Recent News

Does preschool work? Although early education has been widely praised as the magic bullet that can transport poor kids into the education mainstream, a major new study raises serious doubts. Since 2004, Tennessee has offered state-subsidized prekindergarten, enrolling more than 18,000 of the state’s neediest 4-year-olds. An early evaluation showed that, as you’d expect, youngsters who attended pre-K made substantial gains in math, language and reading. But, startlingly, the gains had evaporated by the end of kindergarten. Those…

As a Catholic, I share the gratitude -- and joy! -- of so many that Pope Francis has re-centered the Church on the issues that Jesus truly prioritized in his teachings: mercy for the poor, comfort for the sick and a Kingdom on Earth that we can make heavenly through our actions and our pastoral care. He hasn't changed or ignored the Church's teachings on abortion, gay marriage, or other issues, he has simply stressed that,…

A Turkish police officer stands next to a migrant child's dead body off the shores in Bodrum, southern Turkey, on September 2, 2015 after a boat carrying refugees sank while reaching the Greek island of Kos. Thousands of refugees and migrants arrived in Athens on September 2, as Greek ministers held talks on the crisis, with Europe struggling to cope with the huge influx fleeing war and repression in the Middle East and Africa. It’s Sunday, Sept. 6. I sit on…

The last major El Niño brought droughts, floods and disease to equatorial regions – bad luck that those of us in temperate areas should help mitigate. One region's weather win is another region's catastrophe. The current buzz in cafes across California is that snow from this year’s big El Niño will bring the best skiing in years. What fortunate skiers don’t realize is that the same periodic ocean-atmosphere interaction…

The application for the Master of Public Affairs degree is now open! The Goldman School of Public Policy’s one-year Master of Public Affairs degree will train mid-career professionals for visionary, strategic and effective leadership. “With this program, GSPP is expanding its impact in the world,” says Meg St. John, Executive Director. “Participants will learn from the renowned faculty of the Goldman School, and build professional networks with public-spirited thinkers and leaders from the United States…

In an overheated article (“UC Fails to Hit In-State Goal on Admissions”), the San Francisco Chronicle scolds UC for appearing to decline $25 million offered by the Legislature to admit 5,000 more in-state students this year. That’s $5,000 per student which would supplement the $15,000 in tuition and fees that UC charges each student — although many low- and middle-income students get substantial discounts. State support is needed because tuition does not cover the entire cost of a…

I am very pleased to announce that Associate Professor Janelle Scott of UC Berkeley's School of Education and the Department of African American Studies & African Diaspora Studies is joining the Goldman School as a faculty affiliate. Professor Scott  is a distinguished scholar of American public education. Her work explores the relationship between education, policy, and equality of opportunity, and centers on three related policy strands: the racial politics of public education, the…

This summer, Goldman School students interned at over 90 organizations around the world. Many of the internships were for government agencies and non-profits organizations in Washington DC, Sacramento and San Francisco, but students went as far as Asunción, Paraguay; Cape Town, South Africa; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.  For a snapshot of student internships, read about Cesar Manuel Zulaica's work in Southeast Asia, Trinetta Chong in Cambodia, Darian Woods' internship at Planet Money, Adam Gorski's work for…

Lisa Corsetto interned this summer at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Office of the President, in the Western Hemisphere Office. USTR develops trade policy for the US and negotiates trade agreements; the Western Hemisphere Office does this specifically with counties in the Americas. "One of the most helpful parts of my first year at GSPP was the practice in condensing large amounts of information into concise and actionable papers for decision-makers," she says. "When writing…

Looking for an opportunity to work in education and gain data analysis experience, student Adam Gorski interned at Education for Change Public Schools, a network of charter schools in Oakland. He has enjoyed the opportunity to apply quantitative concepts to student assessment data and to learn R, the statistical computing and graphics software. "I'm taking more statistical analysis classes in the fall to build on what I've learned this summer," he says. "I hope have the chance to…