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In July 1996, California began its Class Size Reduction (CSR) Initiative. To gauge the effectiveness of this initiative, an analysis of its objectives and an overview of proposed strategies for evaluating CSR are presented here. An outline of the major challenges that stand between CSR and its mission are provided. These include logistical challenges, financial challenges, the impact on teaching and learning, unanswered questions in the literature, and the value of a systematic evaluation of the program. The text outlines the design and key research questions that must be addressed by any evaluation plan and recommends six principles that call for a single, integrated evaluation; a comprehensive review; and a summative evaluation. A conceptual model of the evaluation plan is also provided. Overviews of how CSR will affect the following areas are included: state, district, and school policymaking; resource allocation; integration with other reforms; teacher quality, assignment, and training; classroom practices; parental involvement; and student outcomes. It is claimed that students' engagement with schooling, as measured by attendance, promotion/retention, homework completion, and frequency of disciplinary actions, may also change with the introduction of reduced class size and therefore should be assessed as part of the evaluation of student outcomes. A methodology section discusses evaluating the implementation of the class size reduction initiative with discussion on overall design, data collection, sampling, data analyses, an advisory board, and deliverables. Contains 29 references. An appendix discusses the importance of evaluating class size reduction to California educational policy. (RJM)

This report examines whether the economic well-being of male immigrants to the United States improves substantially over time, details differences in economic progress of immigrants from different countries of origin, and assesses the impact of educational attainment on immigrants' earnings. Analyses are based on Public Use Micro Samples of the 1970, 1980, and 1990 censuses. Since one in four California workers is an immigrant, findings for California are emphasized and compared to those for the nation. Immigrants to California are a heterogeneous group. Most are poorly educated and have low English proficiency, but substantial proportions are highly skilled or were educated in the United States. The largest immigrant group (37 percent) was born in Mexico; followed by 12 percent in Japan, Korea, or China; 9 percent in the Philippines; and 8 percent in Central America. Earnings of immigrant workers relative to native-born workers have declined substantially over the past 20 years, and immigrants have begun to dominate the lowest-skill jobs. Immigrants' economic progress over time varies considerably by country of origin. Japanese, Korean, and Chinese workers enter the U.S. labor market with wages much lower than native-born workers but reach parity in 10-15 years. Europeans enter with wages similar to natives and continue at parity. Mexicans enter with very low wages and experience a persistent wage gap. Although education is a powerful predictor of earnings, substantial differences in earnings profiles persist after adjusting for education. Finally, the rate of wage growth relative to native-born workers has not changed over time for any immigrant group. Contains 40 references and many data tables and figures. (SV)

This paper presents findings of a study that analyzed the trends that will shape the California budget over the next decade. The study assumed that current demographic and economic trends, tax policies, and mandated spending programs will continue through the next decade, and projects their implications for state general-fund revenues and spending through 2005. Three trends appear likely to dominate the state's long-term fiscal condition: (1) state revenues will grow moderately; (2) "receiver populations" (the elderly, school-age children, and others who depend on state aid) will grow at least as fast as revenues; and (3) corrections costs will skyrocket. These trends will result in a growing squeeze on public services and battle among constituencies for scarce funds. If current laws and policies do not change, the best estimates for 2005 place health and welfare spending at 32 percent, corrections at 20 percent, and K-14 education at 39 percent of the state budget. The 20 percent that was available for higher education and all other government functions will be cut by more than half. The state will be hard-pressed to increase per-pupil spending in K-12 education fast enough to keep pace with inflation and may very well fall behind the rest of the nation. If current trends persist to 2005, the University of California and the California State University systems will have to turn away more than 135,000 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students while the state's community colleges will turn away another 180,000 FTE, degree-credit students. California's long-term budget constraints may be limiting its future economic growth by limiting its investments in education. Forty-four tables and 24 figures are included. Appendices contain 13 additional tables, sensitivity to revenue and expense assumptions, and modeling K-12 expenditures. (Contains 16 references.) (LMI)

This study examines California's prospects for meeting the 1960 Master Plan goal of providing access to public undergraduate education to every Californian who could benefit from it in the context of the state's future demographic and fiscal environment. The study uses a dynamic simulation model to estimate the target level of education envisioned in the Master Plan and the levels likely to be attained under a range of scenarios. It finds that the state will not be able to meet even half of the target level demand overall. The study also finds that the prospects of closing this gap through increased revenues, increased fees, and increased productivity are not feasible. It concludes that the state must take two actions: (1) it must reevaluate the access goals of the Master Plan and focus on ways to maximize the return on its education investment; and (2) the three public systems should focus their resources on restructuring the way in which they deliver the education product to maximize the ability of the state to serve as many citizens as possible. (Contains 58 references.) (DB)

The California Master Plan of 1960 defined relevant student populations and differentiated the missions of the University of California (UC), the California State Universities and Colleges (CSU), and the community colleges. Modern social forces are now complicating those missions. As the demand for high-quality instruction in the liberal arts and sciences has grown, the ability of UC to meet this demand has fallen behind, and CSU has graduated an increasing share of the baccalaureate students in these areas. The CSU's ability to attract high quality faculty has resulted in a much more research-oriented faculty, blurring the distinction between the CSU's and the UC's research missions. Concurrently, an increase in the pressures on institutions to meet access and equity objectives, coupled with the overall decline in the quality of secondary students entering the CSU and the UC and the increased participation of nontraditional student populations, have led to an increased need for these institutions to provide extensive remediation services, a role which was reserved for the community colleges under the Master Plan. Finally, the declining resource base within the state has caused all three of the public systems to reconsider their roles and missions. (Contains 11 references.) (JDD)

This handbook summarizes the probable effects of California's school-voucher initiative on public spending for K-12 education. The Parental Choice in Education Initiative (Proposition 174) was rejected by voters in the November 2, 1993, election. It sought to establish a system of annual vouchers, funded by public tax dollars, that elementary and secondary students could use to pay tuition at private schools. The book's findings are based on a complex simulation model of enrollment, tax revenues, and other trends over the next decade. It takes a neutral position and attempts to provide an analytic framework for evaluating the claims of opponents and advocates. Specifically, the analysis examines the likely effects of Proposition 174 on total state spending for K-12 education, and on spending per pupil in the public schools. In general, findings indicate that the fiscal effects of Proposition 174 are highly uncertain. Voting for the proposition may help to avoid a fiscal crisis. However, if relatively few students shift to private schools, or if certain provisions of the initiative are interpreted in certain ways, the proposition could actually worsen California's fiscal situation and simultaneously reduce the resources available to each public school pupil. Voting against the measure, however, may court the serious risk that there is no better option for heading off the state's looming fiscal crisis. Until all four players in the debate--voters, courts, parents, and the state--have exercised their influence, the initiative's fiscal impact is unknown. Twenty-one figures and 13 tables are included. Appendices contain projection models and a copy of Proposition 174. (LMI)

Both the current immigration debate and immigration itself have changed in recent years and require changes in thinking about immigration and the architecture of U.S. immigration laws. In California, which receives about a third of all immigrants, voters and state leaders have shifted from viewing immigration as a net benefit to focusing on the costs of immigration to taxpayers. Contributing to such changing attitudes are the following changes in immigration: (1) a rapid increase in immigration over the last decade; (2) decline in the educational level of immigrants relative to the U.S. population; (3) shift in countries of origin and greater diversity of origins; (4) increasing labor force participation of female immigrants; and (5) increased geographic concentration of immigrants in California, Florida, New York, Illinois, and Texas. In addition, the receiving environment is undergoing such changes as slowing employment growth due to worldwide economic change, the inability or unwillingness of all levels of government to cover increasing costs of health services and effective schooling, government gridlock, and growing income and wage disparities. These concurrent changes have rekindled latent concerns about the costs of sustained large scale immigration. Immigrants make their largest service demand on education, which also represents the largest component of state budgets and a significant portion of local budgets. Five principles are outlined to form a new framework for guiding immigration policies. (SV)

Over the past 20 years, California has experienced a continuous, growing flow of Mexican immigrant laborers. Although Mexican labor was originally linked to agriculture, by 1980 Mexican-born labor was filling a substantial proportion of jobs in all sectors of the California economy, particularly in manufacturing. Because they are concentrated in lower-skilled occupations, Mexican immigrants as a group command lower wages and have higher unemployment rates than other immigrants and the native-born. Mexican immigrants to California originate mostly from the western Pacific region of Mexico. This immigrant flow is characterized by the increasing permanence of migrant stays north of the border, the steady educational gap between Mexican-born labor and the U.S.-born population, and the relatively low economic mobility of Mexican-born immigrants in the United States. California faces difficult policy challenges because of the relatively low level of schooling, low wages, and low economic mobility that characterize an increasingly larger stock of Mexican immigrants (in part due to high fertility rates in Mexico). Although demand for labor in California is expected to remain strong, the supply of immigrants is expected to stabilize or decline due to recent immigration policy and the potential impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement. (KS)

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and education (ECE). This volume provides a comprehensive assessment of publicly funded ECE programs for preschool-age children--for California as a whole, and for four case-study counties: Los Angles, Merced, San Diego, and San Mateo. California's system of publicly subsidized ECE programs for preschool-age children has evolved over time into a complex array of mostly targeted programs supported through multiple funding streams. The authors find that there is a sizable gap between the number of three- and four-year-old children eligible for such programs and the number that can be served given current program funding. In addition, the quality of ECE programs for preschool-age children is uncertain, and the sometimes low standards are compounded by a reimbursement structure for subsidized care that gives little incentive for providing higher quality programs. Finally, potential inefficiencies in the system may limit the benefits from the dollars spent. The following are appended: (1) Additional Analyses of Enrollment Patterns; (2) Los Angeles County Case Study; (3) Merced County Case Study; (4) San Diego County Case Study; and (5) San Mateo County Case Study. (Contains 7 figures, 48 tables, and 82 footnotes.) [The research described in this report was conducted by RAND Labor and Population. Additional funding was provided by the Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP).]

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education in California, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and education. This volume reports on the first component of this larger study effort, which addresses the following questions: (1) What is the number and percentage of students in grades K-3 who do not meet state education standards? (2) How does the fraction that fails to meet standards vary across groups defined by gender, race-ethnicity, English-language ability, parent education attainment, and family economic status? (3) Do high-quality preschool programs have the potential to close the observed achievement gaps? In addressing the first two questions, the analysis uses data from the 2007 California Standards Tests (CSTs) to look at the number and proportion of second and third graders who are not reaching state standards for performance in English-language arts and mathematics. The CST data was also used to examine achievement gaps in these grades between groups of students defined by personal characteristics or family background measures. To understand student differences before the CST assessments begin, other data sources were used for information on kindergarten and first grade, including such sources as reading performance assessments conducted in kindergarten and first grade in a subset of California school districts as part of the Reading First program instituted under the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Finally, to address the third question, this study evaluated the evidence from rigorous evaluations of preschool programs to assess the potential for well-designed programs to improve school readiness and subsequent school performance. This study found that despite rising achievement levels in recent years, a substantial percentage of second- and third-graders do not meet state education standards in English-language arts and mathematics. The size of the achievement gaps that currently exist and the strength of the evidence of favorable education benefits from well-designed preschool programs make a solid case for considering preschool as a component of a multi-pronged strategy for closing achievement gaps in California. Additional analyses of CST data is provided in an appendix. (Contains 11 figures, 24 tables, and 53 footnotes.) [The research described in this report was conducted by RAND Labor and Population. The Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) provided additional funding for this report.]

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and education (ECE). This volume provides a comprehensive assessment of publicly funded ECE programs for preschool-age children--for California as a whole, and for four case-study counties: Los Angles, Merced, San Diego, and San Mateo. California's system of publicly subsidized ECE programs for preschool-age children has evolved over time into a complex array of mostly targeted programs supported through multiple funding streams. The authors find that there is a sizeable gap between the number of three- and four-year-old children eligible for such programs and the number that can be served given current program funding. In addition, the quality of ECE programs for preschool-age children is uncertain, and the sometimes low standards are compounded by a reimbursement structure for subsidized care that gives little incentive for providing higher quality programs. Finally, potential inefficiencies in the system may limit the benefits from the dollars spent. The following are appended: (1) Additional Analyses of Enrollment Patterns; (2) Los Angeles County Case Study; (3) Merced County Case Study; (4) San Diego County Case Study; and (5) San Mateo County Case Study. (Contains 7 figures, 48 tables, and 82 footnotes.) [The research described in this report was conducted by RAND Labor and Population. The Los Angeles Universal Preschool contributed additional funding for this report.]

Many urban school district students are dropping out and few of the remaining ones reach state or district achievement goals. These problems make governing urban schools both difficult and important. In 2005-06, the governance structure of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was examined, debated, criticized, and praised by several different constituencies, including the mayor, who sought to take over the district. This report chronicles education and public officials' efforts to change the Los Angeles Unified School District's governance structure. It focuses on the bid for mayoral control of LAUSD and the competing efforts on behalf of various stakeholders. It sets the struggles that took place in Los Angeles in a national context, drawing on the literature on educational governance to analyze the political process and the resulting policy change. New legislation ushers in an untried governance system with the potential to both improve and worsen the governance of the district. The legislation allows the mayor to develop new approaches to schooling in three high schools and their feeder schools. If this cluster management project demonstrates improvements, the approaches he employs could be applied to other schools in the district. Evaluating this endeavor and determining its effects on student outcomes is vital. The report commences with a preface, summary, and an introduction. Chapter 2 presents the state, city, and district context of LAUSD. Chapter 3 chronicles the process of modifying the LAUSD governance structure. Chapter 4 analyzes the various policy options proposed over the past year. Chapter 5 concludes this report with a discussion on the potential effects of the LAUSD governance change along with next steps. (Contains 1 table.) [The research described in this report was conducted within RAND Education for the Presidents' Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance.]

This research brief summarizes a survey about the effectiveness of programs from Break the Cycle, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and fielding dating-violence prevention programs. The study evaluated "Ending Violence," a three-class-session prevention program. Developed by a Los Angeles-based nonprofit group called Break the Cycle, the program focuses on the law, highlighting legal rights of victims of domestic violence and legal responsibilities of perpetrators. The teachers are bilingual, bicultural attorneys. This program has three distinctive features: it is brief (three class sessions), it is compatible with existing health curricula, and it focuses on the legal dimension of dating violence. This perspective is usually new to teens--especially Latino teens in families that have recently immigrated--who may be unfamiliar with their rights under U.S. law or how to exercise them. The program also informs students about its legal services program, in which attorneys are available to teens at no cost to help them with dating violence issues. Key findings include: (1) Break the Cycle's dating-violence prevention program improved Latino teens' knowledge of dating abuse and legal recourse, reduced their acceptance of female-on-male dating violence (but not male-on-female dating violence, whose acceptance was already low), and enhanced teens' perceptions about seeking help if they experience dating violence; (2) Latino teens experiencing problems with dating violence who seek help are most likely to turn to informal sources of support (family and peers); and (3) Intervention programs can educate teens about the importance of intervening when they witness an incident of violence or abuse among their friends.

Research has shown that well-designed early education programs serving disadvantaged children in the year or so prior to kindergarten entry can generate benefits to government and the rest of society that outweigh the costs of the program services. As a result of this evidence and the conviction that children benefit from structured programs preparing them for school entry, enthusiasm for public-sector investment in preschool education has been growing among business leaders, policymakers, and the public. Within this context, there is growing interest in universal preschool education in California. In considering such a program, policymakers and the public focus on the potential benefits from a universal preschool program, as well as the estimated costs. This study aims to inform such deliberations by conducting an analysis of the economic returns from investing in preschool education in California. Appended are: (1) Methodology and Sources for Benefit-Cost Analysis; (2) Methods and Sources for Estimating Measured Preschool Benefits; (3) Methods and Sources for Estimating Projected Preschools Benefits; (4) Benefit-Cost Estimates for a Targeted Preschool Program; (5) No Preschool Baseline; and (6) Current Preschool Participation Baseline. (Contains 34 tables and 7 figures.)

Growing interest in universal preschool education has prompted researchers to examine the potential costs and benefits of making high-quality preschool available for all children one or two years before kindergarten entry. The analysis reported in this document builds on a previous RAND study which estimated that a high-quality, one-year, voluntary universal preschool program in California would generate $2.62 in benefits for California society for every dollar of cost (Karoly and Bigelow, 2005). Assuming that 70 percent of each year's group of eligible 4-year-olds participate in the program (approximately 385,000 out of 550,000 children), the study estimated that California society would receive $2.7 billion in present-value net benefits. (Contains 12 tables and 8 figures.) [This report was prepared for The David and Lucile Packard Foundation by RAND Labor and Population, a unit of RAND Corporation.]

Over the past ten years, probation departments across the state of California have seen a number of important changes in the way they do business. Beginning with Title IV-A-EA in 1993, departments began a system-wide "sea change," from a focus on suppression, enforcement, and monitoring of youthful offenders to a focus on families and on rehabilitative and therapeutic approaches. With the Comprehensive Youth Services Act/Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (CYSA/TANF) essentially replacing the Title IV-A-EA program in 1995, training conducted by departments on the 23 CYSA/TANF-eligible services and objectives helped to reinforce this message to line staff working directly with youths. In the course of a decade, the state undertook a number of major initiatives aimed at juvenile offenders and at-risk youths. This document contains a qualitative description of initiatives, along with available data on outcome measures that may have been impacted by such initiatives. These included juvenile arrest rates, numbers of youths incarcerated at the state and local level, and other measures of family and youth needs. This study may be of interest to California and other states' juvenile justice policymakers who must determine whether investment in community services for juvenile offenders is a wise use of taxpayer dollars. (Contains 1 table & 19 figures.)

The impact of California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS), which was passed to increase California welfare recipients' participation in welfare-to-work (WTW) activities, was examined. The impact study consisted of a nonexperimental program evaluation that used statistical models to estimate causal effects and a simulation designed to identify the effect of California's benefit structure on the state's work activities participation rate. The study revealed nearly continuous improvements in almost all CalWORKS outcomes since approximately 1993. California welfare recipients' participation in WTW activities and their employment and earnings have risen sharply, the welfare caseload has fallen sharply, employment and earnings of those leaving welfare have risen, and poverty has fallen. Interstate comparisons were mixed. Compared with the rest of the nation, California's rates of participation in WTW activities were higher, but its decline in welfare caseload was lower. The start of the improvements coincided with the recovery of California's economy from a deep recession. (Thirty-eight tables/figures are included. The following items are appended: an overview of possible influences on outcomes; descriptions of the study's data sources and analytic methods; results of the policy simulation; and data on caseload decline by California region and county. The bibliography lists 239 references. A separate executive summary that contains 13 tables/figures is included.) (MN)

In an era of dependence on nonflexible funding by states, private support is a desirable source of funding. Anecdotal reports and a limited body of documented research suggest districts and schools are pursuing private support with increased sophistication and aggressiveness. This pilot study is designed to provide schools and school districts with information on the types of public-private partnerships that have been developed and the mechanisms used to attract private resources. Specifically, private support giving in the Los Angeles-area schools is examined. The results are based on interviews of superintendents, principals, school district staff, and local education foundation representatives in fall and winter 2000. Section 1 is an introduction. Section 2 examines what is currently known about private support of public schools. Section 3 explains the research methodology. Section 4 summarizes the answers to several questions: Who are the private givers? How do schools attract private support? What type of support is provided, and how are the contributions used? Section 5 shares the lessons learned about effectively raising private support. In addition to numerous tables of data, three appendices explain interview protocols. (Contains 100 references and 27 endnotes.) (RKJ)

This research is based on more than 1,600 school district property tax elections in California from the mid-1950s to 1972. Population, housing, social, demographic, and economic information by school district was available. This large, comprehensive, and consistent data base permitted investigation of the choices of the electorate with respect to school taxes and formulation of a better understanding of the reality behind the notion of taxpayer revolt. School districts that pass and fail tax elections have very similar characteristics; only a few variables were significantly different. Most important, the proposed tax, the existing tax, and tax change were all smaller in the passing districts. Taxpayer revolt--that is, a shift in observed behavioral patterns against the paying of higher taxes--was investigated for the years 1966-72. During this period, no evidence turned up that was consistent with the notion of revolt; voter behavior did not shift over this period. However, after taking higher taxes into account, underlying behavioral patterns were shown to have shifted between the 1950s and 1960s. (Author/IRT)

This report investigates the relationship between total school district expenditures and expenditures on teachers in order to assess how increased budgets for public education might be spent. Specifically, it examines the budget share going to teachers as it is reflected in the ratio of teachers to pupils, the salary schedule, and the distribution of teachers by education and experience. The study uses census, financial, and school district information for 602 California school districts for the census year 1970 and the school year 1971-72. Through the use of regression equations for each school district, salary schedules were broken down into three structural elements: starting salary, annual increments for additional experience, and annual increment for educational credits beyond a B.A. degree. In 92 percent of the school districts, these three variables accounted for more than 98 percent of the variance in salaries in the schedules. The principal statistical results indicate that expenditures on teachers rise at a rate less than proportional to total expenditures, that salary schedules are relatively insensitive to total expenditures, that the distribution of teachers by experience and education appears to vary with total expenditures, and that teacher-pupil ratios are especially sensitive to total expenditures. (Author/DN)

Although some comparisons among three diverse cities were made, the three cities were selected precisely because they represented diverse clusters of urban problems. San Jose, California, was the scene of very rapid growth for more than a decade. St. Louis, Missouri, on the other hand, contained the prototypical problems of a declining central city, including one of the highest rates of building and neighborhood abandonment in the U.S. Seattle, Washington, represented a metropolitan area responding favorably to a strong exogenous shock. Under the high unemployment caused by aircraft industry lay-offs during the late sixties and early seventies, the economy showed unexpected resilience. Rand's research in San Jose, Seattle, and St. Louis represents work done in the first year of what was conceived to be a five-to-seven year research program during which 12 to 15 cities would be studied in depth. The intent of the research effort was to create a frame work that could guide policy decisions at (ultimately) all levels of government. Comparisons that could be made among these three quite diverse cities related to the topics of major urban policies, constraints on local officials, the people versus territory issue, and other conceptual comparisons. (Author/JM)

This report focuses on the increasingly widespread concern over the ability of local government to exert sufficient leverage on population, economic, and spatial growth to make a difference in what happens and to do so in a way so as to effect agreed-upon public policies. Concern over the ability of local governments to manage urban growth and change is important for two reasons--for the rapidly growing concern over growth and subsequent costs, and for concern over the ability of local government institutions to actually function effectively in an area where they are usually held responsible. Two issues are addressed in this report. The first is the extent to which the collection of local governments in a metropolitan area is able to manage urban development. The site for the investigation and the principal source of data and observation is the San Jose Metropolitan Statistical Area--Santa Clara County, California. The second issue is the extent to which a single municipality within the metropolitan area can exert management control over development within and at its boundaries. This report is intended as a means for developing testable hypotheses about relationships among key variables determining the ability of local governments in a metropolitan area to affect, in a significant way, urban growth and change. (Author/JM)

The United States is a highly urbanized nation with space in abundance, yet large portions of its national territory are emptying out. The counterpart of this pervasive population decline is a highly selective pattern of growth, conferred by a national system of migration flows that has increasingly favored a certain few metropolitan areas. This duality of growth and decline, and its dependence on an intricate system of migration flows, are central features of U.S. urbanization. Migration is a key observable phenomenon, expressing the urbanization process and hence promising insight into its workings. This paper examines U.S. migration first from a broad analytical viewpoint and then through the experience of two specific cities. Section Two considers the functions and dynamics of the migration process: what causes migration to occur, what its effects are on migrants, and how it affects the places they leave and the places to which they go. Sections Three and Four present two specific metropolitan area case studies within which general urbanization phenomena are examined: San Jose, California, a case study of rapid population growth; and the city of Saint Louis which exemplifies central-city population decline. (Author/JM)

California is under court order (Serrano v. Priest) to revise the system of financing public elementary and secondary education. Initial analysis had predicted that a shift to statewide taxation would result in greater educational resources at a lower tax cost for lower income families and fewer resources at a higher tax cost for wealthier families. However, this analysis overlooked the role of nonresidential property values in the tax base. This paper presents simulation results for California school districts of three alternatives: statewide property taxation, district power equalizing property taxation, and statewide income taxation for education. The results show that any alternative for taxation has the result of most families being "better off." Property tax proposals shift the costs of education to industrial and commercial land uses, and the income tax alternative shifts the costs among families. (Author)

This report addresses a variety of questions about inequalities in school finance, and answers them by applying a broad range of statistical techniques to a comprehensive set of data on California school districts. Census data by school district was drawn from the 1970 U.S. Census, while information on school district finance for 1971-72 was obtained from official state sources. Although the report describes research relating almost solely to public school finance in California, it can also serve as a model for the analysis of school finance in other states. A basic question/answer format is used throughout the report, and extensive use is made of illustrative graphs and data tables. In addition to a general introduction, the report contains four major sections dealing with dimensions of inequality, distribution of inequality, sources of inequality, and remedies for inequality. (Author/JG)

This paper discusses the impact and implications of school finance equalization, focusing in particular on the Serrano case and its effect on school finance in California. The paper is organized in three main parts. Section 1 is an introductory section that discusses the major legal and practical implications of several court cases involving school finance systems. Section 2 describes California's school finance system as modified in 1973 by Senate Bill 90, in partial response to the Serrano decision. Section 3 examines the impact of the Serrano decision on school finance in California, focusing specifically on its impact on school spending and taxes and its impact on educational reform. (JG)

The report presents the results of an evaluation of the educational impact in two Los Angeles County, California, elementary schools, of Interactive Classroom Television Systems (ICTSs -- closed circuit systems that permit continuous two-way visual communication between teachers and partially sighted students and enable such students to make the fullest possible use of their residual vision). The two ICTS sites and their participants are described, along with the project's evaluation design, the kinds of assessments employed, and the data collection schedule. In general, assessment of project outcomes over two years suggested that ICTS have a strong positive impact on the educational experiences of partially sighted elementary school students in the three areas evaluated: academic achievement, visually dependent skills (visual motor integration and visual sequential memory) and psychosocial mediators of school success (attitudes toward academic evaluation, toward peers, and toward self). (DLS)

This study examines whether male and female teachers differ in: (1) their background or training for instructional uses of microcomputers, and (2) their uses of microcomputers to teach mathematics and science. Research carried out in 60 classrooms in 49 schools in 25 California school districts provided data on district and school microcomputer policies; classroom contexts; and teachers' characteristics, instructional decisions, and practices. Analyses of these data indicated that district and school characteristics and classroom organization and composition did not differ, by and large, among male and female teachers. Furthermore, gender was unrelated to teachers' subject matter and computer knowledge, patterns of microcomputer-based instruction, and instructional decisions and practices. Both female and male teachers provide leadership in the microcomputer movement, have the relevant training and experience that contributes to microcomputer use, use microcomputers for instruction in a variety of ways, and present equally viable role models. (Author/DJR)

An overview is presented of select research performed under a project entitled "Education, Delinquency Prevention, and the Search for Youth Policy: An Historical Inquiry." This overview contains two discrete essays that synthesize the main findings of seven key writers in the field of juvenile delinquency between 1900 and 1930 and examine state policies in delinquency prevention in the early 20th century. The first essay examines the writings of Henry Goddard, William Healy, Lewis Terman, Ben Lindsey, Thomas Eliot, Miriam Van Waters, and Frederic Thrasher. The discussion emphasizes the new approaches to social control developed by these writers. The second essay examines state policies for delinquency prevention in early 20th century California and Ohio. It focuses in particular on the development of new rehabilitative programs for delinquents in juvenile reformatories and the creation of new methods to advance scientific knowledge on the causes and treatment of juvenile crime. The analysis highlights the remarkable faith in science which motivated state policy initiatives in delinquency prevention and the myriad difficulties that frustrated governmental efforts in translating scientific knowledge into social policy and concrete programs. (RM)

This study provides a detailed look at statewide, county, and district spending for K-12 education in California during 1994-96, and updates an earlier study (Krop and others, 1995) examining how California's allocation of federal, state, and local education dollars were spent. California's financial reporting system as well as average K-12 expenditures during this period were the primary sources of data for this report. In addition to discussing how school districts spend their money, this study not only examines how a district's size affects allocation, but also describes a method of organizing education spending into categories of expenditure. Details on the types of expenditures in each category, the basis for their placement, and the size of expenditure are provided. Section 1 provides background to the previous study and contextualizes the current study. Section 2 describes the categories of expenditures and defines K-12 expenditures. Section 3 contains descriptions of the types of district expenditures included under each of the expenditure categories. Section 4 examines total K-12 expenditures by adding county expenditures to state expenditures. Section 5 discusses variations in expenditure patterns based on district size, materials, and personnel. (Contains graphs, tables, lists, and 20 references.) (RIB)

This report of a 2-year study on public university responsiveness to academic and vocational reforms in public K-12 schools and community colleges focuses on: (1) how state universities respond to curricular experiments, and (2) the difficulties reformers encounter with universities. The report presents a brief summary of previous progressive education reform efforts; discusses the nature of current reform efforts, including constructivism, restructuring, national goals and standards, and human capital and lifelong learning programs; and notes universities' ability to influence entrance requirements, state master plans, policy interest groups, and funding. Four case studies of Oregon, Maryland, Ohio and California examine implementation of K-12 reforms in those states. They outline the state education system, note empirical evidence of university responsiveness, examine the climate for reform, note systemic accommodations, and discuss barriers to responsiveness. The study concludes that although public universities may be able and willing to accommodate school reform, it will be necessary to change university quality control standards, learn to think of curriculum as a system within which decisions are made and implemented, and focus university-level professional development on strategic responses to lower school reforms. (Contains 30 references.) (CH)