Policy Brief Policy Brief: Targeted K–12 Funding and Student Outcomes By Julien Lafortune, Stephanie Barton Oct 6, 2021 Under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), more money now reaches high-need districts, and these districts spend most of that money on schools with greater need. Students are seeing some benefits from the LCFF, as seen in higher test scores, though disparities by student income, race, and language status remain large.
blog post Good Timing for New Federal Education Law By Patrick Murphy, Paul Warren Dec 11, 2015 The new federal law replacing No Child Left Behind gives California a chance to prove that its approach to improving schools can work.
blog post Can Mandatory College Entrance Exams Boost College Access? By Jacob Jackson Mar 27, 2017 Mandatory college entrance exams could remove a barrier to college entry for California students.
blog post Calculating High School Graduation Rates By Paul Warren Jan 19, 2016 One of the lesser known provisions of the new federal education law might force California to revise the way it deals with graduation rates at alternative high schools.
blog post Video: Targeted K–12 Funding and Student Outcomes By Stephanie Barton Oct 19, 2021 PPIC researcher Julien Lafortune presents new findings on how school districts are using dollars provided through the state’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and the effect on educational outcomes.
Report English Learner Trajectories and Reclassification By Julian Betts, Laura Hill, Karen Bachofer, Joseph Hayes ... Sep 23, 2019 Nearly 40% of California’s K–12 students are current or former English Learners, and California is now standardizing the policies that will define English proficiency across the state. Los Angeles and San Diego have taken two different, but largely effective, approaches.
Report K–12 Reforms and California’s English Learner Achievement Gap By Laura Hill May 30, 2018 English Learner (EL) students have been a key part of California’s K–12 system for decades. They currently make up about 21 percent of the public school population. English Learner status is meant to be temporary, and indeed, reclassified English Learners (those who are deemed English proficient) are among the best-performing students in the state. But students who remain ELs for longer periods generally have poor outcomes.
Report Targeted K–12 Funding and Student Outcomes By Julien Lafortune Oct 6, 2021 As students return to the classroom, record-high funding through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) will help California districts address gaps after a year of remote learning. In this report, we examine school and district spending against trends in student outcomes to offer insight into whether the LCFF is meeting its goal of improving equity in education.
Report Examining the Reach of Targeted School Funding By Julien Lafortune, Joseph Herrera, Niu Gao Sep 6, 2023 Under California’s ten-year-old funding formula, districts with higher shares of high-need students receive additional dollars on top of base funding. Districts have flexibility around spending these funds, but when money is not fully directed to the intended students and schools, the impact on achievement gaps is diluted.
