History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
The Latest from IDEA
A newsfeed on the most current research, news, and events at IDEA.
Oct. 4: Book Talk on community organizing
Join UCLA IDEA Tuesday, Oct. 4 for a discussion with authors of A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform.
Harvard Graduate School of Education professors Mark R. Warren and Karen L. Mapp, and doctoral student Soojin Oh will be on-hand to discuss the book and their work in the national research study.
A Match on Dry Grass suggests that community organizing is a promising approach to school reform as part of a broader agenda to build power for low-income communities and address the profound social inequalities that affect the education of children. Based on a comprehensive national study, the book presents rich and compelling case studies of prominent organizing efforts in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Denver, San Jose, and the Mississippi Delta.
BOOK TALK
DATE: Tuesday, Oct. 4
TIME: 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
LOCATION: UCLA Moore Hall Reading Room, 3340 Moore
MORE: For more information on the national study, visit www.matchondrygrass.org and to purchase the book, visit Oxford University Press page.
Sept. 30: CPER PowerPoint Presentation
UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers gave a presentation Sept. 30 to a statewide CPER convening in South Los Angeles.
Rogers was part of panel outlining the landscape of California. Other presenters included Scott Graves with the California Budget Project, Sabrina Smith with California Calls and Roberta Furger of Pico California.
Analyzing the most up-to-date data, his presentation detailed how California schools have fared in the last three years, and how the state compares to the rest of the nation. Also available here is the presentation made by California Budget Project's Graves, who detailed how California's budget reflects the state's priorities. In particular, Graves noted that support for k-12 and community colleges will be $6.8 billion lower in 2011-12 than it was in 2007-08.
CPER-CA (Communities for Public Education Reform) is a funders' collaborative promoting advocacy and organizing for quality education.
Download the PowerPoints by clicking on the title slides up top.
Sept. 26: Discussion lacks in Education Nation piece on Parent Trigger
Education Nation, NBC's initiative to discuss education issues, looked at California's Parent Trigger law Monday night. The law would institute radical changes (including school closures or charter conversion) to a handful of underperforming schools if 51 percent of parents or families voted for it.
California was the first state to enact this legislation, but two others have moved ahead with similar laws and many more are considering it. Last year, parents at Compton's McKinley Elementary were the first to put it to the test, petitioning for a charter school. It is currently tied up in legal battles.
IDEA Director John Rogers was interviewed for the piece. Though the Parent Trigger allows parents to express their frustrations, he said, there are no assurances within the law for parents to be meaningfully involved after a shake-up. His aired comments (at 2 minute-mark) do not reflect the full dialogue surrounding Parent Trigger and the concerns it raises.
We invite you to read our Sept. 16 Themes in the News about Parent Trigger and the difference between "Mobilizing and Organizing for Better Schools."
Another good read:
"Trigger Laws: Does signing a petition give parents a voice?" - Rethinking Schools, Fall 2011
Aug. 26: Latest numbers on students in higher education conceal larger issues
The number of 18- to 24-year-olds attending college reached an all-time high 12.2 million in October 2010, according to a recently released Pew Hispanic Center report evaluating census data.
The largest growth came from the Latino population, which grew by 349,000 students or 24 percent. During the same period, young black students grew by 88,000 and Asian Americans by 43,000. The white student population, however, decreased by 320,000.
UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers said there were many factors that can contribute to the increase in student population, including an acknowledgement among Latino families of the importance of a higher education.
UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers warned that the new numbers may not paint a completely rosy picture.
The economy has played an important role, Rogers said during an interview with La Opinión. As more people find themselves jobless, going back to school for more preparation or for career changes has become an alternative.
"And so, part of the increase in those numbers is due to the fact that people who were part of the labor market are now unemployed," he said.
Though experts laud the increase in students of higher education, they caution that the more important data are the numbers of students who graduate with degrees or transfer to four-year colleges and universities.
In that respect, Latino students lag behind their counterparts, the article mentioned.
MORE: Récord de latinos en nivel superior (link in Spanish)
Aug. 23: Charter discussion on Which Way, LA?
The California Charter Schools Association received a $15-million gift Tuesday from the Walton Family Foundation to increase the number of charter students statewide by 100,000.
Los Angeles, which already has more charters and charter-school students than other districts nationwide, will see a big impact from this grant, increasing its charter student population by 20,000.
John Rogers, IDEA director, and Jed Wallace, president and CEO of the charter school association, joined KCRW's Which Way, LA? Tuesday night to discuss the grant and its possible impacts for students, particularly in the Los Angeles area.
The grant is the largest ever received by the California Charter Schools Association, but it comes at a time when the state has reduced funding to public schools. Also discussed were the implications that this move could undermine unions. Charters have more flexibility than school districts in running schools, and they aren't required to abide by labor contracts, though some do hire unionized teachers. Walmart has opposed unions for its employees.
"This matters because many of these school workers in traditional public schools are also parents of public school students," Rogers said. "You want to create healthy communities in which families are able to support their children. When we don't employ workers and provide them with what they need, we can't do that."
Rogers also said that the grant could also negatively affect public school students because it has the potential to divert attention from the real economic problem in the state, "which is to invest in public schools at a level that allows them to be successful for all the young people that are there."
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