To address lingering pressures in the aftermath of the pandemic, California public schools received record funding, largely bolstered by nearly $60 billion in federal and state one-time stimulus funds. This report takes a comprehensive look at the allocation and uses of these federal and state educational recovery funds in California.

Despite the significance of vocabulary knowledge to student learning, limited studies have examined English language arts (ELA) teachers' skills and practices that may be effective for building word consciousness in high school Mexican-American bilingual students. The research objective of the present study is to examine how two high school ELA…

This policy report provides an overview of the Common Core State Standards, how they were developed, the sources that were referenced in their development, the need for educational standards generally, what they entail, and what it will mean for educators to implement them. The report draws from research and reference material to outline the…

This article presents cases of three young people who represent the "New Mainstream" of the 21st-century classroom as they engaged in a year-long research and writing project. Focal students were classmates who represented the linguistic and cultural diversity of today's New Mainstream: a transnational Mexican-origin bilingual female, an…

The purpose of this study was to identify pedagogical and non-pedagogical factors that affect the academic achievement of English Learner (EL) students in the area of language arts at Dr. Albert Schweitzer Elementary School in Anaheim, California. The researcher conducted an exploratory multiple case study to develop a comprehensive, contextual…

This qualitative, longitudinal study examines the perspectives on professional development of a group of exemplary, new secondary teachers of English Language Arts and Spanish (n = 4). This study explores the teachers' development through the lens of the "embodied understanding of practice" (EUP), a novel theoretical framework of…

Background/Context: With the installation of No Child Left Behind, teachers, particularly those who serve marginalized students, have increasingly been told what and how to teach. Previous research demonstrates that teachers can act as mediators between policy and practice, even within coercive environments such as those generated by high-stakes…

This case study of reading activity in third-grade bilingual classrooms at a state-sanctioned "successful" school examines the influences of the California accountability framework--Proposition 227, No Child Left Behind, and the federal Reading First program--on shifting beliefs and practices around what "counts" as reading.…

Education Resource Strategies (ERS) works with school and district leaders to help them more strategically use resources--people, time, and money--to improve student performance. They have found that many school districts begin creating small high schools without a clear sense of how much they will spend or how to ensure that small schools…

Expresses concern with the trend in K-12 education to subsume oral communication programs under the rubric of language arts in English departments. Uses California as a case study to examine whether English teachers are integrating speech communication into the English classroom. Finds that little direct instruction in communication principles and…

Presents findings of a year-long study of a language arts portfolio-assessment system in a California middle school in which an external evaluation committee applied a rubric to student portfolios from three teachers' classes. Discusses reasons the school board chose not to adopt the portfolio system. Contains over 60 references. (SLD)

California State Standard 5.2 is delineated as: Students trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas. The Age of Exploration, which began in the late 1400s, was an important era in the discovery and development of land yet unknown to Europeans. During this period, Europeans sought new sea routes to Asia…

This appendix accompanies "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better. A Large-Scale Study of Middle Grades Practices and Student Outcomes. Initial Research Report." This appendix focuses on the findings and domain comparisons of the study. This appendix contains the following: (1) Decision Rules; (2) Full Set of…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…