Policy Brief College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges, Summary Apr 24, 2013
Report College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges By Julian Betts, Andrew C. Zau, Karen Bachofer Apr 24, 2013 Four large California school districts—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland—recently adopted ambitious new graduation standards designed to increase college readiness. Evidence from San Diego indicates a need for major interventions to help students succeed under the new policies. In conjunction with this report, the authors developed the a–g On Track Model, which can help districts identify middle-school students who will have difficulty completing the new requirements. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation.
Report The Impact of Budget Cuts on California’s Community Colleges By Hans Johnson, Belinda Reyes, Sarah Bohn Mar 26, 2013 Student enrollment rates in California’s community colleges have dropped to a 20-year low in the wake of unprecedented cuts in state funding. Colleges have reduced staff, cut courses, and increased class sizes—all of which have led to declines in student access. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, and The James Irvine Foundation.
Report Defunding Higher Education: What Are the Effects on College Enrollment? By Hans Johnson May 10, 2012 California’s high school graduates are more prepared than ever for college -- but they are less likely to go. Amid ongoing state budget cuts, UC and CSU enrollment rates have fallen 20 percent among recent high school grads. This research was supported with funding from the Donald Bren Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation.
Policy Brief Defunding Higher Education: What Are the Effects on College Enrollment? Summary May 9, 2012
Report Higher Education in California: New Goals for the Master Plan By Hans Johnson Apr 23, 2010 California’s Master Plan for Higher Education defined a strategy to meet the state’s needs in 1960—but today, California faces new challenges. By 2025, the state will have one million fewer college-educated workers than the economy will require, according to PPIC projections. Updating the Master Plan is crucial to closing this skills gap. This report proposes that the plan set explicit new goals in several key areas, including UC and CSU eligibility levels, community college transfers to four-year institutions, and college completion rates. Supported with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation as part of the California 2025 project on the state's future challenges and opportunities.
Report Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates By Hans Johnson, Ria Sengupta Bhatt Apr 16, 2009 California faces a shortage of almost a million college-educated workers by 2025. Taking a practical approach, this report finds that this education-skills gap could be cut in half by modest investments in programs aimed at expanding college attendance rates, increasing transfer rates from community colleges to four-year institutions, and boosting graduation rates at four-year institutions. As the state’s economy becomes increasingly reliant on highly skilled workers, a confluence of trends—the retirement of baby boomers, and demographic shifts toward groups with historically low rates of college attendance—makes these investments all the more crucial to the state’s continued economic success.
Report Financing California’s Community Colleges By Patrick Murphy Jan 14, 2004 This report describes funding trends for the CCC system and assesses its ability to meet its future challenges. It finds that CCC revenue growth has fallen behind that of other systems in both California and the rest of the nation, and that CCC’s complicated allocation system is ripe for reform. The author identifies two ways to improve the system’s resource picture. The first is to fund CCC at the level the legislature guaranteed following the passage of Proposition 98 in 1988. The second is to raise community college tuition and fees, currently the lowest in the nation, while maintaining broad access to the system through the increased use of grants, tax credits, and financial aid programs.
