This report discusses the disturbing shortage of nurses and growing impact on this shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, California's nursing workforce currently does not reflect the state's diversity. Although Latinx residents account for 39% of the state's population, just 10% of California's Registered Nurses are Latinx. While…

Curricula impart knowledge, instill values, and shape collective memory. Despite growing public funding for religious schools through U.S. school choice programs, little is known about what they teach. We examine textbooks from public schools, religious private schools, and home schools, applying computational methods -- including the use of…

To stay relevant to changing communities, many arts organizations have been developing engagement programs--that is, programming designed to reach more and different people and involve them more actively in how art is made and experienced. While engagement efforts are often episodic or separate from an art organization's core programming, in late…

COVID-19 changed the experiences of K-12 students and teachers in ways that are not yet well-documented. This report provides initial insights into teaching and learning during the pandemic from the perspectives of teachers and students at 31 public schools in three states. The analyses indicate that about two thirds of the teachers surveyed…

Latinx Californians represent the largest ethnic group in the state, with a demographic that is disproportionately young. The state must significantly increase the educational opportunity and success of Latinx Californians, ensuring that more of them are prepared for college, attend college, and graduate with the skills necessary to thrive…

The future of California will be defined by ensuring better educational opportunity for Latinx Californians. While historic numbers of Latinx students are graduating from high school prepared for college and are enrolling in higher education, these numbers are still too low. Inequitable access to college opportunity and success in graduating with…

Higher education is a key driver of economic growth and individual opportunity in California. But the state has not been keeping up with a strong and growing demand for skilled workers. Recent investments and initiatives have helped increase enrollment, graduation rates, and the number of degrees awarded. Substantial gains in these…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its companion projects serve bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities committed to assessing and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. While each participating institution receives a detailed, customized "Institutional Report," the "Annual…

This fifth annual update on America's high school dropout crisis shows that, for the first time in history, the nation has crossed the 80 percent high school graduation rate threshold and remains on pace, for the second year in a row, to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020. This report highlights key…

California community colleges are, by design, the only entry point to four-year institutions for the majority of students in the state. Yet, many of these institutions perpetuate racial and class segregation, thus disrupting the California Master Plan for Higher Education's promise of access, equity, and excellence in higher education. This report…

There is strong consensus in California and in the country around the notions of equal opportunity for all children, and giving kids a chance of having it better than their parents. The reality in California is that most families lack the means and resources to provide their children with the basic building blocks of a productive life in the 21st…

This report projects 12-year enrollment demand for California's three public higher education systems, analyzes campus physical capacity and projected capital outlay costs, and discusses economic trends and California's ability to sell bonds to finance future higher education construction. The report is a major update to a 1995 report, "A…

This report provides information about the performance of 2009 graduating seniors who took the ACT as sophomores, juniors, or seniors; and self-reported at the time of testing that they were scheduled to graduate in 2009 and tested under standard time conditions. This report focuses on: (1) Performance: student test performance in the context of…

This statement presents the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' position on higher education percentage plans. The One Florida Plan bans the consideration of race and gender in university admissions, guaranteeing state university admissions to high school seniors in the top 20 percent of their class, regardless of test scores. Texas' Ten Percent Plan…

Every day, we learn what works so students can make greater progress. Six years after No Child Left Behind's passage--and midway to the nation's goal of having students on grade level or better in reading and math by 2014--we have collected more data than ever before about the academic performance of our students and schools. This information…