Michal Kurlaender and Jacob Jackson present research following up on their statewide evaluation of California’s Early Assessment Program (EAP), an academic preparation program developed jointly by the California Department of Education, the California State Board of Education, and the California State University and implemented in 2004. The goals of the EAP are to bridge the gap between K-12 educational standards in English and mathematics and the requirements and expectations of postsecondary education. In this seminar, Kurlaender and Jackson present new findings on EAP effects at California

Californians are just now beginning to recognize the scale and impact of recent policy changes in the state’s education system. The simultaneous adoption and implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) promise large and potentially transformational improvements in the state’s schools and classrooms. 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.

In this seminar, Margaret (Macke) Raymond investigates operator supply in the charter sector in the United States. She examines the performance of individual schools as they opened and grew over their early years. Her analysis expands to consider the likelihood of quality among new schools and networks of schools, called Charter Management Organizations. Using a new method to ensure rigorous comparisons, she compares the performance of charter schools to the traditional public schools with which they compete.

Summer learning loss disproportionately affects low-income students and likely contributes to the achievement gap between students and their higher-income peers. Until now, research has not demonstrated whether voluntary school district summer learning programs offered to large numbers of urban, low-income students can actually make a difference. In this seminar, Catherine Augustine presents early findings from a study that seeks to answer one key question: Can such programs in urban districts improve student achievement and social-emotional outcomes for low-income, low-achieving students?

PACE, in partnership with EdSource, invite you to attend a webinar featuring California's Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor on Governor Brown's May Revision of the 2014-15 state budget, what it means for schools and the fiscal outlook for education funding generally. Join us for a thoughtful, information-rich discussion on the state budget in the wake of Prop. 30 and the Local Control Funding Formula, as well as the forecast for Prop. 98 funding and the implications for schools as they implement the Common Core standards and assessments.

PACE, in partnership with EdSource, invite you to attend a webinar featuring CA's Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor on Governor Brown's May Revision of the 2015-16 state budget, what it means for schools and the fiscal outlook for education funding generally. Currently it looks like schools will be the big winners when it comes to revenues they will receive as a result of the state's surging economy. But just how big a winner? And will the schools' windfall come at the expense of other parts of the state budget, including possibly non-education services that are important to a child's well-being?

Gardner Center staff and two institutional partners at the University of Chicago and Brown University, developed and studied the implementation of a CRIS in five urban school districts across the country. The seminar will present the recently-released CRIS Resource Series, including a menu of research-based indicators and six essential elements of CRIS implementation. The seminar includes a discussion of how districts, schools, and state agencies can use a college readiness indicator system to fulfill college readiness mandates and advance equitable access to deeper learning opportunities.

School districts throughout the country are facing mounting accountability pressures to improve student achievement and turn around failing schools. In response to these pressures more than 20 major cities have adopted the portfolio management model of school governance. In this seminar, Katharine Strunk and Julie Marsh will explore how portfolio management is working in the Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI).

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.