In school accountability, flashlights work better than hammers. That’s the oft-repeated argument of California’s CORE districts, a data collaborative now serving over 1.8-million students. It’s generally recognized that the practice of using data to bash schools—commonly known as naming and...

In school accountability, flashlights work better than hammers. That's the oft-repeated argument of California's CORE districts, a data collaborative now serving over 1.8-million students. It's generally recognized that the practice of using data to bash schools—commonly known as naming and...

The State Board of Education spent two years creating a new district and school accountability system–revising multiple drafts in response to thousands of public comments–before adopting it in September. The plan is ambitious in concept and impressive on paper, but passage...

Perhaps because of the personalities and histories of the major candidates, K-12 education has not been a focus of the presidential campaign. Given the polarization of the electorate, this may be a good thing—on issues from climate change to vaccinations...

With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replacing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, states have gained substantial new freedom to reshape their school accountability systems, including criteria for how to measure and communicate school performance to the public. One...

English-language-learner services are designed, in theory, to prevent educational inequity, but for some students the specialized services may be reinforcing it. A new study out of the University of Oregon found that designating early elementary students who are close to...

Superintendent Michelle King has asked managers in the Los Angeles Unified School District's central offices to submit plans outlining how they would slash their departments' budgets by 30 percent in the coming fiscal year. For managers to hit their cost-saving...

School districts and charter schools serving 1.7 million students in California will compile, analyze and compare data on student performance beyond what the state collects under a new agreement announced last week. The additional data will include information on school...

The nation has an increasingly cumbersome problem with developmental education, a system that is intended to give students a better shot at succeeding in college but which, according to mounting evidence, is costing students time and money and actually preventing...

Californians are showing an increased faith and optimism in local public schools and teachers but believe there is room for improvement, according to the latest results of the fifth annual PACE/USC Rossier School of Education poll Twenty-three percent of Californians...

Parents are among the many Californians who say they have not heard or read about the state’s school funding and accountability system that aims to increase public input in school spending decisions, according to the latest results of the annual...

As the presidential election mercifully moves toward its conclusion, there are important education policy questions that will need to be answered in the coming years. Public opinion and its drivers could well influence state and national policy under the new...

The State Board of Education has been working for several years to develop a new accountability system based on the Local Control Funding Formula, which the Legislature and governor passed in 2013. In September, the state board will take an...

The Hewlett and Stuart Foundations have announced a combined $650,000 in grant money that will be used to fund the Local Control Funding Formula Research Collaborative, a group of scholars dedicated to understanding the implementation of LCFF throughout California and...

By David Plank. Imagine you are a judge on a cooking show. Every contestant prepares three different dishes, and you must choose the best cook. But different cooks are good at different things, so what measure can you use to...

The state of California, the federal government, and your local school district all agree - our lowest-performing schools need support and improvement. The problem is that every entity has its own idea about how to make changes. A conflict between...

I never understood nap time. As a kindergarten student, I refused to nap. My teacher, Ms. G, allowed me to read books in the corner library while the rest of my class napped. Early childhood education has since changed in...

When Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, it was celebrated as relief from its predecessor, but as regulations emerge it’s beginning to look like its evil sibling of the discredited No Child Left Behind Act’s name-and-shame policy...

When we think of school we too often picture rows of students sitting quietly at their desks, listening to the teacher or reading a textbook. This familiar image of a quiet classroom and docile students is and should be increasingly...

When we think of school we too often picture rows of students sitting quietly at their desks, listening to the teacher or reading a textbook. This familiar image of a quiet classroom and docile students is and should be increasingly...