Publications

School districts across the country increasingly are shattering the myth that some students can’t learn as much as others. Take the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD). Here, educators are proving that students from all backgrounds can access rigorous curricula. For more than a decade, the district has embraced college readiness as its mission.

Why your child needs to prepare for college and a career, how to tell if your child’s school has college-ready academic standards, the special hurdles facing African-American students, and how parents can be effective advocates for their children.

On Tuesday August 18th the California Department of Education released the 2009 student achievement data from the Standardized Testing and Reporting program. Performance levels rise slowly, and the proportion of students performing to grade level tick incrementally upward.

Dr. Linda Murray, Dr. Tami Pearson & Phyllis Hart
San Marcos Unified School District
San Marcos, CA
June 29, 2009

It will come as no surprise to most of you that the EdTrust—West supports the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). We’ve been one of the only organizations — and perhaps the only civil rights organization — that does. Our decision didn’t come easy. The CAHSEE is by far the most wrenching issue any organization that cares about making public education work better for poor kids and kids of color has to contend with. Why?

• How effective are your child’s teachers?
• Does your child receive the same resources as other California students?
• Are ineffective education program wasting our tax dollars?

If you can’t answer these questions, you’re not alone.  If you want answers to these questions, click on the below document

Dr. Tami Pearson, Phyllis Hart & Sheilagh Polk
Oakland Unified School District
Oakland, CA

Dr. Tami Pearson, Phyllis Hart & Sheilagh Polk
Montebello, CA

Dr. Tami Pearson, Sheilagh Polk, Phyllis Hart, Gabriel Craft, Elizabeth Mejia
Padres Unidos Parent Meeting
Montebello, CA 

Kilian Betlach
Zap the Gap
San Mateo County Office of Education

Dr. Tami Pearson & Gabriel Craft
Kona HI

California’s high schools are in crisis. Many students never graduate at all and, of those that do, too many are woefully ill-prepared for life after high school. The picture is even more alarming for students in the Oakland Unified School District.

Dr. Linda Murray, Dr. Tami Pearson & Olivia Lynch
Ventura, CA

Russlynn Ali
HACU
Sacramento, CA

Russlynn Ali
Hispanic Philanthropy
San Francisco, CA

There’s a lot that parents and communities can do to help their schools work better. But to improve your schools, you first need to understand what’s going on in them. You need facts. That’s where data comes in. It not only tells you what’s happening in your school now, it can help explain why it’s happening, what can be done to raise achievement, and show you what good things can happen when educators, parents, and community members work together for the good of all students.

Obtener y mantener un buen trabajo en el siglo 21 requiere de una educación del siglo 21. Pero la mayoría de las escuelas secundarias de California no están preparando a los estudiantes adecuadamente para que triunfen en la nueva economía en la que vivimos. En este reporte examinamos cuán bien las escuelas secundarias de California están cumpliendo con esta meta en nombre de todos los estudiantes.

Federal and state policies increasingly stress the need to educate all students to high academic standards. These policies assume, and indeed require, that additional resources and supports be directed to those schools that face the biggest challenges in meeting that gaol. As a fair-minded people, most Americans support these policies and believe that kids who arrive behind should be given extra help to catch up.

This new series of Hidden Gap reports looks at the impact of the hidden teacher-spending gaps in schools throughout California.

As the debate continues in Los Angeles Unified School District about whether high school students need the A-G curriculum, the escalating rhetoric about "these" kids not being able to succeed is becoming louder and louder, drowning out the voices of the students themselves.

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education is in the midst of debating what is perhaps the most important issue facing high school students today: What will they be prepared to do after high school? What choices will they have? College? Workforce? Military?

Today marks California's 7th release of STAR testing data. Fortunately, there is progress. Overall, reading and math achievement is climbing. This progress is primarily the result of the capacity and efforts of thousands of teachers, school administrators, and state and local policymakers who are rising to the challenge of ensuring that all students are taught to Caifornia's world class standards. 

As Black History Month comes to a closeand we prepare to commemorate the 50th Anniversery of Brown v. Board of Education, we examine an educational system in California that remainsvery much seperate and unequal. Opening the schoolhouse doors to all students has not meant equal opportunities or equal outcomes. And it certainly hasn't meant equal or equitable access to high-quality teachers, rigorous classesand resources that would help low-performing students achieve.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) In this brief summary we look at whether OUSDstudents are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed. A more in depth set of data about each of the districts high schools can be found in our raising the roof data tool at www.edtrustwest.org.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). In this brief summary we look at whether SCUSD students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD). In this brief summary we look at whether WCCUSD students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for Grossmont Joint Union High School District (GJUHSD). In this brief summary we look at whether  (GJUHSD).  students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). In this brief summary we look at whether SFUSD students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed. A more in depth set of data about each of the districts high schools can be found in our raising the roof data tool at www.edtrustwest.org.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD)In this brief summary we look at whether SJUSD students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed. A more in depth set of data about each of the districts high schools can be found in our raising the roof data tool at www.edtrustwest.org.

Our economy has evolved. The skills necessary to succeed in the workforce and in college have converged. California's schools must rise to the challenge and provide all students with the skills they'll need in order to have real postsecondary choices. That means they'll need to learn Algebra I and II, geometry, and data analysis and statistics. They'll also need strong reading, writing, comprehension and reasoning. More and more, it means foreign language too.

California's education is at a crossroads. This year, California and all states are required to identify which schools made adequate yearly progress (AYP) as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

We have recieved a number of questions about how AYP compares with California's Academic Performance Index (API) and whether one measure is better than the other. Actually, we need both measures to help us close gaps. We respond here  to some of the questions we've recieved and explain why AYP is a good fit with California's existing accountability system.

Improving High Schools is an urgent priority for San Diego City Scools (SDCS). In this brief summary we look at whether SDCS students are graduating, whether they are taking the right classes along the way to graduation and whether they are leaving high school with the skills they need to succeed. A more in depth set of data about each of the districts high schools can be found in our raising the roof data tool at www.edtrustwest.org.