into the bay area and we get answers for you in real time today. you've seen the stories that say 17 states in the us could see the elusive northern lights this week. is that forecast or is it height? we will talk with the university of michigan professor to find out.

also studies show older folks benefit from relationships with younger buddies and there is a program in san francisco that fosters that unique relationship for those in the lgbtq community. we will have the story of an unlikely pair. first despite billions dollars to help make up for pandemic learning loss, a new study shows that students are not recovering. the lack is most pronounced in students of color. joining us now is jump professor, and cof rise up against racism. this study was done by what do they look at and what

did it find? >> the study was focused on primarily students proficiency, gains in the areas of reading and mathematics. i think the findings holistically are not totally surprising for those of us in educational spaces, those of us who are parents. the year we just closed was tremendously challenging. as i continue to drumbeat tremendous disruption that we have all journey through with the pandemic, it's not going to be a quick and easy for fast fix. this take time and innovative solutions. >> i know what you mean, my own kids were doing zoom learning for almost a whole year.

that definitely leaves its mark. more about this test, i want to pull up a graphic that shows the results from grades three through eight. this looks at reading and math. explain to us what we are looking at in terms of fall t spring achievement gains. i know this is comparing their gains each school year this past year versus pre-pandemic. what does this say? >> that's exactly right. the graph on the screen is a measure or a graphic illustrating how students have progressed over the course of nine months of the school year. what is shifted or changed from initial or diagnostic assessments to an assessment that they took at the end of the school year. i as we critically examine data like this, it is critical part

in understanding how students are learning. how they are being served or not served in classrooms. it is also important to keep in mind there are many factors contributing to these assessment results. of causes? was it that students forgot to study during the pandemic? they are slower to pick things up and that has stuck? what are you seeing in from a teacher's perspective? >> i will say yes, yes, yes to everything you have said. it is also really critical for us to acknowledge that since schools have reopened, we have seen rates of absenteeism in ways that have never existed before. really significant challenges in terms of students attending school each day.

i think we would be remiss if we did not address and explore what screen and phone pendency means for our students. what it means in terms of disruption but also how it is impacting and shaping their resilience when they are met with academic challenge. it's important that we are talking about the trauma and experiences the students might have experienced during the pandemic but also part of their everyday life. these are all factors that not only shape and inform standardized assessment scores, but also what is happening each and every day in classrooms. it does need to be talked about. >> they said the average time students need to catch up is 4.5 months.

>> as we are talking a learning and student achievement and meeting meaningful learning outcomes, this is not something that you can fast-forward like an online video looking at this data and utilizing this data to inform instruction and to inform policy. certainly this is a critical piece of our understanding of students experience, but it's not the only piece that helps us best serve the many diverse students in our classrooms. multilingual learners, newcomers, students who have a variety of personal experiences that also should be seen as tremendous asset to our school community. lots for us to consider as begin thinking about opening a new school year and this data

although in some ways troubling, i think it does give us an opportunity to set a roadmap as to how we are best serving not only the academic means -- need of our students but also the social needs. >> mentioned something interesting about targeting specific groups, customized personalized learning. the graphic shows latino students perhaps needed the most time in terms of reading. like it latino students needing more time to catch up in math. what do you think explains these differences in terms of racial groups and the support needed? sensitive? >> we know that during the online learning part of the pandemic, under resourced communities which predominantly impact students of color,

students were not existing in homes or communities with reliable internet access or they didn't have computers to access online lessons. we also know that parents, caregivers are working multiple jobs. it caregivers themselves have not had a full complete or positive educational experience, there might not be academic support at home. all of these elements need to be considered as we are looking at specific testing data for these specific groups. yes, we need to really approach our solutions with cultural sensitivity and acknowledgment of the lived experiences of every student. >> it's not just throwing more money at it. one reason this was so disappointing is people look at how much money the federal government pumped into schools

to try to address pandemic learning loss and is billions of dollars and yet, these are the results. >> right. it's not to say that our public schools are not still under resourced. there are so many opportunities where more resources are needed to care for and educate and ensure students feel connected and invested in their school communities. with that, we also need to deeply consider how we are collectively as a society talking about education. how are we honoring teachers? how are we talking about the public schools in our communities? how are we supporting them? i think this work, these conversations, this investment needs to happen beyond the walls of the school community or beyond school districts.

it does require collective investment interest and engagement. taking choices and shaping what's going to happen here in california and around the world. >> teacher and professor, thank you so much for this conversation today. there has been a lot of about a solar storm on thursday starting tomorrow but continuing thursday that would allow many people in many states to see aurora borealis. many say it could lead people in the dark. we will speak to an assistant professor at the university of michigan to

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the aurora borealis is always held our sense of wonder. it's enough to be a lifelong pursuit for many people. they are only usually seen near the north pole and in north america, that means i'm -- alaska or canada. but this week sky states may be able to catch the show. joining us to explain what's happening and where we stand the best chance to experience the event is a professor of the university of michigan. what is the aurora borealis? >> it is all

sunshine interacts with the earth beyond heat and light which is what we normally think about the sun. when you the sun, you see the atmosphere or the corona is so hot it is literally exploding away from the sun and flowing through out the solar system. this flow of particles and magnetic fields which we call the solar wind can interact with the earth magnetic field and the top of the earth at this very. this energy can flow down and cause the bands of light to appear in the north pole and around. as the solar wind becomes more active and strong and energetic, the northern lights which create an oval around the north pole, it gets brighter and also moves from the north pole down across canada and across the northern

united states. it's a very complicated process and this is where i have to give you the bad news. unfo sun, the conditions have changed this week, their predictions about the aurora are not turning out the way we had hoped. unfortunately, we are very unlikely to see it this week in the united states. but don't despair, because the sun has an 11 year activity cycle and right now, we are in solar max. we probably will not see the northern lights this week, but this next couple of years it's really the high time where if we are going to see them in the united states, that's when it's going to happen. >> what does solar max mean? what's happening? >> that's a surprisingly complex

question. it goes down to a cycle of sunspots. sunspots are active regions on the sun to produce solar flares and disruptive events that deliver the particles you are talking about, increase the solar wind flow and throughout the solar cycle, the number of sunspots starts very low then it grocery hi. that goes from solar minimum to maximum in 5-6 years then it decreases again. the underlying reason for that is that the sun has a complex magnetic field that grows and decomposes. scientists are still working hard to understand the underlying physics behind that so it's hard for specialists to talk about what is the solar cycle. really, it comes down to the activity of the sun and its

dynamics in general. like solar climate. >> it's enough for me who would love to see the northern lights that i have a good year coming up to have maximum odds. right now in the summertime, it's not a great time for optimal viewing. you need dark skies and the farther north you go, you talk about it being alaska but they have the midnight sun right now. 24 hour daylight. >> summer does make it challenging. [laughter] bright out. >> if you want to take a trip to the southern hemisphere, there is also the southern lights and it's the sum -- southern hemisphere winter. i promise, hang tight. the solar cycle has been looking very promising and active right now as winter comes, as we see more dark skies in alaska and over the northern hemisphere. the opportunities to see the

northern lights in the united states will increase. keep your fingers crossed and hopefully we will see it. >> i remember in the past couple of years, we definitely saw them in the lower 48 in states like acid she sits and minnesota. -- massachusetts and minnesota. >> it all depends on the position of the oval, the circle of aurora. when it is high and further north from where you are, the aurora is much more likely to look like a faint or diffuse glow on the horizon. but during very strong space weather storms, that aurora oval expands and when it is overhead when you can look straight up and see it, that's when you can see the detail, the arcs, the beads, the different shapes the you have been showing in that beautiful footage shared with your audience.

that is where it's really easy to see. typically, the best place to see that is alaska, finland, sweden. you are much more likely to be directly underneath aurora. if the conditions are just right, you can see it much lower. there have been some points in history where it has been seen in the tropics. for example in 1859, there was an extreme event where cubans were treated to the aurora unexpectedly. >> what is the appeal? visually, but also mythically? >> the nor see them they just looked magic. it's easy to connect those myths and legends and stories. they are very beautiful. i will tell your audience if they are interested, the space

weather and our world forecasting science community has a really strong and active presence online. if you are on social media, reach out to some of the specialists because when big storms happen, we are eager to talk about it. >> thank you so much for joining us. i won't book my tickets for wisconsin this week. don't despair, because you have fallen winter coming up. we are heading for the solar max. a friendly visitor program in san francisco has created a connection with the lgbtq community. we will speak with a reporter about his story on a friendship that

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many studies have shown when older and younger people connect, it improves the well-being of both. a program is there to help that

connection for the lgbtq+ community. today highlighting a visitor program that has brought together to people of for generations and help them form a unique friendship. joining us to talk about the friendly visitor program run by open house is a senior video journalist. thank you for coming on the show. open house has been around for 25 years. what do they do? >> open house is fantastic. they were formed with the idea that as members of the lgbtq+ community enter their senior years, they are need of housing and community. they center their work around that while honoring the diverse perspectives that members of the community have been helping them share them. >> you tell the story of one of their programs, the friendly

visitor program through the pair we just saw, an unlikely pair of friends put together through this program. tell us about them. >> friendly visitor program is one of the programs that open house offers. it pairs up volunteers of any age with members of the open house community to spend time with each other. through that, it provides relief from the isolation. some senior members might be feeling. also to bridge the generational gaps when it comes to knowledge and perspective and friendship. >> we see maggie, she is the older of the two. tell us about these two. their backgrounds and what we do together? >> maggie and tita are fantastic. they go for short walks around maggie's neighborhood. their favorite place is a sushi spot and they also get coffee together.

they hang out in maggie's apartment swapping stories, sharing advice, i also hear that tita loves to show maggie tiktok. the story of when they met was the most fascinating thing of all. when tita first signed up for the program, she was interested in connecting with maggie to get a perspective on what some of the older generation of the queer community dealt with as they were coming up through their own lives especially in san francisco as part of the queer civil rights activism that happened. when maggie was first hearing about tita, she wasn't so sure. she said she was looking for someone who identified as a list and when she heard tito was bisexual she was cautious. but she heard about tita's

activism and also how they clicked on a number of levels. >> why is a proam like this especially helpful for seniors in the queer community? >> this program itself is super important. as we come out of the pandemic and specifically in the pandemic, this was extremely important because while the pandemic was devastating for everyone around the world, members of the queer community were possibly triggered through some of the traumatic memories they had of the hiv-aids epidemic of the 1980's which is one of the bigger pandemics, epidemics that happened during their lifetimes. that combined with the isolation of the lockdowns, the ability to go out for yourself especially if you were limited in mobility, it was hard on the mental health of some of the elderly members of the queer community. the friendly visitor program started out as friendly color where they would have phone calls once a week with people

from the program to say we are here if you need anything and to give you friendship. then it transitioned back to the friendly visitor program or they would meet up in person. for maggie, she said it was a lifesaver. >> can you just tell us who is eligible to be a friendly visitor or request one? >> members of the open house community can request a friendly visitor than absolutely anybody is eligible to become a friendly visitor through the program. >> thank you for sharing that wonderful story with us. you can check out the story or more of our original reporting on the website. we will continue to bring you more segments featuring the city focused journalism. look for that twice a week right here on any answers at your hairline. or that thing where your knee just gives out for no reason.

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thank you for joining us today for getting answers. we will be here every day at 3:00 with experts answering questions from around the area. tonight, several developing stories as we come on the air. the flooding emergency. city streets washed away in parts of the northeast. more storms now coming. the homes collapsing into a ravine in california. and the urgent manhunt across state lines in the northeast. what they've now revealed tonight, and the new image here. first, the stunning pictures coming in from vermont. water rushing through towns. dozens of roads closed. entire communities cut off. a train tresle collapses. the tracks dangling over a ravine. and the extremes across the u.s. tonight. the record