Conditions of Education in California, 1991

This is the seventh edition of Conditions of Education in California. Since 1984, PACE has endeavored to compile a continuing picture of education in the state by analyzing data about enrollment trends, student achievement, fiscal conditions, human resources, education governance, and the politics of education. These analyses have been limited to comparisons of California with itself over time.

The 1991 version represents a shift. Beginning with this edition of Conditions of Education, PACE will analyze California education dimensions by placing California state­ specific data within multi-state, national, and, on occasion, international contexts.

We believe this alteration is both timely and necessary. Increasingly, nationwide education influences, as well as policies and programs promulgated in other states, are having, will have, or should have policy reverberations in California. These dynamics now will be reflected in Conditions of Education.

Chapter 1 of this edition of Conditions of Education explores the national context of evolving education policy issues. Chapter 2 continues PACE's traditional analysis of the interplay of Sacramento political dynamics and education. Chapter 3—Student Achievement—begins to build the bridge to the new Conditions of Education. This chapter analyzes California students' academic performance, in part, by employing nationally collected data describing student mathematics achievement in other states. This chapter is illustrative of the types of comparisons PACE will conduct for a broader array of topics in subsequent editions of Conditions of Education.

The remaining three chapters of this volume—Student Enrollment, Finance, and System Characteristics—provide graphic representations of the longitudinal data conventionally included in Conditions of Education.