Research Findings: As policymakers expand access to preschool, the sociodemographic composition of preschool classrooms will become increasingly important. These efforts may create programs that increase the concentration of children from low-income families or, alternatively, foster the creation of socioeconomically diverse preschool classrooms.…

Recent research suggests a major crisis exists affecting urban children's educational opportunities. This study focuses on the use of research-based strategies to determine whether, and to what extent, transformative leadership influences the development of quality education that overcomes educational inequity in the lives of students who attend…

The Academic Performance Index (API) is the centerpiece of California's state assessment and accountability system. With the recent passage of SB1458 and the pending reauthorization of both state and federal accountability legislation, there is now an unprecedented opportunity to improve the API for next generation accountability in California. In…

One of the more noteworthy developments in university-based teacher education today is the proliferation of preservice teacher assessment, and in particular, teacher performance assessment (TPA). Indeed, more than 160 teacher education programs in more than 25 states recently adopted the edTPA, a Stanford University developed teacher performance…

Open Educational Resources (OER) offer unique new opportunities for educators to share quality learning resources, especially in an increasingly digital world. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), providing them with the unprecedented advantage of being able to share resources that are…

Improving teacher preparation is critical to long-term improvement in teacher quality. More than 200,000 new teachers enter classrooms each year. Increasing student enrollment, the retirement of baby boom generation teachers, and high attrition in their first five years (between 40 and 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession) have…

Persistently low-achieving public schools around the country have received $5.8 billion from the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, in addition to districts and state funds, and other supplementary federal funds. Despite all of these sources of funding, most of the schools receiving them have failed to make a dramatic difference in…

Many school districts and high schools provide well-designed pathways that combine rigorous academic instruction with technical education and real-world experience into a career-themed program of study. This Linked Learning approach helps districts and high schools prepare all students for both college and career, not just one objective or the…

This paper is part of a nonpartisan project to identify specific state-level policy changes that could have a significant impact on teaching quality and be accomplished in a constrained fiscal environment. Of course, many aspects of California's teacher development system could be strengthened, better funded, or otherwise changed for the better.…

Educational opportunities and outcomes for California's Latino students have improved over the last half century. Even so, Latino students continue to face barriers in opportunity that make it harder for them to achieve college, career, and future success. The goal of this report is to describe what Latino students currently experience in…

This report commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Getting Down to Facts project, which sought to provide a thorough and reliable analysis of the critical challenges facing California's education system as the necessary basis for an informed discussion of policy changes aimed at improving the performance of California schools and students. The…

Early childhood teachers routinely face insufficient teaching supports and inadequate rewards for their education and commitment (e.g., low pay, lack of professional supports, and lack of benefits). These shortcomings contribute to poor program quality and fuel high levels of teacher turnover, preventing program improvement and making it…

This study uses an existing evaluation model and previously established measurement tools to evaluate the quality and success of Urban Compass, a private non-profit after-school program for elementary school children in the Watts district of Los Angeles. This evaluation had two major objectives. The first objective was to assess program quality by…

The purpose of this research study is to compare student achievement changes between matched QEIA and non-QEIA schools in an effort to infer effects of the most significant feature of QEIA funding, class size reduction. The study addressed the critical question--are there demonstrated, significant differences in student achievement gains between…

This feature article charts the efforts of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration (CAPEA) to move from primarily a policy-driven organization that lacked a significant number of diverse members and perspectives to a values-driven organization committed to equity and cultural competency. This is a chronicle of the…