Statewide student results on the standardized tests measuring knowledge of the Common Core standards were essentially flat in 2016-17, after a year of strong gains.

When the results of the third year of the Common-Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests are released in California this week, they will almost certainly receive a great deal of attention, in the media and elsewhere. There will be an outpouring of...

Sierra was recently featured in a PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) brief as a leader in helping students place into higher math classes.

Limited resources for teacher training have made it difficult for some rural districts in California to fully implement Common Core standards in math and English language arts, according to a new study.

The CORE-PACE research partnership is the first of its kind to provide real-time, research-based feedback that improves student learning; informs policy; and provides breakthrough findings to inform continuous improvement in the CORE Districts and beyond. With a network of university-based...

The “Power of Two” helps us identify schools where students are learning significantly faster or slower than their academic peers, and it provides key information about which schools need the greatest support and intervention. Through our partnership with Policy Analysis...

he Fresno Unified School District increased student applications to California State University and University of California campuses after training their counselors and giving students timely information to help them make selections. Their strategies are outlined in a new report from Policy Analysis...

How necessary is intermediate algebra, a high school-level course on factoring trinomials, graphing exponential functions and memorizing formulas that most non-math or science students will rarely use in everyday life or for the rest of college? A growing number of...

California’s Fresno Unified School District used improvement science and the six core principles of improvement to address their goal of giving all students an equal opportunity to graduate with the greatest number of postsecondary choices from the widest array of...

Jorge Aguilar, superintendent of Sacramento Unified School District Superintendent and former Associate Superintendent for Equity and Access at Fresno Unified School District (FUSD), coauthored a brief highlighting the development and use of FUSD’s data dashboard and the principles of improvement...

California state law recognizes that schools primarily serving expelled students, dropouts and students who had trouble coping in traditional schools should be held accountable for academic performance–but by different measurements. This month, the State Board of Education began a more...

High school seniors around the country are feeling apathetic toward their classes during their final semester, which often carries over and negatively affects their freshman year of college. The epidemic, commonly known as “senioritis,” is the topic of a recent...

As states and districts work to develop new accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act, six California districts who received federal waivers under the Obama administration are getting the first hints of how more holistic accountability systems might work...

Researchers who closely examined the impact of the state’s funding formula in eight school districts found a continued commitment to the goals of the new system but an uneven implementation and “consistent misunderstandings and confusion” of fundamental aspects of the...

The Local Control Funding Formula Research Collaborative (LCFFRC) recently released Paving the Way to Equity and Coherence? The Local Control Funding Formula in Year 3. This report seeks to inform policymakers and others about ways in which LCFF implementation is...

California is quickly becoming a national battleground over the franchise for testing high school juniors. The College Board, producer of the SAT college admissions test, wants in, while state officials, defenders of the state’s current test provider, the Smarter Balanced...

Gardner Center Associate Director Jorge Ruiz de Velasco and  Daisy Gonzales, Associate Director of Policy Analysis for California Education, review approaches to accountability for alternative schools in a new brief published as part of the PACE Continuous Improvement Series. California’s...

Three out of 10 of California’s 2016 high school graduates earned a score of 3 or higher in Advanced Placement tests, allowing them to earn college credit, according to new figures from the test’s publisher, the College Board. The state’s...

It has been 20 years since California State University took aim at remedial courses, seeking to eliminate (or drastically reduce) the system’s reliance on these courses to ensure that students are prepared for college. Through a range of measures, the...

Sac State and its sister campuses are free to determine how to serve students who are not performing at a proficient level on the Entry Level Mathematics test, and also to set additional prerequisites for higher-level math. But, as highlighted...

Some low-income students in California could face a steep fee increase for Advanced Placement exams this spring following the elimination of a federal subsidy. The cost for each AP exam for these students could climb from $5 or $15 to...

Since 1983, PACE has “remained a powerful force in analyzing policy and disseminating information for policy-makers in Sacramento and school administrators throughout the state.” Most of the participants in PACE are professors in schools of education at California universities. One...

PACE’s inaugural conference is the premier event for policymakers, researchers, advocates and other leaders working to define and sustain a long-term strategy for comprehensive policy reform and continuous improvement of California’s education system. Our 2017 full-day conference will engage with...

Next year the California Community Colleges System will pilot a common assessment system that tests all students for the same skills. Currently, community colleges use different tests to place students in classes, but Assembly Bill 743 required the community college...

Teachers are among our most valuable school resources for improving student learning. They are the adults who interact most with students, and we rely on teachers to deliver curriculum and instruction. The research evidence is clear that teachers have long-term...