Last Saturday, Governor Jerry Brown attracted national attention when he signed the California DREAM Act. The bill – which passed on a party line vote – would allow undocumented immigrants who have attended California high schools access to state financial aid for college. State Assembly member...
Most of us love a good fairytale. And then there’s the tale of Dyhemia Young, a teenager from San Francisco’s Bayview district.
Young was invited to the coveted wild card invitation to the Susan Polgar Girls’ Invitational, a prestigious chess tournament held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. But...
KALW Interviews
Community college is supposed to be the affordable path to higher education. But with $400 million cut from the California Community Colleges budget, the future of the 112 California campuses is unclear – including Chabot College in Hayward.
Still, the president of Chabot College, Dr. Celia...
If you’re a proponent of legalizing marijuana, recent events may have left a bad taste in your mouth.
Back in October then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger “semi-decriminalized” the possession of small amounts of cannabis. But then in November, voters rejected Proposition 19, which would have...
President Obama’s Race to the Top program has challenged schools to excel, providing grant funding for states that implement measurable programs to achieve “significant improvement in student outcomes.” He talked about the program in a commencement address this year at Booker T. Washington High...
KALW Interviews
On Monday, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation allowing undocumented college students to access private financial aid. While the governor said he’s not ready to provide public funding for such students, his signature brings the state closer to passing what’s known as the California DREAM Act....
OPINION: Community Correspondent
Reform programs such as Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind have their share of critics, but they also have strong supporters: stakeholders who appreciate quantifiable results, parents who can measure their children’s education, and students whose entire life paths can change simply by moving...
San Jose’s homicide rate is way up this year. Just over halfway through 2011, the city has already past last year’s total of 20 – with 23 murders so far.
Many of the murders are associated with rising gang violence. That puts the city’s young people at risk in many ways – but those who are in...
On April 13, 2011, the California Assembly’s Education Committee passed an anti-bullying law that will change the way schools address the issue. Named after Seth Walsh, the 13 year-old gay student from Tehachapi, California, who took his own life last fall, the law will require California...
Innovative ideas are often born in California. This is the home of Silicon Valley, after all. But, that spirit of innovation isn’t limited to finding more ways to plug in to the world of high tech. Innovation also means finding ways to disconnect from it all. This kind of innovation is taking place...
KALW Interviews
Education is a crucial challenge for many throughout Africa – particularly for girls. And there’s a trickle-down effect: African women are severely underrepresented in decision-making positions on the continent. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, women hold less than 18% of parliamentary seats....
$58 million dollars – that’s how deep in the red Oakland’s city budget is this year. Mayor Jean Quan has been proposing several budget solutions – the most extreme being an “all cuts” budget. This would give the green light to slash many of the city’s public services, including libraries. It would...
As of 2009, only a quarter of 18-24 year old black men were enrolled in college. But one Oakland foundation is trying to make this a thing of the past.
CEDRIC BROWN: Fifty percent of black students drop out of high school before graduation. And in the Bay Area, less than 20% of young black men who...
As the school year draws to and end around the Bay, school districts are struggling with finances. Take Brisbane. It’s a small district – only two elementary and one middle school – but its problems provide a window into those faced by districts across the state.
For four consecutive years,...
KALW Interviews
Marine reservist Nina D’Amato used to teach in East Palo Alto as part of Teach for America and served as assistant principal at AP Giannini Middle School in San Francisco. But more recently she worked in Afghanistan helping to build “tent schools” where there were none before. She coordinated...
Sixteen-year-old Sam Fuller’s schooling doesn’t take place in segmented semesters. Instead, his school system is integrated into his life. Fuller is one of two million registered homeschoolers in the U.S. – and that number is growing by about 10% a year. But Fuller’s family has actually chosen to...
Students these days are faced with a lot of pressures: social pressures, academic pressures, you name it. It’s all part of public school education, and a world that Youth Radio commentator Robyn Gee saw first hand while working as a Teach for America instructor at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle...
In 2009 President Obama announced that the GI Bill would get $78 billion more funding to help post 9/11 veterans go back to school.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today we honor the service of an extraordinary generation and look to the America that they will help build tomorrow. With the post 9/11 GI...
Activists gathered in Sacramento Monday as part of a weeklong demonstration against budget cuts to schools. Sixty-five protesters were arrested for staging an after-hours sit-in at the state capitol. Teachers unions are asking lawmakers to extend taxes to support schools, and they’ve scheduled...
Publicly funded services in the Bay Area, around the state, and across the nation are all being pruned back – and that certainly includes the Recreation and Parks Department for the City of San Francisco. The department was reorganized last summer, following a $12.5 million budget cut.
As part...
Misisipi Mike
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