Education Insight

Across the country a number of communities are creating greater student success by inviting business, economy, and education leaders into the room to help solve issues. They say "It's difficult", but that it works! Collective impact and local education is what we're discussing on the next Education Insight.

As September kicks off, this school year promises to be unique. In the next Education Insight episode, we tackle two critical topics affecting California's education landscape. First, we delve into the California Education Budget decrease, set to withdraw over 20 billion dollars from our schools this year. We examine its potential impact on local education quality and discuss how communities a...

The landscape of education and workforce training is rapidly evolving, with community colleges and universities collaborating to create effective training programs that cater to the needs of businesses and recent graduates. Through these partnerships, specially trained apprentices are being placed in jobs that align with their aspirations and career goals. Moreover, college graduates and community...

In this enlightening episode, we delve into the world of Dual Enrollment, an educational pathway that opens doors to remarkable opportunities for high school students. Join us as we unravel the intricacies of this program, shedding light on its significance, benefits, local initiatives, and future prospects. Our esteemed guests, Adrienne Pacheco, and Jorge Perez,  bring their extensive expertise a...

In the Inland Empire, our students count on teachers and administrators to help them make it to graduation. But in fact, they, our whole community, are counting on legislators to create good education policies. Policy that makes the road to graduation equitable, affordable, and possible. Are the policies that affect our students working for them or against them? This week three top experts lay it...

Last month, a number of people in the Inland Empire were honored for extraordinary achievements in Inland Empire education. This week, we'd like you to meet them. What are the qualities that make you the BEST teacher of 2023 or the best administrator? What does an 8th-grade Fontana kid have to do to win the regional spelling bee and end up headed for the national competition? Plus; a look at t...

Artificial Intelligence has landed in the Inland Empire; allowing high school students to explore Egypt or China in virtual reality. It is helping pre-med students learn surgery with overlay vision that shows them where to make incisions and it's making local logistic hubs more efficient. But two top experts in Inland economics and education are warning that it comes with a price. Instructors at a...

Most of us look at school...as a path to get us to a dream we already have. But here in the Inland Empire, it's common for students to be introduced to interesting experiences or careers that they never even thought about. This week we meet a former: custodian, a college journalist, and a little boy who was just trying to make it thru Ms. Lees's 2nd-grade class--and then a moment at school that se...

Today we bring you a show that has little to do with classroom lessons but everything to do with local student success. In the aftermath of the pandemic, we now have more community college students of all ages, living in cars, arriving hungry, in need of traditional and mental health services, and having serious transportation issues. They are often veterans or those who lost work during the lockd...

This past month the Toward A Shared Vision education summit was held at the Riverside Convention center. It was aimed at bringing education leaders from Inland Southern California together to collaborate and in many cases to put those who come from different colleges and universities or K-12 in the same room to learn how others might be doing the very same job with different results. So the Educat...

This week we’re talking with two women who have fought relentlessly for their education. Dr. Avisinia Rodriguez spent much of her childhood in the Oasis Trailer Park community. She is currently the Assistant Dean at the Palm Desert Campus of Cal State San Bernardino and is now the recipient of a multi-million dollar grant to help kids like her, find an easier path to success.  At seventeen, B...

The last few years have been tumultuous for everyone. From lockdowns, drought, protests, shootings, bullies, a global pandemic, and politics. But no one has been hit harder by these issues than our kids. They have become the #1 group to commit suicide or a mass shooting, and as the news reports this frequent story, there are always calls for more mental health assistance to help them. Today we are...

We’ve all heard the saying "it takes a village to raise a child". Well, two Inland community-based programs heard that and said "I think that’s our cue". Big Brothers Big Sisters of Inland Empire and Orange County and the Promise Scholars program are both finding success in helping kids do better in school and begin working for a successful education, career, and life. In this episode of Education...

Technology-focused industries are popping up all over the Inland Region, and that begs the question, are students learning the skills they need for highly technical jobs that are right here in our own backyard? From grade schools to universities the response is notable. In the next Education Insight, we explore immersive media, virtual and augmentative reality, artificial intelligence, 3D modeling...

We hear stories on the news of threats to teachers, mass suspensions, and bullying. Some teachers say that laws just don’t protect them in the class like they used to, so we’re digging deep into the handling of discipline at Inland Empire schools. Where is the problem coming from and who is trying to resolve it? Two experts with rather innovative approaches are finding success and helping to chang...

An extraordinary number of television shows and movies focus on the struggles of kids in middle school. The struggle is real for kids at an awkward age where decisions are often poorly made. The brain of kids between ages 10-14 is growing at an amazing rate, and experts agree that is when they need to begin to think about a career and college, often despite their indifference. So how do parents an...

In the 1970s and 80s, traditionalist educators insisted that a great education should include lots of structure, specific standards of performance, and a heavy dose of memorization of key facts and concepts. These they assured, would help our students to enter the workforce already proficient in language and writing skills, mathematics, science, social studies, and some critical thinking. Are thos...

Educators, researchers, scientists, and politicians have proven that if you want your child to make it to college, starting them at pre-school has extraordinary payoffs for lifelong learning. Unfortunately, pre-school operates differently in every community. There are many programs providing free pre-school to very poor communities and a number of almost ivy-league pre-schools for wealthy families...

Today we're digging deep to learn about college affordability and access – to gain a better understanding of student grants, loans, and the billions that are available right now for students from all backgrounds to use for college. And, what's being done to make the process easier to apply, and make college affordable and accessible for residents of our region. Featured Guests: ET Winzer, Director...

With all of the recent talk about the price of college, many people are asking what the value of a higher education is right now. Is it worth it? What can you expect to make as a result? How much will it cost? How long until it pays off? In this episode, we'll dive into those questions and more. We sit down with the Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside, Dr. Kim Wilcox to hear his...

Thousands of Inland empire residents have gone to college and then dropped out, sometimes shortly before graduation. However, a plethora of new programs that help adults with child care, grants, food, and academic assistance are beginning to bring those who left back to college. Today we’re speaking with two people leading the charge to get those adults with some or much college back to finish. Fi...

Over the past year and a half, millions of parents have learned just how hard it is to be a teacher as they’ve overseen their children’s at home and online learning. As a result, parents are more engaged with their child’s education than before the pandemic. But most parents still have some questions they need to be answered, and teachers and administrators have a number of things they wish parent...

In this episode of Education Insight, we look at the success schools with a diverse teacher workforce are experiencing and why. And we learn more about a unique collaboration taking place in the Inland Empire to get more Black and Latinx male teachers in the pipeline.  Featuring Desiree Carver-Thomas, Researcher and Policy Analyst on the Learning Policy Institute's Educator Quality Team, and...

In this episode, we discuss what kinds of change can be created in local education with million-dollar gifts. More specifically, we’ll hear what Chaffey College plans to do with the $25 million gift they recently received from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. And, we'll learn about the change that has been created with the late Jack Brown gift of $10 million to Cal State San Bernardino 5 years ago....

Taking our education system entirely online within a month would have seemed to be an impossible task before the pandemic. Yet, schools across the region made it happen to ensure learning continued despite the challenges faced during the crisis. Many of us were surprised at the things we learned. Now, with a glimmer of normalcy on the horizon, and state and national resources dedicated to accelera...