At a time when students of families living in poverty have experienced the worst of the economic trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, community schools have reemerged as a promising intervention for addressing lack of access to quality education and economic prosperity. Policymakers are making investments in scaling up community schools;…

AB 471 requires that the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing report to the Governor and the Legislature each year on the number of teachers who received credentials, certificates, permits and waivers. This report provides data collected by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions…

Background/significance: Standards-based accountability systems have been a pillar of education reform in the United States for almost three decades. Although accountability systems have evolved in progressive reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the underlying theory of action has changed little. The basic…

Substantial research has clearly established the relationship between school attendance and indicators of student achievement over time in large, urban cities using longitudinal studies. However, there is an insufficient amount of literature that focuses on an immediate relationship in smaller, suburban areas with differing demographics. This…

Determining teacher supply in California is essential for policymakers as they analyze how current statutes and policies impact teacher recruitment, teaching incentives, and teacher preparation. This report provides data collected by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions regarding the supply of…

This report examines two districts--Azusa Unified and Dinuba Unified--that have begun to shift district structures, policies, and culture to have a measurable effect on student outcomes. Both districts have committed to reducing the D/F rate for students (eighth graders in Dinuba and ninth graders in Azusa) as part of a learning community led by…

For over 5 years, The Education Trust-West's #Data4ThePeople campaign has been a statewide effort to ensure California builds a data system that is designed with achieving equity and the needs of students, parents, and families at the center. Now with school and college closures caused by COVID-19 posing a real challenge to data accessibility and…

Whether and how to hold schools accountable for their performance has been a topic of debate in education circles for decades, and the use of standardized achievement test scores for accountability has been particularly contentious. One proposed strategy for reducing reliance on test scores is to incorporate non-test measures into accountability…

AB 471 requires that the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing report to the Governor and the Legislature each year on the number of teachers who received credentials, certificates, permits and waivers. This report provides data collected by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) and addresses several questions…

"The Instructional Leadership Cycle" introduces a multifaceted model for continuous school and system improvement, founded on an adaptable set of professional practices for K-12 leaders. Daniel Allen draws on a breadth of education system experience, spanning from classroom to top office, to outline a flexible framework--the…

This report summarizes the deliberations and recommendations of the California Advisory Task Force on Alternative Schools (Task Force). The Task Force is a public service project of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford University and is convened in collaboration with the California Department of Education (CDE). A…

Under California's System of Support, differentiated assistance (DA) provides supports to eligible districts to boost student group performance levels. This brief describes the districts that were eligible for DA in 2019 based on the performance levels of their students with disabilities (SWD). It also analyzes how SWD performance on State…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public school buildings across the United States in early 2020, research on academic indicators has documented disproportionate--and potentially long-lasting--impacts on Latino students. This report examines several strategies and practices that have tremendous promise for accelerating Latino students'…

The overall aim of the Effective Implementation Cohort (EIC) investment is to increase district capacity to implement a high-quality middle years math curriculum as part of a Coherent Instructional System (CIS) to accelerate learning for students who are experiencing poverty, Black, Latino/a, and/or English Learner (EL)-Designated ("priority…

Chronic absence, defined most commonly as missing 10 percent or more of school for any reason (including excused and unexcused absences and suspensions), is a cross-cutting metric that is both a warning sign and predictor of education and health outcomes. California has recognized the power of chronic absence as a tool for better understanding…