Event update: Registration for the Getting Down to Facts III 2026 Conference is presently at capacity. Thank you for your interest. About the Conference Co-hosted by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and Stanford University’s SCALE Initiative, the Getting Down to Facts III 2026 Conference: Aligning Governance, Policy, and Capacity to Support Student Success Conference will bring together 250 state leaders, educators, researchers, and advocates to engage with new, policy-relevant research at a pivotal moment for California’s education system. What to Expect Building on the legacy

Join Susanna Loeb, Professor and Faculty Director of the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, and a team of leading researchers for the official release of Getting Down to Facts III—a landmark, independent study on California’s education system. This webinar will unpack important findings from the research, highlight the challenges facing students and schools today, and outline a forward-looking vision for building a more effective and equitable system for the future. What You’ll Gain: A clear synthesis of key findings across the full research portfolio Practical insights on designing

Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), California State PTA (CAPTA), and Youth Leadership Institute (yli) will co-host a youth-led gubernatorial forum on April 30, 2026 at the Fresno Convention Center. The evening will begin with a Civic Engagement Festival (4:00–5:30 pm) followed by the youth-led gubernatorial forum (5:30–7:00 pm). Together, these components will create a dynamic, youth-centered civic experience that elevates youth voice while directly connecting participants to pathways for ongoing democratic participation. Gubernatorial candidate and California Superintendent of

The PACE Annual Conference in January 2024 will bring together California policymakers, researchers, and education leaders to address critical questions about the state's public education system and explore transformative actions for improvement at all levels, from early childhood through higher education.

Two years after schools returned to in-person learning, the state’s Smarter Balanced scores show disappointingly little improvement. Nearly two-thirds of California students failed to meet math standards for their grade level, and more than half fell short of the standards for English. But while the pandemic was devastating for families, students and schools, test scores were languishing even before Covid. EdSource’s Anne Vasquez and John Fensterwald hosted this webinar along with PACE Heather J. Hough and a panel of educators and policy experts to explore this topic and more.

PACE’s 2023 conference marks many important milestones: our first in-person annual conference since the start of the pandemic, the 10-year anniversary of the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula, and the 40-year anniversary of PACE’s founding.

Districts across California are working on three discrete but related challenges as they address the impacts of COVID-19 on teaching on learning: 1) What do we do now to support student learning before school year ends; 2) What can we do in the Summer to mitigate the disparate impact of distance learning; and 3) What should we be designing for the Fall to best meet the needs of students, teachers and families. Expanded learning providers are critical partners for all three challenges.

This webinar will present findings from two forthcoming publications on community schools: the PACE brief “Community Schools: A Coronavirus Recovery Strategy;” and “Creating Strong Community Schools: The Role of California Counties in Providing Technical Assistance” by the Learning Policy Institute. The webinar will also feature perspectives from leaders at the school and county levels who will speak to what it takes to launch and sustain community schools.

This webinar was the second in a three-part webinar series on special education featuring new research on the status of special education in California and paths forward for organizing schools to better support students with disabilities. This webinar covered Universally Designed Teaching, Teacher Preparation, Teacher Shortages, and Teacher Development.

PACE’s annual conference brings together nearly 300 California policymakers, researchers, and education leaders to discuss new research and approaches to improving educational outcomes for California’s students, from early childhood through higher education.

Increasing the percentage of highly qualified teachers in public schools is a priority for California. In this seminar, Lora Bartlett highlights the role overseas trained teachers have played in addressing this goal. She presents data on the number and distribution of overseas trained K-12 teachers in California public schools, highlighting their concentration in high poverty districts and schools. She also examines the implications of different definitions of teacher qualification, and traces connections between education and immigration policy.