blog post Lessons in Innovation from Lindsay Unified School District By Mary Severance, Niu Gao Jul 6, 2022 Lindsay Unified, a rural district in the Central Valley, has seen dramatic improvements in students outcomes. Superintendent Tom Rooney talks about the ongoing transformation.
blog post Engaging Parents in School Funding Decisions By Sonja Petek May 7, 2014 Under the new funding formula for schools, districts are required to seek input from parents while developing their accountability plans. How effective have districts’ outreach efforts been so far?
Report Full-Day Kindergarten in California: Lessons from Los Angeles By Shannon McConville, Jill Cannon, Alison Jacknowitz, Gary Painter Sep 17, 2009 Almost half of California public school kindergarten students attend full-day classes. To understand how a longer class day might benefits students, the authors examined about 200,000 kindergarten records in the Los Angeles Unified School District and found that full-day kindergarten does seem to help reduce the chances of being retained in early grades. But full-day students do not seem to have better second-grade test scores, nor do English learners improve their English fluency at higher rates. Certain subpopulations might benefit more than others; given current budgetary constraints, policymakers may find it more effective to target full-day classes to schools most likely to benefit, such as those with low API rankings. This report was supported with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
blog post Students Struggle on Test of New Standards By Laura Hill, Iwunze Ugo Sep 9, 2015 On California’s first statewide tests aligned with the Common Core standards, 40% of fourth-graders scored proficient or better on the English Language Arts (ELA) test and 35% did so in math.
blog post In El Dorado County, Early Preparation and Communication Were Key to the Return to School By Laura Hill, Mary Severance Jul 23, 2021 We talked with Dr. Ed Manansala, superintendent of schools for El Dorado County, about how his mostly rural districts weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and handled the return to in-person instruction.
blog post Early Results from Education Reforms By Linda Strean May 4, 2016 PPIC researchers analyzed the early results of two reforms in K–12 education and presented their findings at a PPIC event in Sacramento last week.
Fact Sheet Financing California’s Public Schools By Julien Lafortune Nov 29, 2023 K–12 funding has been at record-high levels in recent years, and California’s per student spending is now slightly above the national average. Spending is higher for low-income students, English Learners, and foster youth. However, enrollment declines, rising costs, and the expiration of pandemic funding pose fiscal challenges for school districts.
Report Low-Income Students and School Meal Programs in California By Caroline Danielson Mar 12, 2015 School nutrition programs help improve nutrition among vulnerable children. In so doing, they help build a better future for these children and the state. Now that California is implementing the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), there is additional reason to make sure all students who are eligible for free or low-cost meals enroll in these programs. Along with English Learners and foster youth, low-income students—in other words, students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals—are targeted for additional funds under the LCFF. This renewed focus on enrollment could also prompt further consideration of participation in school nutrition programs. This report looks at factors that might be linked to variations in student enrollment and participation in free or reduced-price meals. Not surprisingly, we find that districts with higher poverty rates identify higher levels of eligibility than wealthier districts. Low-income high school students appear to be enrolled at levels comparable to younger students, but students in elementary school districts are much more likely to participate in lunch programs than students in other types of districts. We also find that schools in districts with higher shares of foreign-born residents have modestly lower participation levels (but not identification of low-income students). Finally, we find evidence that schools with smaller enrollments are more successful than larger schools at identifying and serving low-income students. One way to further the goal of full enrollment among low-income students is to cut the large share of low-income students who must submit applications for free or reduced-price meals. Achieving this objective is arguably an important part of a larger state effort to integrate social safety net programs and services.
