Nearly 300,000 K-12 students in California experienced homelessness in the 2024–25 school year, according to new research from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools. This represents a new statewide high and a 10 percent increase from the 2017–18 school year
When students at Santa Ana High School said in 2019 that they wanted the opportunity to connect to their culture through music, leaders at HALOS — a district-funded afterschool program — got to work buying instruments popular in Latin regional music including guitars, accordions and more. Now, the Palomazo Academy, which HALOS hosts every Tuesday and Thursday, provides access to instruments and peer instruction at no cost to students. And, perhaps more importantly, it offers students a safe space to create, build confidence and connect to their roots, according to HALOS Site Supervisor Ruby Echeverria.
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released its latest snapshot of the state of California’s TK-12 education system in August. The brief examines current enrollment trends, student achievement, funding and other factors in an effort to help guide local and state policymakers in better supporting and educating California’s youth.
The State Board of Education’s (SBE) Sept. 9 meeting included thorough discussion on proposed changes to the state’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) template — including ways to make the document more useful to schools and communities rather than an exercise in compliance — as well as potential use of 11th grade Smarter Balanced results in higher education admissions and more.
On Aug. 18, Common Sense Media released results from a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. teens detailing their use of artificial intelligence (AI) as well as the lack of available resources to support lessons on AI literacy. Simultaneously, the nonprofit organization released a new Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum for grades 9-12 that it says pairs AI literacy with the critical-thinking, creativity and connection skills students need to navigate the technology.
Attendance rates plummeted among Centralia Elementary School District children during the COVID-19 pandemic just as they had in local educational agencies throughout the country. Prior to the pandemic, the district boasted just a 5 percent chronic absenteeism rate, which spiked to 22 percent. Preliminary data from the last school year shows the district’s chronic absenteeism rate is down to 8 percent, with every school site reporting declines.
All 285 students enrolled in Maple School District participate in the TK-8 local educational agency’s program, Rooted in Family, Community, and Education. Launched in August 2025, the initiative aims to strengthen student outcomes by empowering families first.
When the California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) Federated Council voted unanimously to add girls flag football as a statewide sanctioned sport for the 2023–24 school year, there had already been a boost in interest among young people in recreational leagues as well as burgeoning financial and material support from the NFL, which advocated for the sport to be added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. According to the latest CIF Sports Participation Survey released Aug. 3, flag football is now the sixth most popular sport among girls by participation.
Recent results from a survey conducted by Mathematica and Data Science 4 Everyone show that while educators and parents agree that data literacy is an important skill as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in students’ lives, many feel their local schools do not offer enough opportunities to learn it.
Without an ability to opt-out of its use, the artificial intelligence (AI) features built into Google Search pose unacceptable risks to children, according to a new risk assessment conducted by Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute.
