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Clovis Unified School District (USD) serves about 43,000 California students, with sizeable groups of Latino/a and Hmong students and 40% of all students being eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Clovis USD’s unique culture and its specific approaches to supporting student learning have made it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Chula Vista Elementary School District (CVESD) is California’s largest elementary school system with over 30,000 students, 90% of whom are students of color and over one third of whom are English learners. CVESD has made significant investments in capacity building and focused on continuous improvement, making it one of California’s “positive outlier” districts in which students performed better than predicted on California state tests from 2015 through 2017.
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Supporting the achievement of all students requires a strong commitment to equity, ensuring a stable high-quality educator workforce, providing access to professional development, and a focus on deeper learning and social and emotional learning. Seven California school districts provide examples of successful approaches to this work.
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A recent LPI study identified more than a hundred California school districts in which students across racial/ethnic groups are outperforming similar students in other districts on new math and reading assessments that measure higher order thinking and performance skills. Many of these districts also are closing the gap on a range of other outcomes, including graduation rates. The critical question is: How did they do it?”
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In 2013, California enacted far-reaching education reform. It included a bold, new approach to equitable funding, a more holistic vision of student and school success, and community engagement in decision-making. Although its size and scale put California in a league of its own, the lessons from this decade-plus effort to reimagine, enact, and implement a better system offer guidance for all those looking to make—or influence—education policy.
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In a commentary on school funding, Linda Darling-Hammond writes that investing wisely in education is increasingly important to the success of individuals, economies, and societies. Policymakers at the federal and state levels can play a role in ensuring schools receive equitable and adequate resources. In doing so, the country can close educational achievement gaps and increase the U.S. GDP, extending benefits to us all.
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Equitable and empowering educational opportunities are increasingly important to the survival and success of individuals, economies, and societies, but today, U.S. public schools are the most inequitably funded of any in the industrialized world. Some states, however, have had some success addressing those inequities. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and North Carolina have substantially improved learning opportunities and there are lessons to be learned from their efforts.
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The report, California’s Positive Outliers: Districts Beating the Odds, provides insight into the California districts that are most successful at advancing the academic achievement of African American, Latino/a, and White students, as measured by standardized tests. Lead author Anne Podolsky discusses the study's key findings and their implications for local and state policymakers.
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What is the place of technology in the classroom? Some would say it doesn't belong. But a number of states, including California, are investing in technology—and for good reason.
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In 2007, the New York legislature enacted a funding formula to address disparities in education. Despite that action, racial and economic disparities in education persist. In testimony before the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, LPI Senior Researcher Peter Cookson discussed research findings that explain why those disparities have persisted, New Jersey’s successful school funding reforms, and recommendations to help ensure that all students receive a sound basic education in New York.
