In 2017, one of the largest investments in education reform in California's history came to an end. The James Irvine Foundation announced that it was shifting its investment focus from Linked Learning, a college and career readiness high school reform, to other projects (Linked Learning Alliance 2017). Unlike the Gates Foundation's well-publicized…

Despite clear evidence of the benefits of taking advanced math courses in high school, access to and success in these courses are not experienced equally. Only about half of California high school seniors enroll in an advanced math course, and nearly one-quarter of seniors do not take any math. To increase equitable access to advanced math, six…

Inverness Research has conducted a "legacy study" focusing on a series of philanthropic investments aimed at improving science education in the San Francisco South Bay Area that extended for over 15 years. Roughly nine school districts enjoyed a steady stream of support for science education improvement that began with funding from the…

The Concurrent Courses Initiative (CCI), supported by The James Irvine Foundation from 2008 to 2011, funded a selection of secondary-postsecondary partnerships in California to implement or enhance career-focused dual enrollment programs. These programs specifically targeted youth who were low-income, struggling academically, or within populations…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation created the Early College High School Initiative in 2002, opening more than 200 hundred early college programs across the nation and every year a new report is created to evaluate the progress of the program (Berger, Adelman, & Cole, 2010). Staff at the Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (REL-SE)…

The Concurrent Courses Initiative (CCI), funded by The James Irvine Foundation from 2008 until 2011, comprised eight secondary/postsecondary partnerships across California that offered dual enrollment programs with supplemental student supports. The goal of the CCI was to expand access to supportive, career-focused dual enrollment for students…

California's approximately 500 continuation high schools are estimated to serve more than 115,000 California high school students each year--a number that approaches almost 10 percent of all high school students and as many as one of every seven high school seniors. Continuation schools are, however, more racially and ethnically concentrated than…

With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CRESST conducted a multi-year evaluation of a major school reform project at Alain Leroy Locke High School, historically one of California's lowest performing secondary schools. Beginning in 2007, Locke High School transitioned into a set of smaller, Green Dot Charter High Schools,…

Every child deserves an education that allows the opportunity to achieve his or her dreams. This is the shared belief of The James Irvine Foundation and the Bridgespan Group. Unfortunately, California's education system is failing to provide young people the foundation for success in adulthood. Irvine believes that young people must be offered…

For several years, the author has been working with colleagues in the Northern California Writing Centers Association (NCWCA) and the Stanford Writing Center to build bridges between college and high school writing centers. The writing center at Stanford defines one of its central goals as "celebrating a culture of writing" for all…