Thriving communities depend on a strong early childhood education (ECE) system--one where both young children and members of the workforce are served and supported. In recent years, state government leaders have increasingly focused on changing qualifications for specific ECE roles, as increasing credential requirements has sometimes been…

This is the executive summary for the full report, "Centering Quality, Centering Equity: Lessons Learned in Increasing Early Childhood Educator Credentials." Thriving communities depend on a strong early childhood education (ECE) system--one where both young children and members of the workforce are served and supported. In recent years,…

African American/Black, Hispanic, and biracial students living in rural low-income households without technological devices or high-speed internet may experience instruction barriers, resulting in losing access to educational resources in rural California schools. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to gain a deeper understanding…

Declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization in 2020 forced many schools to switch to emergency virtual instruction. This situation provided an opportunity to explore the effectiveness of online learning from students' perspectives. To discover best practices for online learning, 584 STEM students at California State…

This critical narrative study examined the disconnect between special education law and practice in the rural Desert/Mountain region of Southern California. The Desert/Mountain region encompasses over 18,000 square miles, creating a geographic isolation that impacts special education service delivery and implementation of Individualized Education…

The California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS) Toolkit for Instructional Materials Evaluation (TIME) is a suite of tools and processes for evaluating and selecting instructional materials aligned with the CA NGSS. This 11th report in the NGSS Early Implementers Initiative evaluation series is intended for school and district…

The 2021-22 accreditation year continued to be impacted in significant ways by the ongoing nature of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. All accreditation activities, including site visits, were adjusted to reflect this new reality while maintaining full implementation of the system. This report presents information about the major activities of the…

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on education. Science teaching, in particular, has faced specific challenges given the field's emphasis on high-quality instruction that has students "do" science collaboratively rather than just read about it or hear about it in a lecture. This brief provides: (1) a summary of data collected…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…

Over the course of six years, a diverse group of school districts and charter management organizations in California ran a substantial experiment in implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in elementary and middle grades. WestEd led an extensive evaluation of that effort, the California K-8 NGSS Early Implementers Initiative,…

This 22nd edition of "Quality Counts" offers a fresh take on the annual top-to-bottom ranking of the nation's school systems on a state-by-state basis published by "Education Week". The first of three "Quality Counts" reports being rolled out over the course of the year, "Grading the States" aims to…

There is overwhelming evidence that children's early years, from birth through preschool, are a crucial time for their development, and that high-quality early learning opportunities support children's school readiness, promote later life success, and yield a return of up to $7 for every $1 invested. Unfortunately, despite having the sixth-largest…

The Career and Technical Education (CTE) playbook series has explored strategies and processes states can use to strengthen CTE program quality and provide students with pathways to postsecondary credentialing and middle- and higher wage career opportunities. In the first three CTE Playbooks, ExcelinEd provided a high-level view of how states can…

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was a multiyear effort to improve student outcomes--particularly high school graduation and college attendance among low-income minority students--by increasing student access to effective teaching. The RAND Corporation worked…

Focused on an equity of educational access issue, this qualitative study identified grade 4-6 teacher perceptions of English language learning in Southern California. The historic failure of English language learners (ELLs) on standardized tests in Southern California was presented as an important problem to solve. The literature review for this…