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. 5: Why state schools chief is important
A recent Associated Press article looking at the two candidates for the state's Superintendent of Public Instruction discussed what the new schools chief will face.
Next month, California voters will chose a replacement for Jack O'Connell. The choices are between Tom Torlakson, a high school teacher and coach-turned-politician, and Larry Aceves, a former superintendent.
Whoever is chosen, the new superintendent will have the unenviable job of leading the state's Department of Education amid deep budget cuts. These have come in various incarnations--as campus closures, increased class sizes, more crowded classrooms, lack of programs and laid off teachers.
The budget crisis has not helped the state.
California, which once had one of the country's best public school systems, now ranks at or near the bottom on numerous measures of academic achievement and school funding, according to a recent report by the Institute for Democracy, Education and Access at the University of California, Los Angeles.
-From AP story
Sept. 27: Edutopia spotlights Linked Learning research
Linked Learning, an area of research at UCLA IDEA, was highlighted for is ability to create engaged students and civic participants.
In Edutopia.org's "Schools That Work" section, blueprints and ideas of successful schools are shared. Marisa Saunders, senior research associate heading IDEA's research on Linked Learning looking at 10 case studies across the state, wrote about the current research supporting the integration of career and college-preparatory education.
"Preliminary findings are consistent with the optimistic evaluations of career academies," said Saunders in Linking Learning to Life: A High School Transformation Effort,co-written with graduate-student researcher Erica Hamilton.
"A current study of 10 Linked Learning programs in California, for example, has so far found that students in these programs have dramatically lower dropout rates and slightly higher graduation rates, than the state as a whole, and are more likely to graduate with the courses required for admission to California's public universities."
To read the full article, visit the "Research Roundup" on the Career and Technical Education section.
Sept. 28: Court ruling first step; policy needed to ensure quality teachers
UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers comments on next steps to ensure high-quality teachers at low-income schools
Sept. 21: Long trace for lack of diversity at UC
The University of California system does not reflect the diversity of the state, despite efforts to promote diversity among the students, faculty and staff, according to a recent report.
Reported in an article for the Daily Californian, Berkeley's publication, students from certain racial/ethnic backgrounds are still underrepresented across all nine UC campuses.
Latinos, who make up 34 percent of the state's population, only account for 14 percent of the undergraduate student body.
IDEA Director John Rogers said funding at the K-12 level plays a crucial role in the make-up of colleges and universities. The majority of the state's minority students attend chronically underfunded schools located in lower-income neighborhoods.
"The fact that those schools are so underfunded and unequal contributes to these broader problems of inequality," Rogers said.
Sept. 5: 'Who asked us'? Council of Youth Research work highlighted in ethnic media
IDEA associate director
IDEA associate director Ernest Morrell and Council of Youth Research students were interviewed about the importance of conducting their own educational research.
In a Sept. 5 article titled "WHO ASKED US: What's the Matter with CA schools? L.A. students poll their peers," students were interviewed during their trip to Sacramento, where they spoke to state leaders about California's public education system and resources.
"You could bring in an adult to do a two-day evaluation of a school and come up with some conclusion... but if you [consult] a student who actually attends the school, that student deals with the school every day, so he or she is an expert at knowing what their peers need," Locke student Dimitri Meighan, 16, told New America Media.
The Council participated in a five-week summer seminar that culminated in a presentation of their research at Los Angeles City Hall last month. Their exploration focused on the state of California's public education 10 years after the filing of Willams v. California, a class-action lawsuit that highlighted the inequitable distribution of resources among public schools, especially in low-income neighborhoods.
Check out our website for more information on CYR students' work and presentations.
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