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In 2021, California committed to providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds and expanding access for income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2025-2026. California UPK includes several early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), Head Start, and locally funded early learning programs. To support UPK expansion, California's legislature and administration established the Universal Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant in 2021, which allocated $200 million to all local education agencies (LEAs) serving kindergarteners, which include school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education. The California Department of Education surveyed all grant recipients in August 2023 about their UPK programs. This report provides an update on UPK implementation across the state through an analysis of survey responses from 1,384 LEAs, which represent almost all (95%) public school districts and two thirds (65%) of charter schools that serve elementary grades. Findings provide insights into LEAs' progress in UPK implementation related to service delivery models, facilities and transportation, instruction and assessment, strategies to support student needs, workforce development, implementation challenges, and technical assistance needs. In addition to statewide insights, the survey revealed promising practices and wide access with UPK expansion in California's four largest districts during their first year of implementation. The findings in this report may help policymakers and practitioners identify areas for additional investments and supports.

The diversity of California's teaching force continues to lag behind its student population. While students of Color make up 78% of the state's K-12 population, Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers (TOCIT) comprise just 34% of the teaching workforce (California Department of Education, 2018), a statistic that has dominated the teacher shortage narrative. Although there is promise in the fact that teacher education program (TEP) enrollment is more diverse than the state's current educator workforce, it's still 27% less diverse than the state's K-12 students. As demand for greater representation increases, so have the initiatives to recruit and retain more racially diverse teachers. In the past few years, California has spent billions in an effort to diversify its teacher workforce, including Assembly Bill 520, which allocated $15 million to be distributed to school districts to develop and implement programs that diversify teaching staffs, and Assembly Bill 130, which appropriated $350 million over the next five years to create or expand Teacher Residency Programs, a pathway that has been shown to recruit and retain higher numbers of TOCIT (California Legislative Information, 2023). This study sets out to (1) explore how current policies, structures, practices, attitudes, and ideologies across the pipeline and profession impede the recruitment and retention of TOCIT, and (2) better understand the racialized experiences and perspectives of pre-service and in-service Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers. The following paper is based on a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collected from system leaders in teacher preparation, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and former teachers over the course of approximately one year: spring 2021 to summer 2022.

The term "newcomers" is commonly used to describe students who have recently arrived in U.S. schools. Depending on usage, newcomers may mean students in their first 6 months in U.S. schools, in their first 4 years, or anywhere in between. A majority arrive speaking little to no English, most are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, and a large but unknown proportion have experienced trauma. Unfortunately, reliable national data are not available on language proficiency or socioeconomic status. This report gives an overview of newcomer education in California and makes recommendations to support improved student outcomes. The report is informed by a special data request to the California Department of Education (CDE), interviews with staff from 12 California school districts, and a literature review. Sam Finn's perspective is further contextualized by Finn's experience as an elementary school teacher in three cities, a consultant for the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being (CalNEW) program, and a researcher and advocate for Oakland Unified School District. [For "Newcomer Education in California. Report Summary with Recommendations," see ED628245.]

In community colleges, English Language Learners (ELL) comprise several subgroups of students, each of which has a distinct background and data profile. Among these subgroups, three clearly emerge, each of which interact with placement systems and curriculum in distinct ways based on their prior educational experiences and contexts. These three subgroups are: (1) United States (US) high school graduates; (2) international students; and (3) other degree-seeking ELL/ English as a Second Language (ESL) students. This paper is the first in a series looking at the experience of these three ELL subgroups and analyzing how to maximize their completion of transferable English composition in the California community college setting. This first paper focuses on students who are US high school graduates identified as ELL by their administrative high school data. When these students enter the community college system, they may or may not identify as ELL, and may or may not enter coursework that is explicitly designated as ESL. The large majority of these students (approximately 86%) enroll in English classes at the community college (i.e., the "English pathway"), while about 14% enroll in ESL classes (i.e., the "ESL pathway"). Therefore, to understand which course pathway creates an optimal opportunity for completion of transferable English composition, this paper examines ELLs who enter English coursework and compares their outcomes to those of students who enter ESL coursework. This report concludes that overall, English Language Learners who graduated from a US high school are more likely to complete transfer-level English coursework at the community college if they enter the English pathway rather than the ESL pathway.

Assembly Bill 705 (AB 705) sought to increase successful completion of transfer-level math and English courses by addressing systemic problems in traditional placement policies and curricular structures. The law requires colleges to maximize the probability that students who enroll in credit English as a second language (ESL) courses complete transfer-level English within three years. It also requires community colleges to use high school records as the primary criteria for placement and provides flexibility for colleges to use guided or self-placement if high school records are not accessible. Notably, the bill acknowledges that ESL is distinct from remediation in English and that students enrolled in ESL credit coursework are foreign-language learners seeking proficiency in an additional language. This report builds on previous research on ESL in California Community Colleges (Rodriguez et al. 2019) by shedding light on the progress colleges have made toward implementing AB 705 across the CCC system in fall 2021. To better understand the changes that colleges across the state have made to their ESL placement policies and curricular structures in response to the law, this report uses qualitative and quantitative data: (1) To identify how colleges modified placement systems and ESL course offerings during the first year of implementation, we have drawn information from college websites and documents, including college catalogs and course schedules, as well as the AB 705 adoption plans submitted to the CCC Chancellor's Office (CCCCO); (2) Uses student-level data from all 115 colleges to conduct a descriptive examination of ESL and transfer-level English 6 or ESL equivalent course enrollment and successful completion in fall 2021; and (3) Interviews with ESL faculty and department chairs at 16 colleges across the state to better understand the challenges and opportunities created by AB 705 and the pandemic. These colleges are representative of the different types of placement and curricular reforms as well as regions of the state. [For the Technical Appendices, see ED627174. For the Policy Brief, see ED627175. For the 2019 report, "English as a Second Language in California's Community Colleges," see ED598069.]

Every year, there are between 150,000 and 200,000 immigrant students in California who have been in U.S. schools for less than 3 years. These newcomers generally require specialized academic instruction and social services to succeed in school. Despite great efforts, many districts are struggling to create these conditions for success. Many newcomers drop out of school or learn little in class because of inaccessible instruction and/or lack of adequate housing, food, medical care, or legal services. The full PACE report Newcomer Education in California (see ED628244) by Sam Finn finds that newcomer outcomes in California can be improved dramatically by developing three key areas: data, instruction, and social support services. This summary describes three findings and recommendations from the full report.

Access to affordable preschool programs is a crucial issue for improving kindergarten readiness for 3- to 5-year-olds, but research shows that the quality of teaching and learning in those programs is just as essential. Across the country, states are boosting preschool policy standards and strengthening educational requirements for preschool teachers. California has not been at the forefront of this effort. But newly elected Governor Gavin Newsom is making preschool quality a signature issue of his administration. He, along with the legislature and other policymakers, are calling for more funding, access, and teacher preparation. This brief focuses on their proposals, examples of successful reforms, and ongoing challenges that were discussed at PACE's annual conference in February 2019.

For several years, WestEd's Measure to Learn and Improve (MLI) project team has kept state policy leaders informed about statewide implementation of the California Academic Standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, by summarizing and disseminating survey results from the RAND Corporation's annual American Educator Panel (AEP) surveys of teachers and principals. This brief summarizes recent results related to educators' reported needs for high-quality instructional materials and professional learning.

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's Implementation Study, which uses interview data to explore how district administrators, principals, and teachers are understanding, experiencing, and implementing California's learning standards in English language arts (ELA) and math. C-SAIL examines how and what kinds of supports are provided to teachers of all students, including students with disabilities (SWDs) and English learners (ELs) who take the general state assessment. C-SAIL researchers interviewed 10 state officials and 13 district officials in six California districts. They selected the six case study districts by identifying two urban, two suburban, and two rural districts with relatively high percentages of SWDs and ELs. They also examined other district characteristics--percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, student achievement or growth rates, and geographic location within the state--to ensure that their districts represented a range of contextual factors. In this brief, they share insights from the six case study districts, emphasizing California's innovative practices and notable challenges.

There is broad consensus that high-quality environments for young children depend on teachers who are skilled at nurturing their development and learning, yet low pay and inadequate working conditions routinely hamper teachers in their efforts to apply their skills and knowledge. This condition exists among teachers in early education as well as K-12 classrooms, fueling the ubiquitous challenge of recruiting and retaining a skilled teaching workforce across the age spectrum. This report presents the findings from the 2019 Marin County SEQUAL study and shares the perspectives of teaching staff in licensed child care centers throughout the county, including centers that participate in one or both of Marin County's quality improvement initiatives (Marin Quality Counts and the ECE Quality Improvement Project) as well as centers that do not participate in either initiative. Following a description of the study design, this report will explore major findings drawn from teaching staff responses. The report is divided into three sections: (1) Study Design shares a study overview, the goals guiding the study, a profile of the survey respondents, and a guide to the findings; (2) Findings outlines teaching staff responses to items in each of the five SEQUAL domains, including an analysis of how responses varied by site characteristics; and (3) Appendices presents additional information on the study design, which includes survey instruments and analysis, characteristics of program leaders, and additional tables and figures. Marin County has made significant investments in and taken critical steps toward improving the quality of early care and education services. Notwithstanding the investment of resources and supports, the working conditions of teaching staff as captured in this study suggest further efforts are needed to support teacher practice and well-being necessary for quality services. Recommendations are made to support funders and policymakers in advancing county efforts to enhance its quality improvement systems and address work environment conditions. [Funding for this report was provided by First 5 Marin, Marin Child Care Council, Marin Child Care Commission, Marin County Office of Education, and the Marin County Board of Supervisors.]

This paper provides information about noncredit instruction in the California Community Colleges and updates the 2009 paper "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" to incorporate subsequent changes from the last decade. Since the passage of SB 361 (Scott, 2006), noncredit instruction has seen significant changes, including the equalization of funding for some areas of noncredit instruction, the passage of the Adult Education Block Grant that created adult education consortia including K-12 and community college adult education providers, and the passage of AB 705 (Irwin, 2017) that specifically encouraged colleges to use noncredit courses to support the needs of credit students. Despite noncredit's long history in the community colleges, a limited number of robust noncredit programs currently exist, and many colleges may be looking to or are beginning to offer noncredit courses for the first time. This paper is intended to provide information about noncredit instruction that will be useful to individuals with varying backgrounds and experience with noncredit and to provide recommendations that will help noncredit continue to serve the needs of diverse student populations. [For the original paper, "Noncredit Instruction: Opportunity and Challenge" (adopted spring 2009), see ED510579.]

Evaluating a school system requires benchmarks of success. In order to know whether it is successful we need to know not only what is happening, but what should be happening. This paper interprets, and comments on, the aims California has for its public school system, and offers ways of thinking about the evidence in the light of those aims, and about how to set goals over the coming decade. California's constitution, adopted in 1879, requires that the state provide a system of public education for the purpose of the "general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence" and explicitly mentions the promotion of "intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement." The constitutional text does not provide much detail about the content or distribution of education. These important aims are fleshed out in California law. This paper examines how California defines what students will learn and the aims for how that learning will be distributed. The authors analyze the official state curricular standards to understand the state's aims for learning, and they examine aspirational statements as well as the financing system for underlying assumptions about goals for the distribution of learning. They continue by observing that the metrics used to measure the effects of the education system are highly imperfect, but should not be discarded. In conclusion they explore how the State could devise a set of goals that it would be reasonable to hold itself to over the coming decade, in the light of the evidence about where the facts stand today.

The California Community Colleges, through the Economic and Workforce Development Program (EWD), is an incubator of educational and workforce development that collaborates with industry to develop and deliver cutting-edge career and technical education (CTE) skills training. Guiding the work taking place at the regional and state levels is the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Plan, which provides strategies to develop multi-agency metrics and create a cross-agency data system that fosters regional collaboration and alignment of workforce and educational systems. In 2016-17, EWD awarded $29.2 million to fund 85 grants statewide, compared with $24.8 million in 2015-16 for 95 grants. These initiatives strengthened regional collaboration and supported alignment between career and technical programs at the community colleges and the needs of industry sectors. This report describes efforts to align with the Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework, a four-pronged strategic approach to close California's skills gap. It highlights California's efforts to build a strong workforce through its seven macroeconomic regions via: (1) Student Success; (2) Career pathways; (3) Workforce data and outcomes; (4) Curriculum; (5) CTE faculty; (6) Regional coordination; and (7) Funding. [For the 2017 Annual Report, see ED586210.]

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This brief, the sixth in a series highlighting findings from the "Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program," summarizes what researchers have learned across the study about the impact of TK on students' school readiness skills, whether impacts vary for different student groups, whether those impacts are sustained, and which TK classroom characteristics are most supportive of positive outcomes. [For the full report, see ED609085.]

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This final report from the program's evaluation focuses on results from a five-year study. The study used a rigorous regression discontinuity design to examine whether TK, as a new approach to prekindergarten education for age-eligible students, leads to positive outcomes, for which students, and under what conditions. The findings are based on direct assessments of over 6,000 kindergarteners in California in the fall and spring of the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years, surveys of their teachers, and statewide data on students' English language proficiency. Key findings include: (1) TK gives students an advantage at kindergarten entry on a range of literacy and mathematics skills; (2) TK is effective for all groups of students who participated; (3) TK has no detectable impact on students' executive function or incidence of problem behaviors at kindergarten entry; (4) Impacts of TK are smaller at the end of kindergarten, though TK students continue to have an advantage over non-TK students on letter and word identification skills; and (5) There was little variation in the impact of TK by classroom or instructional characteristics. [For the research brief, see ED609086.]

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 revised the cutoff date by which children must turn five for kindergarten entry in that year and established transitional kindergarten (TK), defined as the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for all students affected by the birthdate eligibility change. Since it has been implemented across the state, TK has been shown to significantly improve kindergarten readiness for California's students. But what benefits do students who might need a little extra support--such as English learner (EL) students--experience? Understanding the impact of TK on the 33 percent of California kindergartners who do not speak, read, write, or understand English well as a result of English not being their home language is critical to evaluating the success of the program. This brief, the fifth in a series highlighting findings from the "Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program," summarizes what we have learned about the impact of TK on EL students' school readiness skills, including mathematics skills, language and literacy skills, and English proficiency. Results demonstrated that TK has an impact on EL students' mathematics skills, language and literacy skills, and English proficiency. EL students who attend TK enjoy a particularly strong advantage over their non-TK EL peers on English proficiency. Because of this, TK may play an important role in improving academic outcomes for English learners, as students who start school with stronger academic skills tend to do better over time. Still, further examination of the potential advantages of TK participation on academic and social-emotional skills as well as English proficiency in later academic years--and the context for supporting continued growth--is needed. [For "Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program: Report on the First Year of Implementation," see ED609102.]

The California Community Colleges, through the Economic and Workforce Development Program (EWD), is an incubator of educational and workforce innovation that results in a growing economy for California. The system collaborates with industry to develop and deliver cutting-edge career and technical education (CTE) skills training so Californians can earn well-paying jobs with employers that need them. In 2015-16, EWD awarded $24.8 million to initiatives to fund 95 grants statewide, compared with the $22.9 million in 2014-15. These initiatives strengthened regional collaboration and supported alignment between career and technical programs at the community colleges and the needs of industry sectors. Ten industry sectors received priority based on current and emerging labor market needs and opportunities to prepare students to compete in a global economy. This annual report highlights California's efforts to build a strong workforce through its seven macroeconomic regions: (1) Student Success; (2) Career pathways; (3) Workforce data and outcomes; (4) Curriculum; (5) CTE faculty; (6) Regional coordination; and (7) Funding. [For the 2016 Annual Report, see ED572256.]

The PPIC Statewide Survey delivers nonpartisan, objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. PPIC invites input, comments, and suggestions from policy and public opinion experts and from its own advisory committee, but survey methods, questions, and content are determined solely by the PPIC survey team. The PPIC Statewide Survey relies on a rigorous survey methodology and is a charter member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative. The survey is conducted regularly throughout the year in the key areas of government, the environment, K-12 education, and higher education. Key findings from the current survey include: (1) More than eight in ten Californians think K-12 students are falling behind academically during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) Most Californians approve of Governor Newsom's handling of the K-12 education system; most also approve of the way he is handling school reopening; (3) Most say that the state's public schools should be at least partially open now, and six in ten are concerned that schools will not be open for full-time in-person instruction this fall; and (4) Majorities say their local public schools do an excellent or good job of preparing students for college and for the workforce, but four in ten parents would opt for private school if cost and location were not at issue. [For the accompanying survey methodology report, see ED618123.]

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This fifth short report in a series highlighting findings from the Study of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program focuses on what we have learned about the structure, teachers, and instruction in TK classrooms in the 2014-15 school year. The findings are based on a survey of 200 TK teachers and 184 classroom observations in 20 school districts conducted in spring 2015. Three years into the implementation of transitional kindergarten, we examine the characteristics of TK programs across the state--the structure of TK classrooms, characteristics of teachers, and the content and organization of classroom instruction. The surveys of TK teachers and observations of their classrooms conducted in spring 2015 provide a snapshot of how TK was being implemented in the third year of statewide rollout of the program. Key findings: (1) The majority of TK classrooms provided a structure that may be conducive to supporting student readiness for kindergarten; (2) The average TK classroom was smaller than kindergarten classrooms, but the ratio of teachers to students was lower than is required for State Preschool; (3) Standalone TK classrooms provide a more balanced curriculum and a more developmentally appropriate experience for TK students than TK/K combination classrooms; (4) Teachers in both standalone TK and TK/K combination classrooms demonstrated moderately high quality interactions in terms of emotional support and classroom organization; and (5) Districts could provide TK teachers more guidance on how to promote children's thinking and problem solving, use feedback to deepen understanding, and help children develop more complex language skills. [For "Impact of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program, 2013-14," see ED563818.]

Across the country, districts are choosing to #GoOpen and transitioning to the use of openly licensed educational resources to improve student learning in their schools. Openly licensed educational resources enable districts to reallocate significant funds currently spent on inflexible, static learning materials to resources and activities that accelerate the transition to digital learning. These include implementing new professional learning programs for teachers, developing a robust technology infrastructure to support digital learning, and funding new leadership roles for educators who curate and create openly licensed educational materials. The #GoOpen District Launch Packet is designed for districts that have decided to implement a systematic approach to incorporating openly licensed educational resources into their curriculum by becoming a #GoOpen District. An appendix provides additional #GoOpen resources. [This plan was developed under the guidance of Joseph South, Katrina Stevens, Andrew Marcinek, and Kristina Peters of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology (OET.) Within the OET, technical assistance was provided by James Collins, Joan Lee, Tara Lifland, James Harnett, and Sara Trettin. Valuable support was provided by Layla Bonnot, Bob Boyd, Kristin Brynteson, Heather Callihan, Erin English, Sara Ewing, Tim Farquer, Christine Fox, Peter Leida, Matt Miller, Curtis Mould, Sean Nash, Angelique Nedved, Mark Officer, Susan Sudberry, Jeanette Westfall.]

Early childhood teachers routinely face insufficient teaching supports and inadequate rewards for their education and commitment (e.g., low pay, lack of professional supports, and lack of benefits). These shortcomings contribute to poor program quality and fuel high levels of teacher turnover, preventing program improvement and making it increasingly challenging to attract well-trained and educated teachers to work in early learning programs. To facilitate the process of bringing teachers' voices into quality improvement strategies, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) developed Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning, or SEQUAL, as a tool to document contextual information about workplace conditions that impact teacher practice and program quality and to build a vocabulary for the field around teachers' needs for workplace supports. It is a multi-purpose, validated tool that addresses five critical areas of teachers' learning environments: (1) Teaching supports; (2) Learning opportunities; (3) Policies and practices that support teaching staff's initiative and teamwork; (4) Adult well-being; and (5) How supervisors and program leaders interact with staff to support their teaching practice. SEQUAL has been used by Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) administrators and policymakers to understand the interplay between teacher education and the work environment, the relationship between teachers' work environments and indicators of quality, and as a technical assistance tool, to guide improvements to program policies, practices, and conditions necessary to support teachers' work with children. This report presents the findings from the SEQUAL study focused on teaching staff employed in programs participating in Quality Counts in the spring of 2016. Almost all of the programs represented in this report were contracted with the California Department of Education or Head Start to provide services, and accordingly are held to more rigorous standards than other licensed non-contracted programs in the county. This report, describes the design of the study, including information about the sample, the survey instrument, and the data collection and analysis procedures. The report next presents findings beginning with teaching staff responses to items in each of the five SEQUAL domains, including an analysis of how responses varied by site characteristics and quality ratings. The next section provides a detailed description of the personal and work characteristics of teaching staff and explores whether teaching staff assessments of their work environment varied with respect to these characteristics. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and recommendations for action targeted towards funders and policymakers.

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2019 via RAND's American Educator Panels. The AIRS focused on instructional resources used and supported in English language arts, mathematics, and science K-12 classrooms across the United States. Follow up RAND reports will provide key findings and recommendations to inform policy and practice related to use of instructional resources.