Education Trust—West

The Education Trust—West Statement on Governor Brown’s May Budget Revision

OAKLAND, CA (May 14, 2012) The Education Trust—West issued the following statement regarding Governor Brown’s May budget revision:

“After five straight years of budget deficits, Governor Brown is rightly acknowledging the severity of our current crisis. In this difficult context, we applaud the Governor for continuing to press for a weighted student formula proposal that would fund school districts based on the needs of their students. We also commend him for requiring districts to spend the additional dollars generated by low-income students and English Learners on these students.

However, we remain deeply concerned by the Governor’s budget strategies. The Governor once again bases his budget and the weighted student formula proposal on rosy economic scenarios and the passage of his ballot initiative. While ostensibly increasing funding for schools, he is actually cutting them by over $5 billion, given that few districts will base their final June budgets on the results of the November election. This strategy will likely lead to additional staff layoffs and cuts in support services. It will also allow districts to slash a total of 15 additional school days, leaving California with the shortest school year in the nation. As in previous years, these cuts will disproportionately fall on California’s highest need students, particularly low-income students, students of color and English Learners.

California’s underserved students cannot afford another year of cuts of vital education supports and services. We believe that there is ample time in the current budget year to develop a state budget that provides districts and schools with the funding and stability they need. We call on our leadership in Sacramento to focus on building a responsible budget that prioritizes the needs of students, and places our state on a path to the financial stability that California’s communities and schools deserve.”

 

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The Education Trust—West Statement as State Board Considers California’s Application for a Waiver of No Child Left Behind

OAKLAND, CA (May 9, 2012) The Education Trust—West issued the following statement as the California State Board of Education considers an application for a waiver of No Child Left Behind:

“On Thursday, the California Department of Education and State Board President Mike Kirst will present a proposal to the State Board of Education to apply for a waiver of No Child Left Behind.  Unlike the 37 states and the District of Columbia who have already submitted waiver applications, this request will not meet the requirements of the Obama administration's waiver application process. Unlike the leaders of these 37 states and the three additional states who have committed to following this application process, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Board President Mike Kirst will ask for a “special” waiver that provides California with flexibility from federal law for essentially doing nothing.  Rather than committing to the development of concrete plans to improve student outcomes, close achievement gaps, and prepare all students for college and career, California’s education leaders will complain about the state budget crisis and rehash disturbing, old arguments about federal interference with state’s rights and local control.”

“These complaints may momentarily mask how little progress, in comparison to other states, California has made in implementing the common-sense strategies necessary to submit a successful waiver application. This includes implementing the Common Core, developing a robust school accountability system designed to close achievement gaps, targeting supports to our highest need schools, and reforming our teacher and principal evaluation systems.” 

“However, they will not mask the fact that California continues to have some of the widest achievement gaps and lowest student performance of any state in the nation. Nor will they disguise the lack of focus of our state education leaders, including Governor Brown, on improving student results, particularly for students of color and low-income students. And they certainly will not mask the absurdity of this ‘special’ request and the additional collateral damage it will cause to California’s sinking national reputation on education issues. Indeed, should the state submit this ‘California-only’ waiver application, it will likely be applying for little more than irrelevancy. For those schools and districts that would benefit from a federal waiver, this result would be disastrous. We urge members of the State Board to reject the ‘California-specific’ waiver proposal. We further urge the Board to direct the State Department of Education to submit a waiver application that adheres to federal guidelines and has a chance of approval. The stakes are too high to do otherwise.” 

Ed Trust—West Releases Latest Annual Report Cards for California School Districts, Grading 147 Largest Districts on Latino, African-American and Low-Income Student Outcomes

(OAKLAND, CA) Today, The Education Trust—West releases its latest annual report cards for California’s 147 largest unified school districts revealing how well they are serving their Latino, African-American, and low-income students.  The grades and ranks for each of these districts for the 2010-2011 school year are posted on The Education Trust—West’s “District Report Cards” website at http://reportcards.edtrustwest.org/.

“Last year, thousands of parents and community groups across California used our district report cards to learn how their districts stacked up against the state’s top performers for underserved students,” said Dr. Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization that works to close gaps in achievement and opportunity for students of color and students in poverty.  “Once again, the report cards reveal the important role that districts play in focusing attention on their highest need students and improving results.”

To create the report cards, The Education Trust—West uses publically available data to assign “A-F” letter grades and rankings to each of the state’s largest, unified districts on four key indicators: Performance, Improvement, Achievement Gaps, and College-Readiness. These data together reveal how well each district’s low-income, African-American, and Latino students are faring.  

2010 was the first year that grades were assigned. In 2011, most districts maintained the same grades overall and across indicators. Of those districts who did receive a new overall grade, twice as many improved as compared with those that slid backward. Overall, “A” grades are found in each indicator category and in high-poverty and low-poverty districts alike, dispelling the myth that poverty and low performance are inexorably connected. Four of the top ten overall districts serve large numbers of low-income students and students of color. Corona-Norco Unified, Lake Elsinore Unified, Covina-Valley Unified and Baldwin Park Unified are over 40 percent low-income, and each serves a student population that is over 55 percent African-American or Latino. By contrast, many wealthier and less diverse districts fall to the bottom of our rankings.

This year’s district report cards also reveal some unique geographic trends.  Southern California districts tend to achieve better outcomes among their African-American, Latino, and low-income students than Northern California districts.  Seventy-two percent of districts in Northern California, for example, earn an overall grade of “D.” Meanwhile, just 15 percent of districts in Southern California earn overall “D” grades.  While districts in the Central Valley and Central Coast regions receive “Bs,” as do districts in the Inland Empire, Los Angeles County, and Southern California Counties (Orange and San Diego), the highest grade in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Sacramento region is a “C+.”

The Education Trust—West Issues Statement as California State Board of Education Considers a Waiver of No Child Left Behind

OAKLAND, CA (March 7, 2012) – The Education Trust—West issued the following statement as the California State Board of Education considers an application for a waiver of No Child Left Behind:

“The Obama administration has offered California an unprecedented opportunity to apply for a waiver of No Child Left Behind. To date, thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have seized this opportunity and submitted waiver applications. This includes states with Democratic and Republican leadership. It includes states that have, like California, suffered from sizable budget deficits. In contrast, California’s leadership has failed to submit an application and focused instead on criticizing the Obama administration for the reasonable requirements of the waiver application process. These requirements include the implementation of Common Core State Standards adopted by the California State Board of Education; the development of a robust district and school accountability system focused on closing achievement gaps; and long overdue reforms to California’s abysmal teacher and principal evaluation requirements. Rather than seizing this opportunity, Governor Brown and Superintendent Torlakson have decided to submit a ‘California-specific waiver’ that would ignore the administration’s application requirements. Given the high stakes, this approach is appalling. Like thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia, California should support the Obama administration’s plan and submit a waiver proposal that adheres to the requirements of the application process. Doing otherwise would be an incredible lost opportunity and an abdication of our leadership’s responsibility to improve California’s education system. We encourage the state board to reject the California-specific waiver proposal and vote to submit a high quality waiver application that adheres to the Obama administration’s requirements for approval.”     

New Education Trust—West Report Details How California Shortchanges its Poorest School Districts of Millions in Funding

OAKLAND, CA (February 23, 2012) – A new report released today paints a step-by-step picture of startling inequities in California’s system of education funding that harm our state’s poorest school districts. In The Cruel Divide: How California’s Education Finance System Shortchanges its Poorest School Districts, The Education Trust—West reveals that California’s highest poverty districts—those with the largest concentrations of low-income students—receive $620 less per student from state and local sources than the state’s wealthiest districts. For a mid-sized school district of 6,000 students, that amounts to over $3.7 million per year.

“Students with the greatest needs should receive additional funding to accelerate their learning, close achievement gaps and help them catch up with their better off peers,” said Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization that works to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement for students of color and students in poverty. “This report reveals that California’s education funding system is shortchanging our highest need districts and schools and giving less to those students who desperately need more.” 

The report traces the funding gap to the three primary sources of state funding: revenue limits, categorical funding, and locally-generated revenue (such as parcel taxes and parent contributions).

Revenue limit funding is general purpose funding used by districts to cover the basic cost of an education. Although it is designed to equalize funding between districts, the overall revenue limit gap between the highest and lowest poverty districts is $874 per student. This gap can be found in all types of districts but is greatest among high school districts, where it amounts to $1,344. In short, where a family lives can make a huge difference. For example, in San Diego County, the wealthy Solana Beach Elementary School District had total revenue limit funding of $10,613 per student compared with the nearby National Elementary School District, which had revenue limit funding of $5,607 per student.

The report also finds that poor districts are often shortchanged when it comes to the allocation of categorical funds targeted by state lawmakers for high-need student populations. Wealthier districts actually receive $139 more per pupil of Economic Impact Aid (EIA) than the state’s poorest school districts, even though EIA is one of the state’s primary sources of funding for poor and English-learner students.

To top it off, local revenues such as parcel taxes and local parent contributions generated by districts worsen existing inequities. Most parcel taxes have passed in wealthy districts that have far more ability to raise large amounts of extra funding for their schools. Overall, the state’s wealthiest districts are able to raise $570 more in local funds per student than the poorest districts. In elementary districts, that gap climbs to almost $800 per student.

The report praises recent calls by Governor Jerry Brown to reform California’s education finance system and fund students based on need. However, it recommends that the Governor and state policymakers also:  

  • Simplify the school finance system so that policymakers, educators, parents, and local taxpayers can understand where money comes from and how it is spent.
  • Provide additional dollars to high-need students through a student-based funding model such as a weighted student formula that sends education dollars to the school-level.
  • Monitor and prevent gaps in local revenue, such as parcel taxes, from arising between high and low-poverty communities.

“After decades of trying to reform our school finance system, the fact remains that the poorest school districts in California still receive less funding,” said Ramanathan. “Governor Brown has rightly called for shifting to a funding system based on student need. He must also commit to making the system transparent and ensuring that the vast majority of education funding flows directly to our highest-need students and schools.”

***ETW has put together a web tool that allows you to search for a school district's per-pupil state and local revenues.  Click here to access the tool.***

New Education Trust—West Study Reveals Stunning Inequities in Access to Effective Teachers for Latino, African-American and Low-Income Students in Nation’s Second Largest School District

OAKLAND, CA (January 12, 2012) – Today, The Education Trust—West releases the findings of a two- year-long study of data from the second largest school district in the nation, revealing profound inequities in access to effective teaching.  In Learning Denied: The Case for Equitable Access to Effective Teaching in California’s Largest School District, The Education Trust—West finds that low-income students and students of color in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are less likely to be taught by the district’s top teachers – the very teachers capable of closing the district’s achievement gaps. These inequities are exacerbated by teacher mobility patterns and quality-blind layoffs.

“This is one of the largest and most comprehensive analyses of this type ever completed, accounting for over 17,500 teachers and more than a million students,” said report co-author Carrie Hahnel, Director of Policy and Research at The Education Trust—West. “We were able to quantify the impact of effective teachers on student learning. We looked at the extent to which students of color and students in poverty had access to effective teachers, and we also looked at the impact of quality-blind teacher layoffs.”

The report reveals that:

  • Teachers have the potential to dramatically accelerate the learning of their students – with the average student taught by a top 25% teacher (top quartile in terms of value-added) gaining half a year more of learning in English-Language Arts and four months in math than a student placed with a teacher in the bottom 25% (bottom quartile).
  • Second-graders who started off behind academically and then had three top quartile teachers accelerated to academic proficiency, while students with consecutive bottom quartile  teachers remained stuck below grade level.
  • Commonly used measures of teacher quality, such as years of experience, are poor predictors of effectiveness in the classroom. While teachers do improve over time, the differences among teachers are far greater than those between teachers at different levels of experience.  For example, the difference between a 10th-year teacher and first-year teacher is only about three and a half weeks in ELA and two and a half weeks in math.
  • Effective teachers are inequitably distributed in LAUSD with Latino, African-American and low-income students much less likely to have access to top-quartile teachers. In addition, these top teachers are more likely to leave the district’s highest need schools. 
  • Quality-blind teacher layoffs in 2009 resulted in the removal of high value-added teachers from the highest need schools. If the district had instead laid off teachers based on effectiveness, only about 5 percent of the ELA teachers and 3 percent of the math teachers actually cut by LAUSD would have been laid off.

“These findings should be cause for both optimism and deep concern,” said Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization. “We now know that great teachers have the power to help students catch up when they’re behind.  But you can’t catch up when you don’t have access to the best teachers.”

The report reveals that a low-income student is more than twice as likely to have a low value-added ELA teacher as a higher income peer, and 66 percent more likely to have a low-value added math teacher.  Latino and African-American students are two to three times more likely to have bottom-quartile teachers in math and ELA, respectively, than their white and Asian peers. 

“Access to effective teaching is life-changing for students in our communities,” said Yolie Flores, Communities for Teaching Excellence CEO and former LAUSD Board Member. “And because we know that having an effective teacher three years in a row can literally help us close the achievement gap for poor students and students of color, we must make every effort to make sure that these students have equitable access to the most effective teachers.” 

 According to the report, state and local policies can prevent students from accessing the most effective teachers or cause students to lose access to these teachers. The report recommends that district and state leaders invest in high-quality evaluation systems to identify effective teachers and those who are failing to improve student performance. It calls for developing programs and policies that attract and retain the best teachers in the highest need schools, offering teachers the high-quality professional development that leads to gains in student achievement, and fundamentally reforming state policies that prevent local leaders from making decisions in the best interests of students. This includes ending once and for all quality-blind, “last in, first out” (LIFO) teacher layoffs.

“This report should be a wake-up call for leaders in California and throughout the nation that access to effective teaching is the education civil rights issue of our time,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles.  “To close the achievement gap, we must prioritize student needs first through state and local reforms and attract top teachers to our highest need communities, support their growth, and keep them in the classroom.”