Evidence to Inform Policy
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Summary

Governor Newsom’s first Budget Proposal increases funding for education in California. There are areas of substantive overlap in the Budget Proposal and research findings from the Getting Down to Facts II (GDTFII) research project, released in September 2018, which built an evidence base on the current status of California education and implications for paths forward. As the Budget moves from proposal to reality, it is critical that the evidence from GDTFII continues to inform the policy process.

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Summary

This article uses case studies to explore how district administrators' conceptions of equity relate to finance reform implementation. The authors identify two conceptions of equity: greater resources for students with greater needs, and equal distribution of resources for all students. These beliefs were reflected in resource allocation decisions and were informed by districts' student demographics, organizational identities, and perceptions of adequacy.
Implementing The Local Control Funding Formula
Publication author
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Summary

This report is the companion account of principal survey results from the Local Control Funding Formula Research Collaborative's (LCFFRC) fall 2018 surveys of stratified random samples of California superintendents and principals. The superintendent results were published in June 2018 in Superintendents Speak: Implementing the Local Control Funding Formula.

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Summary

Effective professional development is essential for achieving ambitious student achievement goals in standards-based education reforms. While research has identified key features of effective programs, many districts still offer unfocused and ineffective professional development that wastes limited resources. To deploy effective strategies, districts must first know how much they cost. This article aims to develop an analytical framework for organizing professional development costs and providing a common language for discussing programs.
Five Years Later
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This report commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Getting Down to Facts project, which sought to provide a thorough and reliable analysis of the critical challenges facing California’s education system as the necessary basis for an informed discussion of policy changes aimed at improving the performance of California schools and students. The report focuses on the four key issues that received emphasis in the Getting Down to Facts studies: governance, finance, personnel, and data systems.

First Year Report
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Summary

The Quality Teacher and Education Act (QTEA) was passed in 2008 in San Francisco, authorizing $198 per taxable property to be collected by the SFUSD for 20 years. CEPA and PACE collaborated with the SFUSD to evaluate the implementation and impact of QTEA on teacher compensation, support, and accountability. This report documents the first-year implementation of QTEA and its effects on the recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers, improvement of the teacher workforce, and removal of less effective teachers using a mixed-methods approach.