The Big Lift is a collective impact initiative extending from preschool to third grade in San Mateo County, California. The collective impact effort consists of people and organizations from various sectors uniting to tackle a single, complicated societal problem -- in this case, third grade reading achievement. The initiative is a partnership of…

This document presents the technical appendices that accompany the full report, "Determining College Readiness in California's Community Colleges: A Survey of Assessment and Placement Policies." The appendices include: (1) Survey Design and Administration; and (2) Survey Instrument. [This report was written with research support from…

The Certification Data Exchange Project (CDEP) was launched in 2012 to provide a model for sharing industry-recognized credential attainment data. Increasingly, employers and education leaders are recognizing the value of industry credentials to verify the knowledge, skills and abilities that students bring to the workforce. As states take steps…

College students who are parents or caregivers of dependent children make up more than one in five U.S. undergraduates. Colleges need basic information about the experiences and outcomes of the student parents they serve, since these students face distinct challenges, including high rates of economic insecurity and significant time and caregiving…

The Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) was developed by California State University (CSU) faculty and high school educators to improve the academic literacy of high school seniors, thereby reducing the need for students to enroll in remedial English courses upon entering college. This report, produced by Innovation Studies at WestEd,…

This report examines the results of the field test for the base year of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). The general purposes of the field test were, in anticipation of the base-year full-scale effort, to test instruments, forms, and procedures; to experiment with different approaches to questionnaire content and survey…

This study was conducted to examine the promising practice of using technology in teaching math and science in a charter high school in California. The research employed an in-depth qualitative case study method. The main participants were principals, lead teachers, teachers, and support staff. Interviews, observations, and archival documents were…

This report presents findings from two investigations of the use of classroom artifacts to measure the presence of reform-oriented teaching practices in middle-school science classes. It complements previous research on the use of artifacts to describe reform-oriented teaching practices in mathematics. In both studies, ratings based on collections…

Intended to identify the perceived information needs of the residents of California and to determine if and how those are being met, this study conducted a survey of state residents. The report is divided into sections which detail the need for the study, previous research, implications for data collection procedures, technical aspects of the…

Key findings are presented from a survey conducted by the California Research Bureau showing that most California school districts incorporate violence prevention program curricula with a strong police and security presence. Many schools have installed closed circuit video surveillance cameras, canine searches, and metal detectors. Unfortunately,…

A study was undertaken to improve the quality of student follow-up data submitted by the California community colleges in compliance with federal Vocational Education Data System (VEDS) reporting requirements. The objectives of the study were to conduct a follow-up of vocational education students from 14 community colleges, standardizing data…

Prepared for review and discussion by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges (CCC), this report provides background and recommendations for the refinement, expansion, and increased use of the information system of the CCC Chancellor's Office. Following introductory material proposing an expanded scope of the information system…

This study examines the impact of 2 professional learning community (PLC) classroom practices on the English Language Arts achievement of California's most at-risk subgroups between selected higher- and lower-performing elementary schools in a southern California school district. The conclusions from this study agree with the body of research,…

This packet is designed to guide users through the steps that ultimately lead to the assignment of collection responsibilities for individual member libraries of the North Bay Cooperative Library System, Santa Rosa, California. An initial profile of the member libraries examined the subject distribution of books owned, availability of books owned,…

The Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance (IFG) has designed and implemented a major survey of public and private schools in the six-county San Francisco Bay Area which focuses on organizational dimensions in elementary and secondary schools. Private schools include Catholic parochial and private schools, independent…