Research
A new report published on June 5 by the Brookings Institution, Local control, national conflict: School boards in the COVID 19 and cultural war era, analyzes what happened during the turbulent first half of this decade.
Polarized discussions on what math students should be taught and how, often referred to as the “math wars,” has been ongoing in the nation for decades. An April report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), Navigating the math wars: A practical guide to the divides and debates influencing math instruction, provides background on the issue and presents strategies that could help end the longstanding dispute.
About half of adults think their local public schools are doing an excellent or good job in preparing students for jobs and the workforce, according to a recent survey of Californian’s views on education conducted between March 26 and April 3 by the Public Policy Institute of California.
In 2024–25, California enrolled 46 percent of 4-year-olds in public early childhood education programs and 11 percent of 3-year-olds.
Using the latest data from the California Department of Education, a fact sheet recently released by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) examines trends in chronic absenteeism statewide through the 2024–25 school year. According to researchers, while rates of chronic absence have continued to decrease since their peak in 2021–22, they remain alarmingly high, with only a slight decrease over the past year. Without rapid intervention, academic recovery since the onset of the pandemic will likely get more challenging.
A May brief by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), “Accelerating English Learner Progress by Improving Reclassification,” offers five research-backed recommendations to improve the reclassification process and support student achievement.
A new report from Insightful Education Solutions examines whether states have the foundational conditions — well-structured pathways, reliable data, workforce alignment and public transparency — needed to credibly assess and improve their career technical education (CTE) programs.
With the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program, which aims to address persistent inequities in higher education and workforce participation through the development of regional intersegmental partnerships statewide, reaching its end, a new report from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) examines the outcomes of one of the programs key partnerships.
Superintendents report an average tenure of over five years in their current roles — an increase of three years or less commonly cited as the standard in recent times, according to the recently released 2025–26 Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study from AASA, The School Superintendents Association. This finding is in line with the pre-pandemic figure of about six years.
The old adage, “students learn to read, then read to learn,” focuses on ensuring that students achieve literacy proficiency by third grade, at which point, the curriculum becomes more difficult and their reading skills are put to use to learn the material. However, since the pandemic, fewer students are proficient readers even into their middle and high school years, where teachers are not prepared to equip students with the basics. The Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), a national nonprofit organization, recently released a report that provides research-backed recommendations for supporting older readers.
