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To celebrate our 30 successful years, the EdSource board of directors and staff hosted our first-ever anniversary party for 70 invited guests in May.
The main event of our 30th Anniversary celebration was a moderated roundtable discussion featuring California’s current and two former Superintendents of Public Instruction (SPIs): Jack O’Connell, Bill Honig, and Delaine Eastin. Moderating the panel was Davis Campbell, president of the EdSource board and himself a former deputy SPI under Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles. Campbell asked each panelist to identify their single biggest challenge as SPI and the one accomplishment they were proud of most. Other topics the SPIs addressed included standards and student achievement, assessment, school finance reform and where they thought the recent "Getting Down To Facts" research would lead, and governance of the state’s education system.
We saluted three of the very first board members and one of the original volunteers, Penny Howell, who later came on staff to write many of our early publications. She continues to review and critique our reports for clarity and to provide support to the Ed-Data Partnership website. We also recognized our three founding organizations (the California branches of PTA, League of Women Voters, and American Association of University Women), former and current board members, and other individuals who have contributed to our strategic growth.
Williams paid tribute to the high standards set by the early EdSource pioneers, then detailed the agency's remarkable growth and accomplishments in the second half of its existence. She noted, “Just surviving 30 years is sometimes a significant feat, but once you get past those initial hurdles, the agency can either coast into a comfortable maturity—or it can kick up some dust.” At EdSource, the dust has yet to settle.
In the past 15 years, the organization has produced 150 reports, disseminated about 1.2 million copies of them, continued to host successful annual Forums, helped start and support the groundbreaking Education DataPartnership website, and launched EdSource Online, which currently has close to 600,000 visitor sessions annually and more than 13,000 individuals on its listserv.
In addition to maintaining these important programs, in the last four years EdSource has become ever more entrepreneurial, undertaking new and significantly different work to further meet our mission. We played multiple roles in connection with the "Getting Down To Facts" research project, including conducting a study of our own in partnership with School Services of California and drafting lay summaries of each of the more than 20 other studies. We created our third website last fall: www.californiaschoolfinance.org.
Over the past three years, EdSource has served as project lead on a multi-year collaborative research project called Similar Students, Different Results, and its subsequent extended analyses, most recently on English learners. This spring, we worked with external research staff on two totally different reports—on high school curriculum and charter school performance. All these projects have provided EdSource a chance to play a more proactive role and to partner with highly respected researchers from universities and other institutions.
There are many more photos to share from this wonderful evening!
Click here to see the attendees and event.
To view a video webcast of the panel discussion, click the links to "Windows Media Player" (best for PCs) or "QuickTime" (best for Macs). (Video Help)
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| EdSource Board President Davis Campbell, EdSource Deputy Director Mary Perry, former Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) Bill Honig, EdSource Executive Director Trish Williams, SPI Jack O’Connell, and former SPI Delaine Eastin
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Penny Howell, one of the original EdSource volunteers and still on staff as program consultant
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Founding EdSource board members Geri Stewart, Jean Colby, and Sally Stewart
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Link to Video Content
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