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
Report: CA Public Schools ‘Failing’ Students
Public News Service - November 9, 2007
By Lori Abbott and Kevin Clay
Los Angeles, CA – California’s public schools are failing to make the grade when it comes to closing the racial achievement gap, with Latino and African-American students lagging behind their white and Asian peers. That’s the finding of a new study from UCLA that says schools are failing to provide students with equal opportunities and resources, and then penalizing them when they fail.
Problems cited in the report include overcrowded classrooms, unchallenging coursework, and inadequately trained teachers. Jeannie Oakes is the co-director of UCLA’s IDEA, which performed the study.
“All high school graduates should have a certain sense of competencies, but we are very strong believers in the idea that public schools should be resourced and have conditions to make that achievement equally possible.”
Education advocates say something needs to be done. Tammy Johnson with Applied Research Center says this has been a problem for decades in California.
“It’s actually quite unfortunate that we had to wait until 2007 for that to be publicly acknowledged by our elected officials, because we’re losing generations of children because of the state of the system.”
The report also found the class of 2006 had suffered the most. The number of high school dropouts increased dramatically in 2006, the first year the California High School Exit Exam became a requirement for graduation.
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