In 2015, College Futures Foundation launched the Community Philanthropy for Student Success Initiative (CPI) to engage a cohort of community foundations across California as partners and leaders in reducing statewide disparities in college completion rates. Through CPI, College Futures endeavored to build the capacity of participating foundations…

In 2021, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (the RP Group) conducted a survey of institutional research, planning, and effectiveness (IRPE) offices in the California Community Colleges (CCC) system. The purpose of this survey was to: (1) Identify key research and planning priorities and activities of the IRPE…

In 2019, the Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (RP Group) conducted a survey of institutional research, planning, and effectiveness (IRPE) offices in the California Community College system. The purpose of this survey was to: (1) Identify key research and planning priorities and activities of the IRPE offices; (2)…

The Exploring Engagement Fund was established with the belief that arts provide a distinct, powerful public benefit that helps create a vibrant, inclusive, and compassionate society. From 2012 to 2018, the Exploring Engagement Fund supported new approaches that these nonprofit arts organizations used to actively engage more diverse participants.…

From 2012 to 2018, the Exploring Engagement Fund of The James Irvine Foundation provided risk capital for more than 100 engagement projects conducted by California arts nonprofits. These organizations had innovative ideas and a readiness to take bold steps to engage groups often underrepresented among mainstream arts participants--specifically…

What works to improve the success of Latino college students? Examples of "Excelencia" is the only national effort to identify and promote evidence-based programs accelerating Latino student success in higher education. Since 2005, "Excelencia" in Education has recognized over 350 programs making a positive difference in the…

The Common Core State Standards articulate expectations for student participation in mathematical reasoning, sense making, and discussion. Yet little to no research explores the participation of students with autism in these practices. Drawing on neurodiversity and situated sociocultural theory, this article offers a case study of the mathematics…

In the United States, students from marginalized backgrounds historically have had gaps in their access to education, thus affecting success and overall achievement. In an attempt to address these educational gaps, researchers, school districts, and government officials have been working to provide resources for those in communities with low…

Many campuses across the California State University (CSU) system are seeking to improve academic advising as part of their efforts to increase student progress and graduation rates. In this exploratory study of efforts to improve academic advising at five CSU campuses, researchers at the Education Insights Center (EdInsights) working on behalf of…

This ethnographic case study examined the experiences of African American students within an urban school detracking reform initiative, which was intended to replace tracking practices through the institution of small schools. Over the course of a year, the researchers interviewed administrators, teachers, and students while gathering…

Partnerships between schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are common in extended education providing students broader choices in after-school programing. This article explores how collaboration between educators teaching in after-school clubs and an international human rights NGO, Invisible Children, mobilized student activism across…

One year ago, the "Wall Street Journal" dubbed 2011 "the year of school choice," opining that "this year is shaping up as the best for reformers in a very long time." School-choice laws took great strides in 2011, both in the number of programs that succeeded across states and also in the size and scope of the adopted…

The School of Planning Policy and Development at the University of Southern California brought together representatives of neighborhood councils and city agencies of the city of Los Angeles together in an action research program. This action research program called the Collaborative Learning Project developed a collaboration process called the…

Every year 1.3 million U.S. high school students drop out of school with one quarter of female students failing to graduate on time. Female dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, to earn less when they are employed, to become pregnant before the age of 20, to become obese, to smoke, and to drink more heavily than their male counterparts. This…

The challenge of producing the systemic changes that are needed to boost educational attainment and economic competitiveness across the country falls heavily on entities that coordinate public postsecondary institutions. Coordination of postsecondary education, whether of a single system of institutions or across an entire state, requires…