As California moves to implement the Common Core State Standards in Math the question of when to introduce key math content has taken on even greater importance. In this seminar, Neal Finkelstein will report findings from a recent comprehensive transcript study on the math pathways that students follow in California, and explore the implications of those findings for developing effective course sequences and placement strategies in the context of CCSS implementation.

SFUSD provides English Learner students with a variety of instructional program options. The district partnered with researchers at Stanford University to investigate the effectiveness of different instructional programs for EL students, and to examine whether they are equally effective for Latina/o and Chinese EL students. In this seminar, Sean Reardon and Ritu Khanna present the findings from this study, including the effects of different EL instructional programs on English language acquisition (CELDT scores), academic skills (CST scores), and reclassification rates.

School districts across California have begun working to implement the Common Core State Standards and to prepare for California’s new assessments. Policy Analysis for California Education and California County Superintendents Educational Services Association are pleased to sponsor six regional leadership sessions on CCSS Systems Implementation. These meetings will introduce you to a variety of strategies, tools and resources that your district can use to support successful implementation of the CCSS.

California’s teacher policies do not match the actual career trajectory that most new teachers follow. In this seminar, Julia Koppich and Dan Humphrey will present results from a 2013 study of California’s state policy system designed to shape beginning teachers’ careers, including induction, clear credentialing evaluation, and tenure. They will discuss several areas in which California policymakers need to reexamine the system in order to ensure that it paves the way for ensuring beginning teachers’ success in the classroom.

PACE has organized this conference to discuss the changes that are underway in California’s accountability system, and to analyze what they mean for the state’s schools and students. The conference will feature presentations on changes in the state’s assessment policies, Local Control Accountability Plans, and the new accountability system developed by the CORE districts, with reactions and discussion from state and local policy leaders. The conference will also include a discussion of findings from the recent PACE/USC Rossier poll, which focused on accountability issues.

In this seminar Daniel Solorzano and Amanda Datnow present findings from a study focusing on young adults in poverty, many of whom are enrolled in community colleges. Their study is guided by the premise that it is important to take an asset-based approach to understanding youth in poverty and their communities. They argue to truly expand opportunities for success educational institutions must find a way to build on current strengths in families and communities. The project seeks to understand what knowledge and tools are needed to maximize postsecondary opportunities for low-income youth.

Policy Analysis for California Education presents a panel discussion on the state and future of higher education in California with a focus on the issues of cost and quality.

In this seminar, Svetlana Darche and David Stern focus on the practical question of how high schools might be held accountable for developing students' career readiness. Their goal is to propose a feasible indicator of high school students' career readiness that could be included among the measures used by states to hold schools accountable, and would complement and enhance the assessments of proficiency in academic subjects. Such an indicator could address the requirement for a career readiness measure as stated in a new provision of the California Education Code.

In this seminar Jorge Ruiz de Velasco and Milbrey McLaughlin will report findings from a statewide study of continuation high schools. Their study shows these are failing to provide the academic and critical support services that students need to succeed. They focus on schools that are performing well under state and federal accountability systems, in an effort to identify promising policy and practice interventions and develop recommendations for school, district, and state education officials that will lead to improved performance for continuation high schools and their students.

Research consistently shows teacher quality is a powerful determinant of student achievement gains, yet urban school districts often struggle to staff schools with qualified teachers. In this seminar, Susanna Loeb explores changes in teacher recruitment in one urban school district as a result of a salary increase. Studying a policy in SFUSD, Loeb finds a differential salary increase can improve a school district’s attractiveness within the local teacher labor market and increase both the size and quality of teacher applicant pools, having the potential to increase the quality of new-hires.

In this seminar, USC Assistant Professor Morgan Polikoff reviews the problems with the Academic Performance Index and offers a series of straightforward, concrete suggestions designed to improve the API and the identification of low performing schools in California. The suggestions, which include tracking the achievement of individual students, using multiple years of achievement data, measuring growth and level of student achievement, and accounting for school level and size, are drawn from his research on the design of accountability systems in the state and nationwide.

In this seminar Russell Rumberger from UC-Santa Barbara will present findings from his research on the causes and consequences of dropping out in California as part of the California Dropout Research Project, and from his recent book, Dropping Out, from a national perspective. He will address four facets of California’s dropout crisis: the severity of the problem and whether it’s getting better or worse; the individual and social consequences of dropping out; the reasons why students drop out of school; and changes in policy and educational practice that can help to address the problem.

In this seminar Charles Kerchner will discuss technology policy as a potential solution to three difficult, expensive educational problems in California: Helping English Learners to achieve fluency in English, providing remediation for students at all levels of the education system, and increasing the number of students who successfully transition from high school to college. He argues that modest, achievable gains in these areas could reduce costs for the state while increasing student success.

Income inequality among the families of school-aged children in the US has grown sharply over 40 years. How has rising income inequality affected patterns of educational outcomes? In this seminar Sean Reardon will addresses this question. He will describe trends in the “income-achievement gap.” Evidence shows the association between income and achievement has grown much in recent decades, while the association between race and achievement has held steady or declined. He will then describe trends in the relationship between family income and the quality of colleges in which students enroll.

CA policymakers have begun to look beyond the API and ask how to hold schools accountable. One strategy is via a system of school inspections, a common accountability policy in other countries. This seminar will discuss the benefits of school inspections and explore the main policy decisions for designing such a system, with a focus on England’s approach. How might CA evaluate school performance on a broader range of evidence; leverage expert judgment rather than relying solely on mathematical formulas; and provide schools with better diagnostic feedback to support continuous improvement?

As California implements the Common Core State Standards and discusses ways to better link K –12 and postsecondary education systems, it is critical to understand how well the state’s current postsecondary and career readiness standards relate to each other and to the Common Core. The panelists will discuss initial findings from a project focused on whether college and career readiness standards in the Health Sciences (entry-level in postsecondary, entry-level in the workforce, and exit-level in high school) require the same levels and types of knowledge and skills. Speaker: Andrea Venezia

The Early Assessment Program is an academic preparation program developed jointly by the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the California State University. In this seminar, we present new results from a statewide study of the impact of the EAP on both student and school outcomes. We discuss how schools have responded to the EAP, given the voluntary nature of the program, and present findings from a new study evaluating the effect of the EAP on students’ likelihood for remediation once they arrive at a CSU campus.

Learn about how promising digital tools and resources are now available to help you strengthen teaching and learning in middle grades mathematics, and the policy changes that California must make to take advantage of these new opportunities. In this seminar, policy leaders and experts in education technology will share and discuss what’s becoming possible with the proliferation of digital technologies in California schools.

To improve the preparation of California high school students for postsecondary education and careers, in 2006 the James Irvine Foundation launched a major initiative to develop what is now called the Linked Learning approach. The Foundation asked PACE to inform this effort by gathering evidence on the cost of Linked Learning programs. David Stern of the University of California, Berkeley, will present results from the new study of CPAs and from the PACE study of costs.

In this seminar Robert Linquanti discusses how next-generation state assessment and accountability systems can be made more responsive to the needs and strengths of ELs. Linquanti argues that innovation must be grounded in a clear understanding of the EL population, as well as of English language proficiency and its relationship to academic subject matter learning and assessment. He explains how the common core standards “push the envelope” for ELs and educators, and argues that comprehensive assessment systems can and must strengthen teacher pedagogical practice with ELs.

In this seminar researchers will summarize the results of a system-wide inventory of CTE programs, by college, that suggests the need for far more attention to developing coherent program structures that deliver value to students and employers. They will discuss some of the challenges facing the colleges presented by the organizational structure around the CTE and workforce development mission and draw some contrasts with other states that have assigned a higher priority to the CTE mission.

Although there is broad agreement that teacher quality is related to student achievement, there is far less agreement about the degree to which school districts and administrators are constrained in making policies that affect the employment and working conditions of teachers. In this seminar, William S. Koski discusses the extent to which California law and the collective bargaining agreements governed by state law, constrains or facilitates district-level discretion over teacher employment policies and practices.

Pivot Learning Partners, Policy Analysis for California Education, and Full Circle Fund sponsored a one-day conference for school district teams with an interest in redesigning their teacher/principal evaluation systems in the larger context of strengthening teacher/principal effectiveness. In addition to listening to a panel of experts, team members had the opportunity to network with other district leaders from across the state.

Since 2009, AIR and Pivot Learning have successfully formed partnerships with the Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Twin Rivers Unified School Districts. This team has made a great deal of progress in initiating the activities necessary to implement the basic policy elements of Strategic School Funding for Results at the local level. At this briefing, representatives from each district will discuss the partnership’s progress and the challenges, and offered recommendations for state policy and other districts.

California participates in President Obama’s goal of increasing participation in postsecondary education the state needs to add roughly 100,000 students a year for the next ten years. Public institutions do not have the ability to meet these needs under current fiscal and structural constraints. What might be the role of private and for-profit colleges and universities in meeting the needs of the state? In this seminar, William G. Tierney addresses this question and more.