California is home to the fifth-largest population of Black people in the United States, approximately 2.8 million individuals. However, when Black Californians seek access to the state's colleges and universities, they face undue bureaucratic and financial barriers. This Equity Alert explores a legislative proposal to create a California…

California's information about opportunities and outcomes in early learning and care, TK-12 schools, colleges, social services, and employment is currently disconnected. A longitudinal data system can be a powerful tool that allows California to identify bright spots, inequities, and roadblocks in our educational system, especially for students of…

In 2019, California passed legislation that called for the creation of its longitudinal data system, the Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System. Since then, the state has allocated $40.52 million in funding to support the agency's efforts. Given the substantial state investment and the potential for more, better, and accessible data to answer critical…

California needs better data on the state's education systems to uncover and remedy systemic, long-standing racial and socioeconomic inequities. To create more just institutions, students, families, policymakers, educators, and advocates need access to quality, disaggregated data that allows them to answer questions about how well the state's…

Most data-informed decision-making in education is undermined by flawed interpretations. Educator-driven interventions to improve data use are beneficial but not omnipotent, as data misunderstandings persist at schools and school districts commended for ideal data use support. Meanwhile, most data systems and reports display figures without…

We examine how teacher leaders (TLs), working in a low-income urban elementary school, supported their colleagues to learn how to collect quality formative data and to discuss it in collaborative conversations in order to make their students' learning visible. The TLs faced challenges reflecting consequences resulting from the district's high…

Scientific thinking and understanding are essential for all people navigating the world, not just for scientists and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals. Knowledge of science and the practice of scientific thinking are essential components of a fully functioning democracy. Science is also crucial for the…

The federal government increasingly expects child welfare systems to be more responsive to the needs of their local populations, connect strategies to results, and use continuous quality improvement (CQI) to accomplish these goals. A method for improving decision making, CQI relies on an inflow of high-quality data, up-to-date research evidence,…

The teaching performance assessment (TPA) seeks to measure the knowledge, skills, and competencies of teachers during the credential phase of their training. The TPA was introduced in California in 2004 with programs piloting it and then became mandatory for candidates enrolling in preliminary programs in 2008. Although California has multiple…

The assessment cycle of "evidence-centered design" (ECD) provides a framework for treating an educational video game or simulation as an assessment. One of the main steps in the assessment cycle of ECD is the identification of the key features of student performance. While this process is relatively simple for multiple choice tests, when…