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.

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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:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Learning from monitoring the implementation process and outcomes, and continuing to refine our long-term policy agenda and legislative recommendations based on our findings.

Latest News


PACE News

PACE Attends EdVoice Breakout Session to Support Reading Literacy at Ethnic Media Conference

Founder and CEO of the Parent Action Coalition for Education (PACE), Gloria Zuurveen, reflects on her participation in a panel hosted by EdVoice Institute at the California Ethnic Media Conference in August. The panel, "From Classroom to Capitol: Harnessing the Power of the Media to Influence Education Policy for Black and Latino Students," featured representation from a diverse array of organizations all focused on improving the literacy rates of California's most vulnerable students and focused on how advocacy groups and media outlets can partner to raise awareness, rally grassroots advocates, and ultimately reform state-level education policy to better meet the needs of all students.




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