Report Implementing the Common Core State Standards in California By Patrick Murphy, Paul Warren Apr 16, 2014 The Common Core State Standards (CCSS)—adopted in 2010—are similar to California’s current K–12 standards, but their emphasis on conceptual understanding and problem solving will require changes in classroom instruction. California’s transition to the CCSS has gotten off to a slow start. Survey data suggest that many teachers will deliver the new standards for the first time in 2014–15—the first year of CCSS-based testing. Like other states, California will probably see a drop in test scores under the new standards. But as the transition continues beyond 2014–15, the hope is that the new standards and tests will create incentives that lead to higher student achievement.
event The James Irvine Foundation Briefing SeriesThe Future of School Finance in California Apr 9, 2013
event The James Irvine Foundation Briefing SeriesK-12 Accountability from the Local Perspective Jan 23, 2013
Report California’s Changing K-12 Accountability Program By Paul Warren Jan 17, 2013 California recently joined a number of other states in adopting the Common Core State Standards, which establish new criteria for what students should learn in school. It also joined a consortium of states to develop new tests based on those standards. The new standards are ambitious, and some teachers are concerned they are not prepared to convey the higher-level skills and concepts they contain. The new tests will allow the state to measure gains in each student’s achievement, creating new options for how the state ranks schools. The change will also prompt the state to reassess the value of state tests in high school and its options for holding secondary schools accountable. More changes to the state’s accountability program are likely when Congress reauthorizes the federal education law, and the way the state addresses these current issues will influence the shape of its future accountability program.
Report School Accountability and Administrator Incentives in California By Eric Larsen Jul 15, 2009 School accountability programs aim to improve student achievement by improving educator incentives. Have they done so? This report examines how state and federal accountability programs have affected the incentives of principals, superintendents, and school board members – finding some evidence that the federal No Child Left Behind Act (2001) may have made principals and school board members more accountable for student achievement. However, the report finds no effect on the incentives of school superintendents. This report also recommends a number of specific changes to the NCLB, should it be reauthorized. The study was supported with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Report School Resources and Academic Standards in California: Lessons from the Schoolhouse By Jon Sonstelie, Ray Reinhard, Heather Rose Jan 24, 2006 This report takes an in-depth look at a sample group of 49 schools in California to understand at a grassroots level the issues and problems of implementing academic standards, now a fact of life in the state for a decade. California faces particular challenges because it has more public school students than any other state, and has set its standards higher than any other state’s. Through in-depth interviews with school district superintendents and a survey of teachers, the authors found general support—mixed with relief, anxiety, and in some cases, grudging assent—and many suggestions for how standards might be implemented more efficiently and more equitably. School district superintendents were generally strongly supportive of the new standards-based regimen. A survey of more than 2,000 teachers also found general support, but also more ambivalence. Twelve percent of teachers considered the state’s standards too ambitious and therefore unachievable, while 39 percent characterized them as very difficult to achieve. The authors' financial analysis tends to confirm earlier findings that although the goals California has set for student achievement are high, the resources being provided to meet those goals are not.
