Link copied.New law would help students who fell behind academically during pandemic
California may make it easier for parents to request that their children be held back a grade level next school year or have letter grades earned this school year changed to a “pass” or “don’t pass” score, which some colleges will be required to accept if Assembly Bill 104 becomes law.
The bill was introduced today by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, as a way to ensure that students aren’t punished for falling behind academically during the pandemic.
“The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated educational inequities in California’s school system at an unprecedented scale,” said Gonzalez in her author’s statement. “Mounting evidence indicates that our most vulnerable students lack the necessary academic, social emotional, and technological supports needed to be successful in distance learning, leaving them to fall behind and underperform.”
SACRAMENTO State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced Thursday the new “California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge,” a global competition that will award up to $1 million to the boldest, most revolutionary proposals to eliminate the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all Californians.
Thurmond announced this challenge during the latest meeting of his Closing the Digital Divide Task Force, an ongoing initiative to close inequitable access to technology the State Superintendent co-chairs with Senator Connie Leyva, (D-Chino), chair of the Senate Education Committee.
As many as one million students still lack internet connectivity, and the State Superintendent’s new challenge is designed to inspire the public and private sector’s most ambitious innovators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and creative problem-solvers to develop technology and strategic partnerships that will not only help learners right away but remove barriers to