Last week, the state of California settled a lawsuit that had been going on for more than three years since the height of the debate over school closures due to the pandemic. The case received national attention. There are few others like it. And the settlement included a staggering $2 billion.
Some families in Oakland and Los Angeles are struggling with the state's constitutional mandate to provide equal education to all children, as low-income, Black and Hispanic students tend to have less access to distance learning. The state was suing the state for failing to meet its obligations. Spring and Fall 2020 were better than other students.
It is important to note that the state, or taxpayers, will not be paying any new money under the settlement. Instead, it will require funding already set aside for pandemic recovery (of which more than $2 billion), and schools will be encouraged to use it to help students who need it most catch up. be instructed. We need to spend money on proven interventions. Click here to learn more about the settlement.
Why is this important?
That's because new national data released last week in a study led by researchers at Stanford University and Harvard University reveals that students across the country are far from recovering the learning lost during the pandemic.
This is true for students from all backgrounds, but especially for poor students. Schools in poorer areas tended to be closed longer than those in wealthier areas, further displacing students. When schools reopen, students from wealthier families in the same school district tend to catch up faster than students from poorer families, new data shows.
But there have been some surprising changes.
In California, Compton UnifiedNear Los Angeles, and Delano Unified, a school district north of Bakersfield, is an example of a low-income school district that has rebounded significantly, at least as judged by standardized test scores. You can read more about bright spots, including Delano Unified, in an article I wrote with colleagues Claire Kane Miller and Francesca Parris.
In some wealthier school districts, recovery in reading, math, or both has been lackluster. Santa Monica-Malibu Integration, menlo park city in the Bay Area, and Arcadia Unified It is located in the San Gabriel Valley northeast of Los Angeles.
Research your school district and see how it compares to neighboring areas and other parts of the state. (Note: This data includes scores for students from his 3rd grade through her 8th grade in most public school districts. Some smaller school districts are not included. (Only math scores are displayed.)
Lakisha Young, founder of Oakland REACH, a parent organization that worked closely with some of the families involved in the lawsuit, told me that plaintiffs will not receive personal compensation from the settlement.
She said she hopes the settlement will allow more students in the state to get the help they need.
“There are a lot of families who don't open the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times. They'll never know this lawsuit happened,” she said. But if those parents see their children's progress in reading or math, “then they've won,” she says.
Sarah Mervosh is an education reporter for the Times, focusing on K-12 schools.
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New 6th Street Bridge in LA Sundial Bridge in Redding. The very long San Mateo Hayward Bridge.
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And before we leave, I have some good news.
A recent study published in the scientific journal Nature showed that sea otters help slow erosion of wetlands near Monterey, the Associated Press reported.
The study measured the impact sea otters had on erosion in an estuary called Elkhorn Swamp. Here, once-declining otter populations have begun to recover in recent decades thanks to habitat restoration efforts.
The study compared erosion rates in the estuary before the otters' return with more recent data, and found that otters can reduce erosion by burrowing deep into marshes and eating crabs that make banks less resilient to storms and rough waves. It turned out that it made a big contribution to stopping this.
