PACE Seminar Series:
Seminars for Education Policymakers and Scholars 2009-2010
Despite the unprecedented fiscal crisis now battering California’s schools and universities, the urgency of comprehensive reform in California’s education system has not diminished. California had fallen behind other states on many key indicators of educational performance before the current crisis arrived. Doing the same things in the same way with dramatically reduced resources will not produce success for the state’s students and schools.
As the Governor’s Committee on Educational Excellence and others have made clear, California will ultimately have to spend more—not less—on our education system if we hope to achieve the ambitious goals we have set for our students, and ensure the future prosperity of our state. For now, though, California will have to use the resources we have more efficiently and effectively to sustain recent improvements in the performance of our schools.
The need for new thinking and policy innovation is therefore greater than ever. PACE’s Sacramento seminar series brings California’s leading researchers together with policy makers for an informed discussion of the many issues facing California’s education system, and for thoughtful analysis of the difficult policy choices facing our state.
Unless otherwise noted, all PACE seminars are held at UCCS Conference Room, 1130 K Street (Old Weinstock’s Building), Sacramento from 11:30-1:30 P.M. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to (916) 669-5425 or sandram@sia-us.com
Upcoming Seminars
December 11, 2009
The American Diploma Project in California: Findings and Policy Implications
Herb Fischer, retired San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
Marc Frazer, partner with Education First Consulting
Scott Hill, Vice President at School Innovations & Advocacy
Jorge Ruiz-de-Velasco, Associate Director of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute
Christine Tell, Director of State Services with Achieve
The ADP has sought to strengthen alignment between standards and expectations in K-12 schools and post-secondary education and training. In the first year the ADP has worked toward agreement on a common standard of readiness for non-remedial college coursework across the three segments of California’s higher education system, with a particular focus on the augmented CST that students take as part of CSU’s Early Assessment Program (EAP). Members of the ADP team will discuss progress to date and next steps in the effort to ensure that more California students are prepared for success in college and careers.
January 22, 2010
Similar Students, Different Results: A Large Scale Survey of Middle Grades Practices
Ed Haertel, Jacks Family Professor of Education at Stanford University
Mike Kirst, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, and Founding Director of PACE
Trish Williams, Executive Director of EdSource
The middle grades years are increasingly recognized as critical to ensuring students are on track for successfully completing a rigorous high school curriculum. EdSource, in collaboration with faculty from Stanford University, has conducted a large-scale study of middle grades practices and policies in California and their relationship to student achievement on 6th-8th grade CSTs in English Language Arts, Math, and Algebra. The EdSource study is based on surveys of educators in K-8, 7-8, and 6-8 schools serving both low income and middle-income students. Their findings focus on actionable and effective district and school practices, and on implications for state policy.
February 26, 2010
Postsecondary Preparation and Remediation: Examining the Effect of the EAP at CSU
Michal Kurlaender, Assistant Professor of Education policy at the University of California, Davis
Jessica Howell, Assistant Professor of Economics at California State University, Sacramento
The Early Assessment Program (EAP) is an academic preparation program developed by the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and CSU. The stated purpose of the program, now in its fifth year, is to bridge the gap between K-12 educational standards in English and mathematics and the requirements and expectations of postsecondary education at the California State University. In this seminar Kurlaender and Howell discuss how participation in the Early Assessment Program affects college going behavior and the need for remediation in college.
March 19, 2010
How Testing and Placement Policies Affect Language Minority Students in CA Community Colleges
George Bunch, Assistant Professor of Education at the University of California – Santa Cruz
Community colleges represent the first point of access to public higher education for many language-minority students who have attended California high schools. Yet these students face a number of language-related challenges that present potential barriers to completing their academic goals. Meanwhile, community colleges struggle to meet the needs of these “Generation 1.5” students, who do not fit the linguistic profiles of monolingual English-speakers in developmental English courses nor of more recent immigrants and international students in ESL programs. Bunch presents his recent research “mapping the terrain” of language testing and placement policies and practices at 25 California community colleges, and discusses implications for policy at the state, system, and college levels.
April 16, 2010
California’s College Graduate Crisis, and What to Do About It
Martin Carnoy, Vida Jacks Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University
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. Carnoy explores the reasons why California’s education system falls short in ensuring post-secondary access and success for Latino students, and identifies steps that the state could take to increase the number of four-year college graduates.