ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Beyond the Numbers: Understanding California's High School Dropouts. Partnership for Urban Education Research (PUER)
Author: Huang, Jeric
Date: 2008-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Dropouts,High School Students,Urban Schools,School Districts,Dropout Rate,Longitudinal Studies,Intervention,Urban Education,Educational Research,Partnerships in Education,Information Systems,Computation,Dropout Prevention

Six of California's largest urban school districts have joined together in the Partnership for Urban Education Research (PUER), to address the most pressing issues in urban education. The six PUER districts have agreed to work together to increase data availability, enhance internal research capacity, and promote collaboration and information sharing across district lines for the benefit of their students. PUER seeks to build a partnership in which participating districts can use their collective research capacity to carefully evaluate their own instructional programs and practices. In this study, six PUER school districts--Fresno Unified School District (FUSD), Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), and San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)--joined efforts to identify opportunities for improving the current dropout reporting system. The PUER districts are working with Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) to review and publish their research. The six PUER school districts recommend adoption of the Longitudinal Four-Year Dropout Rate (L4YDR) as the most reliable dropout calculation formula for estimating the number of dropouts in each entering cohort of high school students. This report includes L4YDR estimates of dropout rates in all six districts. In order to increase data transparency, the PUER districts also recommend the publication of sub-categorical data that would allow school districts and the state to distinguish between students who have in fact left school from students who remain engaged with the educational system. The report also includes data that tracks the various paths students follow as they move toward the goal of high school graduation. This report also reviews dropout intervention strategies in use in the six districts that seek to decrease the number of dropouts and increase the integrity of dropout data. Finally, the report provides recommendations to the California Department of Education as it moves forward with the implementation of a student-level longitudinal data system. (Contains 3 figures and 11 footnotes.)
Conditions of Education in California, 2008
Author: Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Governance,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Educational Indicators,Educational Assessment,Benchmarking,African American Students,English (Second Language),Teacher Characteristics,Low Achievement,Strategic Planning,Transitional Programs,Educational Finance,Educational Development

In this edition of &quot;Conditions of Education&quot; six of the leading academic authorities on education policy in California address the key issues facing the state's education system, focusing their attention on critical indicators of current performance and on specific policy changes that would lead to sustained improvement. They identify benchmarks that can be tracked over time, including indicators of system performance and also indicators of policy progress toward comprehensive educational reform. Conditions of California Education, 2008, an introduction by David N. Plank, is presented. This publication contains the following chapters: (1) Benchmarking Improvements for Students of Color and English Learners (Patricia Gandara and Megan Hopkins); (2) California's Teachers (Susanna Loeb and Marsha Ing); (3) Lifting Low-Achieving Students and Schools (Bruce Fuller and Lynette Parker); (4) Dreams and Leaks, Reforms and Band-Aids: The Transition From High School to Postsecondary Education (W. Norton Grubb); (5) Financing California's Public Schools (Jon Sonstelie); and (6) Revisiting the &quot;Crazy Quilt&quot;: Recent Developments in California's Educational Governance (Dominic J. Brewer, Icela Pelayo and June Ahn). Individual chapters contain tables, figures, endnotes and references.
The Development of a Teacher Salary Parcel Tax: The Quality Teacher and Education Act in San Francisco
Author: Hough, Heather J.
Date: 2009-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Salaries,Case Studies,Laws,Urban Schools,School Districts,Taxes,Unions,Boards of Education,Educational Cooperation,Stakeholders,Merit Pay,Teacher Effectiveness,Political Campaigns,Financial Support,Planning,Accountability,Teacher Improvement,Professional Development,Academic Achievement,Disadvantaged Schools

This case study will serve primarily as an historical account detailing the development of Quality Teacher and Education Act (QTEA). QTEA and the most salient details that led to its eventual passage, serving as an information source for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and other districts when they take on potentially controversial policy initiatives. Section One will detail how funding needs in the district and tense relationships between the union, the district, and the Board of Education initially stalled the parcel tax and how positive changes in district leadership facilitated collaboration around its development. Section Two will discuss how the district and union, with help from external partners, built support for the parcel tax. Finally, Section Three will detail the district and union negotiation process and the final provisions of QTEA. (Contains 2 figures, 6 tables and 23 endnotes.)
Continuous Improvement in California Education: Data Systems and Policy Learning
Author: Loeb, Susanna
Date: 2007-10-19
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Policy Analysis,Educational Improvement,Educational Change,Politics of Education,Educational Policy,Academic Achievement,Educational Innovation,Best Practices,Resource Allocation,School Districts,Educational Finance

The &quot;Getting Down to Facts&quot; (GDTF) studies released in March 2007 offered a clear diagnosis of the issues facing California's education system. Now, as California moves beyond the facts and begins the search for ways to improve the performance of California schools and students, the state faces a critical policy dilemma. On the one hand, the evidence presented in GDTF made it clear that simply putting more resources into California's present education system is unlikely to produce the large gains in performance that Californians expect from their schools. On the other hand, the GDTF studies made it equally clear that bringing about significant improvements in educational performance may require a substantial increase in the resources that the state spends on education, along with increased autonomy and flexibility for local educators to decide how these resources should be used. The policy dilemma that the state faces is how to ensure that local actors use new resources in the best possible ways, without increasing the regulatory burden on schools and school districts or adding to the profusion of categorical funding streams. In Policy Analysis for California Education's (PACE's) view, the solution to this dilemma has two key elements. First, the state needs to focus its reform efforts on creating a system that fosters innovation and learns from experience to support continuous improvement toward the goal of academic success for all students. Second, the state needs to make significant investments in human capital and capacity building at all levels of the education system. The authors address the first of these two elements in this policy brief. They argue that a robust data system is the essential foundation for an education system that is capable of continuous improvement in school and student performance. Great data by themselves will not lead to continuous improvement in the educational performance, however. Policies must also be designed and implemented in ways that support careful evaluation and the production of new knowledge about effective programs and practices. In addition, the state must support the creation of institutions to disseminate new knowledge and encourage the adoption of best practices at all levels of the education system, from the classroom to the California Department of Education (CDE). (Contains 1 footnote.)
Alternative Teacher Compensation: A Primer
Author: Koppich, Julia E.
Date: 2009-03-27
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Salaries,Innovation,Teacher Motivation,Incentives,Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Promotion,Teacher Effectiveness,Merit Pay,Faculty Development,Educational Research,Federal Programs,School Districts

This policy primer is designed to provide base-line information about new forms of teacher pay that are emerging around the country, to support the local conversations and negotiations that will lead to the development of innovative compensation systems. It identifies reasons why teacher compensation is high on local, state, and federal policy agendas, describes some of the new pay programs that have been implemented, and offers an initial analysis of what we are learning from these various and diverse pay experiments. (Contains 2 tables and 9 additional resources.)
Smart Schools, Smart Growth: Investing in Education Facilities and Stronger Communities. California Builds Better Schools. Working Paper 09-1
Author: Fuller, Bruce
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Facilities Improvement,School Construction,Context Effect,Housing Needs,Quality of Life,Educational Change,Sustainable Development,Urban to Suburban Migration,Resource Allocation,Holistic Approach,School Community Relationship,Instructional Effectiveness,Human Geography,Teacher Motivation

This report examines how California's massive and ongoing investment in school construction could better advance the shared goals of school improvement, sustainable urban growth, and equal opportunity. This brief is organized in five parts. First, the authors sketch a &quot;framework&quot; for how smart growth principles could help guide school facilities investments. This includes not only the bricks and mortar of infrastructure but also the creation of more effective forms of schooling, such as small, human-scale schools which are better integrated with their communities. Second, the widening &quot;scope of school construction and renovation&quot; is described. They outline how these $82 billion in bond revenues are being distributed to California's various regions. Third, the lack of coordinated planning is placed in sharp relief, once all the people illuminate &quot;demographic and economic shifts&quot; that shape quality of life in California, from where they live to how far they travel to jobs. Fourth, the authors detail what's known empirically about the &quot;benefits of high-quality school facilities&quot; that accrue to students and teachers. Smarter forms of schooling, in carefully designed facilities, could spur stronger engagement and motivation among children and educators alike. Finally, they argue that state policy makers, local educators, and city planners face key decision points, and they could exercise these influential policy levers more wisely. They highlight four communities that are grappling with these challenges in innovative ways and constructing smart schools that build from smart growth principles. These cases appear in boxes throughout this report. (Contains 4 figures and 44 endnotes.) [This report was produced by Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and the Center for Cities &amp; Schools.]
Parallel Play: Preschool and K-12 Finance Reform in New Jersey and Texas. Working Paper 07-3
Author: Fuller, Bruce
Date: 2007-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,State Courts,Finance Reform,Equal Education,Educational Change,Preschool Education,Educational Finance,Educational Equity (Finance),Access to Education,Financial Support,Enrollment Trends,Educational Policy,Legal Responsibility,Marketing,Governance,Child Care,Educational Quality,Welfare Services,Incentives,Cooperative Planning,Politics of Education,Risk,Costs

Gaps in early learning are starkly apparent among differing children even before they enter kindergarten. So, a rising number of states are trying to narrow initial achievement disparities by expanding access to quality preschool. At the same time, recent findings show that preschool is not a lasting inoculation: its benefits fade if children move from preschool to dreary elementary schools. So, efforts to advance quality preschooling, especially for children from poor and blue-collar families, will be more effective when the quality of public schools climbs in parallel fashion. Two states--New Jersey and Texas--offer laboratories for understanding how preschool and K-12 finance reforms can be interwoven over time and implemented in concert to raise quality at both levels. This study yields three sets of lessons for California and other states: (1) Advancing simple and equitable finance mechanisms; (2) Unifying mixed-markets of preschool providers; and (3) Widening access while improving quality. Overall, this study details how two large states are simplifying funding streams, progressively expanding access, and improving classroom quality. In New Jersey these efforts stem from a specific mandate by the state courts to equalize opportunity, and the preschool sector is a key part. In Texas pro-equity groups have succeeded in widening support for preschool expansion, and these policy efforts are becoming one element in long-running efforts to more adequately fund the schools. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, 1 box, and 79 endnotes.)
Voices from the Field: Educators Respond to Accountability
Author: Woody, Elisabeth L.
Date: 2004-02-01
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Public School Teachers,Academic Achievement,Policy Analysis,Accountability,Principals,Elementary School Teachers,Teaching (Occupation),Educational Policy,Administrator Role,High Stakes Tests,Kindergarten,School Districts

In an effort to understand teachers' and administrators' experiences with public school accountability, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), with the support of the Noyce Foundation, established the Educator Responses to Accountability Project (ERAP). During the 2002-2003 school year, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with educators in eight elementary schools across California. They spoke with teachers, principals, and district leaders, exploring such topics as their knowledge and understanding of recent accountability mandates, the impact of accountability on their classroom practices and their sense of professionalism, and their efforts to address inequities in student achievement within the context of accountability. This report discusses key themes that have emerged from their conversations with educators, drawing on the voices of public school teachers, principals, and district administrators to present a portrait of accountability policies at the school level. The authors heard critiques as well as expressions of appreciation for recent state efforts, and they heard suggestions on ways to improve or supplement existing policies. Four appendices are included: (1) PSAA [California's Public Schools Accountability Act] Overview &amp; Evolution; (2) ERAP Schools (2002-2003); (3) Trend of API [Academic Performance Index] Scores; and (4) Interview Protocols. (Contains 2 figures and 19 endnotes.) [Additional funding for this project was provided by the California Policy Research Center.]
California's Impending College Graduate Crisis and What Needs to Be Done about It. Policy Brief 10-2
Author: Carnoy, Martin
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: College Attendance,College Graduates,Access to Education,Hispanic American Students,Developmental Studies Programs,Educational Policy,Politics of Education,Change Strategies,Educational Change,High School Graduates,Graduation Rate,Academic Persistence,Enrollment Management,Policy Analysis

In 2005-06 almost half of the pupils in California's public schools were Latinos, but Latinos only received about 15 percent of the BA degrees awarded by public and private colleges in the state. Texas has a comparable Latino population, but does significantly better than California in getting Latino students through college. The implication of this disparity is that California stands to produce too few graduates to fuel its cutting-edge high tech and high-end service economy. In this policy brief, the author explores the reasons why California's education system falls short in ensuring post-secondary access and success for Latino students, and identifies six steps that the state could take to increase the number of four-year college graduates: (1) California middle and high schools should get financial incentives to identify potential college-bound Latino (and African-American) students and mentor them into college attendance; (2) The state should consider expanding its current University of California guarantee to the top academic four percent of seniors to Texas's norm of ten percent; (3) College counseling in California high schools has to be reorganized and strengthened, so that well trained counseling staffs can encourage minority students to choose college prep courses, and match students to colleges and funding opportunities; (4) California has to go beyond policies that greatly expanded access to community college education to policies that improve completion and transfer rates in CCCs; (5) State universities should be rewarded for identifying and supporting potential lower income minority applicants in high school; and (6) Colleges should also get financial help for providing remedial courses if necessary, and help in mentoring students in need of remediation through college to degrees. (Contains  3 tables, 8 figures and 8 endnotes.)
There's Lots to Learn from L.A.: Policy Levers for Institutional Change. Policy Brief 10-1
Author: Kerchner, Charles Taylor
Date: 2010-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Organizational Change,Educational Change,Public Policy,Public Education,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Best Practices,Change Strategies,Performance Factors,Barriers,Educational Development,Educational History,Educational Indicators,Educational Assessment

Big institutions, like public education, change slowly but often dramatically. The history of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) over the past five decades reveals an organization pulled up from its early 20th Century Progressive Era roots. Decades of reform efforts have provided a lively audition for what a new institution of public education could look like. But public policy and the surrounding political system have created an atmosphere of continuing crisis rather than a new institutional stability. In this policy brief the author reviews the recent history of LAUSD, drawing from the recent book, &quot;Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in Public Education&quot;. He shows how successive reform efforts have sketched out the design of a more effective educational system, and identifies five policy levers that can help to create a new institutional structure for public education, in LA and beyond. (Contains 25 endnotes.)
Do Financial Incentives Draw Promising Teachers to Low-Performing Schools? Assessing the Impact of the California Governor's Teaching Fellowship. Policy Brief 10-3
Author: Steele, Jennifer L.
Date: 2010-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Incentives,Fellowships,Beginning Teachers,Teacher Recruitment,Disadvantaged Schools,Costs,Teacher Persistence

During a two-year period from 2000-2002, California awarded a $20,000 Governor's Teaching Fellowship (GTF) to 1,169 people enrolled in traditional, post-baccalaureate teacher licensure programs who agreed to teach in low-performing public schools for four years after earning their licenses. The GTF was a policy response to longstanding evidence from within and outside California that low-income students and students of color are disproportionately taught by teachers with weak academic backgrounds and limited preparation. Given the need for rigorous research on incentives like the GTF, the authors undertook a study to estimate the fellowship's causal impact on recipients' decisions to teach in low-performing schools. The results are summarized in this policy brief. An Analysis to Eliminate Selection Bias is appended. (Contains 4 tables and 12 endnotes.)
Meeting the Challenge: Performance Trends in California Schools. Policy Brief 08-1
Author: Imazeki, Jennifer
Date: 2008-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Trend Analysis,Educational Improvement,Achievement Gains,Educational Development,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Racial Differences,Barriers,Performance Factors,Scores,Comparative Testing,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis

There are significant signs of progress in California's schools, in spite of the tremendous challenges they face. Trends across multiple measures of student performance are fairly consistent: all students are doing better, or at least holding steady, during a time when the system is serving a larger and more diverse population of children. For example, test data indicates that the percentage of third graders who are proficient in math and reading has increased. Each sub-group of students shows improvement, but white and Asian students are still out-performing their African-American and Hispanic peers by wide margins that have remained relatively steady over time. A similar pattern holds across other grades and subjects. These improvements are a testament to the dedication of California educators. Public school teachers, principals and staff are under increasing pressure to produce measurable improvements in student outcomes, and they have responded to the challenge. Unfortunately, the achievements documented in this brief have happened in spite of many state policies, not because of them. For policymakers, the need for reform should be clear. How much better might schools have done, and how much more might they do in the future, if California's school finance and governance systems actually supported student performance and accountability? If individuals are going to ask their schools for continued improvements, they must also ensure that they have the resources and support that they need to do this vital work. (Contains 9 figures, 1 table, and 5 endnotes.)
Leaders for California's Schools. Policy Brief 09-4
Author: Loeb, Susanna
Date: 2009-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Instructional Leadership,Principals,Personnel Policy,Personnel Management,Performance Factors,Leadership Effectiveness,Employment Practices,Policy Analysis,Barriers,Change Strategies,Administrative Change,Educational Administration

In this policy brief the authors present an overview of the current state of school leadership in California. They examine the challenges that California must overcome to recruit, hire, train, and retain strong and talented principals, with a particular focus on the limitations of current state and district policies. They also propose a set of actions that policymakers can take in order to ensure that great principals are providing leadership in all of California's schools. (Contains 4 figures.)