Education Beat
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Education Beat
A podcast that gets to the heart of schools in California and beyond, bringing you the personal stories behind the headlines, from preschool to college. Join the team at EdSource each week to hear the voices that are too often drowned out in the broader conversation: parents, teachers, and the stude...
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California gears up for a big shift in how we teach kids to read
As a kindergarten teacher, a big part of Violet Nye’s job is teaching kids how to read. But the way she teaches her students is very different from h...
Hot classrooms, leaky roofs — one student’s fight for better school facilities
Miliani Rodriguez is a senior at Coachella Valley High School. The school buildings are old, she says, and they show it. The air conditioning often br...
Trump’s cuts to Hispanic-Serving Institutions hit community college student programs hard
When Sarahi Sanchez Soto joined a dual-enrollment program at her high school in Dinuba, it allowed her to enroll in college-level computer science cla...
After a classmate is deported
For Chelsea Duran, returning to Maywood Academy High School this fall for her senior year means feeling like she has to be on high alert, watching ove...
How one student became a powerful voice for others with disabilities
Saran Tugsjargal grew up with multiple disabilities. At school she received speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and help with lear...
Rural schools lose a lifeline to mental health support after Trump cut funding
Schools across California could lose hundreds of social workers, school counselors, mental health clinicians, wellness coaches and graduate student in...
California high schoolers get a crash course in finance
All high schools in California will be required to offer a semester of financial literacy to all students, beginning in the 2027-28 school year. The c...
How a charter school serving adults became embroiled in scandal and sparked calls for reform
Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools opened in Sacramento in 2014 with high ideals — to help adult students, many formerly incarcerated o...
School leaders grapple with Supreme Court decision on religious rights
This June, the U.S. Supreme Court granted public school parents the right to withdraw their children from materials and discussions on LGBTQ issues an...
Play and potty training: The realities of California’s TK rollout
With the expansion of transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds, California schools need smaller toilets, smaller sinks and a whole new understandi...
L.A. County gets called out again for its continued failure to educate incarcerated youth
During his time in Los Angeles County's juvenile justice facilities, Dovontray Farmer said he fell behind academically. He said his time in those faci...
Inside Cal State’s housing crunch: Why dorm beds still fall short
Lack of on-campus housing for students at many California State University campuses can be a major barrier for low-income students to attend college....
How Mama Brown sent her neighborhood to college (rebroadcast)
Education Beat is turning 4 years old, and to mark the occasion we’re rebroadcasting an episode from our very first days back in 2021.
It's the...
A student found her college lifeline — Trump wants to cut it
Kat Stamatakos says she was able to turn her college career around thanks to the TRIO Writing Success Project at City College of San Francisco. It hel...
An influential teacher and author shares lessons from 23 years in the classroom
Larry Ferlazzo is a well-respected teacher, both in the Sacramento high school where he taught for more than two decades and far beyond. He has spent...
A program that helps farmworkers’ children is on Trump’s chopping block
Monterey County offers the children of agricultural workers a fun summer filled with innovative science projects, dance and ceramics, in addition to b...
How the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could impact California kids
Hundreds of thousands of children and families will likely lose federally funded food stamps and health care under the new law.
Advocates for lo...
Funding at risk for colleges serving high numbers of Latino students
Each year, most of California’s public colleges and universities are eligible for extra federal funding because they enroll high numbers of Latino stu...
Students and families caught in the crosshairs of immigration enforcement
As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids ramp up across California, so have reports of family members — and sometimes students themselves — b...
New filmmaking program teaches teens the power of personal stories
This year Berkeley High School launched a new program that pairs professional filmmakers with high school students called Future Filmmakers.
Sev...
Federal funding cuts threaten health and science research at California universities
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, public health professor Noé Crespo applied for a research grant from the National Institutes of Health to...
50 years later: How Lau v. Nichols changed education for English learners (rebroadcast)
Fifty-one years ago, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that would forever change education for English learners in this country.
In...
California program offers $500 in scholarships, but many students miss out
Students from low-income families and English learners are automatically awarded $500 for college or career training through a California program. Fos...
Pasadena schools get help for students coping with trauma of Eaton Fire
When the Eaton Fire burned through parts of Los Angeles County this January, it destroyed thousands of homes. The hardest-hit district was Pasadena Un...
Uncertainty over Head Start funding puts parents and teachers on edge
Jackie Stephens' daughters Mercy and Hope both attended free child care and preschool through Head Start, and she says they've thrived. Jackie has got...
Trump administration slashing programs for students with disabilities, struggling readers
In the first few months of the Trump administration, several education programs have been slashed. A program to help students with disabilities naviga...
California schools spend millions on police officers, with little public discussion
California school districts pay cities and counties millions of dollars a year to put law enforcement officers on campuses, according to a recent EdSo...
What California can learn from Texas about bilingual education
Texas offers more bilingual education than California and backs it up with more funding.
We visit an elementary school and a middle school in A...
Are California schools becoming more vulnerable to measles?
There have now been more than 700 cases of measles reported in the U.S. in 2025, and two children have died. The vast majority of these cases are in T...
How one man helps districts navigate the emotional process of closing schools
Manny Barbara is likely one of the most experienced people in the state when it comes to closing a school. He has helped six districts manage the clos...
A Compton drama class gives all students a chance to shine
Compton drama teacher Catherine Borek has made plays with no stage and no theater, but a whole lot of creativity. She says drama can be therapy to hel...
A principal has hope five years after Covid began
Five years after California schools shut their doors because of the Covid-19 pandemic, most districts in California still struggle to recover the grou...
Programs cut, futures uncertain: Sonoma State students face challenges ahead
Sonoma State University announced a contentious proposal this spring to cut $24 million dollars by eliminating six academic departments entirely, and...
Undocumented student civic engagement in the Trump era (Live at SXSW EDU)
Undocumented young people risked everything decades ago to "come out of the shadows” and push loudly and proudly for their right to stay in this count...
Is LAUSD misusing its money for arts education?
In 2022, California voters passed Proposition 28, a law meant to address the paltry and inequitable arts education funding in most schools.
Vick...
Former foster youth often struggle to get through college. Here’s how some programs help
Young people who've been in the foster care system often struggle to get to and through college. Some studies show that programs designed just for sup...
This curriculum helps immigrant students fill learning gaps
When immigrant students have missed years of school in their home countries, they not only have to learn English, but also the basics of how to read a...
Ethnic studies requirement sparks debate in Palo Alto
A school board meeting in Palo Alto Unified offers a peek into an argument brewing in some school districts statewide over whether ethnic studies shou...
California is preparing more Latino teachers than before
The majority of students in California schools are Latino, while the teachers are mostly white. But that could now be changing, as more people of Lati...
Teachers, students reel from Los Angeles fires
The firestorms in Los Angeles have destroyed at least nine schools and displaced hundreds of teachers and students.
A teacher shares the story...