To sustain children’s gains made in pre-K, state and local actors should take steps to ensure continuity from pre-K through the early grades in key areas, including standards, instructional practices, curricula, assessments, and teacher professional development. Research has shown that PreK-3rd grade...

One in eight students in California receives special education services, but the state’s schools are often “ill-equipped” to serve them, and funding for students with disabilities has not “kept pace with district costs,” according to a collection of research papers...

Congratulations to Teacher Education Department faculty member Eduardo Muñoz-Muñoz, who recently published “English Language Learners and the Local Control Funding Formula” in collaboration with Pivot Learning and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)!

Our Executive Director Patricia Lozano joined the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) Conference in Sacramento last week to talk about quality programs and our state’s Early Learning workforce with Dr. Deborah Stipek, Judy Koch Professor of Education and Stanford’s...

Dual enrollment enables students to take college courses while they are still in high school. It has been shown to make it more likely that they will graduate from high school and that they will also enroll and succeed in...

Reducing gun violence, making college more affordable and addressing the teacher shortage again are on the minds of California voters, who also said they would support raising teachers’ pay and spending more for schools, according to a new PACE/USC Rossier...

About 60% of California voters think private colleges' admissions generally favor affluent students, according to a recent poll by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), a Stanford University-based research center, and the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. A...

At least 1 in 8 California high school seniors take community college courses while still in high school, an increasingly popular strategy that gives students a head start on their college careers, and has been shown to boost both high...

In winter 2019, strikes by Los Angeles and Oakland teachers dominated headlines. Teachers in both cities ultimately won more pay and support staff, but the strikes also presented an opportunity for additional change. The Los Angeles Times editorial board, for...

Susanna Cooper and Michal Kurlaender, UC Davis: Allowing high school students to take college-level courses while they are still in high school is good for students, good for high schools, and good for community colleges, which are the primary vehicle...

Few goals in education have been as frustrating and urgent as the effort to fix the deep, generational disparity in achievement between the haves and the have-nots in California schools. It is an article of faith in the K-12 school...

This brief identifies the steps necessary to realize an integrated system of care, reviews two current approaches, and makes recommendations—including specifying policy reforms that would promote interagency collaboration, integration, service delivery, and improved outcomes for California’s children, both with and...

The March 3 California ballot includes a $15 billion state bond issue to help schools, community colleges and universities with construction costs for their facilities. Last fall, the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom placed the measure on the ballot by...

Impact of teacher activism in California being felt in multiple but less visible ways, leaders say.

A year ago teachers in Los Angeles were celebrating the signing of a new agreement with their district after an outpouring of support from teachers around California and the larger public. But since then, there have been few visible signs...

The California reading instruction test is a major hurdle for many aspiring teachers across the state. So much so that about one-third who take the test fail the first time, according to state data of the five-year period between 2012...

Governor Newsom’s proposed 20-21 state budget directs $3.8 billion in new revenue towards public schools. However, it is not enough. The California School Board Association reports that California ranks 38th nationally in school funding, $2,475 per student below the national...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is leading the crowded Democratic primary field in California, according to a new poll from the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education/PACE.

When then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) into law in 2013, California’s leaders were hopeful that this legislation would set high expectations for flexibility, transparency, and equity within school districts. In a new report, “English Language...

Research shows that preK–3 alignment—coordinating preK–3 standards, curricula, instructional practices, assessments and professional development—can narrow achievement gaps by helping children sustain the gains they made in preschool, but many California districts say they are struggling to support alignment efforts.

School climate and student engagement surveys can tell us a good deal about important contributors to student success. They can illuminate students’ sense of belonging at school and their sense of themselves as learners. They can shed light on bullying...

Local officials have begun reevaluating how much their communities are getting for their single biggest expense: the degree-certified competence of public school teachers and administrators. Does every school system really need a credentialed curriculum director, when any good teacher should...

More than 20 years ago, Proposition 227 was passed in California, requiring that all public schools teach curriculum in English and providing only a year of special instruction to English learner students in the hope of quickly producing assimilated and...

Due to statewide teacher shortages, many of California’s approximately 800,000 special education students are being taught by teachers who haven’t completed teacher preparation programs or have received only partial training.

Recent survey results show that while more California county office of education leaders are understanding and accepting of the new roles of COEs in the Statewide System of Support, the state must further build out and enhance the system to...