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This brief examines the experiences of California high school seniors from the graduating class of 2023, offering insights into their preparation, plans, and concerns for college prior to enrollment. Drawing on results from a large-scale survey of seniors, the findings reveal important variation in students' secondary school experiences and their plans for college, particularly by race/ethnicity and gender identity. As students' experiences in high school influence concerns about their college futures, these results represent an important marker of what college going may look like for future graduating cohorts and can help policymakers and practitioners better understand the context of students' postsecondary decisions and pathways.

California's investment in Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) reflects a commitment to providing access to UTK for all 4-year-olds in public schools by the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the implementation of transitional kindergarten (TK) presents challenges for districts in aligning this new grade coherently with existing grade levels and prekindergarten (PK) options within the context of the mixed-delivery model. This model adds complexity to achieving coherence as students transition from PK or TK to the existing district system. This report from PACE identifies four promising practices observed during the 2022-2023 school year to support access and coherence in early childhood education: (1) Coordinate across providers within the mixed-delivery model, aiming to ensure universal access and vertical alignment of PK and TK offerings; (2) Establish clear and aligned expectations for PK-3 standards and instruction across providers and school sites; (3) Monitor PK-3 student learning and progress to guide decision-making; and (4) Develop coherent professional learning that builds capacity for high-quality teaching and learning in the early grades.

In October 2023, the California Department of Education released test scores for all students in Grades 3-8 and 11 for the 2022-23 school year. These results represent an opportunity to analyze whether and to what extent student learning has rebounded after the dramatic declines in scores resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures. Despite marginal improvements from 2021-22, student cohorts in 2022-23 remain very far behind prepandemic levels: in ELA, by 4.4 percentage points, and in math, by 5.1 percentage points. Most concerning is that these scores reveal so starkly the large and growing opportunity gaps between student groups.

Student achievement in California has not rebounded after the precipitous declines of the COVID-19 pandemic, with English language arts (ELA) and math scores remaining well below prepandemic levels. Student attendance has declined dramatically, and trauma and time away from school have led to mental health challenges, delays in social development, and behavioral issues among students. It is in this context that the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE) has launched the Intensive Assistance Model (IAM) pilot school-improvement project, which is designed to build new approaches for teacher collaboration and student support. The IAM pilot's goal is to support schools in implementing the Professional Learning Community (PLC) at Work model, which uses an intensive support and coaching process to empower teachers as instructional leaders through developing processes, structures, and culture that support collaborative planning, data analysis, and targeted interventions. The PLC at Work model has led to measurable impacts in student achievement. Realizing the model's potential requires the active engagement of district offices to align resources, remove barriers, and support effective teaching and learning systems.

Career Technical Education (CTE)--a structured series of courses that provides high school students technical and vocational skills, paving the way to postsecondary education and careers--is key to aligning secondary education with both labor market needs and college opportunities. CTE provides high school students with the chance to engage in practical learning experiences, boosting engagement and expanding students' exposure to and preparation for a variety of careers. CTE participation is linked to increased high school graduation rates, greater likelihood of enrollment in two-year colleges, and higher earnings. With the promise of improved student outcomes, California has invested substantially in CTE over the last ten years. While CTE is generally linked to better educational and earnings outcomes, these outcomes vary across student subgroups and industry sectors. Within each industry sector, there are a number of pathways--a sequence of two or three courses with a final capstone course--that a student may choose to complete. Participation in specific CTE pathways is a function of many factors beyond student choice, including but not limited to course availability and scheduling within a high school or at an alternative school site, distance from the student's high school to the CTE program, and partnerships between high schools and local businesses. As such, pathways are not equally available to students across schools. This extended infographic provides an updated look at CTE pathway completion among California public high school graduates and how completion patterns vary by student race/ethnicity, gender, and CTE industry sector.

This study investigates racial disparities in school closures both within California and nationally. Findings highlight an alarming pattern: Schools enrolling higher proportions of Black students are at significantly increased risk of closure relative to those enrolling fewer Black students, a pattern that is more pronounced in California than elsewhere in the United States. This study also finds that conventional explanations for school closures--such as declining enrollments, poverty rates, and achievement differences--cannot fully account for why schools enrolling larger shares of Black students have greater odds of closure. These findings underscore that school closures in California and elsewhere reflect racial inequalities that require adequate policymaking to ensure equitable and fair school-closure proceedings

Enrollment in California public schools has been declining and is projected to fall even more steeply during the next decade. Because funding for school districts is largely based on average daily attendance rates, a decline in enrollment results in a loss of funding. To address budget shortfalls and align services with student counts, many districts have consolidated or closed schools, or they are contemplating doing so. Leaders in declining-enrollment districts will need to consider the benefits and costs when seeking to balance their budgets with new enrollment realities. This report makes three recommendations for how local decision makers, including district officials and school board members, should approach school closures: (1) establish and execute an inclusive, transparent process; (2) implement a strategy to provide displaced students and the broader student community with accessible, high-quality educational opportunities; and (3) develop a long-term plan to address factors--such as housing affordability, gentrification, and economic divestment--contributing to the disproportionate closure of schools serving low-income students and students of color. This report aims to provide evidence and suggestions to help state and local education leaders as they confront declining enrollment and urges them to work with other city and county agencies, including housing and economic development authorities, to increase opportunities for low-income families and communities of color so that fewer enrollment-related school closures are necessary.

Declining student enrollment is leading to a loss of revenue in many California school districts. To address ongoing budget shortfalls, many districts have consolidated or shuttered schools, and others are contemplating doing so. A new report and working paper, summarized in this brief, explore the racial dimensions of school closures and how to address them. The authors find that closures are far more common for schools that serve higher proportions of Black students. Even after controlling for a range of factors, the odds of school closure increase by nearly 25 percent for every 10-percentage-point increase in the share of Black students. This research situates this and other disparities within the U.S. history of segregation, neighborhood disinvestment, and gentrification, and provides evidence and suggestions to help education leaders center equity as they confront declining enrollment-related school closures.

Newcomers represent a large and understudied subgroup of students in California. The Oakland Unified School District has been disaggregating data on newcomer status for the last 7 years, providing a basis for analyzing graduation outcomes for newcomer compared to non-newcomer students. The data highlight the variance in outcomes based on program placement and design. Drawing from analysis of Oakland Unified's data and practices, the authors make programmatic recommendations for districts with newcomer students, focusing on special considerations for different subgroups, enrollment patterns, school models, the intersection of special education and newcomer status, and effective models of English language development. The authors also make recommendations for the state to consider, focusing on data-collection practices, the need for articulated technical assistance, and funding considerations.

This case study identifies promising practices for newcomer education implemented in San Juan Unified School District (SJUSD), one of 12 local educational agencies (LEAs) funded under the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being (CalNEW) project between 2018 and 2021. This report was developed through a partnership between the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) Newcomer Research-Practice-Policy Partnership and the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). SJUSD is the fifth largest immigrant-enrolling district in the state, with 2,982 newcomer students who speak a wide variety of languages, including Spanish, Russian, Pashto, Arabic, Farsi, Ukrainian, and Turkish. The case study was conducted during a 2022 summer program for approximately 500 recently arrived immigrant students. Using interviews with 32 school and community leaders and educators, a review of 65 program documents, and observations of 15 classrooms using a tool focused on effective instructional practices for newcomer education, the authors identified four overarching themes that illustrate promising practices: (1) "How big can you make your village?"--building on community cultural wealth; (2) "Match dollars to needs"--leveraging multiple and differentiated resources; (3) Developing educator capabilities to teach and support newcomer students; and (4) Designing newcomer program and placement practices.

Academic preparation is a key factor in readiness for college-level work. Students who enroll in rigorous courses while in high school realize better secondary and postsecondary outcomes. Evidence from California suggests that rigorous learning opportunities may not be equally distributed across the state, prompting questions about course availability and accessibility. This study examines the variation in statewide participation in a host of courses that are recognized as critical to students' preparation for college: A-G courses (required for admissions eligibility to California's public 4-year universities), college-credit coursework, and the level of math courses that students take their senior year. Drawing on comprehensive student- and course-level administrative data, the authors explore college preparatory course-taking patterns for the four most recent graduating cohorts unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019). [Funding for this report was received from Tipping Point Community.]

Completing the A-G course sequence is the standard pathway to college for California high school graduates; however, findings indicate that there is substantial variation in A-G enrollment and completion rates across student subgroups and schools. This brief describes the distribution in access to and success in A-G courses as well as strategies that local leaders could consider to increase these rates among the students they serve. Drawing on the case studies of nine public school districts with exemplary A-G completion rates, we highlight best practices to broaden A-G access for students and ease barriers to completion. These practices include identifying gaps in availability and enrollment, implementing policies to expand equitable participation and completion, and monitoring A-G progress over time.

California is prioritizing equity in education post-COVID-19 by investing in community schools. Districts have an important leadership responsibility to develop the conditions, capacities, and resources for effective, sustainable community schools. Specifically, districts must strengthen system-level supports and infrastructure to ensure sustainable resources, shared governance, robust and usable data systems, and organizational learning and improvement. The district can also support community school coordinators, strengthen data access and sharing, identify and celebrate successful school-site practices, and scale innovations. By taking a cohesive, districtwide approach to community school implementation and sustainability, district leaders can help ensure the success of community school transformation in their districts. [This brief was created with Community Schools Learning Exchange.]

The term "newcomers" is commonly used to describe students who have recently arrived in U.S. schools. Depending on usage, newcomers may mean students in their first 6 months in U.S. schools, in their first 4 years, or anywhere in between. A majority arrive speaking little to no English, most are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and a large but unknown proportion have experienced trauma. Unfortunately, reliable national data are not available on language proficiency or socioeconomic status. This report gives an overview of newcomer education in California and makes recommendations to support improved student outcomes. The report is informed by a special data request to the California Department of Education (CDE), interviews with staff from 12 California school districts, and a literature review. Sam Finn's perspective is further contextualized by Finn's experience as an elementary school teacher in three cities, a consultant for the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being (CalNEW) program, and a researcher and advocate for Oakland Unified School District. [For "Newcomer Education in California. Report Summary with Recommendations," see ED628245.]

High-quality early learning experiences (i.e., developmentally appropriate, play-based instruction with clear learning goals) have positive long-term effects on student outcomes. As California rolls out Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK), district leaders focused on meeting state requirements for hiring qualified staff and finding appropriate facilities, and thus have been unable to focus on quality. The state can take the following actions to incentivize and support districts to broaden their focus for UTK: set a vision, establish goals, and measure progress in terms of enrollment, key implementation features, and student outcomes for preschool through third grade; align resources and support to advance high-quality implementation of UTK at scale; and publicly communicate key aspects of implementation and outcomes, enabling communities to monitor whether their districts are serving them well.

Finding effective ways to improve school attendance is more important than ever given the dramatic increases in chronic absence nationwide and in California. This report presents a compelling case for using data about unexcused absences to advance a more preventive, problem-solving, and equitable response to poor attendance. When an absence is labeled unexcused, it affects how a student and their family are treated. Although students face no negative consequences for excused absences, they can be denied credit for missed work, excluded from extracurricular activities, and eventually taken to court and fined for unexcused absences. As absences accumulate, responses generally become more punitive. Yet punitive responses are unlikely to improve attendance when absences occur for reasons beyond the control of the student and their family. Rather, overuse of the unexcused-absence label could undermine efforts to partner with students and families to improve attendance. This report concludes with recommendations for how stakeholders can use data to detect and address disparities in the labeling of unexcused absences and advance more equitable opportunities to learn. [This report was written with Joshua Childs, Cecelia Leong, and Janet E. Rosenbaum.]

Despite clear evidence of the benefits of taking advanced math courses in high school, access to and success in these courses are not experienced equally. Only about half of California high school seniors enroll in an advanced math course, and nearly one-quarter of seniors do not take any math. To increase equitable access to advanced math, six partnerships between university faculty and high school math specialists have developed advanced innovative math (AIM) courses as viable alternatives to traditional 12th-grade math courses. This report highlights the ways in which these partnerships demonstrate and benefit from the common features of successful intersegmental partnerships including: (1) investment of state resources; (2) shared purpose; (3) commitment to equity; (4) community building; (5) capacity development; and (6) improved educational outcomes.

School leaders across the state of California seek tools to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and improve school climates. Research suggests that restorative practices (RPs) have the potential to achieve these ends, particularly when staff throughout the school implement, and students throughout the school experience, these practices. Research also indicates that schools often struggle to achieve widespread adoption of RPs. In many cases, schools will see selective adoption of RPs--some teachers use these practices while others do not (resulting in only some students experiencing these practices). And districts will see some schools implementing these practices while others struggle to do so. How can schools overcome these implementation challenges? The first step is to identify sticking points in implementation. To do this, school and district leaders need simple, reliable means of measuring the extent to which teachers are using and students are experiencing RPs. At present, though, many leaders lack measures of RP utilization and exposure. This report provides detailed guidance regarding why, when, and how to measure the use of RPs in schools. In the first section, the authors briefly describe what RPs are and summarize research regarding the potential of these practices to decrease the use of discipline, reduce racial disparities in discipline and academic achievement, and improve school climates. In the second section, they discuss why measuring RP implementation is essential to employing RPs in a manner that is likely to achieve the intended impacts. In the third section, the authors provide detailed guidance on how to measure the extent to which teachers are using and students are being exposed to these potent practices.

This brief summarizes key findings from the "Bilingual Research Journal" article "Understanding Newcomer English Learner Students' English Language Development: Comparisons and Predictors." The study analyzed incoming English proficiency and subsequent English language growth among newcomer students, and further explored how these compared to those of their non-newcomer peers classified as English learners. We found that, on average, newcomer students have low initial English proficiency levels but their English proficiency develops quickly. There is wide variation in newcomer English level and growth patterns, however, and evidence suggests that schools play an important role in fostering growth. Exploratory evidence shows that newcomers (vs. non-newcomer English learner peers) enter school at earlier stages of English proficiency but their proficiency grows faster, especially in their first 2 years.

Reclassification can be an important juncture in the academic experience of English learners (ELs). Literature has explored the potential for reclassification to influence academic outcomes like achievement, but its impact on social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, which are malleable and important for long-term success, remains unclear. Using a regression discontinuity design, we examine the causal effect of reclassification on SEL skills (self-efficacy, growth mindset, self-management, and social awareness) among fourth to eighth graders. In the districts studied, reclassification improved academic self-efficacy by 0.2 standard deviations for students near the cutoff threshold. Results are robust to alternative specifications and analyses. Given this evidence, we discuss ways districts could establish practices that instill more positive academic beliefs among ELs.

This study examines the associations between county-level immigration arrests and academic achievement, absenteeism, and measures of school climate and safety for students in the California CORE districts. We found consistent evidence that Latinx and Latinx English learner students experienced declines in academic achievement, attendance, and perceptions of school climate and safety when there were more immigration arrests in the counties where their schools were located. These relationships were strongest for arrests that occurred during the Trump administration compared with those that occurred during the second term of the Obama administration. We discuss the implications of our findings and offer suggestions for policies and practices that schools and districts could implement to create safer, more welcoming environments for their immigrantorigin students and families in the face of anti-immigrant actions.

High school student participation in dual enrollment--a key strategy for increasing equitable access to postsecondary education and improving readiness for college--has been on the rise in California in recent years. Despite the overall increase in participation, however, large gaps between racial/ethnic subgroups persist. Also of concern, English learners, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, youth in foster care, and students experiencing homelessness lag their peers in dual enrollment participation. To address these gaps, California policymakers and advocates are working with K-12 and community college educators to increase participation and to ensure that dual enrollment opportunities are more equitably available to students and accessed by them earlier in high school. This report updates and expands our prior work by examining participation in dual enrollment among California public high school students at all grade levels. Our partnerships with the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) enable us to merge data from both segments and analyze the full extent of dual enrollment for California public high school students through the state's 72 community college districts. While we have previously reported dual enrollment participation among high school graduates, this analysis incorporates new data to show rates of participation and characteristics for all 9th- through 12th-grade students during the 2021-22 academic year. For the first time, we have a statewide picture of dual enrollment participation for high school students at all grade levels to inform current policy discussions and efforts by local educational agencies (LEAs) and community colleges to increase dual enrollment. [An additional collaborator for this report is the University of California, Davis, California Education Lab.]

The 2021-22 academic year was profoundly challenging for California schools. Eight critical issues emerged as serious threats to student learning, the operation of schools, and even the very institution of public education: (1) gun violence, (2) politicization of and support for public education, (3) controversy over what is taught in schools, (4) student learning and well-being, (5) declining enrollment, (6) teacher shortages, (7) college affordability, and (8) long-term funding inadequacy and instability. These issues also present a threat to equity because they disproportionately affect the most marginalized communities, exposing long-standing systemic inequities in education and creating new gaps in opportunity and access. It is against this backdrop that PACE and the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education fielded their annual poll of California voters in July 2022 on their opinions of and priorities for public education. To inform California public schools' transition into a postpandemic future, this report analyzes Californians' perspectives on the eight critical issues. [For the Summary, see ED624797.]

The 2021-22 academic year was profoundly challenging for California schools. Eight critical issues emerged as serious threats to student learning, the operation of schools, and even the very institution of public education: (1) gun violence, (2) politicization of and support for public education, (3) controversy over what is taught in schools, (4) student learning and well-being, (5) declining enrollment, (6) teacher shortages, (7) college affordability, and (8) long-term funding inadequacy and instability. These issues also present a threat to equity because they disproportionately affect the most marginalized communities, exposing long-standing systemic inequities in education and creating new gaps in opportunity and access. It is against this backdrop that PACE and the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education fielded their annual poll of California voters in July 2022 on their opinions of and priorities for public education. This report summarizes the top findings related to major threats facing public schools. [For the full Report, see ED624796.]

Continuous improvement has a prominent place in California's approach to educational accountability. But while there are proof points that show the potential of continuous improvement, currently there is not evidence that continuous improvement efforts are consistently leading to sustainable improvement in student outcomes and system functioning. This report analyzes the experiences of two organizations serving as the hubs of improvement networks, both of which led networks seeking to increase the proportion of students on track for postsecondary success during the 2020-21 school year. The researchers analyzed their work to learn lessons about how to improve the consistency of success of initiatives using continuous improvement. They analyzed data to examine the improvement work of each school or district participating in a learning network. For analysis, they used Coburn's (2003) four dimensions of reform at scale--depth, spread, ownership, and sustainability--as indicators of traction. [For the summary, "Supporting Improvement in Networks: Key Takeaways for Districts, County Offices, and External Support Providers," see ED624979.]

During the 2020-2021 school year, the Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) examined two hubs leading continuous improvement networks focused on increasing the rate at which students are on track to graduate high school positioned for postsecondary success. Both hubs offered: (1) coaching, with expectation of monthly meetings; (2) professional development from hub staff and external content experts; (3) frameworks, tools, and common data to promote reform efforts; and (4) access to a network of sites doing similar work. This is a companion document to the report "Generating Traction with Continuous Improvement: Lessons from Two Learning Networks" (ED624973). It summarizes the main findings about the ways hubs of learning networks--external support providers, county offices of education, or districts working with their schools--can help an improvement project gain traction toward improving student outcomes at scale.

High schools in California--and around the country--increasingly offer computer science (CS) and often would like to expand CS offerings further. However, these expansions pose a number of challenges for administrators and policymakers, especially if they are going to happen effectively and equitably. We consider four of the most pressing challenges for CS expansions: (a) staffing issues, including equitable access to CS teachers; (b) curricular capacity; (c) school accountability pressure; and (d) equitable access to CS coursework. For each challenge, we discuss what the research tells us about what is already happening as well as potential solutions going forward.

California's Assembly Bill 705 has affected the way that English learners (ELs) access English and English as a second language (ESL) coursework, requiring that degree- or transfer-seeking students have the right to enroll in English or ESL courses, and community colleges are responsible for implementing initial placement practices and designing curricular structures that maximize gateway English completion. We found that ELs who graduated from a US high school and then enrolled in a community college experienced much higher throughput rates when allowed to enroll directly in transferable, college-level English composition than if they were directed to the ESL Pathway. We provide recommendations for community colleges to (a) improve placement for this subgroup of ELs, (b) integrate English support into academic instruction throughout college-level courses, and (c) better track the academic pathways of ELs from high school to college in administrative data sets.

Almost daily, media headlines draw attention to students struggling academically and emotionally from interrupted learning, high student absenteeism, declining enrollment, teacher and leader burnout, staffing shortages, polarized communities, and school boards at the center of broader political debates. How did we arrive at this current state of affairs? This study, conducted during the first 14 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, provides some answers to this question. In March 2020, the research team set out to understand how seven California school districts--varying in size, geographic location, urbanicity, and grade span--responded to the unfolding health crisis. As the research progressed, the authors began to explore not only the challenges posed by COVID-19 but also the unfolding national reckoning with issues of racial injustice. Later, as data was analyzed alongside a rapidly changing pandemic and set of conditions in public schools nationwide, the authors realized the research had much to say about the challenges currently facing school systems in general. This report: (a) highlights the ways in which particular relationships and conditions contributed to school districts' efforts to advance learning and support school stakeholders between March 2020 and May 2021 by examining patterns across study districts and calling out cases where strong relationships assisted districts' crisis response; and (b) presents evidence that points to some of the origins of the troubling state of affairs that are witnessed today. [This report was written with research support from Alison Bloomgarden and Monica Santander. For the Policy Brief, see ED624679.]

As the COVID-19 crisis disrupted schooling, recovery efforts to ensure educational continuity in California included the adoption of Senate Bill 98, which mandated local educational agencies (LEAs) to complete Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs). These plans act as critical snapshots of sensemaking in the midst of crisis; however, their details have yet to be explored statewide, concealing the potential trends that arise in local planning when traditional schooling is disrupted by crisis. Through a multiphase, mixed methods approach, this study examines the legislative requirements of an educational policy that orchestrated large-scale local planning. Results suggest that, during a crisis, equity is centered in both policy and the plans of public school districts, threaded through accessibility to instruction as well as academic and social-emotional supports. [For the Policy Brief, see ED624610.]

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in schooling have been particularly difficult for students learning the English language. Recent research indicates that nearly 40 percent of English learners (ELs) nationwide were not receiving the services and support they needed to successfully engage with academic content during distance learning and that ELs experienced greater lags in learning than their peers. As the types and quality of instructional supports provided to ELs at school are vital to their educational outcomes, it is critical to understand how these students were supported during a nontraditional school year. This report highlights the ways in which public K-12 school districts planned to support ELs during the first full academic year of the pandemic. Results collectively indicate that districts communicated their intentions to assess student learning and progress, planned to provide both designated and integrated ELD services, and offered supplemental educational services to mitigate lags in student learning. However, in general Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs) included too little detail to determine the extent to which plans for 2020-2021 differed from educational programming prior to the pandemic or the sufficiency of districts' plans to ensure student progress in language development and academic learning. Moreover, the legislation mandating the plans did not include measures for adherence to plans or for monitoring student outcomes as a result of plans. [This study is the product of the University of California, Davis, California Education Lab.]

In the wake of COVID-19, the California legislature mandated that local educational agencies (LEAs) develop detailed Learning Continuity and Attendance Plans (LCPs) to address student learning and progress during the 2020-21 academic year. This brief summarizes results of an analysis of nearly 1,000 LCPs from public school districts across the state to understand how they intended to support students in critical areas like instruction, technology, assessment, attendance, and well-being. Overall, districts planned to provide technology, assess student learning, employ tiered levels of support, and prioritize services for special student populations. However, the practices described in the plans varied across districts, with the most notable differences between urban and rural areas. This analysis exposes broader opportunities for wide-scale reform in both education policymaking and implementation accountability postpandemic. [For the Working Paper, see ED624611.]

At a time when students of families living in poverty have experienced the worst of the economic trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, community schools have reemerged as a promising intervention for addressing lack of access to quality education and economic prosperity. Policymakers are making investments in scaling up community schools; effective use of data will be key to the success of the expansion. This brief details findings from a 2021 research project that involved collaboration between the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the University of Southern California Center on Education, Policy, Equity and Governance. The brief provides recommendations for effective implementation of a data system designed to provide academic and community-level data that can ultimately be utilized to address community-specific needs.

The method California uses to count students for funding purposes is an important decision that drives both resources and behaviors. For more than 100 years, California has funded school districts based on the average number of students who attend school each day. Although this average daily attendance (ADA) method was once used by many states, the practice has faded. Now, California is one of just six states that use ADA to allocate state education funding to school districts. The remaining states use other student count methods such as average enrollment. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced shocks to attendance and enrollment patterns in schools, creating budgetary uncertainty as well as challenges regarding how to effectively engage and serve all students. Some state legislators, advocates, and education leaders have proposed that California switch from an attendance-based funding system to one that funds based on enrollment, and some are debating ways to adjust count methods to protect districts experiencing attendance volatility and declining enrollment. As policymakers engage in these discussions, it is critically important that they understand California's current count method as well as potential alternatives to it. This report reviews student count methods used in California and other states, and then explores the following: (1) To what extent do ADA-based funding systems incentivize higher attendance? (2) What is known about enrollment and attendance trends before and since the pandemic? (3) What would the fiscal impact be if California were to shift from attendance-based to enrollment-based funding? and (4) How might various state goals be addressed by the current ADA-based system, an alternative enrollment-based system, or other policy solutions? This study aims to inform policymakers and advocates as they consider whether and how to revise existing policies or craft new policies to address a variety of state priorities related to fiscal stability, equity, attendance, and more.

This report examines two districts--Azusa Unified and Dinuba Unified--that have begun to shift district structures, policies, and culture to have a measurable effect on student outcomes. Both districts have committed to reducing the D/F rate for students (eighth graders in Dinuba and ninth graders in Azusa) as part of a learning community led by California Education Partners (Ed Partners). The districts have collaborated with Ed Partners for multiple years to refine their continuous improvement approach and build capacity for sustained improvement. The goal of this report is to examine the leading indicators for how improvement efforts can support organizational coherence, improve instruction, and positively affect student outcomes. Both districts have used improvement structures and processes to empower practitioners, building their capacity to lead improvement efforts across each system. This report describes how districts can build their internal capacity for improvement with support from an external partner and highlights key lessons that other districts can apply to improve student outcomes and their systems overall.

The 2021 PACE/USC Rossier poll provides key insights into Californians' perceptions of higher education issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically equity and affordability. A large percentage of Californians acknowledge that college affordability is an important educational issue, and they generally express support for increased access to courses through remote options, increased funding for community colleges, loan forgiveness, and equitable admissions practices. However, public opinion on these issues is more nuanced; for example, Californians are concerned that increased access to educational opportunities could compromise the quality of higher education, and they believe that universities should consider only academic and extracurricular qualifications in admissions to college, not race or income. There are important differences in perceptions of these higher education issues across the lines of political affiliation and race.

Counties, districts, and schools have had to respond to ever-shifting issues related to COVID-19. This brief describes the complex challenges that district superintendents faced, which often required expertise in areas beyond traditional expectations for the role, particularly in public health. The brief gives examples of crisis management structures from one county office of education (COE)--Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS)--that helped to mitigate these challenges for local education agencies (LEAs) in its county. The strategies detailed in this brief provide a replicable model for how the state and COEs can better support districts and schools during times of crisis and improve preparedness of the education system as a whole.

California enacted a groundbreaking shift to its school-funding system when it passed the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in 2013. The law sought to make funding more equitable and also aimed to increase local control based on the premise that budgeting decisions are best made at the local level in partnership with community stakeholders, who must, in turn, hold the district accountable. This report takes stock of LCFF 8 years after its passage and explores ways it can be further refined to improve equitable funding, opportunities, and outcomes in California. The findings are based on: (1) interviews with 19 California education leaders and policy observers; (2) an extensive review of the research on LCFF implementation; (3) an analysis of school-funding data; and (4) an analysis of recent legislation. Most of our interviewees viewed LCFF as a major improvement over the system it replaced. Even so, most agreed there are opportunities to improve the formula and its implementation, particularly because there are still gaps between LCFF's equity goals and the outcomes being achieved at the local level. Based on these discussions and the analysis, four areas in which improvements are warranted were identified: (1) revisit and refine the funding formula; (2) modernize funding for students with disabilities; (3) equitably distribute effective teachers; and (4) strengthen transparency, engagement, and accountability.

Educators and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention--and $2.8 billion in funding-- to community school strategies as a way to mitigate the learning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A healing-centered community school implements a whole child approach to teaching and learning to address the fundamental physiological and safety needs of students as central to their cognitive development and growth. Strengthening and sustaining such strategies require intentional, complementary investments in policy, funding, and resources across general education, early learning, special education, health, and community development. This brief provides guidance for educators, policymakers, and advocates who wish to deploy state and federal recovery resources to address immediate student needs and build sustainable systems and practices that serve all students and advance equity. [This brief was produced in partnership with California Children's Trust, Californians for Justice, and Advancement Project California.]

In this brief, we use data from the 2021 PACE/USC Rossier Poll to report on California voters' attitudes towards and engagement with local school district governance. Generally, our findings show relatively high support for school boards among California voters, although voters were less satisfied with school board performance in the context of the pandemic. Patterns of engagement also changed during the past year: some voters, particularly parents and higher income individuals, became more engaged in educational issues; others felt compelled to be more involved because they were unhappy or dissatisfied with educational systems. Our findings also highlight patterns of racial, socioeconomic, and partisan divisions in school district governance. In particular, Black voters and low-income voters were most likely to report dissatisfaction and feel less valued by their local school boards.

Growing inequities and lessons learned during the pandemic together with billions of dollars in new funding present an opportunity to make substantial changes to K-12 education to better serve all students in California. In May 2021, PACE and the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC) fielded our annual poll of California voters, which sought to gain clarity about voters' priorities on public education issues during this period in which Californians are beginning to look towards a postpandemic future. The following are 10 key findings from the poll: (1) Californians have been differentially affected by both the overall and the educational effects of the pandemic; (2) California voters are generally worried about the effects of the pandemic on the state's students; (3) Despite this challenging year, voters appreciated the work of educators; (4) However, partisan divisions shaped approval of education during the pandemic; (5) Californians have noticed increasing divisions on issues of politics and race; (6) These partisan differences translate into how voters prioritize educational issues generally and educational equity issues specifically; (7) Despite these political divisions, voters enthusiastically support a wide range of targeted supports for meeting students' diverse needs and accelerating learning in the wake of the pandemic; (8) Voters are in favor of requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for eligible students; (9) Voters support resuming in-person instruction in the fall but want schools to provide online learning options; and (10) Voters are generally in favor of resuming standardized testing for students after the pandemic.

The research featured in this paper is part of the CORE-PACE Research Partnership, which is focused on producing research that informs continuous improvement in the CORE districts as well as policy and practice in California and beyond. In this report, the authors used data from multiple interim assessments to examine how the rate of student learning from fall 2019 through winter 2020-21 differs from that of student learning before COVID-19. Specifically, the authors assessed the degree to which approximately 100,000 students across 19 local education agencies (LEAs) in California experienced slower academic growth compared to previous school years (i.e., a learning lag) by the time they completed winter 2021 interim assessments (NWEA MAP Growth, Renaissance Learning Star, and Curriculum Associates i-Ready) in Grades 4-8. To understand equity gaps in the degree to which students have experienced lost instructional opportunities, the authors disaggregated these results for students who were economically disadvantaged, students who were English learners, students with disabilities, students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, students with low prior achievement, and students who were experiencing homelessness. The results show that by the time students completed winter interim assessments in the 2020-21 school year, they had experienced a learning lag of approximately 2.6 months in English language arts (ELA) and 2.5 months in math. It was further found that students who were economically disadvantaged, English learners, and Latinx experienced greater learning lag than students who were not in these groups. The authors position these findings in the context of other recent studies that have estimated COVID-19 impacts on student learning, discuss caveats of using interim assessments (including those administered remotely), and highlight the importance of examining differences in the effects for students in different groups. These findings can be useful for guiding decision-making and resource allocation at the state and local levels.

The research featured in this paper is part of the CORE-PACE Research Partnership, which is focused on producing research that informs continuous improvement in the CORE districts as well as policy and practice in California and beyond. Since spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been abruptly interrupting regular instruction in almost all schools in the U.S. One year later, policymakers, district administrators, and educators are still balancing the benefits and risks of returning K-12 students to fully in-person school. Many are concerned about the pandemic's disruption to students' academic progress. In California, educators have been focused equally on students' mental and emotional health, social relationships, and learning environment, given that many students have been learning remotely since the onset of the pandemic. Anticipating the need for schools and districts to understand their students' social-emotional well-being, the CORE Districts in California developed survey instruments to collect such information in the 2020-21 school year. The surveys were administered remotely, as all participating districts offered distance-only instruction. This report draws on data from the "Student well-being and learning conditions diagnostic survey" taken by 32,000 students in Grades 4-12 from three districts at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year. The results from 15,000 students who also responded to the "Comprehensive interim survey" a few months later are also highlighted. This report brings data to bear on the areas of student well-being that are most relevant at each developmental stage, so that all education stakeholders are able to focus their efforts on meeting the most pressing needs of each group of students.

California's school system is under tremendous long-run fiscal pressure; allocating resources efficiently is therefore paramount. Economic analysis--making sure districts and schools are spending their budgets wisely--is the method used to identify effectiveness and efficiency. This method responds to the question educational professionals face: "Am I making the most efficient decisions given the resources I have and the goals I need to meet for my students?" In this report, the authors look at the role of economic analysis in decision-making in California's school system. The goal is to show how economic evaluations can be more straightforward, more useful, and more influential for decision-making. The authors describe cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), one of the primary methods for economic evaluation. They provide a summary of this method, along with templates for framing the research analysis. The authors include a worked-through example to illustrate the key steps in performing CEA. They also describe case studies where such analyses have been performed that show the broad applicability of the method. [This report was written in partnership with Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long-standing systemic inequities in education with resulting gaps in opportunity and academic achievement. In addition, many affected students have experienced additional trauma as the pandemic has cost lives and livelihoods in families already vulnerable and on the edge. School staff have also experienced greater stress and burnout this year. This report describes one bold move districts can make to begin rebuilding an education system that works for each young person. Every California district should take approximately 6 weeks over the summer or at the beginning of the school year to offer students, families, and educators a restorative restart. During this time, district and school leaders and staff should prioritize the following restorative practices, all grounded in the science of learning and development, and then continue to expand these practices year round: (1) Center Relationships; (2) Address Whole Child Needs; (3) Strengthen Staffing & Partnerships; (4) Make Teaching & Learning Relevant & Rigorous; and (5) Empower Teams to Reimagine & Rebuild Systems. This report details each of these evidence-based, equitable actions that district and school leaders and staff can undertake for this restorative work to happen. [This brief was developed by California-based family and student engagement organizations, associations representing educators and system leaders, research institutes, and civil rights and equity groups. A complete list of these organizations can be found on the full text.]

In March 2020, school districts across California closed their doors, rapidly adapting operations and instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to understand the immediate impact of the unprecedented closure of schools prompted grave concerns about meeting students' needs, particularly for the most vulnerable. This report details findings from a research study investigating California public school districts' early responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 after school closures. In this study, the researchers constructed a novel dataset based on publicly available information published on school district websites. District websites are an important indicator of districts' planning, highlighting the extent to which they communicated their activities and, indirectly, their priorities after shelter-in-place orders were issued. As such, this analysis explores the degree of information made available by districts concerning adaptations to policies and practices between March and May 2020. Findings reveal that more information was communicated clearly and consistently around operational changes that would support students' basic needs, with less information available on the specifics of learning and instruction. Analysis also indicates wide variation in district policies and practices with respect to both student supports and learning/instruction; this report considers how these responses differ by locale (urban, suburban, rural, and town), the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals (FRPM) under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and the proportion of students in a district who are English learners (ELs). Overall, the adaptations made to school operations during the early period after school closures in 2020 reflected an important desire across districts to continue to serve students. [This report was prepared with research support from Jill Huynh and Justin Luu.]

Communities in California and around the country are implementing learning hubs to provide in-person education supports to students who are distance learning. In this brief, we explore a prevalent learning hub model and raise considerations for local policymakers, schools, and expanded learning partners. We include guidance for the design and operations of learning hubs, and identify the policy levers that support the model.

Strong partnerships between schools and expanded learning programs lay the foundation for building stronger, more equitable support systems for children and their families. Building on prior investments in the expanded learning system, California's school reopening guidance encouraged intentional coordination across schools and expanded learning providers to best meet the needs of students during this unprecedented time. This brief provides key principles for school and expanded learning partnerships--informed by insights from leaders and practitioners from across California-- that policymakers and practitioners should consider as they move from reopening to rebuilding.

As California's elementary schools reopen after prolonged physical closure due to COVID-19, attention to healing the school community will be essential. Although there is wide variation in the timing and formats with which schools plan to reopen, it is clear that when students reenter school buildings they will be eager to reconnect with friends and teachers. Because elementary school-aged children learn and grow through play, recess is an ideal time to support healing and to prepare students to return to the classroom ready to learn. When students are allowed to reenter school buildings, providing opportunities for play should be a priority; this brief discusses how schools can safely implement recess and harness the power of play to rebuild the school community and support the well-being of their students.