As charter school enrollments grow, are school districts so weakened by financial losses that teaching and learning must suffer? Or does competition spur traditional public schools and districts to improve—for the benefit of all? There are bodies of research and...

Research shows California schools are now relying more on counselors in order to improve outcomes for students in areas such as attendance and graduation. A report released last year as part of Getting Down to Facts II—a project involving Stanford University...

There’s no denying it: the concept of a four-day school week is extremely enticing. And it’s swiftly becoming a reality for many schools across the country. Currently, in the U.S., there are 24 states that have at least one district...

Researchers who examined data from five large California school districts have concluded that measures of students’ personal strengths and interpersonal skills are not reliable enough at this point to include in states’ and districts’ school accountability systems.

Transforming Education and Policy Analysis for California Education partnered to analyze data from over 500,000 students across 8 districts in California. This brief provides benchmarking data that is designed to allow practitioners to compare their aggregated data across grade levels...

magine Worldwide is aiming to develop a deeper level of understanding of how autonomous tablet learning can work. It plans to conduct a series of tests with different methodologies—from randomized controlled trials to action research—in a variety of developing countries...

The new RAND Corp. survey results come as Congress proposes $260 million in funding for SEL programs and whole-child initiatives.

Providing all students with the chance to take college admissions tests sounds like a logical way to pull disadvantaged students into the college pipeline.

At this point, many readers will have heard the estimate from the Getting Down to Facts II research collaborative that California needs approximately $26 billion in additional funding to reach an adequate funding level in all schools, i.e. the level...

There is a growing consensus that California’s current school funding is not sufficient to provide an equitable, high-quality education to all of the state’s more than 6 million students, more than 60 percent of whom live in poverty, are learning...

The paper comes as the California Teachers Association is pushing for state lawmakers to approve a package of bills that would set limits on the growth of charter schools in the state, which was the second after Minnesota to pass...

California’s school districts have recently seen large increases in revenue and have gained substantial flexibility over how they spend their money. At the same time, widespread disagreements about how districts should spend their money have culminated in teacher strikes...

Rising pension contribution rates are causing great angst among school districts in California. The rates are not rising because benefits are improving—in fact, the benefit formula for new teachers today is much less generous than for teachers hired prior to...

California’s new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, is creating 13 work groups to identify and recommend strategies for addressing some of the state’s thorniest education challenges. The work groups will address the challenges identified in a study issued...

Living where they teach is a fading dream for many California teachers. An EdSource analysis of teacher salaries and rents reveals just how crushing California’s housing crisis has become for them. Teachers at the bottom of the salary scale working...

A recent WestEd event brought together representatives from healthcare, philanthropy and justice to discuss how partnerships with school and district leaders can improve prevention.

Policymakers and educators have a vested interest in ensuring that each space at universities be filled by the most capable candidates, as spaces are limited. This is especially true at public institutions. Because the majority of funds come from the...

You’ve seen the headlines and watched the TV segments. The largest college admissions scandal in recent memory has implicated Hollywood celebrities and industry titans who allegedly went to extraordinary lengths to get their children into elite colleges. While this scandal...

To adequately educate every student, California needed to spend $16,890 per pupil in the 2016–17 school year. The state spent $12,204.The vast funding gap was the highlight of Getting Down to Facts II research presented by Policy Analysis for California...

For California districts already grappling with teacher shortages, high housing costs pose one more obstacle to hiring. Many districts can’t find enough fully credentialed teachers to fill their classrooms, according to the “Getting Down to Facts II” education research project...

In this EdSource Commentary, Grant Boyken, public affairs executive officer for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), states, “CalSTRS’ dedication to act as fiduciaries on behalf of California’s teachers requires that we correct the record to assure our members...

A small group of advocates for equitable school construction asks why wealthier school districts keep getting the most state building aid. The group has been examining how school districts with small tax bases and low-income families can get a bigger...

CSU is considering requiring a fourth year of high school math of all freshmen applicants. While advocates for this change say that requiring four years of high school math will make more students ready to tackle mandatory college math courses and improve CSU’s graduation rates, critics fear the possible harmful impact on underprepared students in low-income and high schools already struggling to find enough math teachers.

An article about Vallejo, California-based iMod Structures, cites the September 2018 Getting Down to Facts II report, Financing School Facilities in California: A Ten-Year Perspective, that found that, “California school districts need to spend between $3.1 billion and $4.1 billion...

Special education—which serves students with a wide range of issues, from learning disabilities to autism to hyperactivity disorder to blindness—is driving some San Diego-area districts to spend beyond their means. The number of students needing special education services and the...