Currently browsing Data
ACLU sues state over English-language instruction
Civil rights groups sued the state Department of Education and the Board of Education on Wednesday, saying they are failing in their obligation to require school districts to provide 20,318 English learners with the language instruction they are entitled to by law. The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Southern California and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, cites figures provided by 251 districts showing that one out of every 50 English learner students is not receiving any … Read entire article »
Filed under: Data, English learners, Featured, Languages, Reporting & Analysis, State Board of Education, Students
More than half of suspensions are for “willful defiance” of school authorities
More than half of all suspensions and a quarter of expulsions in California schools are for “willful defiance” of school authorities, according to a new database that State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson is scheduled to release this Friday. Until now, only very limited data on school suspensions and expulsions by school were available to researchers and others attempting to understand and address school discipline issues. The database represents a major step forward in providing … Read entire article »
Filed under: CALPADS, Data, Discipline, Featured, Reporting & Analysis
Nearly 8 in 10 graduating from high school in California
California’s high school graduation rate is continuing to rise, especially among African American and Hispanic students, according to figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Education. The overall four-year graduation rate reached 78.5 percent for the class of 2012, up from 77.1 percent the previous year. Hispanic students boosted their graduation rate by 1.8 percentage points to 73.2 percent. African American students had a 65.7 percent graduation rate which, while still the lowest for any ethnic or racial group, represents an increase of 2.9 percent over a year. “While I am glad to announce that we are moving in the right direction, the fact remains that we must keep moving to ensure that every California student graduates ready to succeed in the world they will find outside our classrooms,” said state … Read entire article »
Filed under: CALPADS, Data, Quick Hits
Community colleges to release scorecard rivaling the president’s
Students planning to attend one of the nation’s 4,500 colleges and universities have a new interactive College Scorecard touted by President Obama in his State of the Union address as a tool “to compare schools based on a simple criteria – where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.” Community college leaders say the focus on costs and graduation rates is a flawed lens for measuring their worth. Give it a few weeks, … Read entire article »
Filed under: California Colleges, Career Technical Education, College and Career Preparation, College Completion, College Loans, Grants, College Remediation, Community Colleges, Data, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, UC and CSU
Incomparably comparable graduation rates
For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Education has released high school graduation rates based on a common, rigorous measure that makes it possible to compare states, and California falls into the bottom half. Nearly a quarter of California high school students don’t graduate after four years, according to figures released yesterday for nearly every state, the District of Columbia and the Bureau of Indian Education. [Note: Data for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico has not been reported.] Each state submits its own statistics to the federal government, so California’s 76 percent graduation rate for the class of 2010-11 isn’t a surprise. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson released the numbers last June. What is new, however, is how California stacks up, and, in that regard, it’s ahead of Alaska, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Data, Quick Hits
New data deal lets LAUSD find the best learning tools
The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to share a decade of student data in an effort to figure out the best methods for raising student achievement. The district has entered into an agreement with the independent, nonprofit Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI). Kyo Yamashiro, LAERI’s executive director, said the first foray into the data will be to examine how eighth grade students do in algebra. She said they’ll break down algebra success rates by school and by subgroups within each school, looking for patterns or programs that helped kids get into algebra and successfully complete it. “By identifying skills and behaviors that are most related to preparing students for this critical gateway subject, we can target those skills and behaviors for further intervention by teachers and administrators,” said Yamashiro … Read entire article »
Filed under: CALPADS, Data, Quick Hits
California leads effort to boost English learner success
UPDATE: Sept. 21, 2012: Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 2193 into law. Anyone who studied French all through high school and still ended up hiring an avocado (avocat) instead of an attorney (avocat) understands that learning a foreign language is complicated, and isn’t a strong suit for U.S. schools. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the same is true when it comes to bilingual education. About 59 percent of California’s English learners in grades 6-12 … Read entire article »
Filed under: CELDT, Data, English learners, Featured, Languages, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Students
Study finds little uniformity in CA school discipline
There’s little consistency in the way California schools deal with expelling and suspending students, according to a new survey of 315 of the state’s largest school districts. Most districts agree on one thing, however: They need more counselors, support staff, and professional development to provide alternatives to kicking kids out of school. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Data, Discipline, Featured, Legislature, Bills, Reporting & Analysis, Research
State creating “time bomb” with cuts to higher ed
Give a dollar to California’s public colleges and universities and receive $4.50 back. Those are pretty good odds, and they’re not from one of those overseas scam emails humbly requesting your help in transferring funds. This more-than-400-percent yield is the net return on the state’s investment in higher education, according to California’s Economic Payoff, one of two reports released yesterday that make the case for a stronger state investment in higher education. Multiply that by the hundreds … Read entire article »
Filed under: California Colleges, CALPADS, College and Career Preparation, College Completion, College Enrollment, Community Colleges, Data, Equity issues, Featured, Reporting & Analysis, Research, Science, Math (STEM), UC and CSU, Workforce preparation
Student-centered teacher evaluations focus on learning goals
November 2nd, 2012 | 5 Comments | By William Slotnik and Joan McRobbie
By now the consensus is clear: California needs a better, more systematic way of supporting and ensuring teacher effectiveness. Though the teacher evaluation bill, AB 5, collapsed again in August, there is wide agreement on the state’s responsibility to ensure that every student has an effective teacher. Moreover, good teachers welcome accountability and they want and need support. As the 2010 Accomplished California Teachers report noted, every teacher wants to know “How am I doing?” … Read entire article »
Filed under: Commentary, Data, Featured, Teachers