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 California’s English Learner Students By Laura Hill Sep 6, 2012 English Learner (EL) students in California’s schools are numerous and diverse, and they lag behind their native-English-speaking peers. Closing the achievement gap for EL students has been a long-standing goal for California educators, and there are some signs of success. Now that EL funding and curriculum issues are receiving a fresh level of scrutiny from decisionmakers in Sacramento, it is important to assess our understanding of this diverse group, highlight the opportunities to improve policies around demonstrating mastery of English, calibrate funding formulas involving EL students, and implement new curriculum standards thoughtfully.
press release Efforts to Help Struggling Students Pass Exit Exam Are Too Little, Too Late Jun 26, 2012
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 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.
