Creators of the SAT exam announced plans Wednesday to toughen the test in the face of stagnant national scores, planning to challenge students to provide more analysis, cite evidence and even turn in their calculators before answering some math questions. The new version will be first administered in 2016.

“It is time for an admissions assessment that makes it clear that the road to success is not last-minute tricks or cramming but the challenging learning students do every day,” said David Coleman, president of the non-profit College Board, which produces the SAT, originally known as the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Skeptics questioned whether a new format will be any more successful than previous efforts to use the standardized test in a campaign for college access, in part because the test’s scores historically have correlated with family income. They also point out that the 88-year-old SAT in recent years has slipped behind the rival ACT — a shorter exam with an optional essay — in total student customers.

Through the revisions, the College Board aims to strip many of the tricks out of a test now taken by more than 1.5 million students in each year’s graduating high school class. The College Board also pledged to offer new test-preparation tutorials for free online, enabling students to bypass pricey SAT-prep classes previously available mostly to affluent families looking to give their children an edge.

But in the redesign will be “SAT words” that have long prompted anxious students to cram with flashcards, as the test will now focus on vocabulary words that are widely used in college and career. The College Board hasn’t yet cited examples of words deemed too obscure, but “punctilious,” “phlegmatic” and “occlusion” are three tough ones in an official study guide.

Out, too, will be a much-reviled rule that deducts a quarter-point for each wrong answer to multiple-choice questions, deterring random guesses. Also gone: The 2400-point scale begun nine years ago with the debut of the required essay. The essay will become optional.

Back will be one of the iconic numbers of 20th-century America: The perfect SAT score, crystalline without a comma, returns to 1600.

Coleman, head of the College Board since fall 2012, previously was a key figure in the development of the new Common Core State Standards. Those standards, which set national expectations for what students should learn in math and English from kindergarten through 12th grade, have been fully adopted in 45 states and the District. Coleman’s vision for the SAT, with emphasis on analysis of texts from a range of disciplines as well as key math and language concepts, appears to echo the philosophy underlying the Common Core and could help the test track more closely with what students are learning in the nation’s classrooms.

Whether the College Board can break the link between test scores and economic class is the subject of much debate. Critics complained that too little time was given for essay revisions and that assignments did not reflect the level of analysis expected in college. Some college admissions officers also were lukewarm.

“As a predictor of student success, a 25-minute essay isn’t going to tell us a great deal,” said Stephen J. Handel, associate vice president of undergraduate admissions for the University of California.

And in recent years, more and more students were gravitating toward the rival ACT exam. The SAT has long been dominant on the West Coast, in the Northeast and in the Washington region. The ACT, launched in 1959 and overseen by an organization based in Iowa, attracts more students in the middle of the country and the South.

The two tests overlap in mission but diverge in style and content, with the ACT traditionally measuring achievement (including a science section) and the SAT measuring thinking skills. But the ACT has made inroads on the SAT’s turf, and many students now take both. In 2012, the ACT surpassed the SAT in the number of reported test-takers.

ACT President Jon L. Erickson said he was “a little underwhelmed” by the College Board’s announcement. “I appreciate and I’m glad they’re fixing their acknowledged flaws in their test,” he said.

Both exams also are facing challenges from the growing test-optional movement. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing lists about 800 colleges and universities that admit a substantial number of undergraduates without requiring them to submit SAT or ACT scores.

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State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Announces New Online Tools for Educators

SACRAMENTO—Educators across California, from those who work with the state’s youngest learners to those in high school classrooms, can use several free online professional development tools created by the California Department of Education (CDE), State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said today.

The CDE is continuing to develop these resources as the state asks its educators to re-emphasize college and career readiness for their students. A series of Professional Learning Modules (PLMs), for example, is designed to help teachers implement the Common Core State Standards. Each of the 13 modules focuses on a single subject, such as Getting Started with the California English Language Development Standards, which provides guidance to teachers so they can provide a world-class education for English learners. The PLMs were developed in collaboration with county offices of education, the state subject-matter projects, and WestEd and are available on the Brokers of Expertise Web site at no cost.

“We are working to support our teachers with professional learning as they work to support their students with lessons and activities that prepare them for the real world,” Torlakson said. “From the earliest years through graduation, California’s children and teachers deserve to have the tools they need to succeed.”

The modules were intended to be used by educators independently, in collaborative groups, or as a face-to-face presentation. For instance, the online professional learning resource for English Language Development (ELD) Standards offers self-guided or face-to-face training for educators in how to use the ELD standards in tandem with the Common Core State Standards. Other modules include CCSS Mathematics: K-8 Learning Progressions, CCSS: Literacy in Science, and also an Overview of the Common Core State Standards for California Educators.

Torlakson also unveiled a new Web-based professional development resource called the Early Childhood Educator Competencies Self-Assessment Toolkit (ECE CompSAT) to help hone the skills of early childhood teachers, aides, and directors of programs serving very young children.

“By investing in our children earlier in life, we reap the benefits of a better educated, more productive workforce, and a healthier state in the future,” Torlakson said. “We do that by also investing in early childhood educators to ensure they have the skills and the support they need to prepare our children for school.”

Early childhood educators can use the free ECE CompSAT to consider their everyday practices, examine what they can do, and what skills they should develop. The ECE CompSAT is an interactive Web site with 100 pages of information and nine hours of streaming video that viewers can use to assess their skills in multiple areas. The ECE CompSAT is based on a 2011 CDE publication found on the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies Web page.

The ECE CompSAT was a project of the Governor’s State Advisory Council for Early Learning and Care. This project was completed with the help of California State University-Fresno, WestEd, and the CDE’s Early Education and Support Division and Technology Services Division. It was also a component of CDE’s award of a federal Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge grant to develop and support systems to rate and improve early learning programs so parents can make the best choices for their children.

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(repost from EdSource)

The Local Control Funding Formula replaces California’s nearly half-century-old, state-controlled school finance system with one that promises more local control as well as greater transparency and fairness.

Under the old system, school districts received approximately two-thirds of their revenues as general-purpose funding based on complex historical formulas (known as “revenue limit” funds), and about one-third through nearly four dozen highly regulated “categorical programs,” such as for summer school, textbooks, staff development, gifted and talented students, and counselors for middle and high schools.

Under the new system, districts will receive a uniform base grant for every district, adjusted by grade level, plus additional funds for students with greater educational needs, defined as low-income, English learner and foster youth students. Districts will get an additional 20 percent of the base grant based on the numbers of these students enrolled in a district, and even more when they make up more than 55 percent of a district’s enrollment.

Welcome to EdSource’s guide to the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), along with news and information about California’s new K-12 finance system.

The EdSource section includes:

• A short video of why the formula is important
• A quick primer on the formula and accountability requirements: 10 frequently asked questions
• We also have a Spanish version of our primer here.
• A full explanation of how the formula works, when it will be phased in and how districts will be held accountable for spending decisions
• A tool that allows you to compare how much different school districts will get
• A timeline for implementation
• A short history of school finance reform in Calfornia
• Additional resources

Districts will have broad discretion over how to use the base grants. The funding law says that districts must expand or improve services for high-needs students in proportion to the additional funding that these students bring to the district. Temporary regulations that the State Board of Education passed in January 2014 tell districts how much money they must spend each year on high-needs students and when that money can be used to fund schoolwide and districtwide programs.

The transition to the new formula began in the 2013-14 school year. Full implementation of the new funding formula is projected to take eight years. The vast majority of school districts will receive more funding under the new formula after it is fully implemented. Most districts that would get less than under the old system will receive additional payments restoring their funding to 2007-08 levels, before the Great Recession led to substantial budget cuts. In 2013-14, no district will get less than it received from the state on a per pupil basis in the 2012-13 school year.

School districts will have more authority than before to decide how to spend their money. But they will also face new obligations to show that their spending improved student performance. Districts must adopt a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), after soliciting suggestions from teachers, parents and the community, and update it annually.

The plan must spell out the district’s goals for improving student outcomes according to eight priorities set by the state, and align spending to meet the goals. Districts that fail to meet their goals and improve student outcomes will receive assistance from county offices of education and through a new agency, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence. Districts that are persistently failing could be subject to state intervention or even a state takeover.

More information on the EdSource website on LCFF here.

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(Excerpt from the Campaign for College Opportunity)

Governor Brown has once again introduced a budget that includes significant increases for California’s public colleges and universities, proposing $1.1 billion over last year’s budget.  The Governor, however, is quite clear that new monies will come with expectations. Expectations that colleges and universities remain affordable, improve transfer, and reduce the time it takes to earn a degree or certificate.

“When Californians passed Proposition 30 in 2012, it was a statement of support for our public colleges and universities. It’s now up to us to be smart about those resources to ensure California gets the best return on its investment. Governor Brown’s budget which earmarks resources for student success does that,” said Michele Siqueiros, Executive Director of the Campaign for College Opportunity.

The big news for Community Colleges is $200 million to improve and expand student success programs and close opportunity gaps for underrepresented students. $100 million will go toward increasing orientation, assessment, placement, counseling and other education planning services. The other $100 million is to close gaps in access and achievement for underrepresented student groups. The Campaign’s recent reports on the State of Latinos and Blacks in California Higher Education document the huge need to improve success and close the huge attainment gaps that persist across our UC, CSU and community college campuses.

Arun Ramanathan, on behalf of The Education Trust—West, issued the following statement in response to Governor Brown’s January budget proposal:

“The Governor’s budget represents a renewed commitment to California’s future, its students and education system, while also learning from the difficult lessons of the last five years of budget crisis. We applaud the Governor for his investment of $10 billion in new spending for K-12 schools. We are also encouraged by his commitment to addressing the boom and bust budget cycles that have plagued California’s education system. The new influx in education funds will accelerate the implementation of Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), closing the gap toward full implementation by more than 28%. It will also raise the stakes for the implementation of the new model at the local level and the rules that will be passed by the State Board of Education on January 16^th  that will guide local district and community planning and spending decisions. As the Legislature considers the Governor’s proposal, it should also assess how to ensure that this funding is used effectively at the local level to close the opportunity and achievement gaps that impact low income students, students of color and English Learners. It should also consider whether the additional funding is sufficient to not only fully jump start LCFF implementation, but also the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).”

To read the governors budget in it’s entirety, go HERE.

Superintendent/Principal of Pleasant View Elementary School Dist Presents Instructional Rounds at California GEAR UP Leadership Institute

(Repost from AASA School Administrator Journal.)

Similar to physician training, this new model emphasizes collegial classroom observations, diagnosis and a plan of action

BY COLLEEN GILLARD

When Mark Odsather moved into the superintendency of the Pleasant View Elementary School District in California’s San Joaquin Valley four years ago with a mission to turn around one of the state’s most impoverished and low-achieving districts, his first visit was to the lower school’s kindergarten.

Watching the young pupils answer yes/no questions to the story the teacher had just read, he noted the group of mostly English language learners didn’t have much to say. And it wasn’t just the kindergarten class — none of the children in the school seemed to be talking in class.

Across the country in Connecticut, students in affluent Farmington’s high-achieving school district were struggling with a different problem — answering open-ended questions. “They couldn’t really explain the concepts or their thinking,” said Superintendent Kathy Greider.

And in Melbourne, Australia, when Katherine Henderson, director of schools in the Western Metropolitan Region, visited some of the region’s 150 schools to ask about their rock-bottom performance, she was told by teachers that she “didn’t understand,” that with such dire backgrounds of poverty, neglect and/or language troubles, “these kids just can’t learn.”

A Defensive Culture
Now, a few years later, the picture looks much improved in all three school districts. Despite different pedagogical problems in widely disparate settings, all three have been helped by an innovative and fast-growing program that improves teaching and learning by focusing on transforming the leadership culture among school and district educators.

Called instructional rounds, the approach is modeled after the training doctors receive in medical rounds. In hospitals, groups of doctors and residents visit patients to observe and collect and review data to diagnose and then recommend a plan of action. As a collegial model for communal growth and continuous self-improvement, the process serves doctors well — something the developer of instructional rounds, Richard Elmore of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, found inspiring and distinctively helpful for a profession famous for the isolation of its teachers.

Like the medical version, instructional rounds has groups of educators (central-office to building-level staff) visiting classrooms in each other’s schools to observe and take notes around a particular problem of practice. The group (or network, in rounds parlance) then analyzes the collected evidence to find meaningful patterns before suggesting remedial action.

Despite offering prescriptive help to the schools in question, the work’s overall ambition is to bring school improvement to scale districtwide. Key to this involves changing the often-defensive culture and professional practice of the network members themselves.

Rounds is designed to correct something Elmore describes as “a profession without a practice.” For historical reasons having to do with the way it evolved from one-room classrooms, teaching lacks the rigor of many disciplines.

“Rounds professionalizes the process of defining problems and problem solving,” says Stefanie Reinhorn, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education who works as a facilitator with school teams that come to Harvard to learn about instructional rounds. The highly technical steps in instructional rounds help “force professionals to act like professionals,” she adds, “through forcing conversation to focus laser-like on student learning.”

Observation and self-scrutiny can be hard and scary. “It takes courage,” says Reinhorn, a former instructional coach in the Boston Public Schools, “to bare your problems to your colleagues,” even if rounds protocols require observers to be objective and nonjudgmental. “Rounds really has nothing to do with teacher evaluation — something that is basically disconnected from actually learning about what is going wrong in the classroom.”

Instead, classroom observers concentrate on a predefined problem of practice (lack of rigor in the classroom, for example) in the core learning experience. This is what Elmore calls the “instructional core,” the actions of teacher and student in the presence of content.

Research shows that “educational leadership best succeeds as shared leadership that exploits the collective wisdom of the staff,” says Dennis Buzzelli, former superintendent in Tallmadge, Ohio, who works as a school improvement consultant and rounds facilitator in Akron. Instructional rounds, he adds, asks educators to talk about and establish a common understanding of what good teaching and learning look like.

A Rural Network
Rural districts don’t get a lot of outside attention in terms of school improvement efforts, says Odsather, who doubles as superintendent and principal of the 560-student, K-8 Pleasant View district in the farmlands of the California Central Valley. About 93 percent of the Pleasant View students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, and 80 percent are Hispanic with an equal number of English language learners. Turnover is so high that 80 percent of those who begin in kindergarten leave before 8th grade. Some neighborhoods are plagued by gang violence.

What really upset Odsather upon arrival in Pleasant View, though, was the quality of education students were receiving. “Rural schools are easily forgotten,” says the veteran educator, who came from an upscale Seattle suburb, Bellevue, Wash., and grew up alongside the children of Microsoft millionaires.

“The kids here are no different from the ones I was raised with — only they’re treated differently,” Odsather says. “Not much is expected of children of migrant farm workers.”

In casting about for improvement tools, he read the initial Harvard Education Press book on instructional rounds published in 2009. “When I started, my mind was just melting,” he says. “I was confused by how the concepts led to school improvement, but intrigued by the idea of identifying and calibrating what high-quality education might look like. I liked the idea of rigorous and collegial self-reflection. To reach for professionalism based on honesty and transparency really appealed to me.”

Odsather contacted peers across the region, mainly superintendents from districts with similar demographics, to form a six-district (five K-8, one K-12) network spread 200 miles across the San Joaquin Valley.

“The first thing we learned in trying to develop problems of practice was that we were too passive,” he explains. “We weren’t truly focusing on the things we valued, like raising expectations. Recognizing this was a huge help.” The superintendents began meeting three times a year before moving to monthly gatherings. Classroom observation visits in Odsather’s district focused on why the young students weren’t talking. What the leaders learned was the classrooms lacked opportunities for conversation.

The Next Level
What to do about it — or developing the next level of work, in rounds terminology — was more challenging. Pleasant View ran training for the leadership team on addressing the deficiencies in instruction. But deeply embedded institutional practices are difficult to change. “I’ll be honest,” Odsather concedes, “I had staff leave rather than change how they ran their classrooms.”

Adds Reinhorn, the facilitator at Harvard: “Fixing is often more an issue than investigating the problem. This is when lateral accountability within networks becomes important.” In this regard, Odsather’s fellow superintendents offered critical help with advice and feedback.

Odsather worked with his small staff to create norms and strategic structures around project-based lesson planning. The aim was to stimulate student conversations, leading to higher levels of critical thinking.

“One of our first staff conversations was to talk frankly about our hopes and fears,” he says. “It turned out many worried about losing control of the classroom if the kids work in groups. But it turned out the kids were much happier with hands-on, group projects. Classroom management was less of a problem than before.”

In the revamped kindergartens, youngsters in groups of four took turns talking about story prompts. Meanwhile, 8th graders began discussing their work around rubrics that clarified standards of excellence.

Odsather met with his two schools’ leadership teams for two hours each week. More importantly, teachers’ schedules were upended to give them 45 minutes before class daily for joint lesson planning. In emphasizing structures to help realize change, faculty set norms to improve meeting efficiency with expectations for punctuality, productivity, transparency through peer observation and positive feedback. They then created their own teacher evaluation systems around ongoing improvement.

Now, three years into the process, Odsather claims the information collected during rounds and the networked adult learning has guided him in how to improve teacher skills and knowledge, while reorganizing the school day to empower teacher collaboration to better support teaching and learning in the classroom.

“Rounds has invigorated my staff to become owners of their craft — to find the tools to be successful in creating classrooms that encourage kids to solve problems, think critically and creatively, as well as communicate their ideas clearly and articulately,” says Odsather. “Our expectations have soared. We had a high gang population and graffiti problems when I arrived. Now, we no longer have the fights and discipline problems we once had. Teachers say we have given the kids their innocence back.”

Farmington Network
In its ninth year of instructional rounds, Farmington’s school district of 4,000 students and seven schools is a mature example of a district well into the application of instructional rounds.

Farmington began this work in response to discovering that while their high school students may have been acing college-entrance exams, they remained unable to explain their thinking. Assistant Superintendent Kim Wynne says these students, whom she calls “high-achieving, passive learners,” had great knowledge recall but failed at critical thinking.

When the district discovered Elmore’s newly developed theory of school improvement, Farmington moved forward with just one network, the District Leadership Council, composed of central-office staff, the school business manager and the district’s seven principals and assistant principals. Jointly, they visited classrooms in a different school every six to eight weeks.

But they quickly found changes to raise critical thinking skills would not be possible without reaching deeper into the classroom. So, the Farmington leadership expanded its networks to include teachers, with each school running its own network.

Enthusiastic teachers formed their own networks organized around core subjects, enlisting subject-area instructors at all schools (including the high school department chair) to meet in this subject-based, multigrade, vertical network twice a year. To create more independent learners in English language arts, the instructional rounds network examined whether providing writing scaffolds, graphic organizers and sentence starters made students overly dependent on teacher guidance, Superintendent Kathy Greider says.

At the high school, student representatives who were added to the network suggested the curriculum would be more interesting if it were made more relevant to their lives. “Today, we are seeing ownership of school improvement from students to (the) central office,” says Wynne, the assistant superintendent.

While raising achievement results is the ultimate goal, Farmington’s leaders say they evaluated their success in terms of improved student engagement. “This, we assess through noting [whether the students or the teachers are] asking questions in the classroom, as well as in the answers students have about what they are learning and why,” Greider says. “To our gratification, they increasingly have answers.”

During a debriefing session of instructional rounds in California’s Pleasant View Elementary School District, Superintendent Mark Odsather (center) explains how to use pieces of evidence to identify instructional patterns.

At the high school, student representatives who were added to the network suggested the curriculum would be more interesting if it were made more relevant to their lives. “Today, we are seeing ownership of school improvement from students to (the) central office,” says Wynne, the assistant superintendent.

While raising achievement results is the ultimate goal, Farmington’s leaders say they evaluated their success in terms of improved student engagement. “This, we assess through noting [whether the students or the teachers are] asking questions in the classroom, as well as in the answers students have about what they are learning and why,” Greider says. “To our gratification, they increasingly have answers.”

Victoria’s Surge
In the 77,000-student region she leads in Victoria on Australia’s southeastern coast, Katherine Henderson was tired of hearing accounts of teachers doubting the ability of students to learn. She set out to ensure every child would succeed.

It took five years, but by 2012, her region of considerable poverty and a large immigrant population moved from ranking last among the state’s nine regions on every measure of statewide testing to third. The upward change was so dramatic, the state Department of Education built a case study around the work.

“No school can improve without good leadership,” she says. “Sure, I could have dismissed all 150 principals and started over, but I had the tools with rounds to improve schools through improving the current leadership.”

After launching the work with Harvard’s Elmore on-site, she recruited as rounds facilitator Thomas Fowler-Finn, former superintendent in Cambridge, Mass., to provide ongoing guidance. They divided the region into seven networks of 16-22 schools each and began network training by dissecting current educational research to raise understanding of what good educational practice looks like.

“Early on, there was tremendous anxiety among staff over a sense of exposure, especially when principals were presented with irrefutable evidence about teaching and learning problems in their classrooms,” Henderson says. “We had colleagues who had socialized together but never discussed their mutual practice,” who suddenly were asked to move beyond camaraderie to brutally appraise each other’s and their own teaching practices.

The teachers learned they couldn’t assume any one of them had a professional knowledge base, Henderson adds. “But over time, as they began to trust the dedication of their colleagues to mutual improvement, they were better able to face the challenges.”

Henderson described it as fascinating work. “We had classrooms where teaching was excellent but which still weren’t succeeding because what really matters is what the children are saying and doing. We ended up with a coherent and shared focus across the region. It was very, very satisfying and exciting to bring people from very different professional levels and lift them up together.”

Summing Up
Odsather, the superintendent in his fourth year leading California’s Pleasant View schools, captures the instructional rounds experience this way: “I often think of Richard Elmore saying, ‘You hire people on their ability to learn, not on the basis of a resume.’ Now when I interview people, I ask about their greatest weaknesses as a teacher and what they’re doing about it. I’m really interested in their thoughts on how to improve their practice.”

Pleasant View Elementary is in year 3 of 6 as a California GEAR UP School. 

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MATHEMATICS DIAGNOSTIC TESTING PROJECT (MDTP) is an Intersegmental statewide project that develops, distributes, scores, and reports the results of tests that measure student readiness for mathematics courses ranging from Pre-Algebra to Calculus. Based at UC Sand Diego, the project helps California’s teachers better prepare students for further study in mathematics, identifies topics and skills needed for success in mathematics, and brings secondary, college, and university faculty together for cooperative discussions.

MDTP videos were produced to document how MDTP tests are used formatively in classrooms, departments, and schools through interviews with teachers, students, and administrators in their classrooms and offices. MDTP hopes these videos stimulate ideas among mathematics teachers and administrators about the role of formative assessment in their classrooms and schools.

Placing Students for Success asks administrators how they view and support MDTP use by their teachers. Typical questions were: How are MDTP tests different from other tests? Why do you support the use of MDTP at your school? How does MDTP help with new students? How has MDTP impacted pedagogy and teaching practices? How could a principal use MDTP results to open conversations with her or his teachers?

Sharing Strengths and Weaknesses asks teachers how they use MDTP diagnostic tests to coordinate and inform their efforts at a more collective level to shape mathematics teaching, assessment, support and intervention, and other policies. Typical questions were: What has been the impact of MDTP on your department? When teachers discuss MDTP test results, what do they talk about? How do teachers use MDTP to communicate with students and their parents?

Shifting Pedagogy and Focus asks teachers how they use MDTP diagnostic tests to inform and enhance their classroom teaching practices. Typical questions were: How has MDTP helped you in the classroom? What do you find particularly useful about MDTP? Once you receive your MDTP test results for your students, what are your next steps?

If you would like to learn more about MDTP and its diagnostic tests and written response materials and how it supports the Common Core State Standards and the Smarter Balanced assessments, please contact a local MDTP site director . She or he will be glad to follow up with you to answer your questions.

These videos have been prepared with the support of the California State University, the University of California, and the California Academic Partnership Program. Copyright 2012 The Regents of the University of California and The Trustees of the California State University.

For a contact list of the MDTP personnel near you, go here.

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December 5, 2013 | Press Release: Report Finds Black College Achievement in California Stagnant and Worsening

The Campaign for College Opportunity today released a report, the second in a new series of research reports The State of Blacks in Higher Education: The Persistent Opportunity Gap, detailing the lack of significant progress in Black higher education, the need for the state’s higher education system to work better for all students and the recommendations to address this gap. The report finds that young Blacks are less educated than previous generations, the gap between Blacks and Whites in California earning a bachelor’s degree or higher has only narrowed by one percentage point in the past decade, and first time Black freshmen and transfer students have the lowest completion rates at all three higher education systems in California – the CSU, UC and California Community Colleges. The state of educational attainment for Blacks in California raises questions about the way our higher education system is organized and whether it equally serves all groups.

California is home to the fifth largest number of Blacks in the nation. In the latest from its new series on the State of Higher Education in California, The Campaign for College Opportunity has found that gaps between Blacks and other ethnic groups in college-going and attainment have remained virtually unchanged for more than a decade, and in some cases, has worsened.

From the start, Black students have limited chances to enroll in college. With the lowest high school graduation rates, and the second-lowest rates of completing the required college preparatory curriculum for the state’s four-year universities, Black students face steep hurdles to reaching their college and career dreams, even though a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California found that more than half of Black respondents believe that a college education is “necessary for a person to be successful in today’s work world.”

The State of Blacks in Higher Education in California: The Persistent Opportunity Gap identifies the following key findings:

• Blacks are slightly overrepresented at California’s community colleges and private for-profit colleges, while being underrepresented at the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems.
• In 2012, more Black students in California were enrolled in private, for-profit colleges than in the CSU and UC combined. This trend is troubling because graduation rates range from very low to very high across for-profit colleges and students often incur significant debt to attend these schools.
• In the last decade, Black enrollment at CSU and UC has remained flat, underscoring the impact the elimination of affirmative action has had on Black students. Today, Black students experience the lowest admission rates to the UC of any racial/ethnic group. In fact, prior to the elimination of affirmative action, 75 percent of Black applicants to the UC were admitted in 1994 compared to 58 percent in 2010.
• Black students are the most likely to gain some college experience without earning a college degree.
• Across all three public sectors of higher education— the California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California—Blacks have the lowest completion rates for both first-time freshmen and transfer students.
• A smaller share of today’s California Black young adult population (25 to 34 years of age) holds postsecondary degrees than that of Blacks between the ages of 35 and 64.

Recomendations: 

1. Create a statewide plan for higher education

2. Expand college knowledge

3. Invest in services students need to succeed

4. Fund colleges for both enrollment and success

5. Strengthen financial support options for students

6. Encourage colleges and universities to reach out and re- enroll students who are close to completing a degree

The Campaign for College Opportunity is a broad-based, bipartisan coalition, including business, education and labor leaders that is dedicated to ensuring the next generation of Californians has the opportunity to go to college and succeed. The Campaign works to create an environment of change and lead the state toward effective policy solutions. It is focused upon substantially increasing the number of students attending two- and four-year colleges in California so that we can produce the one million additional college graduates that our state needs.

For more information, visit: www.collegecampaign.org.

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Chet Madison-Board Member, Felicia Bessent-Principal of Harris MS, Yuri Penermon-Principal of Rutter MS, Bill Del Bonta-Principal of Harriet Eddy MS, Richard Wal- Principalof Smedburg MS, Mike Anderson-Prinicpal of Jackman MS, and Tina Penna-Associate Superintendent. Director Shelley Davis and Project Manager Crystal Robinson.

On October 15, 2013 the Elk Grove Unified School District School Board recognized the long time partnership between the district and California GEAR UP with a presentation to Director Shelley Davis and Project Manager Crystal Robinson. Here is part of the text from the board resolution:

We continue to be honored to work with EGUSD in this amazing partnership that has endured since 1999. California GEAR UP looks forward to more success in creating a college-going culture throughout Elk Grove and the entire state of California. With partners like this we have no doubt we will succeed.

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 College Board presenters Douglas Waugh, David Jones, and Ana Galindo Shapiro.

This fall we were honored to have College Board, a California GEAR UP strategic partner, provide demonstration lessons at all of our Principal and Leadership Team events that took place across the state. These events focus on the use of our SSAR (school self assessment rubric) to look at school-wide perceptions and provides opportunities to learn about successes and challenges from other school teams. With the looming implementation of Common Core State Standards, schools have requested additional information and support, to which we responded with the College Board CCSS Demonstration Lesson.

One of the presenters, Ana Galindo Shapiro, was kind enough to sit down with us and talk about why she believes in this work so much.

How did you start working with schools and why are you passionate about it?

I started working with the College Board as an AP US History teacher. I remember attending my first AP Summer Institute, during which we participated in a Socratic Seminar using the Board’s recently revised Equity and Access Statement. I was working with students who broke the mold of what an AP student “looks like” for some. Many were English Learners, read below grade level, or were the first in their families to have their sights set on college- but they were so dedicated to challenging themselves. I knew that I was doing important work by believing in my students and supporting them through really rigorous learning experiences. I’m still passionate about that work today; I just have a different audience!

What do you think the most important thing teachers can be collaborating on right now to prepare for the implementation of common core and associated assessments?

I think teachers have an opportunity through the Common Core to teach students to think critically and creatively, something our state assessments have perhaps geared us away from in the past decade. It is really powerful to think that we’ll have assessments that actually honor students building solid arguments, explaining their reasoning, and focusing on depth over a breadth of topics is really exciting.

What was your experience in middle school like and how were you influenced to go to college?

I was an average student in middle school and high school. My father is an educator, and college was not really optional for me; it was a question of where to go (which was really exciting for both of us to explore). I didn’t really find my thrill of learning until college, when I think I was challenged for the first time. I loved being learning history in a historical place, surrounded by really curious young people.

 What do you think are some of the most important factors that will contribute to preparation for and student success in college?

I know that student peer influence is really strong for student success in college. Just like in middle and high school, it is really important for kids to feel connected to their peers and the adults around them. I’ve been reading a lot about growth mindsets and “grit” and how predictive they are to student success, more so than academic or socio-economic factors. That’s inspiring because these are things schools can help to cultivate in young people.

What are some of the most effective ways to create a college-going culture in our school community?

Young people need to “see” themselves going to college. Experiences like college trips, hosted by students who have similar backgrounds, or having tutors on campus that students can relate to is helpful. Adults need to also “see” their students as college bound. This goes beyond speaking it, it requires teachers to understand that there’s a lot of support and sometimes tough love that kids need to make it into and through college. Parents need to “see” their students heading to college by being exposed to college processes and encouraging their children to stick to it when things get difficult.

Tell us about some of the College Board initiatives you are most proud of.

I am most proud of SpringBoard, because ours is a program explicitly designed to support all teachers and students in getting ready for college.

When did you first start working with GEAR UP and why is the work important?

I first started working with GEAR UP as a high school principal. Two of our graduating cohorts were supported since 6^th grade with additional staff, materials, and experiences. All students should benefit from these additional resources, designed to put them on a solid path to college. Even though two classes had the direct benefit from GEAR UP, the entire school culture was shaped by work.

What is your favorite part of your job?

I love being able to work with educators across school, district, and state lines to learn from their challenges and insights.

 Anything else you would like to share with the GEAR UP Community?

I really enjoyed our time together and hope we’ll see each other again soon!

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