On Our "Virtual Route 99" (Special Month-End Edition)

 Our team pulled together the following courtesy EdSource & Education Next, as a new month is before us: 

Money is tight and campus fees are rising at Cal State

By Amy DiPierro, EdSource

On some campuses, mandatory student fees increased hundreds of dollars this school year. "College is expensive enough," one student said.

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COMMENTARY Investing in child care is investing in California's future By Maisha Cole, executive director of the Child Care Law Center Read more

COMMENTARY California governor’s budget cuts threaten dental care for low-income kids By Estella Kessler, a trustee of the Selma Unified School District Board. Read more

Education news in brief from EdSource

California State University maintenance workers on strike, demand pay increase Los Angeles Unified School District could issue 3,200 layoff notices to staff

Number of the week Happy Chinese New Year 118,000 Students speaking Chinese languages at home

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Secondary students sit for their General Certificate of Secondary Education exams

 in Rugby, England, in 2012, two years into the tenure of Minister of Schools Nick Gibb, 

who enacted sweeping reforms in English schools.

By many measures, contemporary Britain is a grim place and getting grimmer. The economy is stagnant, joblessness and welfare dependency are surging, and the population is increasingly despondent and restive. Shabbiness and disorder are the default settings. It’s even raining more. But one indicator of national vitality that has risen in recent times is the quality of England’s schools.

According to the last round of PIRLS testing, English children are the best readers in the Western world. On the most recent round of PISA testing, England ranked 11th in the world for mathematics, up from 26th in 2009, with similar improvements in reading and science.

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