news editor education requirements

How to become an editor

CareerExplorer’s step-by-step guide on how to become an editor.

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High School

For high school students aspiring to become editors, taking courses that develop strong communication, critical thinking, and writing skills is essential. Here are some recommended high school courses:

• English/Literature: English courses provide a foundation in grammar, vocabulary, literary analysis, and writing skills. Studying literature exposes students to different writing styles, genres, and themes, helping them develop a deeper understanding of language and storytelling.
• Journalism: Journalism courses introduce students to the principles and practices of news reporting, editing, and media ethics. Students learn about researching, interviewing, writing news articles, and editing content for publication, gaining valuable skills applicable to editorial roles.
• Creative Writing: Creative writing courses allow students to explore their imagination and develop their voice as writers. They learn to craft narratives, develop characters, and experiment with different literary techniques, fostering creativity and expression.
• AP/IB English Language and Composition: Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) English Language and Composition courses offer rigorous instruction in critical reading, analytical writing, and rhetorical analysis. These courses prepare students for college-level writing and critical thinking, which are essential for editorial roles.
• Media Studies: Media studies courses cover topics such as media literacy, mass communication, and digital media production. Students learn about the role of media in society, analyze media messages, and gain hands-on experience with multimedia storytelling tools.
• Foreign Language: Studying a foreign language enhances communication skills and cultural awareness, which are valuable assets for editors working in diverse publishing environments.
• Computer Science/Technology: Courses in computer science or technology provide students with essential digital literacy skills, including proficiency in word processing, desktop publishing software, and online research tools commonly used in editorial work.
• Public Speaking/Debate: Public speaking or debate courses help students improve their communication and presentation skills, which are important for collaborating with writers, giving feedback, and advocating for their editorial decisions.

Educational Options

For individuals seeking educational opportunities to become editors, there are various paths to consider, including degree programs, certificates, and professional development courses. Here are some educational options:

• Bachelor's Degree in Journalism, English, or Communications: Many editors hold a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism , English , Communications , or a related field. These programs provide a comprehensive education in writing, editing, media law, ethics, and multimedia storytelling. Look for programs accredited by organizations like the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).
• Master's Degree in Journalism or Publishing: Some editors pursue a master's degree to further specialize in editing, publishing , or related fields. Master's programs offer advanced coursework in editing theory and practice, digital publishing, magazine editing, book publishing, and editorial leadership. A master's degree can enhance career opportunities and provide advanced training in editorial skills.
• Editing Certificates and Continuing Education: Many colleges and universities offer editing certificates and continuing education programs for professionals seeking to enhance their editing skills or transition into editorial roles. These programs cover topics such as copyediting, developmental editing, proofreading, grammar, style guides, and editorial project management.
• Professional Development Workshops and Seminars: Organizations like the American Copy Editors Society (ACES), the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), and the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) offer workshops, seminars, and conferences on editing topics. These events provide opportunities to learn from industry experts, network with other editors, and stay current with trends in editing and publishing.
• Online Courses and MOOCs: There are numerous online courses and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available for aspiring editors, covering a wide range of topics such as copyediting, developmental editing, grammar, punctuation, and style. Platforms like Coursera, edX, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning offer courses taught by industry professionals and leading universities.

Internships

Internships are valuable opportunities for aspiring editors to gain hands-on experience, develop essential skills, and network with professionals in the field. While editorial internships may vary in availability and requirements, here are some places where aspiring editors can find internships:

• Publishing Houses: Major publishing houses, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group, offer editorial internships for individuals interested in book publishing. These internships may involve manuscript evaluation, copyediting, proofreading, and editorial project management.
• Magazines and Newspapers: Many magazines and newspapers offer editorial internships to aspiring editors interested in print or digital journalism. Publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Vogue, and The Atlantic regularly recruit editorial interns to assist with research, fact-checking, writing, editing, and production tasks.
• Online Publications: Digital media companies and online publications like BuzzFeed, Vox Media, HuffPost, and Insider often offer editorial internships focused on digital content creation, editing, and social media management. These internships may involve writing headlines, editing articles, curating content, and optimizing web content for SEO.
• Literary Agencies: Literary agencies represent authors and negotiate book deals on their behalf. Some literary agencies, such as InkWell Management and Curtis Brown, offer editorial internships that provide insight into the publishing industry, manuscript evaluation, and editorial feedback.
• Nonprofit Organizations: Nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and think tanks may offer editorial internships focused on research, writing, and editing for policy papers, reports, and publications. Examples include The Brookings Institution, Amnesty International, and the World Wildlife Fund.
• Trade Associations: Trade associations and professional organizations in the publishing industry, such as the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), may offer editorial internships or volunteer opportunities to assist with editing, proofreading, and content management.
• University Presses: University presses publish scholarly books and journals in various academic disciplines. Many university presses, such as Oxford University Press and Harvard University Press, offer editorial internships for individuals interested in academic publishing, manuscript editing, and peer review.

Certifications

While there are no specific certifications required to become an editor, obtaining professional certifications can demonstrate expertise, enhance credibility, and improve job prospects in the competitive editorial field. Here are some certifications and credentialing programs available for editors:

• Certified Professional Editors (CPE): Offered by the Editors' Association of Canada (Editors Canada), the CPE designation is recognized internationally and demonstrates proficiency in editing skills, including copyediting, stylistic editing, and structural editing. Although it is based in Canada, the certification is valuable for editors working in the US as well.
• Poynter ACES Certificate in Editing: The Poynter Institute and the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) offer an online certificate program in editing that covers grammar, punctuation, style, and ethical editing practices. Completing this program demonstrates proficiency in editing fundamentals and adherence to industry standards.
• University Certificate Programs: Many colleges and universities offer certificate programs in editing or publishing that provide specialized training in editorial skills and techniques. These programs may cover topics such as copyediting, proofreading, developmental editing, and digital publishing.
• Copyediting Certification Programs: Organizations like the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) offer certification programs specifically focused on copyediting skills. Completing these programs demonstrates proficiency in grammar, punctuation, style guides, and manuscript markup.
• American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Certification: For editors specializing in medical or scientific editing, the AMWA offers certification programs that demonstrate expertise in editing medical and scientific content, adherence to industry standards, and understanding of medical terminology and conventions.
• LinkedIn Learning Certificates: Online learning platforms like LinkedIn Learning offer courses and certificate programs in editing, proofreading, and writing skills. While these certificates may not be as recognized as industry-specific certifications, they can still demonstrate competency and commitment to professional development.
• Specialized Editing Certifications: Depending on the editor's area of specialization, there may be industry-specific certifications available. For example, the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS) offers certification for editors specializing in life sciences, while the Board of Editors in the Social Sciences (BESS) offers certification for editors in the social sciences.

Associations & Organizations

There are several professional associations and organizations dedicated to supporting editors and promoting excellence in the field of editing. Here are some notable associations for editors:

• American Copy Editors Society (ACES): ACES is a nonprofit organization that provides training, resources, and networking opportunities for editors, copy editors, and proofreaders. It offers an annual conference, webinars, workshops, and an online job bank for members.
• Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA): The EFA is a national organization representing freelance editors, proofreaders, and other editorial professionals. It offers professional development resources, job listings, networking events, and a directory of freelance editors.
• Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP): While based in the UK, SfEP is an international organization with members worldwide, including the US. It offers training courses, networking events, and resources for editors and proofreaders working in various sectors.
• Council of Science Editors (CSE): CSE is a professional organization for editors and publishers in the scientific and medical fields. It provides resources, guidelines, and networking opportunities for professionals involved in editing scientific manuscripts and publications.
• National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE): NAIWE is a professional association for independent writers, editors, and content creators. It offers resources, training, and networking opportunities for freelance editors and writers.
• Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP): AWP is a nonprofit organization that supports writers and writing programs. While not specifically for editors, it offers resources, conferences, and networking opportunities that may be valuable for editors working in the literary field.
• Society for Technical Communication (STC): STC is a professional association for technical communicators, including technical writers and editors. It offers resources, certification programs, and networking opportunities for professionals in the field of technical communication.

Employment Opportunities

Employment opportunities for editors can be found across various industries, including publishing, media, corporate communications, government, education, and nonprofit organizations. Here are some common types of employment opportunities for editors:

• Publishing Houses: Traditional publishing houses, including book publishers, magazines, and newspapers, often hire editors to oversee the production of written content. Opportunities may include roles such as acquisitions editor, copy editor, managing editor, or editorial assistant.
• Digital Media Companies: With the rise of digital content, many online media companies, digital publishers, and content marketing agencies employ editors to curate, edit, and produce digital content for websites, blogs, social media, and email newsletters.
• Corporate Communications: Large corporations, businesses, and organizations often have in-house communications teams that hire editors to manage internal and external communications, including newsletters, reports, press releases, and marketing materials.
• Government Agencies: Government agencies and departments at the federal, state, and local levels may employ editors to edit and proofread official documents, reports, publications, and communications materials.
• Educational Institutions: Colleges, universities, and educational publishers hire editors to work on academic publications, textbooks, journals, and educational materials. Opportunities may include roles such as textbook editor, academic editor, or editorial assistant.
• Nonprofit Organizations: Nonprofit organizations, foundations, and advocacy groups may employ editors to edit and produce written materials, including reports, newsletters, fundraising appeals, and marketing collateral.
• Freelance and Contract Work: Many editors work as freelancers or independent contractors, offering editing services on a project-by-project basis to clients in various industries. Freelance editors may specialize in specific types of editing, such as copyediting, developmental editing, or technical editing.
• Content Agencies and Platforms: Content agencies, content marketing firms, and online platforms often hire editors to manage content creation, editing, and publication processes for clients or on their platforms.
• Technical and Medical Editing: Industries such as technology, science, and healthcare require specialized editors with expertise in technical writing and medical terminology. Opportunities may include roles such as technical editor, medical editor, or scientific editor.
• Translation and Localization: Editors may also work in translation and localization companies, editing translated content to ensure accuracy, clarity, and cultural appropriateness for target audiences.

Education Requirements for Editors

Getting started as a editor.

• What is a Editor
• How to Become
• Certifications
• Tools & Software
• LinkedIn Guide
• Interview Questions
• Work-Life Balance
• Professional Goals
• Editor Resume Examples
• Editor Cover Letter Examples

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Do You Need a Degree to Become a Editor?

Educational backgrounds of editors, a glimpse into the educational tapestry of editors, identifying patterns and educational shifts in the editing field, essential education for aspiring editors: what's important.

• Strong Command of Language: Typically gained through degrees in English, Journalism, or Communications, or through extensive writing and reading experiences.
• Technical Skills: Increasingly important in a digital-first world, these can be acquired through formal education in digital media or through practical experience with content management systems and SEO.
• Subject Matter Expertise: Particularly for niche editing roles, where knowledge in a specific field such as science, law, or technology is crucial.

Carving Out a Successful Editing Career: Education and Experience

• Varied Writing and Editing Experience: Gaining practical experience through internships, freelance work, or contributing to publications.
• Lifelong Learning: Staying current with industry standards and tools through workshops, online courses, and certifications in editing and publishing.
• Networking: Engaging with professional organizations, attending industry conferences, and connecting with experienced editors for mentorship and advice.

The Bottom Line: A Spectrum of Educational Experiences

Most common degrees for editors, english or journalism, communications, technical writing or professional writing, popular majors for editors, english or literature, creative writing, technical writing or communication, media studies, popular minors for editors, communication, graphic design, legal studies, digital media, why pursue a degree for a editor career, networking and professional development in editing, facilitating career transition and advancement, what can you do with a degree in editing, degree alternatives for a editor, professional editing certificates, editing workshops and conferences, online courses and moocs, internships and volunteering, self-directed learning and networking, navigating a editor career without a degree, build a robust writing and editing portfolio, gain experience through freelancing, learn industry-standard editing tools, network with publishing professionals, offer pro bono work to gain credibility, stay informed about literary trends and publishing standards, enhance your language skills, seek feedback and embrace constructive criticism, consider specializing, education faqs for editor, do you need to go to college to become a editor, is it worth it to get a degree for a editor role, how important is continuous learning for a editor.

Editor Certifications

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How to Become a

Newspaper editor, quick degree finder, why we love it.

• $64,910 Potential Avg. Salary
• -5.3% Job Growth Rate
• Creativity Focused Career Attribute
• Fast Paced Career Career Attribute

For the most part, newspaper editors are responsible for the success of a newspaper. They assign stories to reporters, ensure submitted stories are factually accurate and appropriate for publication, and determine which stories appear on the most-viewed pages of the newspaper, such as the front page.

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What is a newspaper editor.

The following job responsibilities are common for individuals in newspaper editor roles:

• Maintain a list of stories for publication, make decisions on pitched story viability, and assign stories to reporters
• Review submitted stories for clarity and factual accuracy and request edits as appropriate
• Make decisions on where stories should appear within the newspaper and on the paper’s website, if applicable
• Make layout decisions, choose which images should accompany stories, and ensure all legal requirements are met for all images and referenced sources

A Day in the Life

A job as a newspaper editor is a busy one. Newspaper editors are responsible for all of the content that appears in a published paper, so a newspaper’s editors are really in charge of the paper’s success. Some part of a newspaper editor’s day will be spent reviewing pitches and local happenings to determine what stories should be covered. After determining a variety of potential topics, newspaper editors assign stories to reporters. They may also be responsible for hiring reporters.

When stories start coming in, editors must review the stories and make sure they’re appropriate for publication. They ensure that the content is appropriate, compelling, and factually accurate. They also choose which images should accompany stories and make sure than all story content and images have received necessary approvals and releases to keep the content compliant with laws and regulations.

Once content is chosen for publication in the printed paper or on the paper’s website, the editor determines layout and placement of included stories. The newspaper editor determines what sections of the paper that articles should appear in and what stories should appear on the front page. The editor may also need to make final cuts of stories when there isn’t enough room in the paper for everything or when breaking news must be included and other stories need to be bumped.

Typical Work Schedule

Because news occurs 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, newspaper editors are usually required to work all shifts, all days of the week. However, shifts worked will generally be consistent—a daytime editor will work first shift, an evening editor will work second shift, and a weekend editor covers weekend shifts.

Newspaper Editor Specializations

For smaller newspapers, editors may need to perform several of the roles described below. However, at larger publications, editor roles are commonly split amount the following positions:

• Assistant editors generally execute all editorial responsibilities but for only one section of a newspaper—such as features or sports—rather than the entire newspaper. Assistant editors may also provide editorial coverage for slower news days and shifts.
• Assignment editors choose what stories will appear in the paper, review and accept or decline story pitches submitted by reporters, and assign story coverage to different staff reporters.
• Managing editors perform all editing responsibilities but may also hire reporters and editors and manage a group of assistant editors. Managing editors may also be responsible for managing a budget.
• Executive editors are responsible for the entire content of the newspaper. They hire all levels of editors and reporters in conjunction with other management staff and are responsible for managing the newspaper’s overall budget.

Career Progression

• Early Career: Reporter, Assistant Editor
• Mid-Career: Assignment Editor, Managing Editor
• Late Career: Executive Editor

Typical Employers

Newspapers with the highest circulation numbers include The Wall Street Journal and USA Today . In addition to these national publications, most cities and towns have local newspapers and hire editors to manage paper and website content. Local papers with large circulation numbers include the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , The Washington Post , and the Chicago Tribune .

How To Become a Newspaper Editor

Most newspaper editors begin their careers as reporters. Most newspapers require reporters to have bachelor’s degrees in journalism, though in some cases other writing degrees are acceptable. Reporters can work for a specific publication or as freelancers for multiple publications. Additionally, reporters may write stories for both physical copies of newspapers and news websites. After getting several years of experience as a reporter, you may be qualified to move into editing roles.

Most newspaper editors start off in assistant editor or copy editor roles. If successful in those roles, you may qualify to move into assignment or managing editor roles. At the mid-level career step, being able to prove that you’ve been successful is critical in securing new positions, so you’ll need to have a record of increased subscriptions, increased newspaper purchases, or increased website views in order to highlight your abilities in choosing stories and garnering interest in the publication.

As an alternative, some people are able to build careers as freelance reporters with no formal education. Requirements for freelance reporters are less stringent, and with a portfolio of powerful pieces written as a freelance reporter, you may be able to work your way up into editor roles without a bachelor’s degree. However, a degree will provide education on legal obligations for reporters and publishers, and having that background knowledge can help avoid legal troubles later in your career.

Newspaper Editor Salary Data

We’ve provided you the following to learn more about this career. The salary and growth data on this page comes from recently published Bureau of Labor Statistics data while the recommendations and editorial content are based on our research.

National Anual Salary

National hourly wage.

How do Newspaper Editor salaries stack up to other jobs across the country? Based on the latest jobs data nationwide, Newspaper Editor's can make an average annual salary of $64,910, or $31 per hour. On the lower end, they can make $39,690 or $19 per hour, perhaps when just starting out or based on the state you live in.

Salary Rankings And Facts

#229 nationally for all careers, above average salary nationally, programs and degrees.

Here are the most common degrees for becoming a Newspaper Editor. a is usually recommended and specifically a degree or coursework that prepares you for the particular field, see below.

Communication

Highest education among newspaper editors.

• 4.7 %   Doctorate
• 19.3 %   Masters
• 59 %   Bachelors
• 4.3 %   Associates
• 9.1 %   College
• 3.1 %   High School
• 0.5 %   Less than High School

Job Growth Projections and Forecast

2014 total jobs, 2024 est. jobs, job growth rate, est. new jobs.

How does Newspaper Editor job growth stack up to other jobs across the country? By 2024, there will be a change of -6,200 jobs for a total of 111,000 people employed in the career nationwide. This is a -5.3% change in growth over the next ten years, giving the career a growth rate nationwide of Above Average.

Growth Rankings And Facts

#703 nationally for all careers, above avg. growth nationally, what companies employ the most newspaper editors, similar careers.

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How to Become an Editor

The old maxim is still true: Everyone needs an editor.

Editors help authors and writers develop ideas and stay on message. They define and follow editorial styles, and they review written copy to ensure proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Editors make sure information is reliable and accurate when delivered to the intended audience — think search results, instructional manuals, legal contracts, email newsletters, even recipes.

No matter the medium, it’s an editor’s job to make sure communications are clear, correct and concise, said Andi Tosch, a Seattle-area independent technical writer and editor.

“Machines are never going to catch all the errors — ever,” Tosch said. “You have to have somebody who understands the mechanics and syntax of the English language.”

Editors Are in Demand

     projected growth.

U.S. (2020-30): 5% Washington state (2018-28): 21%

     Median Annual salary

U.S. (2020): $63,400 Washington state (2020): $67,380

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET OnLine

Content editors are on staff at nearly every major tech firm in Seattle, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Nintendo, Tosch said. Technical editors ensure accuracy for crucial communications in fields like engineering, medicine and life sciences.

“Having someone to understand that background, what the writer is trying to do and to be an extra set of eyes is essential,” Tosch said.

A number of niche industries headquartered in the Seattle area need editors with specific subject-matter expertise, she said. For example, gaming companies employ story editors to ensure dialogue and plotlines make sense in tabletop and video games. Philanthropic organizations look for editors well-versed in grant writing and using data. A background in law or paralegal work may be helpful for editors who work on contracts or other legal documents.

While many corporate editing roles are in-house, editors are also well-positioned for the gig economy, Tosch said. Locally, she sees demand for freelance cookbook editors and people who can use their editing skills to create back-of-the-book indexes. While most of the major fiction publishing houses are based in New York, Tosch said they employ freelance editors all over the world.

Plus, the rise of self-publishing means more authors rely on editors at every stage — developmental editors to read early drafts and spot holes in a plot, editors who can format pages for e-readers and proofreaders and copyeditors to check every single line.

Editors must be experts in grammar, punctuation and the mechanics of editing. Tosch said that’s why the Certificate in Editing covers how to use written proofreading marks for hard-copy edits and how to make digital edits using Adobe software and track-changes in Word.

Many companies require job candidates to prove their skills by passing an editing test, but it’s a misconception that editing is only about following rules, Tosch said.

“What we’re looking at is how words function,” Tosch said. “It’s really identifying different styles based on different audiences and knowing how to stay true to a specific style.”

To that end, editors have to know how to navigate usage and style guides, including the Chicago Manual of Style and AP Style. They also need to know how to look up terms using in-house style guides that are specific to a business or organization.

The award-winning team that leads the UWPCE Certificate in Editing shows students how to create their own style sheets from scratch, Tosch said. Students also practice their skills on real-world editing projects in partnership with local authors and corporate communicators.

“There is no better way to get ahead and get a skill that’s so versatile,” Tosch said.

Style Your Own Editing Career

If you’ve already got your red pen at the ready, check out how the  Certificate in Editing can help you polish your professional editing skills. The UW also offers these related certificates, specializations and courses:

• Certificate in Professional Technical Writing
• Certificate in Storytelling & Content Strategy
• Foundations of UX Writing
• Proofreading Essentials
• Specialization in Developmental Editing
• Specialization in Medical Writing
• Certificate Programs

For more career tips and industry trends,  visit the News & Features section  of our website, and subscribe to our email list. To learn more about UW Professional & Continuing Education certificates, specializations, degrees and courses,  explore your options  or contact us .

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Last updated on Apr 06, 2023

How to Become an Editor: A Guide for Beginners

This post was written based on insights from professional editors in the Reedsy community, such as Clem Flanagan .

Any process that results in published writing involves an editor, which is why editors form key parts of several industries. If you’ve got an impeccable understanding of grammar and a discerning eye when it comes to identifying structural and conceptual flaws in a piece of writing, read on to find out how to become an editor yourself.

What does an editor do?

Editors plan, coordinate, and revise pieces of writing so that they are ready for publication as books, newspapers, blogs, magazines, or even websites and advertising material. Going through submissions, they  decide what should be published based on the quality of the writing and what might appeal to readers. They then review and polish the content, structure, and prose of those stories to ensure correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation, as well as consistent and clear storytelling before publication.

The exact duties of a professional editor differ in each industry, with many extraneous tasks attached to the role in each field. For instance, video editors or podcast editors have different tasks from editors that deal with written material (which this article will focus on), who may deal with anything from manuscript editing to content editing on websites and beyond.

As we look at how someone might start a career in editing, we’ll learn more about the sheer variety of editing work — so let’s get started!

🤓 Curious about how much money an editor makes? Head to our post on editor salaries for more information.

How to become an editor in 6 steps

If you want to aid writers in bringing their ideas to life, here are six simple steps to follow to become a professional editor:

1. Choose your type and style of editing

Here are the major types of editing that might be suited to someone with your skill and dedication:

Book editing

A book editor works closely with writers to revise and streamline their manuscripts ahead of publication. This involves various types of editing , from editorial assessment (also known as manuscript evaluation), to developmental editing, to copy editing (and line editing), as well as query letter editing.  Proofreading is also a form of editing which comes at the end of the process, and sometimes you will hear people refer to these draft stages as first, second, third and final pass editing. 

All types of editing can be done on a freelance basis, but it is especially common when it comes to copy editing and proofreading, as publishers or authors commission external professionals for these services.

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Aside from editing text, an editor working at a publisher may have different responsibilities depending on the structure and size of the imprint . They may have tasks such as budgeting, coordinating publication catalogs, and even typesetting , for instance.

They also need to be team players, as they are responsible for communicating with literary agents and authors, coordinating with other departments like marketing, design, and publicity, commissioning new titles, and performing routine administrative tasks such as writing cover blurbs, updating book metadata, and more.

💡Job titles: editorial assistant , assistant editor, editor, senior editor, commissioning editor, editorial director (note: these particular roles are listed from bottom to the top of the career advancement ladder).

News and magazine editing

A news or magazine editor is responsible for proofreading and structurally editing articles, fact-checking, ensuring consistency with the publication’s house style and relevance to the publication’s aims or themes (if any), commissioning articles from regular contributors, responding to pitches, and reporting to the publication’s editorial board. Sub-editors usually only work on editing text, and do not have any commissioning/managerial duties, whereas section editors develop the strategy and direction of their section and report to management.

💡 Job titles: section editor, associate editor, sub-editor, editor

Academic editing

Unsurprisingly, academic editing belongs to the sphere of scholarly output, so it’s usually a position held by someone with an academic education. This can be a full-time, in-house position at an academic publisher (e.g. Oxford University Press) or a voluntary, part-time contribution as a journal editor. Structural and copy editing are certainly important, but beyond that, these editors ensure academic rigor, objectivity, and ethical academic practice. The latter involves checking for plagiarism, fact-checking, verifying bibliographical data, or arranging for the creation of an index. Academic editors are also expected to coordinate the peer-review process and communicate feedback to authors. 

💡 Job titles: academic editor, journal editor

Web editing

A web editor is responsible for managing an organization’s digital content. The specifics will vary, but typical duties include editing articles or blog posts for publication, commissioning or assigning new pieces of content, deciding on subjects to be covered, using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to attract organic traffic, making decisions about how posts are presented, as well as promoting said content on social media (or collaborating with social media marketers) to increase the reach of the product.

💡 Job titles: web editor, content editor, content manager, blog manager, head of content

Technical editing

A technical editor is not so concerned with grammatical correctness or fluency of expression: their main focus is to ensure that highly technical information is accurate and communicated clearly. For this reason, technical editors with expertise in the subject matter at hand are usually hired to apply their knowledge to a piece of writing. From checking that any equations and graphs are accurate to ensuring information complexity meets the knowledge level of the intended audience, a technical editor operates as a subject matter consultant.

💡 Job titles: technical editor, subject-matter expert (SME)

Legal editing 

Legal editing involves working with writing in a legal context. Whether responsible for a particular legal organization’s output or an in-house editor at a legal publishing company, a legal editor’s job is not vastly different to that of a technical editor: the primary aim is to ensure accuracy and compliance with the aims of the publication at hand. A legal editor may also be responsible for compiling “digests” of court cases, researching legal issues, or analyzing legal news or developments.

💡 Job titles: legal editor, legal researcher, legal reporter

2. Get a degree or editing certificate

If you want to become an editor, you’ll typically need some relevant qualifications or training to back up your enthusiasm. These may come in several forms.

Bachelor’s degree

Nowadays, a bachelor’s degree is more or less required to pursue an editing career, especially if you want to start in publishing houses. There are no specialist editing degrees, but many writing-heavy programs that can give you a good stepping stone to the profession. Most editors hold an undergraduate degree in a related subject such as English, Journalism, Communications, or even Law, if you hope to become a legal editor. 

That said, a bachelor’s degree in an entirely unrelated subject can still be very useful. Employers mainly want to know that you have the work ethic and transferable skills to handle a lot of text in editing programs and can organize yourself. This includes time management, ability to meet and juggle deadlines, and people skills. You can always learn technical editing skills later by consulting books on editing written by experienced professionals, or enroll yourself in one of the following courses.

Postgraduate degree

In recent years, there has been a growth of publishing-specific postgraduate degrees for you to choose from. Universities are unlikely to offer degree courses exclusively dedicated to editing, but there are Master’s degrees in Publishing and Creative Writing or Publishing Studies which can give you a better understanding of the production chain and the writing craft. 

Of course, a postgraduate degree is rather a big commitment, and it's not at all a prerequisite — many editors do not have postgraduate degrees, and build their craft through shorter courses or work experience instead.

Vocational certificates and training courses

Beyond higher education, there are still loads of short-term courses and certifications for copy editing, proofreading, journalism, or publishing that you can take. There are plenty of proofreading courses or short-term editing programs that provide a certificate that can teach you technical skills and boost your CV.

3. Gain experience through internships and freelancing

In an ideal world, you’d immediately find an entry-level position as an editorial assistant that gets your foot through the door so you can learn on the job. But despite being considered entry-level, editing positions can be competitive and usually require some prior engagement or experience with editing or writing. You may be able to nab one of these coveted roles if your CV contains relevant extracurriculars (such as being a student reporter or editor) but many aspiring editors start out by securing administrative work experience, an internship, or part-time editing experience as a freelancer. What these opportunities offer is a chance to get used to the workflow and editing software, experience working with authors and clients, hone your editing and communication skills, build your network, and grow your editorial portfolio.

To find book editing internships, check Indeed, LinkedIn and, if you’re still in school or recently graduated,  your college’s job search portal. It’s also worth getting involved in Twitter — at least as a reader. Managing editors and publishers tweet about vacancies and networking events all the time!

If you can’t find (or can’t afford) to take an internship, look for short-term gigs on freelancing sites. Do note that, even with a compelling profile and plenty of self-marketing, you’ll probably have to take jobs that don’t really interest you at first. For instance, you might plan to specialize in developmental book editing, but you might find yourself copy editing blogs and academic essays to start with.

4. Apply for entry-level publishing and editorial positions

Freelance editor Clem Flanagan tells us that her years working in entry-level positions such as editorial assistant were crucial in forging her network and skills. The community is tight-knit and supportive, and most editors are happy to refer writers to fellow professionals who are either more experienced or looking for gigs. Authors themselves often recommend editors to their writer friends, so you should never underestimate the power of word of mouth. You may start small, but build that reputation by working entry-level jobs steadily and it’ll pay off. 

This part of your editing career is the definition of “the hustle.” You’ll be working long hours, not getting paid much, and probably feeling frustrated. But if you can push through all that, you’ll emerge on the other side with the kind of knowledge and experience you can build a more sustainable career on. Hang in there!

5. Network with clients and publishing professionals

Assuming you’ve now got substantial editing experience, you’ll have naturally accrued some contacts in your industry, online or in real life. From literary agents to journalists, academics, and creative directors, you’ll know a good number of people in different positions within your field. And you might not realize it at first, but sub-fields of professional activity in a particular city, region, or even country (looking at UK book publishing) are a small world, where you’ll run into the same people throughout your career.

So be nice. Respond to strangers’ requests politely and thoughtfully, even if you want to decline. Introduce people who might like to work together to each other. Recommend hard workers. Put in a good word for entry-level assistants when you’ve progressed to a more senior level. Treat interns with patience and respect. Send people job opportunities you happen to see that they may be interested in. All of this, in other words being a kind, respectful, and decent person to work with, will help you in more ways than you can imagine. 

This may not come in the form of a job offer divinely descending upon you from the heavens. But it’ll work in quiet ways that lead to people treating you well and taking you seriously, as well as giving you a nice boost of good karma as your career progresses. 

6. Earn promotion to senior editor

With experience under your belt and a large network, you’ll start noticing where your natural skills lie and what you enjoy doing the most. So while you’re working on a variety of projects, you should be thinking about what kind of editor you’d like to be down the line. Even if you aren’t ready yet to move into a new role, keep your eyes open (read: apply your Twitter lurking skills) for new opportunities. Read through job descriptions for editorial roles within your industry and beyond it, and make a note of any recurring requirements, such as familiarity with specialist software or Search Engine Optimization.

You can then take steps to build the necessary skills to becoming a better editor in your free time or within your current role, with a view to transitioning to a different job. For example, an editorial assistant for the Lifestyle section of a magazine could find their way into nonfiction book publishing via a Lifestyle imprint that publishes health and food and drink titles. And if you’re happy with the niche you’re in, the ladder-climbing begins. Alternatively, you can look into starting your own business and becoming a freelance editor on Reedsy to exercise more control over your work days.

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Down the line, who knows what you’ll accomplish? A project you’ve worked on might just end up making the bestseller lists, or winning a Pulitzer Prize. One thing is for sure: if you’ve always wanted to make your mark in the world of culture, becoming an editor is an amazing way to do that. 

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November 11, 2020, edsource staff, thursday, april 18, 2024, 5:58 pm, link copied. voting rights policies lacking in california’s juvenile facilities.

Few counties in California have accurately written policies for incarcerated youth to follow if they are eligible to vote, according to a new report from the Youth Law Center .

Just 16 out of 40 counties that responded to records requests from the Youth Law Center had written policies, and only 2 of those counties’ policies were fully accurate. The inaccuracies found in all other counties’ policies included failing to state the probation department’s legal obligation to youth voter registration, misstating voting eligibility for incarceration youth, and “legal errors related to voting procedures.”

“With the recent changes in California’s juvenile justice system and the subsequent increase in the number of voting-age youth held in county juvenile facilities, it is imperative that counties take steps to ensure that justice-impacted youth are afforded their fundamental right to vote,” wrote the report authors. “As this report has underscored, voting access for this population is not only a matter of legal obligation but also a crucial step towards fostering civic engagement and empowerment among young voters.”

Several counties were also found to be utilizing policies that were purchased from a private company using public funds. Many of those policies were “legally deficient,” according to the report. Fresno was one of the few counties that had purchased a policy from that company, but then “made extensive additions” that made the policy thorough and accurate.

The report recommended increased youth voter registration could offer with support from state agencies – such as the Secretary of State, Office of Youth and Community Restoration, and the Board of State and Community Corrections – in the form of technical assistance, a state legal assessment of current voting and voter registration policies in both adult and juvenile facilities, and partnerships between county probation departments and their local Department of Elections plus with local community organizations.

The report also included a sample voting rights policy that could be implemented in juvenile facilities.

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 12:08 pm

Link copied. columbia leaders pledge to extinguish antisemitism on campus.

Columbia University officials, including the university’s president, testified Wednesday before a House committee, telling lawmakers that they are working to extinguish antisemitism on their campus.

“Antisemitism has no place on our campus, and I am personally committed to doing everything I can to confront it directly,” Columbia President Nemat Shafik said during her opening remarks.

Another official, Claire Shipman, co-chair of Columbia’s board of trustees, told the lawmakers that the university has “a moral crisis on our campus.”

The remarks stood in contrast to testimony given last year by the presidents of Harvard and Penn, who were criticized for not forcefully condemning antisemitism on their campuses.

Some members of Columbia’s campus community, however, were disappointed by Shafik’s testimony. Sheldon Pollock, a retired professor at Columbia who leads the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, told The New York Times that Shafik was ““bulldozed and bullied” into saying things she may end up regretting.

“What happened to the idea of academic freedom? I don’t think that phrase was used even once,” Pollock said, according to the Times.

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 9:45 am

Link copied. group of latina moms from sacramento advocate for improved student achievement.

A group of Spanish-speaking mothers, largely monolingual, have created a group dedicated to advocating for improved student achievement across the Sacramento City Unified School District, the Sacramento Bee reported . 

The group is named comité de padres, which means parents committee, and came together thanks to a grant for community schools. 

Lucero Soto, a community organizer with Sacramento Act, emphasized to the Sacramento Bee that parental engagement is especially challenging for communities of color and that they are often kept out of educational realms because of systemic barriers, including language access. 

“They (families) don’t really know their role or power,” Soto told the Bee. 

“We just created a safe space for them,” Soto told the Bee. “And I think that’s what is lacking in our schools.”

The group meets monthly and is hosted by Sacramento Act. During the meetings, the parents can provide advice to one another and empower each other to become stronger leaders in education. 

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 9:28 am

Link copied. san diego unified approves affordable housing project with 327 rent-restricted units.

The San Diego Unified School District has approved an affordable housing project on extra school property, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Under the project, the former campus of Central Elementary School, located in City Heights, will now include 327 units that are rent restricted — 270 of which will be reserved for families and individuals. The remaining units will be set aside for seniors.

This is the second housing project the district has taken on, but the first where all of the units are rent restricted, the Union Tribune reported.

The housing projects are part of a larger effort to keep students and families from being priced out of San Diego Unified, while also generating revenue for the district.

In addition to housing, the project will also include space for Fern Street Circus, a performing arts group, as well as a farmers market.

“It’s really exciting we’re moving in this direction,” trustee Sharon Whitehurst-Payne told the Union-Tribune. “Hopefully we can help the city with more housing.”

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 8:54 am

Link copied. california makes strides toward universal preschool access.

California has made progress towards the goal of achieving universal preschool, according to a national report that ranks state-funded preschool programs. California now ranks 16th in the nation in preschool enrollment for 4-year-olds and 15 th for 3-year-olds across the transitional kindergarten (TK) and California State Preschool Program (CSPP) programs. That’s up from ranking 18 th for 4-year-old access and 16 th for 3-year-old access last year.

California now serves 38% of the state’s 4-year-olds and 9% of 3-year-olds in state-funded preschool, for a total combined enrollment of 209,081, according to the 2023 State of Preschool Yearbook , an annual report card on state-subsidized early education published by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University . 

“Universal preschool is a huge undertaking in the nation’s most populous state, and California’s efforts and commitment are fundamentally changing education in the Golden State,” said Steven W. Barnett, NIEER’s senior co-director and founder in a release. “To fulfill the promise of a better education for all children, California must ensure funding remains adequate to provide high-quality preschool, pay teachers well, ensure small class sizes, and full-day programs as programs are expanded to serve families.”  

The state increased preschool funding by nearly $1 billion, and this increase notably represents 71% of the entire national growth in preschool spending, according to the report. State spending per child averaged $15,305 in 2022-2023, up $2,258 from 2021-2022.

However, it should be noted that quality remains an issue. Although the state’s preschool program meets six of the report’s 10 benchmarks for a high-quality offering, the transitional kindergarten program, a bridge between preschool and kindergarten which began during the 2012-2013 year and is now being expanded to all 4-year-olds, only meets three of them. That’s still an improvement from 2019, when the TK program only met two of the standards.

“It is worrisome that TK only meets 3 benchmarks given that the program reaches more than 100,000 children,” said Allison Friedman-Krauss, an assistant research professor at NIEER. “The state is also working hard to set policies for quality, so we hope it will meet more benchmarks going forward.” 

The need for smaller class sizes and specialized teacher training to meet the specific developmental needs of the youngest learners are among the key reasons for concern.

“Class size is a major concern because of the evidence about how much it matters,” added Barnett. “However, because these policies are subject to local control and vary by district, the biggest concern is not that the program overall is lacking but that some children will have larg e class sizes while others have smaller class sizes. Also, there is rigorous evidence that TK has positive effects, which offers some reassurance. Of course, it is likely that the program would be even more effective if it adopted the California State Preschool ratio requirements and developed a comprehensive system for continuous improvement.” 

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 12:12 pm

Link copied. are young children suspended from school too often.

A kindergartner got suspended for pulling his pants down at recess. A second grader was suspended after he got mad and ran out of the building. A third grader got suspended because she yelled about not being allowed to have cookies.

Elementary school students are often punished for developmentally typical behavior, experts say, Hechinger reported . Even upsetting behaviors like kicking or punching can be a matter of young children figuring out how to regulate their emotions and how to behave in class. 

“Over time, it erodes children’s sense of safety,” said Iheoma Iruka, a professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Hechinger reported . “It erodes their relationship with teachers.”

Many experts fear such early suspensions, which can cause lasting harm, may be commonplace. A Hechinger analysis of school discipline data found widespread use of suspensions for students of all ages for ill-defined, subjective categories of misbehavior, such as disorderly conduct, defiance and insubordination. State reports from 2017 to 2022 cited these categories as a reason for suspension or expulsion more than 2.8 million times.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 9:59 am

Link copied. two california schools tapped for national arts education grants.

Two California high schools are among the recipients of grants from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative, which include college and training scholarships and classroom resource grants. The program is part of the push by the American Theatre Wing  (t he force behind the Tony Awards) t o help under-resourced students continue their arts education. Webber is a famed musical theater impresario known for iconic hits such as “Phantom of the Opera,”  “Cats” and “Evita.” 

Canyon Hills High School in San Diego and Cordova High School in Rancho Cordova were selected to take part in the program. One California student, Olivia Zenetis, was also tapped for a grant. Since it began in 2016, the initiative has awarded roughly $3.5 million to more than 250 recipients in 34 states.

“This is such a special initiative for us at the Wing,” says Wing President and CEO Heather Hitchens in a statement. “From repairing Albert Hill Middle School’s auditorium’s audio system so that productions can once again be amplified, to the creation of a set-design apprenticeship between Camden Repertory Theater and Creative Arts High School in New Jersey, the needs are specific and varied, and the results are real … education is being enhanced as is the pipeline to careers in the theater industry.”

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 9:57 am

Link copied. oakland literacy group takes on numeracy too.

Oakland Reach, a parent advocacy group , and the Oakland Unified School District are once again teaming up to grapple with an academic crisis. After making headway with its community-based literacy tutors, Reach has created a math tutoring project modeled after its successful reading program,  The 74 reported .

MathBOOST, which began last fall with six trained parent and caregiver tutors, plans to expand to more than 20 tutors in 11 schools next year.

“We really want our kids to be algebra-ready by the time that they enter middle school and high school,” said Alicia Arenas, the district’s director of elementary instruction, The 74 reported. “And the teachers bring up the great math progress they’re seeing from students who work with the math tutors.”

Children across the country have long struggled in math, and matters were made far worse by the pandemic. Only 19% of Oakland sixth graders scored proficient on the 2022-23 state math assessments. High school students fared even worse, with just 14.11% of 11th graders hitting that benchmark.  

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 4:44 pm

Link copied. usc cancels pro-palestinian valedictorian’s speech.

Citing safety concerns, USC canceled the speech of its valedictorian for the first time in its history.

In a letter to the USC community sent Monday evening ,  provost Andrew Guzman explained that undergraduate Asna Tabbasum will not deliver her valedictory speech, writing that “tradition must give way to safety.”

Guzman wrote that the selection of Tabbasum, a South Asian-American Muslim woman, has “taken on an alarming tenor” to the point of “creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement.”

The Daily Trojan noted that the cancellation came less than a week after pro-Israel groups accused Tabassum of promoting anti-Zionism and anti-semitism. Trojans for Israel published a statement demanding that USC reconsider their valedictorian selection. It stated that Tabassum called Zionism a “racist settler-colonial ideology” and called for the abolishment of Israel.

Tassabum said in a statement that she was not aware of any specific safety threats against her or the university, which makes her doubt that the decision to revoke her invitation was really about safety. She said her request for details about threats was denied.

“I am not surprised by those who attempt to propagate hatred,” she wrote. “I am surprised that my own university—my home for four years—has abandoned me.”

Tassabum is a biomedical engineering with a minor in resistance to genocide. She wrote that she was hoping to deliver a “message of hope” in her speech.

“By canceling my speech, USC is only caving to fear and rewarding hatred,” Tassabum wrote.

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) called the attacks on Tassabum “dishonest and defamatory” and “thinly-veiled manifestations of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism,” in a statement . CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush called USC’s decision “cowardly” and demanded the university reverse course.

Free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) called USC’s decision “an utterly transparent attempt at censorship.”

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 9:57 am

Link copied. school facilities funds cut as part of agreement to reduce california’s budget shortfall.

An agreement between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature that will reduce the state’s budget shortfall by $17.3 billion also will mean less money for school facilities.

The agreement, signed April 4, cuts the state School Facility Aid Program by $500 million, reducing the funding from $875 million to $375 million .  The program provides funds to school districts for school construction, deferred maintenance and emergency repairs.

The new agreement also delays $550 million in facilities grants for preschool, transitional kindergarten and full-day kindergarten until 2025-26. Districts can apply for funds through the program to build classrooms or retrofit existing facilities for preschool, TK or kindergarten classes.

The agreement also defers $499.1 million in funding to the University of California and California State University, and reduces funding for the UCLA Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy Project by $300 million.

Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 9:12 am

Link copied. murrieta valley will no longer report transgender students to their parents.

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District will no longer enforce a policy that requires teachers and other school staff to notify parents if their children identify as transgender.

Last week, the California Department of Education ordered the district to stop enforcing the policy after an investigation found it to be illegal because it singled out and adversely impacted one group of students, according to Patch . Two days later, on April 12, the district sent emails to parents to notify them the policy would not be enforced, according to the article.

The district has 30 days from the date of the order to ask that the CDE finding be reconsidered.

The investigation by the state was launched after Murrieta Valley Unified’s school board passed a policy last August that required parents and guardians to be notified in writing, within three days of learning, if their child asks to be identified with a gender or name different from what was assigned at birth and if their child uses a bathroom or participates in activities that do not align with the gender provided on their student record.

The policy had previously been passed by the Chino Valley Unified school board on July 20.

Monday, April 15, 2024, 10:15 am

Link copied. california goes to court to settle proposed name of parental notification ballot initiative.

Supporters of a proposed November ballot initiative that would require schools in California to notify parents if a child changes their gender identity are suing the state, the Los Angeles Times reported .

According to the Times, supporters of the proposition wanted the proposed ballot initiative to be called “Protect Kids of California Act” but Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office chose “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth” — the name signature gatherers must use. 

Supporters are arguing the state’s description of the proposed bill is hindering their efforts to gather signatures and claim the initiative was “branded with a misleading, false, and prejudicial title,” the news organization reported. May 28 is the deadline to submit signatures.

A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Monday, April 15, 2024, 9:31 am

Link copied. orange county superintendent misses a year on medical leave.

Orange County Superintendent Al Mijares hasn’t been to a public school board meeting in more than a year because of medical issues, Voice of OC reported . 

People have been starting to question why nothing has been publicly disclosed, according to Voice. Mijares stopped attending county board of education meetings at the end of 2022, and he hasn’t been in the office since August 2023. 

Mijares is planning to return from medical leave in August, Voice reported, and it was never formally announced. A letter was sent to the staff in March 2023 that said he had medical complications.

Mijares’ annual salary is nearly $400,000 before benefits.

Friday, April 12, 2024, 10:28 am

Link copied. teachers union, community groups sue county over chemical use near mostly latino schools.

The Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, representing around 1,100 school employees, joined environmental and social justice groups in a lawsuit against Monterey County, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Statewide, children in Monterey County are most likely to attend schools near fields with toxic pesticides, state health officials have reported. According to the Times, the April 4 lawsuit says that county officials and state pesticide regulators disregarded children’s health by allowing several farms to use restricted chemicals near three elementary and middle schools – all serving mostly Latino students. 

There are six farms using toxic chemicals near Ohlone Elementary School, Hall District Elementary School and Pajaro Middle School, which also have on-site daycare programs, the Times reported. 

According to the Times’ report, the chemicals are injected into the soil, followed by a plastic tarp being placed over the field for at least a week. The tarps covering the fields during fumigation sometimes come loose or have holes, causing the pesticides to endanger children. 

“It’s environmental racism,” said Yanely Martinez, a Greenfield city council member and organizer for Safe Ag Safe Schools, one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. “These are communities of people of color. These are the communities of farmworkers that are putting food on the table. The families are being silently killed.”

Friday, April 12, 2024, 10:24 am

Link copied. schools largely unprepared to address ai manipulation of student photos.

A recent event at Aliso Viejo Middle School in Capistrano Unified, where a student used artificial intelligence software to create a nude photo of a 13-year-old girl by putting the girl’s face on another body,  illustrates how unprepared schools are for the rise in AI manipulation of student photos, the Orange County Register reported .  

According to the Register, the school district didn’t reach out to the girl’s stepmom until she filed a complaint more than a week after the incident, which she said was handled poorly.  The district’s investigation found that the student created AI-generated images of multiple student victims and another student shared the photos; Capistrano Unified said the students faced “disciplinary consequences,” which may have included suspension. 

What happened in Capistrano Unified is not the first such incident, the Orange County Register reported. In April, Laguna Beach High School was investigating the use of AI tools to create nude photos of students, and in March, five Beverly Hills middle school students were expelled for it. 

Experts told the Register that AI-generated sexual harassment and bullying could be occurring on most school campuses. 

“If a parent called me and asked, ‘What do I do?’ the first thing you do is go to your school district,” said Rebecca Delfino, an expert on “the intersection of the law and current events and emergencies.” “Most school districts have codes of conduct related to the behavior of their students, and they’re typically broad enough to address what would be considered harassment.”

But much like most states, California doesn’t have laws banning the use of inappropriate AI-generated images, according to the Register. 

“We’re way behind the curve,” John Pizzuro, a former police officer who led New Jersey’s task force on internet crimes against children, told the Register. “There is no regulation, policy or procedure on this.”

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 7:25 pm

Link copied. l.a. county juvenile facility deemed “unsuitable” to remain open.

Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles County will remain open after a vote Thursday by the state’s corrections oversight board.

Youth advocates and family of incarcerated youth expressed concern after the decision was made, according to reporting by LAist. Some cited that the Board of State and Community Corrections deemed this facility “unsuitable for the confinement of juveniles” just two months ago.

That decision of unsuitability by the board was made in February after a series of site inspections found that youth were routinely late to class, that the county’s probation department did not meet the minimum staffing levels in the facilities, and that there was inconsistent availability of recreational and rehabilitation programs. They also found a lack of complete fire safety plans, safety checks within required timeframes, room confinement documentation, trainings among all probation staff regarding use of force, and more.

Linda Penner, the board’s chair, said Thursday that they were deciding to keep Los Padrinos open because the L.A. County Probation department “appears to have remedied the outstanding items of non-compliance.”

Incarcerated youth were transferred to Los Padrinos less than a year ago after other facilities in the county were shut down after similarly deemed “unsuitable for the confinement of minors.” Los Padrinos was re-opened, given that it had been previously shut down in 2019 after abuse allegations.

But many of the same issues with non-compliance that led to the closures of other county facilities quickly surfaced at Los Padrinos, plus accounts of high levels of violence, drug abuse, and an escape attempt, as reported by the Los Angeles Times .

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 1:22 pm

Link copied. assembly committee passes proposed kern county medical school.

A new bill aims to train homegrown doctors in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the poorest, least healthy and worst-served regions in the state.

The bill — AB 2357 or “Grow Our Own” — aims to address a regional shortage of doctors by bringing a University of California medical school campus to Kern County. It passed out of the Assembly Higher Education committee on Tuesday.

The proposal by physician and Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, creates an endowment for the proposed school in the California State Treasury. This allows contributions to be made to the medical school’s initial and ongoing funding. Once funding requirements are met, the bill requires the University of California to build the medical school.

“The challenge is the same as it always is,” Bains told The Bakersfield Californian . “Budgets are expressions of priorities, and the Valley, Kern County, are often left out. Even with the budget deficit, the state will allocate billions of dollars to worthwhile and vital programs and projects throughout the state. When will Bakersfield, and more broadly, the Valley, get the attention it deserves?”

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the “fastest growing, poorest, and least healthy regions of California,” according to a 2018 report by University of California Health. It has poor air quality, high rates of poverty and 41% of the population covered by Medi-Cal.

Yet, the region is also one of the most medically underserved in the state. It has just 47 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents, well below the state average of 60 per 100,000, and the recommended ratios by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recommended supply ratio of 60-80 per 100,000.

Bains’ bill has support from both sides of the aisle, as well as the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, California Life Sciences and The Wonderful Co.

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 10:58 am

Link copied. bill aims to squelch rising tide of book bans at public libraries.

An assembly bill targeting book bans in public libraries, the California Freedom to Read Act, passed the education committee yesterday.

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, introduced AB 1825. The bill prohibits public libraries from banning books or other materials because of the topic or content of the book — including sexual content, unless it qualifies as “ obscene .” It explicitly prohibits book bans that discriminate on the the basis of race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, political affiliation or socioeconomic status.

“Book banning proponents are disproportionately targeting materials containing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQ and communities of color,” Muratsuchi said in a statement. “We need to fight this movement to ensure that Californians have access to books that offer diverse perspectives from people of all backgrounds, ideas, and beliefs.”

Seven of the top 10 most-banned books last year had LGBTQ themes, including the most banned book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Koabe.

The book banning movement took hold in schools — both libraries and the textbook approval process . Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last year to counter book censorship in schools.

But the American Library Association, a supporter of AB 1825, said that books bans rose dramatically during 2023. The organization said  the number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% since 2022, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023.

Last year there were 52 attempts to challenge 98 titles in California in both schools and public libraries, compared to 32 attempts to ban 87 titles in 2022. There were challenges at public libraries in both Huntington Beach and Fresno County .

“The recent call by some to limit access to books does more than suppress the subject matter — it also disregards the lived experiences and identities of authors and readers,” said Cynthia Valencia, a legislative advocate for ACLU California Action, which supports the bill. “We must protect the fundamental First Amendment right of access to diverse and inclusive information at our public libraries.”

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 10:17 am

Link copied. two california community colleges to join leadership, teaching program.

Two community colleges in the San Joaquin Valley have been selected to be part of a program that helps to transform colleges through coaching in leadership and teaching. 

Achieving the Dream (ATD) announced on Thursday the eight community colleges in the country that will be part of its 2024 cohort, including Clovis and Madera community colleges. 

“These institutions, like all the institutions in the ATD Network, recognize the vital role community colleges play in advancing both the socio-economic mobility of their students as individuals and the overall well-being of entire communities,” CEO Karen A. Stout said in a statement. “ATD’s commitment to equity is the foundation for the significant, transformative shifts that our Network colleges undergo, ultimately benefiting the broader populations they serve.”

According to the announcement, the colleges will be part of a three-year program in which they will work with ATD’s expert coaches to focus on equity, data, teaching and learning, leadership, community partnerships and student support.

Eight colleges across the country were selected to be part of the newest cohort. ATD works with more than 300 other community colleges across the country.

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 9:49 am

Link copied. harvard reinstates act, sat for admissions.

Harvard University will require applicants to take standardized tests once again after making the choice optional during the pandemic, The Washington Post reported .

On Thursday the Ivy League university announced those applying for fall 2025 admission must submit ACT or SAT scores, according to The Post. University officials cited research from Harvard professors who used data from hundreds of universities to explore socioeconomic diversity and admissions.

Critics have said standardized tests create barriers for disadvantaged students, and many universities made tests optional. Harvard professors found standardized tests aren’t an unbiased way to measure applicants and wealthier families often have more access to test prep. 

“But the data reveal that other measures — recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays — are even more prone to such biases,” researcher Raj Chetty said in a statement. “Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity.”

Dartmouth, Yale and Brown universities have all announced similar changes to reinstate ACT and SAT scores during admissions.

Thursday, April 11, 2024, 9:30 am

Link copied. fresno unified will consider internal, external candidates to find next superintendent.

Fresno Unified School District board members will consider both internal and external candidates in the search for a new superintendent, board President Susan Wittrup announced following closed-session deliberation on Wednesday. The process to name the next leader of California’s third-largest school system will also include community participation, Wittrup said.

The specifics of the discussion and how board members voted — something the public often wants to know — is confidential as the decision is not a final action.

Board member Keshia Thomas was absent from the meeting.

Superintendent Bob Nelson announced his resignation on Jan. 22; his last day is July 31, which left the school board about six months to find his replacement.

During a March 20 closed-session meeting, the school board decided to interview internal candidates before deciding how to proceed with the hiring process. Details of the 4-3 decision were leaked to the media, instigating community anger that pushed the board to reverse course and postpone the scheduled interviews in a 5-2 vote on April 3.

So far, the search process has been engulfed in community angst about an alleged lack of transparency and accusations that the process had been tainted by politics. District employees at the center of the search even faced racial harassment and threats .

The April 3 decision to pause the search as well as Wednesday’s vote to include internal and external candidates moving forward was compelled by community pressure to make the process more transparent and include the community.

“This choice is significant because, despite pockets of excellence and the tireless work of educators and school staff, Fresno Unified’s long standing systemic failures often result in students not reaching their full potential and teachers feeling overworked and undervalued,” a group of Fresno leaders, including elected officials and community leaders, wrote in a letter, urging the school board to conduct a “thorough, thoughtful and transparent national search.”

The leaders included: state Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, City Council members Miguel Arias and Mike Karbassi, Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla, Fresno Unified parent Sandra Celedon, retired judge Robert H. Oliver, Granville Homes CEO Darius Assemi, former school board President Brooke Ashjian and community advocate Debbie Darden.

“I’m really looking at this opportunity for this community and for all of us to join hands and pick the very best, qualified superintendent to lead our district,” said Wittrup, the only board member to address the search in her trustee comments at Wednesday’s meeting. “We cannot allow fragmented, competing interests to continue to play bumper cars. We have to join together… and follow the process.”

Additional updates, including a timeline of the process, will be provided at later board meetings. Trustees meet again on April 24 for a regularly scheduled meeting and on April 29 for a board workshop.

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 1:54 pm

Link copied. new bill in california legislature would allow undocumented college students to work on campus.

A bill in the California state legislature would allow public California colleges and universities to hire undocumented students.

The bill, Assembly Bill 2586 , was introduced by Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-Chula Vista, after the University of California Board of Regents decided to table  a similar policy for the UC system, citing possible legal ramifications.

A coalition of undocumented students and legal scholars had been urging UC to allow the hiring of undocumented students, arguing that state entities are exempt from a 1986 federal statute banning the hiring of immigrants without legal status.

“This bill will put an end to the separate-but-equal educational system that still operates in California’s university systems. As AB 2586 recognizes, the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges have the legal authority to hire any of their students, regardless of immigration status,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, in a press release.

Many undocumented students in higher education are unable to apply for work permits under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, after the federal government stopped accepting new applications in 2017.

Without work permits, undocumented students are unable to hold work study jobs, paid internships, graduate student researcher and teaching assistant positions, like other students.

“We’ll keep pushing until AB 2586 is fully realized, ensuring we receive opportunities equal to those of our fellow students,” said Jeffry Umaña Muñoz, UCLA undergraduate student and organizer with the Undocumented Student-Led Network, in the press release. “Every day, thousands of undocumented students like myself battle financial, housing, and food insecurity. Our aspirations for education and career advancement are hindered by unfair restrictions on educational employment opportunities.”

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 9:30 am

Link copied. what does an a grade mean.

A few years back, officials at Palo Alto Unified realized that one district high school was giving out far fewer D’s and F’s than previously, instead giving out second chances for a better grade. However, they were disproportionately giving it to white and Asian American students while black and brown students were still getting D’s and F’s, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

“It was glaring,” said Superintendent Don Austin. “That really spoke to who was getting the opportunity for more time and second chances.”

It was unacceptable and indefensible, he said, and the district set out to rectify the issue, starting a wider discussion over what grading means to students, teachers and parents, as well as college admission officers. 

Given concerns over grade inflation, racial inequities on report cards and whether an A should mean mastery of the material, this has become a national debate over grading and standards.

“The most consistent thing about grading is inconsistency,” Austin said, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. One of the biggest issues in grading at Palo Alto Unified is that teachers dole out A’s so generously that it constitutes 70% of all grades on high school student report cards. 

Read more from EdSource: Why some California school districts are changing how students earn grades

Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 9:29 am

Link copied. biden says child care and elder care workers deserve higher pay.

President Biden attended a rally with care workers Tuesday, during which he touted his administration’s efforts to expand access to child care and also discussed an effort to increase staffing standards in nursing homes.

“You’re the heroes to so many individuals. You really are. And you represent so many people who do it and do it out of love and concern, not because of the pay, because they’re not getting the pay they need,” Biden said at the Washington, D.C. event, as the Hill reported.

“As your president, I’m here with a simple message. I give you my word, I have your back,” he said at the rally, which was hosted by Care Can’t Wait Action, a coalition of groups focused on expanding access to child care, paid family and medical leave and home-based services. Representatives from the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, AARP and National Domestic Workers Alliance attended.

The president also referred to the American Rescue Plan, which he said helped keep 225,000 child care centers open as the country grappled with the pandemic. The legislation also expanded the child care tax credit and helped cut child poverty, Biden said.

Biden last year signed an executive order to raise pay for care workers, support family caregivers and expand affordable care options through 50 directives to federal agencies. 

The president said that care workers are predominantly women, women of color and immigrants “who are overworked, overlooked and underpaid. It’s not enough just to praise them for all they’re doing, we have to pay them,” as the Hill reported.

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 10:18 am

Link copied. california to expand alternative financial aid application to students from mixed-status families.

The California Student Aid Commission announced Tuesday that they will offer an alternative financial aid application option for students who are U.S. citizens but have at least one parent without a Social Security number.

These students will use the California Dream Act Application to apply for financial aid to attend a University of California, California State University or California Community Colleges campus.

In recent months, the new online Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has been plagued with delays and problems . U.S. citizens from mixed-status families have faced logistical challenges with the new application. Although the U.S. Department of Education said these issues had been fixed for students from mixed-status families, some have continued to face problems.

All students have until May 2 to complete a Dream Act application or FAFSA to meet California’s priority deadline.

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 8:19 am

Link copied. legislation would create office of civil rights within cde.

Newly proposed legislation authored by state Sen. Henry Stern would establish an Office of Civil Rights at the California Department of Education.

The office would investigate complaints and report on the frequency of incidents of  discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying at school districts, county offices of education and charter schools, and provide recommendations to the department, according to a news release from the California Department of Education.

According to Senate Bill 1421 , hate crimes increased by 20% in 2022. The California Department of Education is overburdened with complaints, meaning many can not be investigated immediately.

 “I am driven by a profound commitment to the safety and well-being of our children in schools. This bill embodies our collective promise to shield our children from harm and equip them with the knowledge to confront the shadows of history,” Stern, a Democrat from Los Angeles, said in a statement. “It’s a testament to our unwavering dedication to the safety, protection, and enlightenment of the next generation.” 

On Monday, Stern, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Sen. Susan Rubio and representatives from the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California and Anti-Defamation League held a news conference to announce their support of the bill.

“As an educator and a father, I know how critical it is for every child to feel not only safe in their identity, but proud of their identity at school. That’s why I have been at the forefront of protecting our LGBTQ+ students,” Thurmond said in a statement. “It’s our priority to engage directly with every report of antisemitism that our office has received. That is why we must establish a clear avenue so that all students and families are able to access support and resolution when they experience harm at school for being who they are.” 

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 7:54 am

Link copied. teachers union launches ad campaign promoting community schools.

The American Federation of Teachers launched an advertising campaign today to promote community schools.

The teachers union is airing 30-second television and online ads in English and Spanish in the Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., media markets throughout April. Union president Randi Weingarten will also be visiting states to promote converting schools to community schools.

Community schools provide services from student health care to after school tutoring to food pantries. California already has embarked on a massive undertaking to convert several thousand schools in low-income neighborhoods into centers of community life and providers of services for families as well as students. In 2021, the Legislature appropriated $3 billion for community schools, which will be funded through grants through 2027-28. 

“While others divide, community schools are one of the most effective strategies we have to help students and their families thrive,” Weingarten said. “Successful community schools become a vibrant hub of social services that are often in short supply elsewhere. By wrapping services around public schools, we can partner with families to create a safe, welcoming environment that celebrates students and encourages them to come to school and not only dream their dreams but achieve them.”

Promoting community schools is part of the AFT’s multiyear, multimillion-dollar Real Solutions for Kids and Communities campaign , unveiled in July. 

Monday, April 8, 2024, 3:52 pm

Link copied. biden announces latest student debt relief plan.

President Joe Biden on Monday announced a new student debt relief plan that would reduce the amount owed for 25 million borrowers and completely wipe away the debt of more than four million borrowers.

The plan , which is likely to face legal challenges, will start to roll out this fall and provide up to $20,000 in interest relief for borrowers who owe more than they originally borrowed due to interest. The plan would also help borrowers who have been paying for more than 20 years; individuals who are facing economic hardship; and borrowers who are already eligible for forgiveness but haven’t enrolled.

“Today, too many Americans, especially young people, are saddled with unsustainable debts in exchange for a college degree,” Biden said Monday during remarks in Wisconsin.

Since Biden took office, his administration has approved $146 billion in student debt relief for 4 million Americans through a number of executive actions. The plan he announced Monday is his most significant attempt at large-scale student debt relief since last summer, when the Supreme Court blocked his plan to cancel more than $400 billion in student debt for about 43 million borrowers.

Monday, April 8, 2024, 9:55 am

Link copied. schools use rare solar eclipse as learning opportunity for students.

Several schools, including many in the Central San Joaquin Valley, are using Monday’s rare solar eclipse – when the moon passes between the Earth and sun – as a learning experience for students . 

Red Bank Elementary is one of several Clovis Unified schools that will be educating students about the natural occurrence, the school district said in a media release emailed to EdSource. 

All Red Bank Elementary staff and students will have safe solar glasses to view the eclipse  around 11:10 am, as David McGee, a visitor from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), narrates the event. 

For the event, the school also coined Monday as a “Shine Bright” dress-up day, a kudos to the sun, with the parent-teacher club set to provide moon pies, as a nod to the moon, the media release said.

Monday, April 8, 2024, 9:44 am

Link copied. ‘one step forward, two steps back:’ fafsa troubles continue.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it would reprocess all federal-aid applications based on feedback from colleges, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported . 

In late March, higher education institutions learned that many FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) forms contained inaccurate information, leading the education department last week to, at first, say it would reprocess forms with errors. By Thursday, the education department reversed that decision, saying it would reprocess all forms. 

Although financial aid offices have applauded Thursday’s decision, other factors caused by the reprocessing continue to trouble colleges. 

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, colleges can choose whether to use the original form with inaccurate data or the corrected, reprocessed application to create financial aid offers. 

“… they added this little caveat that, if you want to use bad information you already have, go ahead and do it, because it’s important to get offers in the hands of students,” said Nick Prewett, executive director of financial aid and scholarship services at Stony Brook University in New York. “That’s like one step forward, two steps back.” 

Colleges, according to reporting by The Chronicle of Higher Education, also question whether those who use the original forms will be penalized for basing aid packages off of possibly inaccurate information and how it impacts colleges and families who must wait on the reprocessed data. 

These latest issues around the FAFSA reveal two competing concerns among colleges, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported: providing offers as soon as possible or ensuring accuracy and fairness in the financial aid process.

Friday, April 5, 2024, 12:05 pm

Link copied. longtime campaign for college opportunity president leaving post.

After 20 years, Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit higher education advocacy organization, will be stepping down from the role on June 30.

She will be replaced by Jessie Ryan, executive vice president of the organization, effective July 1.

During her time with the Campaign, Siqueiros worked with state leaders to create a new funding formula for the state’s community college system, reform college transfer and end remedial education.

“I am incredibly proud of the impact our work at the Campaign for College Opportunity has had for California students, from expanding access to college, strengthening pathways, protecting financial aid, to increasing student success with an unapologetic focus on addressing racial inequities,” Siqueiros said. “I have had the even bigger fortune of seeing that work bear fruit alongside Jessie Ryan. There is no one better poised to take the Campaign to the next level. As her biggest fan, a loyal friend, and forever partner in this work, I can’t wait to see what she does next.”

Friday, April 5, 2024, 9:39 am

Link copied. child abuse exhibit coming to merced county permanently.

Merced County’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Overcomers , an organization that addresses the effects of childhood trauma , received funding to purchase The Lisa Project, a multisensory exhibit that raises awareness about child abuse , the organization announced in a Thursday media release emailed to EdSource. 

The exhibit, condensed into a traveling showcase, was shown temporarily in Merced County in August to garner funding for a permanent full-scale space. 

Created by the nonprofit organization The Lisa Project , the exhibit raises awareness, increases prevention and provides education about child abuse through multimedia installations and audio narration that depict what child abuse looks like in various situations.  

“This initiative aims to raise awareness about the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and provide resources for individuals and families affected by the trauma of abuse,” ACE Overcomers said about funding from The Central Valley Opportunity Fund, which supports innovative projects that address critical needs in the community. 

ACE Overcomers, the Merced County Office of Education and Adverse Childhood Experiences Informed Network of Care, all of which collaborated in the temporary showing of the exhibit, will offer The Lisa Project for Merced County and surrounding communities. 

ACE Overcomers, according to the release, plans to mobilize The Lisa Project by placing it at locations throughout Merced County, including high schools, child development centers, colleges and community centers over the next five years.

Friday, April 5, 2024, 9:37 am

Link copied. selma unified creates support group for newcomer students.

Selma Unified, a nearly 6,000-student district in southeast Fresno County of the central San Joaquin Valley, has created a social-emotional support group for newcomer students, or students who are immigrants in their first year of schooling in the United States, according to the district’s lead mental health clinician, Kristy Rangel. 

“The group nurtures . . . students who are navigating new cultural landscapes and social norms without much support,” Rangel told EdSource in an email.   The created “safe space” allows  “students to connect with an adult and other students with similar backgrounds,” Rangel said. 

The school district has introduced several measures within the last decade to improve students’ mental health.  Its therapy dogs Jeter and Scout have played a lead role in Selma Unified’s push to destigmatize mental health issues and provide services, including support for newcomer students. 

For example, with Scout, the support groups implement lessons on communication skills. 

“Scout demonstrates to students that although she can’t speak,” Rangel said, “she can still communicate, identify and express her needs, emotions and wants.”

Thursday, April 4, 2024, 10:01 am

Link copied. former stanford lecturer accuses administrators of discrimination, sues university.

A suspended Stanford lecturer sued the university for wrongful termination Wednesday, following a controversial lesson on colonization given three days after Hamas invaded Israel in October, the San Francisco Chronicle reported . 

Ameer Hasan Loggins’ contract expired in March and wasn’t renewed, according to the Chronicle. He was suspended after the lesson pending an investigation. His lesson, which was taught on Oct. 10, was called deeply offensive by some Jewish students, but others didn’t have issues with it. 

The lawsuit says that because Loggins is Black and Muslim he was discriminated against and it’s the reason Stanford’s administrators suspended him and posted updates about his work status on campus, the Chronicle reported. Those actions were discriminatory because administrators “do not publicly confirm personnel actions taken against Caucasian, Jewish and non-Muslim employees,” according to the lawsuit.

A postdoctoral researcher is also accused of slander and defamation, the Chronicle reported. The lawsuit cites a Stanford Daily article that says a student worker told a congressional committee in March that Loggins was one of Stanford’s “most racist faculty members.”

According to the Chronicle, Loggins received death threats and has been called the “n” word more than 100 times.

Thursday, April 4, 2024, 9:43 am

Link copied. california state board of education accepting student board member applications.

Applications for student board member positions on the California State Board of Education are currently being accepted for the 2025-26 school year. 

According to a statement from the state board , any California high school resident enrolled in public school can apply but must be a senior and in good standing by the 2025-26 school year. Those chosen will participate in a statewide student leader conference from Nov. 10-13 in Sacramento that the board will pay for.

Student board members will also receive a $100 stipend for each day of official business, and expenses for travel, lodging, and meals will be covered, the statement said.

Student board members are required to attend at least two regular board meetings every other month in Sacramento, go to a one-day orientation, and set aside time to review agendas, which may include consultation with board staff for background information. Student board members will also attend advisory group meetings, student meetings, workshops and conferences. The deadline to apply is Sept. 24 at 5 p.m. For more information go here .

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 10:50 am

Link copied. california community colleges lose more than $5 million to fraudulent students.

California’s community colleges, since fall 2021, have distributed more than $5 million to fraudulent students, who are often bots, CalMatters reported. CalMatters cited monthly reports that the colleges must submit to the statewide chancellor’s office.

On top of the federal aid, colleges also said they have distributed almost $1.5 million in state and local aid to the fraudsters, according to CalMatters.

The community college system has been dealing with fake students since at least 2021 , when suspected scammers began submitting phony applications with the goal of obtaining federal aid or Covid-19 relief grants.

Just this past January, 25% of the system’s applicants were suspected to be fraudulent, a state chancellor’s office official told CalMatters.

Todd Coston, an associate vice chancellor with the Kern Community College District, told CalMatters that the problem “is getting significantly worse” and that the number of bots “spiked like crazy” within the last year.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 9:36 am

Link copied. laguna beach high school launches investigation into ai pictures of students.

Administrators at Laguna Beach High School have launched an investigation into a series of “inappropriate” images created using artificial intelligence, the Los Angeles Times reported .

The images were allegedly created by a student, and it is unknown how many were involved. The nature of the images and the methods of distribution also remain unclear, the Times reported. 

According to an email sent to parents on March 25 by principal Jason Allemann, the school is “taking steps to investigate and directly address this issue with those involved, while also using this situation as a teachable moment for our students, reinforcing the importance of responsible behavior and mutual respect.”

The investigation is also being aided by the Laguna Beach Police Department, who declined to provide the Times with details because the case involves minors. 

“It is a very challenging space and the technological advancements and capabilities are occurring at a very rapid pace, which makes it all the more challenging to wrap one’s head around,” Amy Mitchell, the executive director of the Center for News, Technology and Innovation, told the Times.

It is also unclear what kind of discipline the students will face, but the district said incidents are “handled on a case-by-case basis considering the individual circumstances of the situation.”

 The school is also planning panel discussions surrounding AI-generated content. 

“In our small community, these incidents can have a far-reaching impact on our campus culture,” Allemann wrote to the Times. “These actions not only compromise individual dignity but also undermine the positive and supportive environment we aim to foster at LBHS.”

Wednesday, April 3, 2024, 9:35 am

Link copied. los angeles poll finds widespread support for more trade classes.

More than 80% of 1,000 surveyed Los Angeles County voters, parents and students showed support for trade classes that can prepare students for careers — and expressed that the skills are valuable irrespective of whether a student opts to attend college, The 74 reported. 

Commissioned by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, the poll specifically focused on students and parents who come from “backgrounds disproportionately impacted by inequities in our education system.” 

The poll was conducted by Evitarus, a research firm that surveyed 400 registered voters, 495 parents of public school students and 258 students. 

Across the 80 school districts in the greater region, less than 20% of public high schools offer trade programs. The availability of trade classes has also dwindled in the past 25 to 30 years, and those that remain are seen as critical only for students who do not plan to attend college, The 74 reported. 

In the poll, however, 70% of respondents said they believe trade skills can help prepare students for futures in higher education. 

“Young people in the focus group really spoke about wanting to work in a career where it’s improving their community, and they spoke very eloquently about driving around and seeing these big projects going up and how they know that’s that’s to better their community, and they want to be part of that,” Belen Vargas, the senior director of Los Angeles County programs at Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, told The 74. 

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 10:52 am

Link copied. student loan forgiveness for public service workers to take brief pause.

The processing of forms for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program will be paused between May and July to allow the U.S. Department of Education to make updates to its system.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a federal program to erase student loans for people who work for the government or a nonprofit organization, after they have made 120 student loan payments over 10 years.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness forms can still be submitted to at StudentAid.gov during the pause, but they won’t be processed until July. Any payments made during the pause that are forgiven will be refunded or applied to other outstanding federal student loans.

Tuesday, April 2, 2024, 9:43 am

Link copied. fresno unified will limit its search for a superintendent to internal candidates.

The Fresno Unified school board will not be looking outside the district to replace Superintendent Bob Nelson, who will leave the district July 31 to accept a tenure-track position at California State University, Fresno.

The school board will hold closed-door interviews for the position at a special board meeting April 3, according to the Fresno Bee . They will only interview internal candidates.

Public comment will be taken before the meeting.

Board President Susan Wittrup was among the trustees who voted against closed interviews with only internal candidates. She is planning a press conference this week to address the need for an “open and transparent search,” according to the article. 

Monday, April 1, 2024, 9:32 am

Link copied. educators can soon apply for san francisco affordable housing.

Educators can apply to live in a San Francisco affordable housing project beginning tomorrow, KQED reported . 

The Shirley Chisholm Village is the first of its kind and will be geared toward supporting educators and city employees. It is specifically home to 135 units — 100% of which are considered affordable housing. 

“People who work in San Francisco should be able to afford to live here, especially our teachers who are critical to our community,” said Mayor London Breed in a statement Monday morning, KQED reported.

“Shirley Chisholm Village is an example of our work in action to address that issue.”

Monday, April 1, 2024, 9:07 am

Link copied. lausd primary election results are in.

LAUSD’s primary election results have now been certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters , the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The District 1 race is not over. In November, Sherlett Hendy Newbill — who garnered 25.73% of the vote — will have to run against Khallid Al-Alim, who received 20.14% of votes.

Current board vice president Scott Schmerelson is currently in the lead for District 3 and received 44.55% of votes. In November, he will face off against Dan Chang, who received 29.02% of votes.

November’s District 5 race — to replace current board president Jackie Goldberg as she seeks retirement — will be between Karla Griego, who garnered 36.72% of votes, and Graciela Ortiz, who received 28.76%.

In District 7, current board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin earned the support of 55.91% of voters and was reelected.

Friday, March 29, 2024, 11:02 am

Link copied. schools implementing app that tracks bathroom trips differently in fresno unified.

Fresno Unified School District has spent at least $94,000 in the past two school years to implement 5 Star Students, an app that tracks student tardiness and hall passes, including bathroom breaks, The Fresno Bee reported . 

The effectiveness of the app, which is being enacted in different phases at different schools, depends on a school’s collective efforts to enforce the rules, The Bee reported.

At Edison High, for example, the school hasn’t been able to consistently use the app because the school lacks enough computers across campus. 

But Hoover High School staff consider it essential in managing the campus. 

“Let’s just say you’re having issues with each other or you always like to go out at the same time, there’s a system where I can put both of your names in,” Hoover High School principal Courtney Curtis told The Bee. “You two tried to scan out at the same time; it will tell (you) that you have to wait, so we don’t have the same groups of students that are always meeting out.”

Educators at other schools told The Bee that the app doesn’t address the educational problems students face. 

“I don’t think you need an app,” Roosevelt High School teacher Marisa Rodriguez said. “It takes building relationships, maybe having more counselors on our campuses, more social workers or psychologists, but yes, it’s cheaper to implement the app and prove how deviant this kid has been.”

Friday, March 29, 2024, 10:56 am

Link copied. results certified to remove two orange unified board members from office.

In Orange Unified’s first successful recall effort since 2001, voters ousted board members Madison Miner and Rick Ledesma from office this month, the Voice of Orange County reported this week . The results were certified Tuesday. 

About 53% of voters said yes to remove Miner, and 54% said yes to recall Ledesma in the March 5 primary, according to results from the Orange County Registrar of Voters; all ballots have been processed. 

Parents and teachers sought a recall in January 2023 after Superintendent Gunn Marie Hansen was fired, the Voice of Orange County reported. Overtime, the recalls gained more support as Miner and Ledesma backed a transgender notification policy, a ban on the LGBTQ+ flag flying on district flagpoles and a temporary suspension of a digital library app over concerns of age-inappropriate books. 

With the successful recalls, the school board must decide between appointing people to fill the two vacancies until the November election, calling a special election to fill the seats or waiting until November for the regular election, the Voice of Orange County reported. 

Thursday, March 28, 2024, 10:09 am

Link copied. cal state to receive $1.5 million grant to expand ethnic studies.

The California State University system is one of five institutions to receive a grant from the Mellon Foundation’s Affirming Multivocal Humanities initiative to expand ethnic studies programs.

The foundation awarded the system $1.5 million, which will go to existing programs and to develop new ones by adding degree concentrations, creating blended bachelor’s-master’s degree programs, and establishing transfer pathways.

The chancellor’s office also will host a convention of ethnic, gender and sexuality studies faculty from across the system to determine how the grant money will be distributed.

Thursday, March 28, 2024, 9:30 am

Link copied. murrieta valley unified to vote on rescinding, reworking transgender notification policy.

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District board on Thursday night will consider rescinding and reworking its policy requiring school officials to notify parents if their child shows signs of being transgender, The Press-Enterprise reported. 

The item was placed on the agenda “for consideration recognizing the well-publicized actions and challenges related to this specific board policy in districts throughout California,” according to an email statement from the district. 

The statement added that “the district regularly reviews and updates its policies to comply with current law or district circumstances,” The Press Enterprise reported. 

President Paul Diffley, however, told the news organization that revising the policy could make it more likely to withstand legal challenges. He added that he plans to propose tabling the item this evening. 

“We need to go back and revisit it for one meeting,” he said. “I want to make sure we do the best that we can do.”

Earlier this month, Chino Valley Unified revamped its version of the policy — also intended to give it a stronger case in court. 

Diffley said both districts share the same lawyers and that changing the policy’s language came as advice from one of the attorneys. 

“I can’t justify doing that at this point because that’s pencil and paper and crayon money,” he told The Press Enterprise.

Thursday, March 28, 2024, 9:09 am

Link copied. san jose charter high school to close amid budget shortages, declining enrollment.

As a result of declining enrollments and budget shortages, DCP Alum Rock High School, a small charter school with roughly 200 students, will close its doors this summer, the Mercury News reported. 

“I know once the board said ‘yes, we recommend closing it,’ we took a breath … and once we walked out that door, it was just (a blow),” Madison Christian Sumpter, a junior at Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High School, told the Mercury News. 

Since the 2019-20 academic year, when the Covid-19 pandemic shook California school systems, DCP Alum Rock High School’s enrollment has decreased by 30%. 

To create a balanced budget, school administrators said they would have to eliminate nearly half of its staff.

Meanwhile, DCP’s CEO, Pete Settelmayer, told the Mercury News that the school’s 205 students did not lead to enough state revenue to support all of their services. Their deficit, he said, was between $1.5 million to $1.7 million. 

“We had to start asking ourselves, at what point are we doing a disservice to our students?” he told The Mercury News. 

“It’s not just about numbers. We know that when you close a school, it’s a community, it’s a family. That’s hard. It’s the last thing anyone wants to do. But the flip side is, am I going to be able to provide them with a place that will serve all of their needs?”

The community has responded negatively to the decision — and juniors Gracie Jaqueline Lopez and Sumpter initiated a petition to help the school remain open. 

“The reason I chose to come to (DCP Alum Rock High School) is because we’re a small community and a community that treats each other like family,” Lopez said in a YouTube video encouraging the community to sign the petition, according to the Mercury News. 

“You’re not going to find teachers anywhere else that have this much dedication to their students. Especially when I lost someone very special to me, my teacher and the staff members all came together and supported me.”

Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 9:39 am

Link copied. new president selected to lead stanislaus state.

The California State University board of trustees announced Wednesday that Britt Rios-Ellis would serve as the next president of Stanislaus State.

Rios-Ellis is currently a provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at Oakland University, a public institution in Michigan. At Stanislaus State, she is replacing interim President Susan Borrego, who has held the position since Ellen Junn’s retirement in 2023.

“I am both honored and humbled to serve this outstanding university alongside the talented faculty, staff, administrators and students at Stanislaus State, and to be the first new president selected under the leadership of Chancellor Mildred García,” said Rios-Ellis. “I am eager to get to know the Turlock and Stockton communities and work together to ensure that the positive impact of our students’ and the university’s overall success is felt profoundly throughout the region.”

Prior to her work in Michigan, Rios-Ellis was dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Service at CSU Monterey Bay from 2014 to 2020. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Spanish, a master’s degree in health and fitness management, and a doctoral degree in community health, all from the University of Oregon.

Rios-Ellis’s presidency will begin July 1.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 8:31 am

Link copied. last push to save expanded child tax credit in senate.

The proposed child tax credit, part of a bipartisan tax package the passed the U.S. House in January, is projected to help 16 million children living in poverty, but hopes are now dimming that it will make it through the Senate, as The 74 reported.  

This expanded child tax credit, which would apply to 2023 taxes being filed this spring, is not as generous as one Congress passed in 2021, which expired. Still, experts say it would help fight child poverty , which has spiked since the larger pandemic benefit ran out just as inflation hit families hard on rising costs from housing to child care. 

“I think this is the best chance we have of passing the tax package this year,” said Elyssa Schmier, a vice president for government relations with MomsRising , an advocacy group, as The 74 reported .  “We hear from families every day that are struggling to afford child care, medicine for their children, groceries and rent.”

Conservatives have objected to key parts of the bill, which is now stalled in the Senate. 

Link copied. Child care sector gets some relief in newly approved bill

The child care crisis got a bit of relief in the latest funding bill approved by the White House, which contains a $1 billion increase for early learning and child care programs , as Marketplace reported. 

The funding includes an additional $275 million for the Head Start program and $725 million for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a roughly 30% increase.

“One way that states might choose to use this increased funding is to increase subsidy eligibility thresholds,” said Susan Gale Perry, CEO of the nonprofit Child Care Aware of America, as Marketplace reported.  “More families would have access to help paying for child care . It may also be used for things like improving the rates that states pay for child care providers.”

Because even after that bump, programs will only serve a fraction of eligible families, according to Sarah Rittling, who runs the First Five Years Fund, a D.C.-based children’s advocacy group. Through Child Care and Development Block Grants to states, for example, she said,  “14% of eligible families are served with the $8 billion-plus that we have.”

Through Head Start, which helps low income children, “we’re serving roughly 36% of eligible families and 11% of eligible families in early Head Start, so we have our work cut out for us,” said Rittling.

Still, advocates are calling this a win, given the extremely contentious atmosphere and budget woes that put pressure on the final appropriations agreement.

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Battles over California schools’ transgender policies are raging in court. How’d we get here?

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• Battles over California schools’ transgender policies are raging in court.
• The Biden administration gives California $45 million to help recently arrived migrants.
• The 15 best things we saw at Coachella 2024 .
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How did California schools’ transgender policies end up in court?

State law requires that the attorney general give proposed ballot measures a neutral title when they are presented to the public to gather petition signatures.

But supporters hoping to get one initiative before voters in November took issue with what Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta named their would-be state law: “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth.”

Under the proposed initiative, schools in the state would be required to notify parents if their child (anyone under 18) changes their gender identification unofficially, such as in conversation with friends or teachers, or in school records, like a roll sheet.

The initiative would also prohibit gender-affirming healthcare for transgender patients under 18, “even if parents consent or treatment is medically recommended,” according to the official summary of the initiative published by Bonta’s office. It also would repeal current state law that allows transgender athletes to participate in sports and use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

The initiative’s backers have sued the state over the title, calling it “misleading, false, and prejudicial.”

“They said a title that includes ‘protecting students’ could appeal to voters,” Times education reporter Howard Blume wrote this week. “One that focuses on limiting an individual’s rights might not.”

The pending lawsuit is among “several high-profile legal jousts in California’s education culture wars over policies that have taken hold mostly in a few deep red, inland or rural areas,” Howard noted.

Parental notification and bathroom bans are not the only issues. Restrictions have been placed on library books, as well as curriculum that highlights the nation’s history of slavery, racial inequities and LGBTQ+ issues. That drew the attention of Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with the state’s education department and attorney general, who threatened legal action against school boards in recent months. Some of those threats became lawsuits.

“Now, opposing sides are facing off in courtrooms with broad implications for state and local school policies,” Howard reported.

How we got here

The current legal battles are simply the latest salvo in an ideological battle that’s been playing out in school boards across the state.

The core of the issue is not new; it’s just the latest iteration of the long-running debate over the role of public education and how much influence parents should have over that system.

2023 survey data from Pew Research Center show that these partisan rifts have widened in recent years, with a majority of Republicans saying K-12 education is having a negative effect on the U.S.

Fueled by that dissatisfaction, conservative activists and school board members are focusing on local school boards, raising money to fund candidates who share their views on transgender issues and parental notification. And they’ve seen some political gains.

As Times reporters chronicled last year, the local-level political maneuverings are part of a well-coordinated effort backed by national conservative groups . That includes California Policy Center, Moms for Liberty, the Leadership Institute, Turning Point USA and evangelical megachurches.

But as several school boards passed parental notification policies aimed at gender-nonconforming students, the state pushed back, arguing they violate students’ privacy rights.

Protection or persecution?

One ongoing case is between the state and Chino Valley Unified, where the district’s parent-notification policy was initially deemed discriminatory against transgender students. In response, the Chino Valley Board of Education revised the policy by broadening it so that parents of any student would be notified of requests for a “change to their official or unofficial records.” A hearing for that case is set for May.

Chino Valley district leaders also approved a policy that allows parents to report books they deem unsuitable because of sexual content. The book would then be removed pending a public hearing to decide if it should be banned.

Conservatives call efforts like these necessary to protect young children from sexually explicit and profane materials. But what some call protection, others call erasure and persecution. Those opposed to the conservative-led policies say they amount to racism and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry and will lead to more marginalization and harm for children.

“The people screaming for ‘parental rights’ are trying to take rights away from my kids while telling me how to raise them,” Kristi Hirst, leader of the Chino-based Our Schools USA, told Howard.

Similar battles over transgender student policies and restrictions on books and curriculum are raging in school districts across the state, including in Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Shasta and Placer counties.

You can read more about some of those in Howard’s reporting .

Today’s top stories

Trump’s trial

• Q&A: Yes, Trump could be elected president as a convicted felon .
• The first criminal prosecution of a former president in American history began Monday as Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, stands trial in New York.
• Trump’s trial is about more than sex and money . It’s about what presidents ‘can get away with.’

More politics

• The abortion debate is giving Harris a moment . But voters still aren’t sold.
• People with disabilities love this program. Why are Latinos underrepresented?
• California sues Huntington Beach over ‘blatantly and flatly illegal’ voter ID law.

AI abuse in California

• AI-generated child pornography is circulating . This California prosecutor wants to make it illegal.
• L.A. school district investigates inappropriate images shared at Fairfax High . More AI abuse?
• Laguna Beach High School launches inquiry into ‘inappropriate’ AI-generated images of students .

Israel-Iran clash

• Analysis: Can both sides declare victory in Iran-Israel clash?
• Iran launches airstrikes toward Israel in retaliatory move, boosting chance of wider conflict.
• Biden hosts Iraqi leader after Iran’s attack on Israel throws Mideast into greater uncertainty.

More big stories

• Goofy is sued for negligence and inflicting trauma in a Disneyland collision.
• Citing safety, USC bans pro-Palestinian valedictorian from speaking at graduation.
• Tesla to slash more than 10% of its global workforce , affecting 14,000 employees.
• ‘Rust’ armorer Hannah Gutierrez is sentenced to 18 months in prison — the maximum sentence — for her role in the accidental shooting death of the western film’s cinematographer 2½ years ago in New Mexico.
• A federal judge has found that L.A. city officials doctored records in a case over homeless camp cleanups.
• This controversial homeless housing owner wants to buy six more troubled Skid Row properties .
• Berkeley schools chief will testify at congressional hearing over antisemitism charges .
• A California women’s prison rocked by ‘rape club’ abuse scandals will be closed .
• Damage found inside Glen Canyon Dam increases water risks on the Colorado River.
• Lakers know Pelicans present problems in playoffs rematch , but so does complacency.
• After Caitlin Clark is drafted No. 1, Sparks select Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson .

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Commentary and opinions

• Sammy Roth: Red state coal towns still power the West Coast . We can’t just let them die.
• LZ Granderson: How can evangelicals like Mike Johnson tolerate Trump?
• Harry Litman: Trump’s antics didn’t stop his New York hush money trial . Here’s why he’ll keep them up.
• Michael Hiltzik: Are Republicans who got pandemic debt relief hypocrites for complaining about student debt relief? Yes.
• Jonah Goldberg: For Israel and Ukraine alike, U.S. support is proving unreliable and inadequate .

Today’s great reads

‘Self-annihilation?’ L.A. rabbi wants to heal a ‘world on fire.’ Rabbi Sharon Brous is one of the most influential Jewish leaders in America. Since founding IKAR in Los Angeles, she has become a powerful voice on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, antisemitism and American politics.

Other great reads

• Salman Rushdie’s ‘Knife’ recounts his stabbing . His press tour has its own revelations.
• 99 Cents Only stores are closing. How I spent $20 in groceries at other discount chains .
• This iconic wildflower spot can be dazzling. Is it worth the 150-mile trek from L.A. this year?
• ‘It’s the best job ever’: ‘Family Guy’ cast reflects on 25 years of irreverent humor.
• What ‘Civil War’ gets right and wrong about photojournalism , according to a Pulitzer Prize winner.
• Bit by a billionaire’s dog? Or a case of extortion? A legal saga from an L.A. dog park .

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected] .

For your downtime

• 🎸🎤 The 15 best things we saw at Coachella 2024 .
• 🎦 In trying to hedge its politics, ‘Civil War’ — now in theaters— betrays its characters and the audience.
• 🛒 Beyond Erewhon: Inside the L.A. grocery store where all the cool vegans are flocking.
• 📖 ‘Alienist’ author Caleb Carr — grieving his late cat — reflects on his life amid battle with cancer .
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for butternut hommus .
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games .

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

Today’s great photo is from Times contributor Yuri Hasegawa at Khoi Pham and Michael Solberg’s Studio City cottage where their native plant wonderland shows how gorgeous no grass can be .

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter Defne Karabatur, fellow Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor and Saturday reporter Christian Orozco, assistant editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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Ryan Fonseca writes the Los Angeles Times’ Essential California newsletter. A lifelong SoCal native, he has worked in a diverse mix of newsrooms across L.A. County, including radio, documentary, print and television outlets. Most recently, he was an associate editor for LAist.com and KPCC-FM (89.3) public radio, covering transportation and mobility. He returns to The Times after previously working as an assistant web editor for Times Community News, where he helped manage the websites and social media presence of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun. Fonseca studied journalism at Cal State Northridge, where he now teaches the next generation of journalists to develop their voice and digital skills.

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Health | Bay Area masking up again as mandates go into…

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Health | more than 20 previously uncounted ballots discovered during congressional district 16 recount, health | bay area masking up again as mandates go into effect nov. 1 in health care settings, santa clara and marin county healthcare settings require masks for all; only for health workers in alameda, san mateo, contra costa and sonoma counties.

As you put away those zombie masks and Halloween decorations, it might be a good time to pull out that box of surgical or KN95 face masks again as respiratory virus season gets underway, especially if you are headed to the doctor’s office soon.

In Santa Clara County, everyone — patients, caregivers and healthcare providers — will be required to wear face masks in public patient care areas in hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities for the “winter respiratory virus period,” starting Nov. 1 and lasting five months through the end of March.

Marin County has implemented a similar order , and in Alameda, San Mateo, Contra Costa, and Sonoma counties health care workers will be required to mask up in patient care areas starting Wednesday, after local public health officials passed mandates earlier this fall requiring seasonal masking rules.

As respiratory virus season gains steam, health officials say it’s a good idea to check stocks of rapid COVID tests. Consumers might still be eligible for another delivery of free COVID tests from the federal government. The Biden administration resurrected the program as of Sep. 25, and if you haven’t yet you can request a shipment of four rapid at-home tests through the USPS site .

In California, COVID positivity rates were on the rise starting in July, and peaked in late August. In September the positivity rate started to come back down, but plateaued in mid-October at just above 6%. It has risen a little since then.

Beyond masking in health care settings, public health officials have been encouraging everyone 6 months and older to get the most recent COVID shot, a flu shot, and for the most vulnerable, the vaccine to protect against RSV.

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Watch CBS News

Biden is canceling $7.4 billion in student debt for 277,000 borrowers. Here's who is eligible.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Alain Sherter

Updated on: April 12, 2024 / 3:29 PM EDT / CBS News

The Biden administration on Friday said it's canceling $7.4 billion in student debt for 277,000 borrowers, with the recipients scheduled to receive emails today to alert them to their loan discharges. 

The latest effort extends the debt relief provider under President Joe Biden after the Supreme Court last year blocked  his administration's plan for broad-based student loan forgiveness. With the latest batch of loan cancellations, the White House said it has forgiven about $153 billion in debt for 4.3 million student borrowers. 

Biden, who had made student loan relief a major campaign pledge, is tackling an issue that affects about 43 million Americans with a combined  $1.7 trillion in student debt. It's a burden that some borrowers and their advocates say has harmed their ability to save for a home or achieve financial milestones, an issue that was echoed by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a conference call with reporters. 

"I talked to a teacher in New York this week who took out a loan for $30,000," Cardona said Friday, "and after over a decade of paying and being a teacher the debt was $60,000, and she was saying that the interest was so high that the payments that she was making wasn't even touching her principal."

He added, "We are fixing a broken system. We're relentless and taking steps to transform a broken system into one that works people across the country."

Here's what to know about who is eligible for the latest round of forgiveness.

Who qualifies for the student loan forgiveness?

Three groups of people qualify under the latest round of debt relief, the White House said. 

• $3.6 billion for 206,800 borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan.

About $3.6 billion will be forgiven for nearly 207,000 borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, an income-driven repayment program, or IDR, that the Biden administration created last year. 

The White House said borrowers who are getting their debt discharged under SAVE had taken out smaller loans for their college studies. The plan allows people to receive forgiveness after they made at least 10 years of payments if they originally took out $12,000 or less in loans to pay for college; borrowers with larger loans are eligible after 20 or 25 years of repayment, depending on what types of loans they have. 

 "You sacrifice and you've saved for a decade or more to make your student loan payments, and you originally borrowed $12,000 or less, you're going to see relief," Cardona told reporters. "An overwhelming number of those who qualify for SAVE were eligible for Pell grants and come from low- and middle-income communities."

• $3.5 billion for 65,700 borrowers in income-repayment plans.

These borrowers will receive forgiveness through "administrative adjustments" to repayment plans where loan servicers had made it tougher for some borrowers to qualify for relief.  

"These are people who paid for a long time but were being deprived of relief because of administrative and servicing failures," Cardona said. "These people met the contract of their loan" and will receive forgiveness.

• $300 million for 4,600 borrowers through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).  

The PSLF program is designed to help public servants like teachers and government employees achieve debt forgiveness after 10 years of repayment. It's a program that started in 2007 but had been plagued with complex rules that effectively hampered people from getting their debt discharged, with only 7,000 receiving loan forgiveness prior to the Biden administration. 

With the latest round of discharges, the Biden administration has forgiven $62.8 billion in loans for 876,000 borrowers through PSLF. 

Are there legal challenges to Biden's debt forgiveness plans?

In two separate lawsuits, Republican attorneys general in 18 states are pushing to have the SAVE plan tossed and to halt any further student debt cancellation. They say the SAVE plan oversteps Biden's authority and makes it harder for states to recruit employees. They also contend the plan undermines a separate cancellation program that encourages careers in public service.

It's unclear what the suits could mean for loans that have already been canceled. A court document filed by Kansas' attorney general says it's "unrealistic to think that any loan forgiveness that occurs during this litigation will ever be clawed back."

—With reporting by the Associated Press.

• Biden Administration
• Student Loan

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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Nevada Today

Center for urban water conservation celebrates 30 years of research, public invited to tours, presentations and native plant sale.

Visitors can observe the thriving wine grapes when they visit the Orchard. Photo by Louise Ruskamp.

Those wanting to spruce up their yards with native plants and get gardening tips are invited to a celebration in North Las Vegas at The Center for Urban Water Conservation, Research Center & Demonstration Orchard . University of Nevada, Reno Extension , in partnership with the  University of Nevada, Las Vegas , is hosting an event April 27 to celebrate 30 years of collaboration at the facility.

The event will include tours of the facility, a native plant sale, children’s activities and pastries. There will also be information on volunteer and educational opportunities, and presentations on a variety of water and horticulture issues, including native plants, worm bins, growing herbs, honeybees, roses, palms, growing smarter, and current research being conducted. The presentations will be given by  Extension’s Master Gardeners , as well as faculty and staff from both universities.  

The goal of the Center is to conduct research and provide information on water conservation in the Mojave Desert. Through UNLV, three Ph.D. students, six master's degree students, and over 75 undergraduates have conducted or assisted on research projects at the Center. Over 50 peer-reviewed publications and numerous fact sheets have been published on the work conducted at the Center.

The Research Center & Demonstration Orchard portion of the Center houses over 500 fruit trees, 230 grape vines and 100 palm trees, as well as many vegetable beds. In just the last four years, the grounds produced an average of 1,310 pounds of vegetables, 9,773 pounds, of fruit, and 2,888 pounds of grapes. The produce is available to the community, with the excess going to local food banks. The Center has welcomed over 2,500 visitors a year. It is maintained with help from Extension’s Master Gardeners and community volunteers.

“The celebration will highlight the long working relationship among UNLV, University of Nevada, Reno, and the City of North Las Vegas in addressing water-related issues facing southern Nevada,” Dale Devitt, director of the Center, said.

The anniversary celebration will be held at the Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., April 27, at 4734 Horse Drive in North Las Vegas. It is free and open to the public. Registration is requested .

For more information, contact Louise Ruskamp at 702-786-4361 or Marilin Lopez-Bermudez .

Persons in need of special accommodations or assistance should contact Paul Lessick , civil rights and compliance coordinator, at 702-257-5577 at least five days prior to the scheduled event with their needs or for more information.

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With State Bans on D.E.I., Some Universities Find a Workaround: Rebranding

Welcome to the new “Office of Access and Engagement.” Schools are renaming departments and job titles to try to preserve diversity programs.

By Stephanie Saul

At the University of Tennessee, the campus D.E.I. program is now called the Division of Access and Engagement.

Louisiana State University also rebranded its diversity office after Jeff Landry, a Trump-backed Republican, was elected governor last fall. Its Division of Inclusion, Civil Rights and Title IX is now called the Division of Engagement, Civil Rights and Title IX.

And at the University of Oklahoma, the diversity office is now the Division of Access and Opportunity .

In what appears to be an effort to placate or, even head fake, opponents of diversity and equity programs, university officials are relaunching their D.E.I. offices under different names, changing the titles of officials, and rewriting requirements to eliminate words like “diversity” and “equity.” In some cases, only the words have changed.

For some universities, the opposition to diversity programs comes at a challenging time. They face an incoming student shortage, the result of declining birthrates and skepticism of the value of an expensive college degree. Others are worried about how the ban on race-conscious admissions will affect the complexion of their campuses.

In either case, many college officials feel they need D.E.I. offices to market to an increasingly diverse generation of students and the faculty who might attract them. While no two campus diversity programs are exactly alike, they often preside over a variety of functions, including operating student cultural centers, ensuring regulatory compliance and hosting racial bias workshops for students and faculty members.

Conservative critics have questioned the cost of what they call D.E.I. bureaucracies, which in some places have budgets reaching into the tens of millions of dollars, and attacked the programs for being left-wing, indoctrination factories.

In a recent webinar making the case for the continuation of D.E.I. efforts, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the backlash is based on “a few anecdotal examples of some terrible training module that went haywire.”

In announcing the renaming of the Louisiana State D.E.I. program, the school's president, William F. Tate IV, said that there had been no political pressure.

But he also recently told the faculty senate that “we most certainly have paid attention to the ripple effects that have happened to campuses around the country.” He vowed that the university, one of the most diverse in the Southeastern Conference, is “still committed to D.E.I.”

Todd Woodward, a university spokesman, said that the idea of “engagement,” which is now used instead of “inclusion,” has been the centerpiece of the university’s strategic plan since before Governor Landry was elected.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education , at least 82 bills opposing D.E.I. in higher education have been filed in more than 20 states since 2023. Of those, 12 have become law, including in Idaho, Indiana, Florida and Texas.

This has led to layoffs and closures. The University of Florida recently announced that it would lay off more than a dozen diversity employees. At the University of Texas at Austin, the Multicultural Engagement Center closed. And about 60 administrators received notices that they would lose their jobs, according to the state chapters of the N.A.A.C.P. and American Association of University Professors. Some Texas campuses shut down their L.G.B.T.Q. centers.

But some schools, even in states with D.E.I. crackdowns, have reacted more moderately.

Florida State University, in Tallahassee, seems to be taking a “damage mitigation approach,” Will Hanley, a history professor at F.S.U., said in an interview.

The school has reshuffled jobs and turned the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office into the Office of Equal Opportunity Compliance and Engagement .

But there have been limits to how far it will go.

F.S.U. students are required to take two “diversity” courses, which include dozens of topics like Buddhist ethics, German literature and L.G.B.T.Q. history. A faculty committee recently proposed renaming the requirement “perspectives and awareness.”

The faculty senate rejected the idea. In the senate meeting, Dr. Hanley, who specializes in the Middle East, said that the new name would obfuscate the requirement’s very intent.

“In the context of attacks on D.E.I., I wondered if changing the name of this requirement gives weight to those attacks,” he said, according to minutes of the meeting.

In Georgia, David Bray, a finance professor at Kennesaw State University, sees things another way, and says that diversity officials should have been eliminated rather than given a new title. Kennesaw State announced last December that its diversity chief would now be the vice president overseeing the Division of Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership Development and Inclusive Excellence .

The move came after the state Board of Regents approved a policy change barring Georgia’s 26 public colleges from requiring applicants and employees to fill out diversity statements.

“It’s the same lipstick on the ideological pig,” said Dr. Bray, who is gay and opposes diversity programs, arguing that they promote equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity. “As soon as D.E.I. was uncovered as political left, they now reinvent the language and have morphed into the ‘sense of belonging’ crew.”

But for many administrators, name changes are often an attempt to keep the mission of diversity programs intact.

Donde Plowman, the chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, told the faculty senate in November that the school had “not historically done well” attracting students from underrepresented groups to its campus. The percentage of Black students declined between 2020 and 2023, from 5.5 percent of total enrollment to 4.2 percent.

After a professor asked whether prospective faculty and lawmakers “looking for red meat” would be put off by the name change of the D.E.I. program, the Division of Diversity and Engagement, Dr. Plowman said, “What has happened is those words have become weaponized — they create noise and distractions away from the real work.”

Thus, the newly renamed Division of Access and Engagement.

Dr. Plowman has “consistently discussed the change to access and engagement on campus as a broadening of our mission to reach and support students, faculty and staff,” said Tisha Benton, a spokeswoman for the chancellor.

Tennessee lawmakers seemed wise to the workaround. A bill introduced in January specifically stated that no such offices should be operating “regardless of name or designation.”

The legislation had seemed destined for passage in the overwhelmingly Republican legislature. But the mood shifted during a committee meeting after members considered a letter from the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, which expressed concern that the ban would limit how the University of Tennessee reached out with support for Jewish students.

The bill was killed, unanimously, on a voice vote.

Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. More about Stephanie Saul

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CPSC Warns Consumers to Stop Using Unit Pack Power (UPP) E-bike Batteries Due to Fire and Burn Hazards; Risk of Serious Injury and Death

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WASHINGTON, DC  –  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is issuing this public health and safety notice to warn the public about the risk of serious injury and death with Unit Pack Power (UPP) e-bike batteries. The lithium-ion batteries pose fire and burn hazards. CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop using the UPP batteries with model number “U004” or “U004-1”.  The Commission has found that the public health and safety requires this notice to warn the public quickly of the hazard.

CPSC’s urgent warning comes after 13 people in the United States reported the battery overheated, including seven reports of fire and substantial property damage. The batteries reportedly were also involved in  multiple fires in the United Kingdom . The batteries have not been certified by an accredited laboratory to the applicable UL safety standard to ensure protections. 

The batteries are manufactured by Shenzhen Unit Pack Power Technology Co. Ltd., d/b/a Unit Pack Power or UPP, of China, which has refused to conduct an acceptable recall.

The batteries are black, triangular, and are sold as batteries to convert pedal bicycles to e-bikes. They have “U004 BATTERY” or “UPPBATTERY” printed on the side. The model number is printed on a separate label on the battery pack. 

These batteries were sold under the brand-name “Unit Pack Power” or “UPP” online at AliExpress, Amazon, DHgate, eBay, Walmart, other online retailers, and at  https://unitpackpower.net from 2018 through April 2024 for between $280 and $730.

Consumers should stop use and dispose of the batteries in accordance with any local and state ordinances, following the procedures established by your municipal recycling center for damaged/defective/recalled lithium batteries, because these potentially hazardous batteries must be handled differently than other batteries. Do not throw this battery in the trash. Do not deposit this battery in used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores.

CPSC urges consumers to only use micromobility products that have been designed, manufactured, and certified for compliance by an accredited laboratory with the applicable consensus safety standards. Consumers should always be present when charging such products, and only charge them with the charger with the e-battery from the e-bike manufacturer. Never charge batteries for micromobility products while sleeping.

Report incidents involving the Unit Pack Power batteries, or any product-related injury, to CPSC at  www.SaferProducts.gov .

  Individual Commissioners may have statements related to this topic. Please visit www.cpsc.gov/commissioners to search for statements related to this or other topics.

About the U.S. CPSC The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product-related incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of injuries associated with consumer products over the past 50 years. 

Federal law prohibits any person from selling products subject to a Commission ordered recall or a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with the CPSC.

For lifesaving information:

• Visit CPSC.gov.
• Sign up to receive our  e-mail alerts .
• Follow us on  Facebook , Instagram  @USCPSC  and Twitter  @USCPSC .
• Report a dangerous product or a product-related injury on  www.SaferProducts.gov .
• Call CPSC’s Hotline at 800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054).
• Contact a  media specialist .

Please use the below phone number for all media requests.

Phone: (301) 504-7908 Spanish: (301) 504-7800

View CPSC contacts for specific areas of expertise

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Assistant News Editor Education Requirements

The educational requirements for an assistant news editor are typically a bachelor's degree in journalism, communication, English, political science, or agricultural public services. According to a Northwestern University program director, "A BA or BS degree in journalism, communications, English, or political science is ideal."

What education do you need to become an assistant news editor?

What degree do you need to be an assistant news editor.

The most common degree for assistant news editors is bachelor's degree, with 88% of assistant news editors earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 5% and master's degree degree at 4%.

• Bachelor's , 88%
• Master's , 5%
• Associate , 4%
• High School Diploma , 2%
• Other Degrees , 1%

What should I major in to become an assistant news editor?

The best majors for an assistant news editor include journalism, communication, English, political science, and writing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, editors typically need a bachelor's degree in English or a related field, such as communications or journalism. Aspiring editors can also benefit from gaining experience through working on high school and college newspapers, as well as internships with magazines and newspapers.

• Journalism , 39%
• Communication , 17%
• English , 13%
• Political Science , 6%
• Other Majors , 25%

Most common colleges for assistant news editors

Assistant news editors often get their degrees at Pennsylvania State University, University of Florida, and The University of Alabama. Here are the most common colleges for assistant news editors in the US based on their resumes.

Best majors for assistant news editors

Best colleges for assistant news editors.

When it comes to assistant news editors, advanced education can lead to higher salaries and better job opportunities. Zippia identified the best colleges for assistant news editors based on metrics like admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, working vs. non-working student ratio, average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates. Some of the top schools for assistant news editors include Northwestern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Harvard University, and more.

1. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

3. New York University

New York, NY • Private

4. Harvard University

5. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

6. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

7. University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX • Private

8. Columbia University in the City of New York

9. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

10. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

20 best online courses for assistant news editors

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5. Complete Introduction to Power BI Query Editor

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Top 10 most affordable universities for assistant news editors

The most affordable schools for assistant news editors are Baruch College of the City University of New York, university of florida, and hunter college of the city university of new york.

If the best universities for assistant news editors are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for assistant news editors.

1. Baruch College of the City University of New York

Cost of Attendance

2. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

3. Hunter College of the City University of New York

4. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

5. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

6. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

7. University of Houston - Victoria

Victoria, TX • Private

8. California State University - Los Angeles

9. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

10. University of Central Florida

Orlando, FL • Private

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for assistant news editors

The hardest universities for assistant news editors to get into are Northwestern University, Washington University in St Louis, and University of Southern California.

Some great schools for assistant news editors are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for assistant news editors based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

Admissions Rate

SAT Average

2. Washington University in St Louis

3. university of southern california, 4. new york university, 5. columbia university in the city of new york.

6. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

7. Boston University

8. harvard university.

9. George Washington University, The

Washington, DC • Private

10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for assistant news editors.

The easiest schools for assistant news editors to get into are Notre Dame de Namur University, mount saint mary's university, and saint joseph's college of maine.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as an assistant news editor without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for assistant news editors.

1. Notre Dame de Namur University

Belmont, CA • Private

2. Mount Saint Mary's University

3. Saint Joseph's College of Maine

Standish, ME • Private

4. Grand View University

Des Moines, IA • Private

5. Rochester University

Rochester Hills, MI • Private

6. Our Lady of the Lake University

San Antonio, TX • Private

7. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

8. Rosemont College

Rosemont, PA • Private

9. Holy Names University

Oakland, CA • Private

10. Kean University

Union, NJ • Private

Average assistant news editor salary by education level

Assistant news editors with a Doctorate degree earn more than those without, at $60,932 annually. With a Master's degree, assistant news editors earn a median annual income of $57,412 compared to $52,915 for assistant news editors with an Bachelor's degree.

Assistant News Editor Education FAQs

What is the best college for assistant news editors, search for assistant news editor jobs.

Updated April 5, 2024

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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