Recent idea items

ARE CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS READY FOR THE EXIT EXAM?

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

On April 21, 2005, UCLA’s Institute for Democracy and Access (IDEA) published a policy brief raising a series of questions about California’s readiness for the California Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The policy brief challenged the conclusion of the state’s independent evaluator, Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), that California schools have made great progress in providing all students with opportunities to learn the material covered on the Exit Exam. IDEA researchers Holme and Rogers concluded that HumRRO’s own “data reveals that many California schools still are not adequately preparing students for success on the CAHSEE.” In correspondence in early May, HumRRO’s President Lauress Wise argued that the IDEA researchers misunderstood HumRRO’s data. The differences between HumRRO and IDEA researchers are not merely academic. The questions raised are of critical importance to current policy discussions about the implementation of the Exit Exam. In an effort to inform this...

Policy Brief: A response to the HumRRO Evaluation

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

In 1999, the California Department of Education contracted with the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), an independent evaluation firm based in Alexandria, Virginia, to perform annual evaluations of the quality and impact of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). HumRRO’s Fall 2004 Report asserts that California’s high schools have made a great deal of progress in preparing students for the CAHSEE. It recommends that California deny diplomas to students in the Class of 2006 who do not pass the High School Exit Exam. Our review of HumRRO’s points to a number of problems with HumRRO’s analysis and conclusions. In fact, HumRRO’s data reveals that many California schools still are not adequately preparing students for success on the CAHSEE.

Brown vs. Board of Education Booklet

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This booklet was designed for K-12 classrooms and community groups examining the legacy of Brown v Board for California. The booklet chronicles the national battle for equal schooling up to and since the Brown decision. It also highlights the history of school segregation in California and the ongoing struggle for equal schooling.

Policy Brief: High School Exit Exam Failure Rates and Opportunity to Learn

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

California has required students to take the High School Exit Exam since 2001. This exam assesses core academic skills in two areas: Mathematics and English Language Arts. To date, the results of the Exit Exam have been used as part of California’s accountability system. Current law calls for the state to withhold diplomas from students in the class of 2006 who do not pass either section of the Exit Exam. The law also states that it is the responsibility of school districts to “prepare pupils to succeed.”

Separate and Unequal 50 Years after Brown: California's Racial "Opportunity Gap"

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's promise in Brown v. Board of Education: a public school system "available to all on equal terms.” However, findings from a recent Louis Harris survey of California teachers, together with other evidence presented in this report, make clear that California schools remain both very separate and very unequal.

Pipelines, Pathways, and Payoffs: Economic Challenges and Returns to Changing Demographics in California

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

For individuals, success and persistence in schooling has a huge economic impact on their lives. Educational attainment affects the kinds of employment job seekers can find, the amount of money they earn, the housing conditions and lifestyle they can afford, the level of savings they can accumulate for retirement, their risk for incarceration, and the likelihood that they will live in poverty or need to rely on transfer payment for basic needs. Perhaps less obviously, the state also has a strong stake in the educational attainment of its residents. One element of the state's economic stake is its financial balance, since the demand for incarceration and poverty-related state services declines with higher levels of educational attainment, while higher rates of per capita income permit the provision of a fixed set of state services at lower average rates of taxation.

Historically, California has experienced a "brain gain", as the flows of highly educated and skilled...

Restructuring and Reculturing Schools to Provide Students with Multiple Pathways to College and Career

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The prevailing way of conceptualizing multiple pathways to college and career segregates or “tracks” students into college prep or voc-ed curriculum. Recent research and public commentary have shown that tracking neither provides students with equal educational opportunities nor serves the needs of employers for a well-educated workforce. Recognizing that tracked schools are both inequitable and ineffective, educators have been exploring alternatives to tracking practices since the 1980s.

This paper focuses on one attempt to redefine and restructure the academic curriculum, pedagogy, and course structures of California schools into “multiple pathways” to college and career. The Preuss School at UCSD “detracks” its curriculum, i.e., establishes high instructional standards and presents rigorous curriculum to all students while varying the supports available to enable all students to meet high the school’s academic standards.

Detracking high schools can provide students...

Too Angry To Leave: Supporting New Teachers Commitment to Transform Urban Schools

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

While the challenge to retain highly competent teachers affects all schools, the crisis is critical in urban school districts, which historically suffer from a severe shortage of qualified teachers and typically fill vacancies with unlicensed teachers or full-time substitutes. This paper reports research on one effort to curb urban teacher attrition through a non-traditional approach to urban teacher education, induction and ongoing professional development. It combines quantitative data about the retention rates over five years of teachers prepared specifically as “social justice” urban educators with qualitative data about the type of preparation and ongoing support that the teachers experienced. Analyses of these data enable the authors to suggest and probe those elements of preparation and support that may be efficacious in remedying “the revolving door” of urban schools. This single case study attempts to extend the broad literature on teacher retention while establishing...

Specialized Recruitment: An Examination of the Motivations and Expectations of Pre-Service Urban Educators

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports on a cross-sectional analysis of survey data collected on over three hundred pre-service teachers enrolled in a specialized teacher education program focused on the preparation of teachers for high-poverty urban schools. Initial analyses indicate that the background characteristics of individuals attracted to the specialized program and their reasons for entering the profession differ from those of pre-service teachers in the population at large. Program entrants tend to be motivated by activist ideals, expressing high levels of initial commitment to teaching and to furthering social justice through education. Laying the groundwork for comparison studies, the author argues that the specialized recruitment of pre-service teachers may combine with specialized teacher preparation to increase the retention of educators in high-poverty, hard-to staff schools.

The Fragility of Urban Teaching: A Longitudinal Study of Career Development and Activism.

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

This paper describes the creation and development of UCLA’s Urban Teacher Education Program in Center X. Specifically, it focuses on Center X’s effort to partner with local communities to create alternative sites of learning for novice teachers. The paper includes the story of Center X graduates working in one Los Angeles elementary school in order to set the stage for the research question: under what conditions do highly-qualified urban teachers remain committed to a career as a social justice educator? The paper reports preliminary retention data from a longitudinal study of Center X graduates and explores the issue of how professional learning communities emerge in urban schools.

Courses of Action: A Report on Urban Teacher Career Development.

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents findings from a study investigating relationships among the reasons for entry, preparation experiences, workplace conditions, and future career plans of fifteen UCLA Teacher Education Program graduates working in urban elementary schools in Los Angeles. More specifically, the analysis examines why these early career teachers stay in or consider leaving the urban schools in which they are teaching. The findings highlight the need to reconceptualize notions of teacher retention in order to better acknowledge and support the development of deep, varied, successful careers in the field of urban education. The data suggest that these urban teachers will remain in urban education if they can adopt multiple education roles inside and outside the classroom, and receive professional support during the whole of their professional careers not just the beginnings of their teaching.

Urban Teacher Retention Policy: A Research Brief

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

This research brief summarizes interim results from a longitudinal study designed to inform policies aimed at curbing the high rate of attrition from hard-to-staff urban schools. These policies range from ensuring specialized teacher preservice education that willthat will prepare teachers for the challenges ahead to ongoing support for professional development and advancement. As an initial step in assessing the impact of specialized urban teacher preparation on retention, the research brief first summarizes interim cross-sectional retention data and compares it to national norms. Second, the brief outlines an expanded conception of retention that captures movement or migration away from teaching into other professional roles in education. These “role migration” data help inform retention-oriented policies aimed at professionalizing the education workforce. The third section of the brief reports another form of migration—movement away from high-priority schools to less challenging...

What Educational Resources Do Students Need to Meet California's Educational Content Standards?

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Koski and Weiss examine California’s educational content standards and related high-stakes accountability measures. They pose the following questions 1) Are higher content standards and stiffer accountability enough to ensure that all children achieve at high levels? 2) Can we be sure that all California students and schools—particularly those in low-income minority communities—enjoy the necessary support, conditions, and resources to succeed? Koski and Weiss answer these questions with an in-depth analysis of California’s K-12 standards and other related state policies, looking specifically at the minimum level of resources and conditions required for students to meet the state’s standards. Their analysis makes clear that California’s standards-based reform strategy and accountability scheme require the provision of basic educational tools, including teachers with particular knowledge and skills and appropriate instructional materials and facilities. However, the state’s policies...

Racial Isolation, Poverty and the Limits of Local Control as a Means for Holding Public Schools Accountable

Fri, 27 Jun 2003 00:00:00 +0000

Drawing on research in Oakland, California over a twenty-year period, Noguera considers how poverty and racial isolation have contributed to the problems confronted by schools in that district and other inner-city communities around the state. He illuminates the factors that hinder the development of social capital in low-income communities, and, in doing so, demonstrates why local control does not make it easier for school systems to address the academic needs of poor students. The wide variation in the ability of different communities to generate revenue and other support for schools at the local level creates inequalities in the learning conditions and opportunities that schools provide students. The design of the state’s public education system exacerbates these inequities. Specifically, the state’s current approaches to local control make it possible for advantaged parents and communities with a vested interest in the affairs of public schools to monitor conditions in...

Access to Quality Teaching: An Analysis of Inequality in California’s Public Schools