Report: Toward a Stronger Next Generation of California Education

This 39-page report is the synthesis of all 55 technical reports and 22 research briefs. It identifies the primary challenges and concomitant priorities. 

Big Take-Away  

Over the past two decades, California has improved standards, early childhood programs, and data systems. Overall achievement has improved, but disparities persist, especially in math and among English learners and underserved groups. 

California’s TK-12 system suffers from weak alignment, fragmented governance, and unclear accountability. Research-based practices are often implemented without sufficient support or clarity. Insufficient support systems and district capacity hinder scaling effective practices. Existing accountability tools provide limited actionable insights, and districts often focus on compliance rather than strategic improvement. Early childhood data is especially fragmented and often unavailable. 

How Our Work Connects 

Have clear expectations and common effective practices 

GDTF III found research-based practices are often implemented without sufficient support or clarity. At California Education Partners, two of the four fundamentals for system coherence and outcomes are clear expectations and common effective practices. Districts focus on a few effective practices over the course of our three-year collaborations and scale and spread these practices. At first, improvement teams work with a small subset of focal schools, and then, by year three, districts move these effective practices to all schools. 

Address fragmented early childhood data 

For Preschool through 3rd Coherence Collaborations (P3CC), applying the Ed Partners fundamentals of clear expectations and monitoring progress in early math is particularly challenging at the outset when assessments may be optional for teachers until grade three and vary by grade level; e.g., a first-grade teacher may use a different assessment of student math competency than a second-grade teacher, thereby making it difficult to monitor student progress. Our objective for partner districts is to administer an aligned norm- or criterion-referenced mathematics assessment for grades 1, 2, and 3 that is the same across all three grade levels.