students who attended for-profit campuses of Corinthian Colleges would be eligible for debt forgiveness on their student loans because they’d been misled by

CSU faculty looks unwilling to compromise on pay

Chris Reed November 22, 2015

A strike by California State University professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches looks increasingly likely in coming months unless CSU leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown are more generous with pay raises. More than 90 percent of the 23,000 workers at

Student debt makes CA waves

James Poulos November 15, 2015

While California students mustered to lead a nationwide movement for college debt relief, policymakers and innovators grappled with the issue in ways of their own. Students in the UC system — particularly the Berkeley campus — have taken a central role in

State settles high-profile school lawsuit

Chris Reed November 9, 2015

The State Board of Education has voted to settle Cruz v. California, a lawsuit alleging extreme mistreatment of mostly minority students at six urban high schools — a case that has won national attention. The Ed Source website has details: The agreement

CA students struggle on nationwide exams

James Poulos November 8, 2015

California fared poorly in the latest round of a bellwether series of key elementary and middle-school tests. “What’s sometimes called the Nation’s Report Card, a sampling of fourth- and eighth-graders in reading and math, painted a dismal picture of a state that insists it

University of California embraces open access for research

John November 4, 2015

The state’s premiere higher education system has embraced open access publishing. This week, the University of California issued a new open access policy that gives anyone in the world free access to scholarly articles authored by UC employees. That means clinical

Many CA English learners classified as learning disabled

Chris Reed October 28, 2015

A new study of how English-learner students are taught in California raises profound questions about how seriously the state and many school districts take their responsibility to these students. The study — prepared by researchers from Stanford, UC Santa Cruz,