The path to opportunity starts with a high-quality education.
We’re identifying state policies and building coalitions of support that put all of California’s children on the right path forward.
The Challenge
Two Unequal Californias
Changing policy changes lives. A high-quality education can lead to future opportunities for children to attend college, attain a rewarding career, and have a better chance at a safe, secure, healthy, and fulfilling life.
The unfortunate reality, however, is that ZIP code and income still define educational opportunity in California. This perpetuates deep inequities in our current education system for the over 3.5 million students from low-income communities in California.
On every meaningful measure of performance and readiness, children from low-income communities–who are disproportionately Black and Latino–fare far worse than their higher-income peers.
This is not a matter of ability, it’s a matter of access to early education, quality teachers, rigorous courses, early literacy and numeracy support, and supplemental supports–including enrichment activities, afterschool programs, and technology–as well as greater stability of their basic needs such as food, safety, and shelter.
As the 4th largest economy in the world, it is unacceptable that California isn’t prioritizing scalable solutions and adequate resources to solve this educational crisis.
This is not only an educational equity issue–it is a social, racial, and economic justice issue.
California’s Current State of Educational Inequities
Overall State ELA Proficiency Rates
Overall State Math Proficiency Rates
College-Ready Rates Upon HS Graduation
61% of Students are from Low-Income Communities
*% MEETING STATE STANDARDS BASED ON 2022-23 CALIFORNIA CAASPP SCORES; % GRADUATING COLLEGE READY IS THE FOUR-YEAR COHORT GRADUATION RATE OF STUDENTS MEETING THE UC/CSU REQUIREMENTS
The Solution
Reshape Public Education Through Policy Change
The only way to transform our public education system at scale is if elected leaders make a number of changes, big and small, to state education policy in California. This is because key decisions around school funding, curriculum, credentialing, staffing, school structure, accountability, and more are all made at this level. With proper implementation and accountability, policy paves a long-lasting path to education equity.
At EdVoice Institute, we focus on lifting up policies, practices, and ideas that will produce the systemic changes needed for a public education system that supports everyone by:
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Bringing together a broad coalition of advocates, policy experts, and California families dedicated to education equity. We lean on our collective expertise and resources to identify recommendations–grounded in our long-term policy agenda–that will have the greatest impact on lifting up academic successes for students from low-income communities.
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Sharing state education policy and practice recommendations with our sister 501(c)(4) organization, EdVoice, so that they may advocate and lobby for transformative change during each legislative cycle.
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Focusing on the implementation and accountability of new policies, together with our partners, to ensure they are having the intended effect in classrooms. If they are not, we follow up with the Governor’s team and Department of Education to share our findings. And, if need be, we will use litigation to ensure proper implementation.
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Learning from monitoring the implementation process and outcomes, and continuing to refine our long-term policy agenda and legislative recommendations based on our findings.
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