This qualitative study explored the pivotal role tutoring center professionals play in supporting historically marginalized students in California public universities. There was a focus on the intersection that social capital and equity have on the experiences of the professionals. This study sought to highlight the perspectives, challenges, and…

The Individuals with Disabilities Act, IDEA (2004) mandates that students with disabilities (SWD) be educated in the least restrictive environment. Inclusion of SWD alongside their general education peers promotes access and inclusivity. The current reality is that public school general educators often lack the necessary resources to adequately…

In the 2013-2014 school year, the state of California implemented a new equity-minded funding system, the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). LCFF increased minimum per-pupil funding for educationally underserved students and provided greater autonomy in allocating resources. We use the implementation of LCFF to enrich our understanding of rural…

Purpose and Method of Study: The pursuit of equity in education is, in part, a response to the growing diverse student population. As such, school leaders are tasked with ensuring educational equity is achieved for all students. To that end, this study explored public school administrators' awareness, experience, and disposition towards equity…

Sensemaking is a popular framework for studying the meaning-making dimensions of policy implementation, change initiatives, and practitioner action in education. While generative, it has traditionally offered less guidance on how certain organizational actors have formal and/or informal power to advance their version of events and how certain…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the funding equitably across community college districts in Michigan. Pursuant to this investigation, the disproportionate effect that community college funding has on underserved populations was examined. This research utilized a quantitative approach, including descriptive statistics,…

Equity practices have expanded throughout the California community college (CCC) system. Every CCC develops an equity plan, where each institution chooses a disproportionately impacted population and focuses on improving access, basic skills completion, degrees and certificates awarded, and transfer rates. Each college is required to develop…

Poverty directly impacts the mental, social, and physical health of students which, without a strong education system, can create a downward spiral in the lives of students. Schools in low-income neighborhoods, where property values are low, do not have the same resources and support as wealthier parts of society. High-poverty school districts in…

Policy responses to disparities in education have proven to be largely inadequate in reducing persistent differences in academic outcomes, commonly referred to as the achievement gap. In this article, we identify some of the ways in which the fragmented nature of public policy generally, and education policy specifically, has contributed to the…

With significant state investment, teacher residencies are spreading throughout California. To sustain these efforts after the initial state investment, programs are using creative funding strategies. To learn about how teacher residencies across the state are funding their work, the Learning Policy Institute and "Prepared To Teach" at…

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress in 2020 included significant aid to state education systems. These included direct aid to K-12 districts and higher education institutions, and funds to be used at the discretion of Governors through the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER). We examine…

Gains in school spending helped to lift achievement over the past half century. But California's ambitious effort--progressively distributing $23 billion in yearly funding to poorer districts--has yet to reduce disparities in learning. We theorize how administrators in districts and schools, given organizational habits and labor constraints, may…

This article focuses on Latinx transfer inequity and the role of state policy in addressing barriers faced trying to move from community college to four-year institutions. A recently passed initiative in California, known as the Student Equity Policy, offers community colleges the opportunity to address transfer barriers for racial/ethnic students…

California Senate Bill 74, Budget Act of 2020, required the California Department of Education (CDE) to conduct a study to examine the state's current governance and accountability structures that support California students with an individualized education program (IEP). The study was intended to focus on the end goals of improving outcomes for…

When K-12 schools in California closed for in-person instruction in response to COVID-19 in March 2020, few would have predicted that most schools would remain physically closed for more than one year. Throughout this period, California's educators and students have continued teaching and learning remotely for the most part, demonstrating…