What We Do - EdVoice Institute

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About EdVoice Institute

The EdVoice Institute for Research and Education (EdVoice Institute) was created in 2006 as a sister organization to EdVoice, a 501(c)(4) established in 2000 by a group of educational philanthropists.

Our purpose is to ensure that low-income students receive a high-quality education that prepares them for college, career, and life.

To do so, we leverage our deep expertise in education–along with our more than 20 partner organizations–to provide EdVoice, state legislators, school leaders, and the general public with evidence-based policy recommendations grounded in our comprehensive policy agenda.

EdVoice uses these recommendations to prioritize advocacy actions including direct lobbying efforts, communication campaigns, and grassroots organizing to influence the passage of legislation in the identified policy areas. They prioritize engagement with policy recommendations based on potential scale of impact for low-income students and political viability in the current legislative landscape.

Once policies are passed, we focus on the implementation and accountability of changes 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.

We know that redesigning education policies in California is complex and resource intensive. Advancing policy will require persistence, collaboration, expertise, and–most of all–time.

While it may take several years to pass all of the policies outlined in EdVoice Institute’s agenda, our team plans to be around to see it through. We are committed to the cause because 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.

Our Coalitions

An important part of the EdVoice Institute model is participation in coalitions. These partnerships allow us to pool the diverse resources, expertise, influence, and communities of organizations across California to address the educational inequities faced by students from our state’s low-income communities.

EdVoice Institute is actively engaged in the following coalitions:

1. Alliance for Students Coalition: Organizations that advocate on behalf of students, parents, community members, and educators in California’s public schools. The coalition holds a common belief that all schools and districts must address long-standing inequities of opportunity and should offer every student an excellent education that prepares them for college, career, and civic life.

2. California Early Literacy Coalition: This diverse group of more than 25 advocacy organizations across the state uplift the need for evidence-based early literacy practices by educating key influencers, leading advocacy efforts, and monitoring implementation of early literacy policies.

3. Charting the Course to Equity Coalition: A powerful network of local and national organizations with a California presence that believe school leaders’ racial diversity and culturally responsive leadership skills are critical levers in creating successful schools.

4. LCFF Equity Coalition: Composed of civil rights, advocacy, community, parent, student, educator and other organizations that have worked diligently on passage and implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and its accountability system, both at the state and local levels. The coalition is committed to ensuring that the LCFF lives up to its equity promise to focus resources on helping California’s neediest students overcome the barriers they face in graduating college and career ready and accessing a more equitable school system.

5. Quality Teachers Coalition: In 2024, EdVoice Institute launched a coalition centered on staffing high-needs schools in California with quality teachers. The initial objective of the coalition is to develop and release a policy brief with statewide policy recommendations focused on teacher recruitment, preparation, selection, and retention. Over 20 organizations—ranging from local, state, and national organizations—have committed to contribute to the policy brief to address the need for significant policy changes to help all children, including children in high-needs schools, have access to quality teachers. This coalition includes issue experts to help create policy solutions and California-based advocacy groups to help build momentum and elevate the issue.