Karen D'Souza

San Francisco

Senior Reporter and Writer at EdSource

Award-winning journo. Staffer at @EdSource, 4-time Pulitzer juror, theater & film critic @mercnews, @ucbsoj alum

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Articles

El sonido de la música regresa a los estudiantes traumatizados por el incendio de Eaton

1 week ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza

Los músicos estudiantiles dan un concierto para el Distrito Escolar Unificado de Pasadena. Crédito: Pasadena Unified School District This article is also available in English. Read in English. Una familia de Altadena con cuatro niños pequeños fue despertada en medio de la noche por la orden de evacuación urgente de un bombero. Huyeron de su casa con poco más que la pijama que llevaban puesta. La hija menor, violinista, dejó atrás su instrumento.
Transitional kindergarten comes of age in California

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Karen D'Souza

Nearly 50,000 Student Loan Forgiveness Applications Are ‘Pending,’ With No Clear End PointThe Trump administration last week revealed that nearly 50,000 applications for a key student loan forgiveness “buyback” program remain stuck in bureaucratic limbo, with no resolution in sight. Some borrowers have been waiting nearly a year for a decision. The new data was included in a Department …
TK comes of age in CA

2 weeks ago | laist.com | Karen D'Souza

Read on... to learn more about TK some roadblocks school districts might face this fall. Some background: Spearheaded by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, the roughly $3 billion program has been described by many experts as a game-changer for families in a state with about 2.6 million children under the age of 5. Many hope that increasing access to preschool may be one of the keys to closing the state’s ever-widening achievement gap.
UPDATE: Can subtitles help children learn to read?

2 weeks ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza

News Brief Wednesday, May 21, 2025 — 9:31 am New literacy campaigns, such as Turn on the Subtitles, have pointed to TV as a way to entice children to read, through same-language subtitles. However, research from Britain suggests that children don’t even look at subtitles until they can already read about one word per second. This means that subtitles may not be the magic bullet to solve the literacy crisis that many hope for.
Transitional kindergarten comes of age in California

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Karen D'Souza

Teacher observed kid getting up off the floor and told parents something wasn't right—it changed the boy's lifeJust a simple glance at the boy while he was getting up from the floor was enough for the teacher to The power of observation is remarkable. Just a …
No cuts for schools, more funding for early literacy in Newsom’s revised budget

3 weeks ago | stocktonia.org | John Fensterwald |Diana Lambert |Emma Gallegos |Amy DiPierro |Diana Lambert |Karen D'Souza | +3 more

TK-12 schools and community colleges can expect the same funding in 2025-26 that they received this year, plus a small cost-of-living adjustment, and there will be a big boost for early literacy, Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed Wednesday in the revision to his January state budget plan.
Regresa el sonido de la música a estudiantes traumatizados

4 weeks ago | elpopularnews.com | Karen D'Souza

Por Karen D'Souza/ EdSource Una familia de Altadena con cuatro niños pequeños fue despertada en medio de la noche por la orden de evacuación urgente de un bombero. Huyeron de su casa con poco más que el pijama que llevaban puesto. La hija menor, violinista, dejó atrás su instrumento. Cuando la familia llegó al refugio de evacuación, su mayor preocupación era si su violín iba a estar a salvo.
UPDATE: Math fundamentals are key to building numeracy, study suggests

1 month ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza

News Brief Wednesday, May 7, 2025 — 8:17 am The building blocks of mathematical understanding start to form very early in life, as do the fundamentals of reading, but experts say that informal “math through play” approaches alone don’t add up to much. Children need intentional numeracy experiences that combine playful exploration with explicit curricula, research suggests, to pave the way for success in and out of school.
Sound of music

1 month ago | laist.com | Karen D'Souza

Replacing instruments: Karen Anderson, the arts and enrichment coordinator for the Pasadena Unified School District, has been bound and determined to replace a cavalcade of instruments, including 74 violins, 39 flutes, 61 clarinets, 68 trumpets, 34 saxophones, 17 trombones, 8 french and baritone horns and one tuba. That’s on top of the rock and mariachi instruments.
The sound of music returns to students traumatized by the Eaton fire

1 month ago | edsource.org | Karen D'Souza

Student musicians give a concert for Pasadena Unified. credit: Pasadena Unified School District An Altadena family with four young children was awakened in the middle of the night by a firefighter’s urgent evacuation order. They fled their house with little more than the pajamas on their backs. The youngest child, a violinist, left her instrument behind. When the family arrived at the evacuation shelter, her greatest worry was whether her violin was going to be safe.