Every Tuesday night, more than 250 students from elementary to high school age spend up to two hours on the UC Berkeley campus immersed in math intricacies and theories most adults have never heard of.

This month, 24 California women from cities including Oakland, Hayward, and Dublin will graduate from an intensive crash course in how to run for public office. Determined to counteract the state’s (and nation’s) dearth of female politicians, the Oakland-based organization Emerge California scouts out promising Democratic women leaders, then trains them, over seven months, to mount successful campaigns. Monthly co-editor Sarah Weld explains why record numbers of Emerge grads will be running in local elections this fall—very likely on your ballot.

This September, the brand-new East Bay School for Boys’ inaugural sixth-grade class, 18 boys in all, will test-drive the latest—and oldest—model of education. Echoing a nationwide trend toward single-sex schools, the new private middle school in Berkeley—inspired partly by faculty and board members at Oakland’s Julia Morgan School for Girls—asks parents and teachers to consider teaching girls and boys separately. Monthly co-editor Sarah Weld, a former education reporter, takes a hard look at this recent twist.