Report California’s Exclusive Electorate: Who Votes and Why It Matters By Mark Baldassare Mar 29, 2016 Only half of California's adults are likely to vote in the 2016 presidential election, and these voters do not reflect the state's diversity, attitudes, or policy preferences. Changes to the election process will bring in new voters, but broader solutions are needed — including providing civics education, increasing economic mobility, and expanding citizenship rates. This research was supported with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.
California Counts, Report California’s Community College Students By Christopher Jepsen, Ria Sengupta Bhatt Nov 15, 2006 California's community college system is the largest postsecondary education system in the country—with more than 2.5 million mostly part-time students enrolled in more than 100 campuses. This issue of California Counts takes an in-depth look at this population. It finds an extremely diverse student body in terms of race/ethnicity, age, educational level, and academic goals in school. However, few students accomplish their goals, such as transferring to a four-year institution or earning an associate's degree. This is a major challenge for the system and the state because community colleges enroll over 70 percent of all public higher education students in California.
California Counts, Report Can California Import Enough College Graduates to Meet Workforce Needs? By Deborah Reed, Hans Johnson May 23, 2007 Economic projections for California indicate a continuation of the trend toward a more highly skilled economy. But projections of educational attainment for the future population tend to predict a wide gap between the levels of skills the population is likely to possess and the level of skills the economy is likely to need. This issue of California Counts assesses whether California will be able to attract enough college graduates from other states and other countries to close that gap. The authors conclude that because of the sheer numbers of migrants required and other factors, it is unlikely that migration alone will solve the problem.
California Counts, Report A State of Diversity: Demographic Trends in California’s Regions By Hans Johnson May 1, 2002 Uses recent data from the 2000 census to examine similarities and differences in demographic trends and patterns across the nine major regions of the state over the past ten years. Looks in particular at the demographic sources of population growth, relationships between population and job and housing growth, changing racial and ethnic diversity, age structure, and variations in per capita income across regions.
California Counts, Report Second-Generation Immigrants in California By Hans Johnson, Karthick Ramakrishnan May 18, 2005 Examines the demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, and geographic location of second-generation immigrants in California – i.e., U.S.-born individuals with at least one foreign-born parent. Finds that over half (54%) are children and that a majority live in Los Angeles County. As these children age over the next decades, they could dramatically transform California’s adult population with their increasing presence in the state’s colleges, labor force, and voting population.
Report California’s Political Geography 2020 By Eric McGhee Feb 24, 2020 California still leans Democratic overall, but independents are leaning Republican in many areas of the state. A closer look suggests that registering all eligible residents to vote could moderate more partisan places. Views on specific issues also follow their own geographic patterns.
Report The Socioeconomic Well-Being of California’s Immigrant Youth By Laura Hill Jul 22, 2004 California’s immigrant youth often make transitions to adulthood in different orders, at different paces, and with different levels of success than their native-born counterparts. Given the large size of this population, these differences have far-reaching consequences for households, communities, and public policy. In The Socioeconomic Well-Being of California’s Immigrant Youth, Laura Hill profiles the educational attainment, workforce participation, household arrangements, and parenting rates of this population. Finding that immigrants who arrive before age ten have outcomes very similar to those of their native-born counterparts, she concludes that many policies addressing the needs of second- and third-generation youth are also likely to help immigrant youth who attend school. However, immigrant youth who are not in school must be reached through their employers or their children’s schools.
Fact Sheet California’s Digital Divide By Joseph Hayes, Eric Assan, Niu Gao Apr 1, 2024 Digital access is at an all-time high in California—and major investments by state and federal governments have helped narrow the digital divide. But racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities persist.
Report English Learners in California Schools By Christopher Jepsen, Shelley de Alth Apr 7, 2005 Well over a million students who are unfamiliar with the English language attend California’s schools, constituting about one-quarter of the state’s K-12 population. Given that proficiency in English is vital to success not only in academic subjects but also in the workforce, both state and federal policymakers consider English proficiency a major goal for English learner (EL) students. The federal government’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 establishes mandates for improving both the number of students achieving gains in English proficiency and the number who are reclassified as Fluent English Proficient (FEP). This report investigates how effective California schools are in achieving both NCLB goals. The authors examine the determinants of school-level reclassification rates (i.e., the school characteristics that seem to affect the percentage of EL students who are reclassified as FEP), and they also explore the student-level characteristics that appear to affect gains in achievement on an English proficiency test. The study identifies several categories of students who lag behind others in gaining English proficiency, and these distinctions should help policymakers target EL students who are in need of special assistance.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: How Hospital Discharge Data Can Inform State Homelessness Policy By Shannon McConville, Hemal Kanzaria, Renee Hsia, Maria Raven ... Sep 19, 2022 As the only guaranteed source of health care open around the clock, hospital emergency departments (EDs) are at the frontlines of serving Californians who are homeless. Linking discharge data from ED visits with data from local and state resources may help policymakers understand and respond to the needs of California’s homeless population.
