UCLA/IDEA: "Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011."

8/7/2019 UCLA/IDEA: "Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011."

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By: John Rogers, Melanie Bertrand, Rhoda Freelon, Sophie Fanelli

March 2011

Copyright 2011UCLAs Institute for Democracy, Education, and AccessUC All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity

To access this report online, please visit http://www.edopp.org

UCLA IDEA and UC/ACCORD

1041 Moore Hall, Box 951521, Los Angeles, CA 90095

phone: (310) 206-8725 fax: (310) 206-8770 email: [email protected]

Support for the California Educational Oportunity Report was provided by:The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Ford Foundation,

and the University of California.

Recommended Citation Format:

Rogers, J., Bertrand, M., Freelon, R., Fanelli, S. (2011). Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011.Los Angeles: UCLA IDEA, UC/ACCORD.

UC/ACCORD

Free FallEducational Opportunities in 2011


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AT A GLANCEFree Fall:Educational Opportunities in 2011

At a Glance presents core ndings from the 2011 Educational Opportunity Report. Below, the Roman numeral section numberscorrespond to the section numbers in the full report. Unless stated otherwise, the percentages refer to principals responses inthe survey.

I. OverviewFor several years, UCLAs Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access, in partnership with UC/ACCORD, has producedan annual report on the learning conditions and educational outcomes across California public schools. These reports havehighlighted Californias weak educational infrastructure and disparities across Californias communities. Now conditions havegotten worse. In 2011, California public schools struggle to provide all students with a quality education amidst economic crisisand deep cuts to education spending.

This years report examines falling educational opportunities in California public high schools and their consequences for studentlearning and progress to graduation and college. The report is based on a summer 2010 survey with a representative sample of277 high school principals about the effect of the budget cuts on learning opportunities.The principals represented 22% of allhigh school principals in California, and the survey was followed by 78 in-depth interviews with an equally representative sampleof these principals.

Core Findings from our Surveys and Interviews: California high schools are providing less time and attention and fewer quality programs. As a consequence, studentengagement, achievement, and progress to graduation and college are suffering;

School reform has all but sputtered to a halt due to staff cutbacks and the elimination of time for professional development; Even as high schools across the state are impacted by declining budgets, inequality is growing across and within schools; Californias high schools face growing demands from families experiencing economic crisis; these demands point to the inter-

relationship of Californias education and social welfare budgets.

II. The Class of 2009: Educational

Opportunities and Outcomes as

California Entered the RecessionThe class of 2009 entered 9th grade at a time of expandingeconomic opportunities, but graduated in a period of economicdecline. During the 2009 classs enrollment, Californias per-pupil expenditures were less than almost any other state, withthe near worst ratios of teachers and counselors to students.In 2008-09, the many California middle schools that servedmore than 90 % Latino, African American, and American Indianstudents were almost 10 times more likely than majority whiteand Asian schools to experience severe shortages of qualiedteachers.

III. The Study of California High

School PrincipalsOften, researchers and policy makers use the termopportunities as an abstract indicator of concreteconditions. For example, a states or a schools student-to-teacher ratio suggests typical or average circumstances. Suchindicators are useful for comparisons among groups and tocompare gains or declines over time. We surveyed principalsto gain this sort of indicator data, but also to gain and shareconcrete sensibilities of daily, real-world struggles that oftenare invisible beneath the numbers.

IV. Findings: The Impact of Budget

Cuts and the Economic Crisis on

California High Schools

Less Instructional Time 49% report reduced instructional days since 2008

32% report reduced after-school programming

65% report reduced or eliminated summer school

Steven Chavez, Orange County: Students [who cant attendsummer school] are going to not be able to make thecredits up and thats going to impact their eligibility tograduate.

Less Attention From Teachers and

Counselors 74% report increased class size, since 2008

50% report fewer counselors

66% of schools that had offered university or nonprot-

based college access programs had them reduced

Denise Garrison, Placer County: I think its very difcult for[students] to come and ask questions, come and ask for helpwhen they know the teachersjust have so much to do.


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Less Instructional Materials 63% report reduced access to calculators, measuring

instruments, and other key mathematical tools

Todd Lapitor, San Diego County: Yeah, basically we cantupgrade our computers. So we have a lot of dinosaurs overve years old. Its difcult because we use technology inall our classes.

Less Diverse and Engaging Curriculum 29% report fewer art or music classes 34% report cuts to social studies electives 60% of schools trying to develop engaging career and

technical programs report setbacks

Less Safe and Welcoming Environments 46% report cutbacks to security guards and other staff have

negatively impacted student safety on campus 67% report declines in the cleanliness and safety of

classrooms and the school grounds 45% of schools that had community liaisons report that

these staff had been cut 34% of schools that provided translation services report

cuts to these services

Less Capacity for Improvement 86% report that opportunities for teachers professional

growth and development had been reduced by budget cuts

78% report cuts to school reform and improvement efforts

Maritza Sandoval, San Bernardino County: [The loss ofprofessional development time means that teachers are]not going to be able to work together to the same degree

that they did before.

Growing Inequality One quarter of principals from high-wealth districts reported

cutting instructional days, compared with more than half ofprincipals from other districts

One quarter of principals from high-wealth districts reportedreductions to counseling staff; more than half of principalsin other districts reported such cuts

High-poverty (poorer) schools raised $1 from privatedonations for every $20 that low-poverty (wealthier) schoolsraised

Most low-poverty (wealthier) schools solicit donations orcharge families fees to pay for services that had previouslybeen covered by the schoolfor example, 54% requiredfees for arts and music and 53% required fees for eld trips,while only 9% of principals in high-poverty schools requiredfees for arts and music and only 26% required fees for eldtripsas they feel they cannot place this extra burden onfamilies

Lana George, Santa Clara County: I think because werebasic aid, and becausewe had a parcel tax, we haventseen the effects. I think this year well start to see theeffects.

Growing Needs 75% report that homelessness has increased among

students

82% report increased rates of residential mobility

56% report increased food insecurity among students

Kristin Hughes, Del Norte County: We see a lot more kidsthat are stressed out about it, theyre worried about losing

their homes, you know, kids are hungrier, theyre notmaking it to the end of the month with the salary that theirparents have, and so were seeing a lot more kids justin a state of struggle all the way around with their basicneeds. You know, thats going to impact their academics,becauselearning math today is not immediate whereaseating is.

Growing Pressures on Graduation andCollege-Going 78% report their belief that economic decline is responsible

for fewer graduating seniors moving on to four-year colleges

and universitiesHenry Gonzalez, Solano County: Its kind of sad. The kidshave done what they needed to do to go to a four-yearcollege but the economic situation of their families justmakes it so that theyre going to a junior college and thatsnot necessarily a bad thing. Its just sad that they took careof their business and theres just no way for them to go on toa four year.

A broader set of analyses of educational conditions andoutcomes, including reports on each California legislativedistrict and reports on each public high school and middle

school in the state, can be found online at:

www.edopp.org

1041 Moore Hall, Box 951521, Los Angeles, CA 90095phone: (310) 206-8725fax: (310) 206-8770email: [email protected]


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Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011

UCLA IDEA and UC/ACCORD 1

Free Fall:Educational Opportunities in 2011

I. Introduction

Like Martin Baker, many Caliornia public school principals are scroungingto fnd ways to provide their students with a quality education. With a mix ocommitment and desperation, they look or ways to support a system batteredover three years o economic and fscal crisis. Despite their creative andenergetic eorts, educational opportunities in Caliornia are alling.

The challenges acing Caliornia educators are not new, just worse. For severalyears, UCLA IDEA (in partnership with UC/ACCORD) has produced anannual report on learning conditions and educational outcomes across Caliorniapublic schools. Our analysis o publically available state and national data setshas ound that Caliornia lags behind most other states in key educationalresources (such as teachers and counselors), and that these resources aredistributed unevenly across Caliornias communities. As a consequence,Caliornia students have underperormed on many key measures o educational

achievement or several years.

As we reported last year, the great recession created new challenges orCaliornias weak educational inrastructure. Our 2010 report documentedthe extraordinary social welare needs o Caliornia students and their amiliesand the eorts o public schools to meet their educational goals while copingwith these growing needs. Drawing on interviews with K-12 principals, we alsoprovided the frst systematic evidence o the likely impact o budget cuts onlearning opportunities in Caliornia.

A year later, economic and fscal crisis has become Caliornias new reality. The

states unemployment rate has been in the double digits since January 2009and now is higher than anywhere else in the nation except Nevada. 2 Publiceducation expenditures, which decreased last year, ell even urther in 2010-11.3 Such sustained decline moves Caliornia into uncharted territory. How areCaliornia public schools coping with alling public investment in education(even as they ace additional demands rom students who lack housing andsufcient ood)? How have cuts aected the quality and distribution oeducational opportunities? What is the perceived eect o changing conditionson student engagement, learning, and progress to graduation and collegeenrollment?

In the last two years, because o the fscal crisis and budget cuts, I am down eightteachers. Im down six counselors. Im down 10 clerks. Ive lost all my security. And

I almost lost my nurse and my school psychologist. They gave us a new budgetingthing this year, and it allowed me to ex some things. It wasnt enough, though. Andso I drained the instructional materials account to zero zero to keep people working,who are getting exhausted.

Martin Baker, Principal,1 Los Angeles County High School


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UCLA IDEA and UC/ACCORD2

The 2011 Educational Opportunity Report draws on inormation gatheredrom Caliornia high school principals to address these questions. Wesurveyed 277 high school principals about learning conditions in their schools.Their schools reect the states diversity and collectively represent almost aquarter o Caliornias high schools. We also conducted ollow-up interviewswith a representative sample o 78 o these principals to explore the eects

o changing conditions on Caliornias students. The surveys and interviewsreveal that district fnances, school size, student demographics, and economiccircumstances in the surrounding community shape demands on Caliorniapublic schools and their capacity to respond. But the data also highlight theshared experience o high school principals struggling to realize their goalswith insufcient resources.

Principal Martin Baker, quoted above, has been honored or instructionalleadership leading to steady gains in student achievement. Baker leads a largeand diverse urban school in which three quarters o students are eligible orree or reduced priced lunch. He describes his teachers as intelligent, caring

hard-working people who do everything they can and even more than theirresources would even possibly allow them to.

Yet, with unemployment at over 14% in the neighborhoods surrounding Bakershigh school, many students come to school eeling the eects o the economiccrisis, and there is just so much that caring teachers in a well-led school can do.We have more homeless kids. We have more hungry kids. We have more poorkids. They try to provide students with ood and clothing, but there is not alot o resources or that.

Bakers school has a highly competitive debate team, but no unds or travel totournaments. The school has seen extraordinary increases in class size. Ourclassrooms are just packed. You got classrooms built in 1927 or 32 kidspacked in there with 43, 45, 47. Theyre sitting on top o each other. I goturniture or everybody, but that doesnt help. Its like Sardineville without theolive oil so everybody can ft. Baker believes that with less attention romteachers and counselors and ewer engaging programs, student achievement isalways going to suer.

Principal Baker ears that budget cuts will leave his most vulnerable studentsless likely to pursue college. He has tried, unsuccessully, to raise unds rom

the hard-strapped local community to re-employ a college counselor. Althoughthe ew middle class amilies in his school can access private counselors, moststudents will lack critical college guidance. When you starve the resourcesthat schools desperately need to help people who are poor and have no kind oacademic setup in their homes, i we cant provide extra things or them thatallow them to even believe or one second that they can make it into college,theyre not going to do it. Its not going to happen.


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High school principals rom across Caliornia echo Bakers concerns over theeects o ongoing budget inadequacies. Core fndings rom our surveys andinterviews include:

Caliornia high schools are providing lesstime and attention and ewerquality programs. As a consequence, student engagement, achievement and

progress to graduation and college are suering; School reorm has all but sputtered to a halt due to sta cutbacks and theelimination o time or proessional development;

Even as high schools across the state are impacted by declining budgets,inequality is growing across and within schools;

Caliornias high schools ace growingdemands rom amilies experiencingeconomic crisis, pointing to the inter-relationship o Caliornias educationand social welare budgets.

The remainder o this report is presented in our sections. First, we reporton Caliornias Class o 2009, the most recent cohort or which we have statedata. This section highlights the conditions and outcomes in Caliornia publicschools as the recession began. Second, we outline the research methods weused or our survey and ollow-up interviews. Third, we draw on data wegathered rom the principals to add context and deeper understanding to thecore fndings o the report. We conclude by looking to principals in our studyor insights into how Caliornia can best move orward.


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California African American Students

Class of 2009: Pathway to College

26

1216

52

66

73

83

100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

9thGrade

10thGrade

11thGrade

12thGrade

Grads2009

A-GGrads

CommunityCollege1st Year

CSU1st Year

UC1st Year

Percentageof9thgradeenrollment

Sources: California Basic Education Data System and California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC)

California Latino Students

Class of 2009: Pathway to College

26

1516

57

68

77

87

100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

9thGrade

10thGrade

11thGrade

12thGrade

Grads2009

A-GGrads

CommunityCollege1st Year

CSU1st Year

UC1st Year



II. The Class of 2009: Educational Opportunities and

Outcomes as California Entered the Recession

Caliornias Class o 2009 is the most recent cohort or which the state hasreported graduation and college enrollment fgures. Throughout its ouryears o high school, the class benefted rom growing per-pupil expenditures

or Caliornias public schools. In addition, legislation resulting rom thesettlement oWilliams v. Caliornia and CTA v. Schwarzeneggerdirected newresources to schools that previously had been underserved.4 Yet the Class o2009 was also shaped by changing conditions outside o schools. It entered9th grade at a time o expanding economic opportunities, but graduated in aperiod o economic decline. In September 2005, Caliornias unemploymentrate was 5.3%. Unemployment remained relatively low or the next two and ahal years. But the economy began to constrict in early 2008. Unemploymentthen grew dramatically until it reached 11.5% as the Class graduated in June2009.5

The Class o 2009 thus represents both the last group who did not experiencebudget cuts and the frst group who graduated amidst the recession. As we seein the Pathway to College chart, roughly two thirds o the original cohorts9th graders graduated in June 2009. About one quarter graduated havingsuccessully completed the A-G course sequence making them eligible orCaliornias public universities. In all o 2009, a little more than one in eightrom the original cohort enrolled in Caliornia State University or Universityo Caliornia campuses. These fgures represent the entire Class o 2009.

CaliforniaClass of 2009: Pathway to College

58

2026

67

7783

91

100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

9thGrade

10thGrade

11thGrade

12thGrade

Grads2009

A-GGrads

CommunityCollege1stYear

CSU1stYear

UC1stYear



Outcomes or Latino and Arican American students lagged substantially

behind their peers.

Perpupil

Expenditures

(Cost Adjusted) 2008

Source:2008 data rom: http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2011/16sos.h30.fnance.pd

Education Week, Quality Counts

State or

jurisdiction

CostAdjustedPer-pupil

Wyoming $17,114

Vermont 17,050

New Jersey 15,598

Alaska 15,424

New York 15,012

Rhode Island 14,310

Maine 14,087

D.C. 13,311

Connecticut 13,283

Montana 13,228

New Hampshire 12,840

Massachusetts 12,559

Nebraska 12,491

Hawaii 12,457

Pennsylvania 12,320

Maryland 12,239

Delaware 11,949

West Virginia 11,880Kansas 11,680

North Dakota 11,629

Louisiana 11,540

Wisconsin 11,370

Iowa 11,367

South Dakota 11,221

Ohio 10,795

New Mexico 10,593

Arkansas 10,541

Missouri 10,538

Alabama 10,496

Oregon 10,467

Minnesota 10,396

Michigan 10,318South Carolina 10,051

Illinois 10,030

Indiana 9,983

Georgia 9,897

Kentucky 9,893

Virginia 9,851

Florida 9,810

Colorado 9,541

Mississippi 9,498

Oklahoma 9137

California 8852

Washington 8722

Idaho 8633

Tennessee 8507Texas 8439

Arizona 8435

North Carolina 8261

Nevada 8228

Utah 6525


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The poor outcomes overall and the inequalitiesamongst dierent groups o students resultin part rom the inadequacy and inequality oeducational resources beore Caliornia imposeddeep cuts to its educational budget. Throughoutthe period that the Class o 2009 was enrolled in

high school, Caliornias per-pupil expenditureswere less than almost any other state.6 Accordingto Education Week, Caliornia spent $2371 lessor each student than the national average in2008.7 During this same time, Caliornia rankedlast or next to last o all states in the number ostudents served by each teacher and counselor.8

While Caliornias settlement o the Williamsand CTA lawsuits increased support orinrastructure and stafng in many Caliornia

schools serving high numbers o low-incomestudents and students o color, these changeswere only a partial response to prevailinginequalities. Conditions in schools receivingadditional unds did improve rom 2005 to2009, but the opportunity gap in Caliorniapersisted. In 2008-9, Caliornia middle schoolsserving more than 90% Latino, AricanAmerican, and American Indian students werealmost 10 times more likely than majoritywhite and Asian schools to experience severeshortages o qualifed teachers. Similarly,student demographics predicted shortageso appropriately trained college preparatoryteachers in high school and severe overcrowdingo school acilities. (A broader set o analyses oeducational conditions and outcomes, includingreports on each Caliornia legislative districtand reports on each public high school andmiddle school in the state, can be ound onlineat www.edopp.org.)

StudentCounselor

Ratio, 2008-09

Source:Common Core o Data (CCD), State NonfscalSurvey o Public Elementary/SecondaryEducation , 2008-09 v.1a

http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/

State or

Jurisdiction

Student-Counselor

Ratio

Wyoming 102.4

Vermont 109.1

D.C. 137.6

Hawaii 137.8Rhode Island 145.7

New York 161.3

Oklahoma 166.5

West Virginia 168.5

North Carolina 172.6

Arkansas 173.0

Kansas 178.8

Colorado 183.6

Louisiana 185.9

New Hampshire 186.1

Virginia 187.3

Idaho 194.2

Delaware 199.1

Texas 202.5Pennsylvania 205.1

Missouri 205.7

Maryland 206.6

Alaska 214.5

Georgia 220.0

Massachusetts 222.3

Maine 225.6

Indiana 226.1

Florida 229.3

Nevada 229.8

Nebraska 236.0

Wisconsin 242.3

Mississippi 245.4

Washington 245.9Utah 248.1

North Dakota 250.2

Connecticut 251.8

Ohio 260.2

Montana 261.8

Michigan 264.2

Iowa 282.5

Illinois 293.9

South Carolina 296.9

Kentucky 297.4

Minnesota 303.5

New Mexico 306.9

South Dakota 315.4

Tennessee 317.9

Alabama 318.1

New Jersey 337.0

Oregon 383.7

California 395.5

Arizona 398.5

State or

Jurisdiction

SecondaryStudent-Teacher

Ratio

Kansas 7.4

West Virginia 7.7

D. C. 7.9

Wyoming 7.9Rhode Island 8.0

New Jersey 8.4

Vermont 8.5

Missouri 8.5

North Carolina 8.8

Oklahoma 8.9

Delaware 9.1

Wisconsin 9.3

Iowa 9.3

Arkansas 9.4

Pennsylvania 9.7

North Dakota 10.1

Georgia 10.2

Texas 10.3Hawaii 10.3

Mississippi 10.3

Virginia 10.5

Alabama 10.5

Ohio 10.7

Alaska 10.8

Maryland 10.9

Indiana 11.2

Connecticut 11.2

Colorado 11.3

Idaho 11.3

Nebraska 11.4

Minnesota 11.4

New York 11.5Florida 11.8

Louisiana 12.2

Massachusetts 12.3

Maine 12.6

New Hampshire 13.0

Montana 13.3

Michigan 14.2

South Carolina 14.7

Washington 14.8

Illinois 15.1

Tennessee 15.2

South Dakota 15.3

Nevada 15.8

Utah 16.2

New Mexico 19.3

Oregon 19.4

Kentucky 19.5

Arizona 20.2

California 22.8

Secondary Student

Teacher Ratio, 2008-09

Source:http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010347.pd

National Center or Education Statistics


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III. The Study of California High School Principals

The 2011 Education Opportunity Report draws on survey and interview datarom high school principals across the state. The survey was designed to assessthe impact o budget cuts on conditions in Caliornia public high schools aswell as the eects o the economic crisis on high school students. The ollow-

up interviews aimed to illuminate survey responses, in particular the eects ochanging conditions on students.

Data was collected between July 4 and Labor Day o 2010. In July 2010, UCLAIDEA researchers e-mailed all public high school principals in Caliornia andinvited them to participate in the survey. In total, 277 principals, representing22% o all high school principals in Caliornia, completed the survey.

The schools that these 277 principals lead reect the demographic andgeographic diversity o Caliornia high schools. The survey sample is evenlydistributed between schools enrolling low, medium, and high proportions

o students rom low-income amilies, as determined by the percentage ostudents receiving ree or reduced price lunch. (See chart below.) It includesroughly the same percentage o high schools with low, medium, and highproportions o Latino, Arican American, and American Indian students (whoare underrepresented in Caliornias public universities) as the state as a whole.(See chart below.) The geographic distribution o schools in the survey wasrepresentative o those statewide. Schools in the survey pool were rom 45o the 58 counties in Northern, Central, and Southern Caliornia. Finally,charter schools are represented in our survey pool in proportion to charterschool enrollment in Caliornia high schools generally.

High SchoolPopulation

Source: California Basic Education Data System, available at www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/

Survey Sample

33.3%

33.3% 33.3%

0-33.9%

34-62.9%

63-100%

Free and Reduced Lunch

33.3%34.1%

32.6%


Survey Sample

40%

13.5%

46.5%

0-49%

50-89%

90-100%

Underrepresented Minority Students

16.1%

48.4%

35.5%

Survey Sample Characteristics

Enrollment by Percent

of Free and Reduced

Priced Lunch


Latino, African American,

American Indian,

(or Underrepresented

Students)

As in Caliornia as a whole, the neighborhoods served by the high schools inour survey sample have suered since the recession began. At the beginningo the 2010-11 school year, the states unemployment rate was 12.5%. Forty-one percent o schools rom our sample are located in communities that haveeven higher rates. Indeed, 29% o the high schools surveyed are located inneighborhoods with unemployment rates greater than 15%.


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For the next phase o our study, we asked principals who had completed oursurvey to participate in a 30-minute, confdential, audio-recorded phoneinterview. Ater an initial wave o principals responded, we continued tocontact non-responders, especially targeting principals rom subgroups oschools with demographics that would make our sample more representative.Our interview sample includes a roughly even distribution o principals rom

schools with low, medium, and high proportions o low-income students.(See chart below.) Our fnal sample included a slightly higher proportion oprincipals rom schools with 0-49% underrepresented students and 90-100%underrepresented students than the state as a whole. (See chart below.) The78 principals we surveyed lead schools in 28 counties across the Southern,Central, and Northern regions o Caliornia.


Interview Sample

33.3%

33.3% 33.3%

0-33.9%

34-62.9%

63-100%

Free and Reduced Lunch

33.3%

32.1%

34.6%


Interview Sample

40%

13.5%

46.5%

0-49%

50-89%

90-100%

Underrepresented Minority Students

18%

50%

32.1%

Source: California Basic Education Data System, available at www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/

Interview Sample Characteristics


of Free and Reduced

Priced Lunch


Latino, African American,

American Indian,

(or Underrepresented

Students)

Graduate students in UCLAs Principal Leadership Institute conducted hal othe principal interviews, while IDEA researchers interviewed the other hal.We tailored each interview to the principals survey responses. For example,i the principal had reported that budget cuts had negatively impactedproessional development, we asked him or her to describe the impact and itsconsequences. We then transcribed the resulting 78 audio recordings.

Once we had collected all the survey and interview data, we began the analysisphase o our study. We quantitatively analyzed the survey data, calculatingpercentages across the data and or subgroups o schools. We qualitativelyanalyzed the interview data, frst creating a coding scheme that included morethan 100 codes. We coded the interviews in an on-line qualitative researchprogram, noting patterns in the data. In combination, these two sources odata illuminated not only the breadth o the impacts o the budget cuts andeconomic crisis on Caliornia high schools, but also the day-to-day struggles

o students, amilies, and school personnel.


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IV. Findings: The Impact of Budget Cuts and the

Economic Crisis on California High Schools

Over the last decade, high school reorm has emerged as a central issue orstate and ederal policy. A great deal o attention has centered on the problemo high dropout rates.9 Equally important has been the press to expand access

to college.10 This ocus on high schools emerges in part rom recognition thata high school degree and access to college matter more now or adult earningsthan a generation ago.11 There is also a related concern that the United Stateshas allen relative to many other nations in the proportion o students whoattain a bachelors degree.12

Recent research and policy reports identiy critical elements o high quality andequitable high schools. These components include ample instructional time,small classrooms, targeted support and guidance, curriculum and instructionalpractices that engage learners with diverse interests, and opportunities or

educators to participate in proessional learning communities.13

On each othese criteria, the principals in our study report that conditions in Caliorniahigh schools have deteriorated.

Less Time: Cutting Instructional Days,

After-School Programs, and Summer School

A growing body o research has pointed to the potential o extending learningtimethrough more instructional days, longer school days, or summerprogramsas a strategy or promoting student success and closing the

achievement gap. By adding instructional time, schools can integrate moreproject-based learning and broaden curricular oerings, thereby makinglearning more engaging. Extending learning time also provides opportunitiesor students struggling with new material, or English Learners encounteringcurriculum in a new language, to access additional supports.14 Pointing toresearch that shows that the rate o learning loss during summer monthsis greatest or students rom low-income amilies, the National Academyo Education concluded that quality learning time in summer can play animportant role in equalizing educational achievement.15

Despite the clear relationship between increased instructional time andacademic outcomes, nearly hal (49%) o Caliornia high schools have reducedinstructional days since 2008. Principals like Miles Garrison in Los AngelesCounty point out that shortened calendars y in the ace o recent research.So much o the evidence, he says, indicates we should be extending the yearto bridge the achievement gap. For Henry Gonzalez, a principal in SolanoCounty, there is a sense o urgency when the calendar is shortened becausewe are at a minimum and we cant aord to miss one day. Maria Sanchez,who recently has taken over a Los Angeles County school that has been inprogram improvement or many years, agrees. Every day that students

% of Principals Reporting

Fewer Days of Instruction

49%


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arent in the classroom impacts their progress. Given her students low scoresin math and reading, she pointed to the need to fnd time to have them inschool longer.

Roughly one in three (32%) Caliornia high school principals report reducingater-school programming and two in three (65%) report cutting back or

eliminating summer school. Students at both ends o the academic spectrum aredeeply impacted by the cuts. Many principals, such as Susan Louden o KernCounty, worried that struggling students would not catch up without tutoringand other support services. Steven Chavez, a principal rom Orange County,eared that cuts in summer school would prevent students rom repeating classesthey ailed during the regular school year. Students are going to not be able tomake the credits up and thats going to impact their eligibility to graduate.Riverside Countys Mike Mendez argued that the loss o summer school alsowould have a major impact on college-going. His students would no longerbe able to take accelerated classes in the summer that allowed them to takea third or ourth year o science or a third or ourth year o oreign language

during the regular school year.

Less Attention from Teachers and Counselors

High school students beneft rom personalized learning environments inwhich teachers, counselors, and other trained adults provide regular andextensive eedback and ongoing guidance. Such interaction enables educatorsto build on student strengths and interests and identiy and respond in a timelymanner when students need additional help. Small class sizes are key to suchpersonalization.16 So too are reasonable student-counselor loads.17 Yet, even

beore the recent round o budget cuts, Caliornia high school teachers andcounselors served more students than any other state in the nation. (See chartson page 5.)

Caliornian students access to teachers and counselors has declined urthersince 2008. Three in our (74%) high school principals report that class sizehas increased. And this increase oten has been dramatic. We were blessedwith 20 to 1 in English and 24 to 1 in math in my frst two years, at the 9 th

grade, notes Glen Cohen o Santa Cruz County. Now those classes are at35 to 1. Many other principals reported class sizes o more than 40. DeniseGarrison rom Placer County remarks, I think its very difcult or them to

come and ask questions, come and ask or help when they know the teachers...just have so much to do. Craig Galloway in Los Angeles County says,Sitting in a sea o 42 kids per class, they barely have room to get throughthe aisles, they get less teacher time, less interaction. Galloway calculates thatwith each assignment, English teachers grade 210 papers across fve classes.I shudder to think what the long-term impact o 40 students per class is goingto have.

% of Principals ReportingCuts to After-Schoo

Programs


Cuts to Summer Schoo

32%

65%


Class Size Increases

74%


14/28



Hal (50%) o Caliornia high schools have reduced their academic counselingsta. In addition, two thirds (66%) o schools that previously beneftedrom university or non-proft-based college access programs saw cutbacks inthese initiatives. Having less counselors or the same number o kids hasconsequences or college access, argues Henry Gonzalez rom Solano County.It impacts their ability to sit one-on-one to talk to kids about what they want

to do.[and to provide] the inormation and tools to go to college. ScottTownsend, a principal in Los Angeles County, saw a 20% increase in collegeadmissions ater hiring a ul-time college counselor a ew years ago. Withhim gone now, all that [has] been eliminated. You know, youre going to havea signifcant and immediate detrimental impact on that link. Its a vital link.

We had a full-time college center career director, and she would [meetwith] every single English class two times a year and the kids wouldinvestigate careers. [She would ask the students] If you want thiscareer then what kind of college do you need? And then they wouldhave a lot of college guidance. She would help with them lling out

their applications, their FAFSA forms, their student aid, all that kindof stuff. With the cutback, we only get her two days a week. So much of that personalized service, those classroom visits, she can nolonger do. The juniors and seniors knew what to go get from her,but the freshmen and sophomores will never have known what theycould have gotten from her.

Maritza Sandoval, principal in San Bernardino County

Less Access to Instructional Materials

The majority o Caliornia principals report that their schools have cutinstructional materials or English, science, and math classes. Students at almosttwo thirds (63%) o high schools have reduced access to calculators, measuringinstruments, and other key mathematical tools. Principals dont purchaseequipment, wait longer to replace old materials, require students to share, orask amilies to purchase materials. All o these strategies aect learning, andthey have a disparate impact on students whose amilies cant aord to help.

In Los Angeles County, Craig Galloway has not repaired or replaced brokenlab equipment. Kids are sharing microscopes, which gives them less time

individually using them. He concludes, Without the money to purchaseequipment and supplies, instruction and learning suers. Alameda CountysMike Gordon can no longer aord up-to-date learning tools: We were tryingto get our lower, struggling students access to the graphic calculator so theycould better understand graphing and what happens when you change a slopeand the Y intercept, etc. Similarly, Paula Diamond in Riverside Countydescribes how her science teachers can no longer purchase a class set o rogsor dissection in wet labs. Now there is just one set or the class [which] theteacher shows on a document camera, and so thats not really engaging learning.


Cuts to Academic Counselors


Cuts to College Access

Programs

50%

66%

% Principals ReportingLess Student Access to

Materials forEnglish Classes

52%

High-FunctioningScience Labs

58%

Math Materials 63%


15/28



Such reductions make it harder, notes Dan Taylor in San Diego County, orscience teachers to go a little bit deeper and stretch the understanding otheir strongest students.

Yeah, basically we cant upgrade our computers. So we have alot of dinosaurs over ve years old. Its difcult because we usetechnology in all our classes. In the 9th grade physics class, kids areusing Flash animation to illustrate different concepts in physics.And its becoming harder and harder to do because there are fewercomputers that are still functioning properly.

Todd Lapitor, principal in San Diego County.

I guess the biggest problem we have is, you start off with a prettyhealthy infrastructure of technology. But without resources to supportit, your technology begins to falter. Then who corrects that? And sowe struggle, and Im sure many schools are in the same position.Sometimes our computer will go down, or our printer; theres nobodyhere to deal with it.

Frank Johnson, principal in Los Angeles County

Less Diverse and Engaging Curriculum:Cuts to Electives and Career and TechnicalEducation

In many Caliornia high schools, course oerings have narrowed over thelast two years. Nearly a third (29%) o principals reported that their schoolsoer ewer art or music classes. In addition, more than a third (34%) oprincipals indicated that their schools have cut back social studies electives.Last year we were able to oer psychology, sociology, Latin Americanstudies, and an international relations class, explains Rebecca Stevens romLos Angeles County. But right now, in order to keep the class sizes romgrowing weve had to pull our teachers to do the core classes. Joe Hernandezin Riverside County reasons that restricting choice o courses negativelyimpacts motivation and engagement.

Career and technical education (CTE) programs also have been impacted.

In Los Angeles County, Pablo Torres reported that he has teachers preparedto teach green technology in auto shop, but lacks computers and equipmentor such lessons. And reorm eorts such as Linked Learning, (ormerlyknown as Multiple Pathways), that combine a thematic or career-basedcurriculum with academic learning in real-world settings, have also sueredcutbacks.18 More than three ourths (78%) o principals said their schoolstry to integrate CTE courses with academic courses, and the majority (60%)o these respondents said their eorts had been negatively impacted by thebudget cuts. Daryl Sugarman o San Joaquin County explained that LinkedLearning requires time or CTE and academic teachers to connect their

% of Principals Reporting tha

Efforts to Link Career Technica

Education and Academic Courses

have been Impacted

60%


Cuts to Art and Music

29%


16/28



curriculum, and that he no longer had unds to support such planning time. Ithas become more difcult or schools to provide students with opportunitiesto learn in real-world settings (through work-site projects, job shadowing, orinternships) as businesses struggle to stay aoat.

Less Safe and Welcoming Environments:

Facilities and Infrastructure Suffer

Reductions to key personnel have taken their toll on the social and physicalenvironment o many Caliornia high schools. Nearly hal (46%) o Caliorniahigh school principals reported that cutbacks to security guards and other stahad negatively impacted student saety on campus. Two thirds (67%) o highschool principals revealed that budget cuts have impacted the cleanliness andsaety o classrooms and the school grounds. Los Angeles County principalMike Bianco noted that his smaller custodial sta has not been able to keepup with trash disposal, and this has led to an increase in rodents, roaches, and

other living things. Glen Cohen in Santa Cruz County bemoans the act thatdespite the eorts o the depleted grounds sta, his beautiul acility is beingbeat to a pulp.

Many Caliornia principals also noted that the budget has impacted their abilityto oster a welcoming and empowering environment or parents. Nearly hal(45%) o principals whose schools had community liaisons reported that thesesta had been cut. A similar proportion o principals noted reductions to parentworkshops. Such programs, argues Sacramento Countys Linda Garfeld, hadplayed a key role in providing parents with the inormation they need to knowto help navigate their child through high school. In addition, more than a

third (34%) o principals whose schools provided translation services said thatthese services had been cut. Ana Lopez, whose Los Angeles County high schoolserves a primarily Spanish-speaking community worries that reductions totranslators will create barriers or parents to participate in school meetings.

Less Capacity for Improvement:New Barriers to Implement ReformResearchers and policy makers agree that proessional collaboration andproessional learning are key to improving high schools.19 Both beginning

teachers and seasoned proessionals stand to beneft rom quality proessionaldevelopment that draws on teachers expertise, exposes them to new strategies,and supports them to tailor these ideas to their students and the unique contexto their classrooms.20 Such proessional development requires time or teachersto meet, access to outside experts and networks o reorming educators, and acollegial and supportive environment.21 Few Caliornia high schools providethese conditions today.


that Staff Cuts have

Impacted Safety

% of Principals Reporting that

Cuts have Impacted Safety and

Cleanliness of School

% of Principals Reporting Cuts

to Community Liaison Positions


Cuts to Translation Services

46%

67%

45%

34%


17/28



Almost all Caliornia high school principals believe that budget cuts haveundermined teacher learning and reorm. More than six in seven principals(86%) indicated that opportunities or teachers proessional growth anddevelopment had been impacted by budget cuts.Eighty-eight percent reportedthat budget cuts have impacted reorm and school improvement eorts. HenryGonzales school in Solano County had been in the middle o introducing

teachers into proessional learning communities when the recession hit. Thatall has been shot down, he noted, and now were scrambling around. OrangeCounty principal Kim Rogers similarly recounts how reorm in her school justsort o came to a standstill ater the district roze our budget and saidyoucant pay to release them to give them time to work together.

Faced with the loss o proessional development days, many principals havetried to fnd smaller blocks o time or teachers to meet within the existingschedule. But, as Maritza Sandoval in San Bernardino County notes, To reallydo the work you cant do it in 45 minutes a week. She concluded, Yeah, theyrenot going to be able to work together to the same degree that they did beore.

While time or proessional learning is in short supply, so too is the sense o trustand commitment that uels collective improvement. Many principals echo thesentiment o Denise Garrison rom Placer County who acknowledged that sheand her hard-working and caring sta have become just so very demoralizedby the spate o pink slips she has distributed each o the last two years. MikeMendez in Riverside County says his remaining teachers eel like theyrebeing pounded and pounded as they are asked to do more and more andmore with less, less, less. The urloughs imposed by Linda Garfelds districtin Sacramento County have let her with a deep sense o ambivalence aboutwhether to request her teachers to take on important additional work. So thenwhen you say, were going to cut you, but yeah, we want you to do these fvethings or ree now, are there people who would do it? Yes. But do I eel likewe should ask them? No. I mean, you can only squeeze the turnip so much.

Growing Inequality

To this point in the report, we have ocused attention on how budget cuts haveaected all Caliornia high schools. The principals responses on surveys andinterviews confrm that there are ewer educational opportunities across small

schools and big schools, urban and rural communities, regions hardest hit bythe economic downturn, and areas that are beginning to experience recovery.Yet some schools have been able to protect vital services more than others.While these have been hard times or all, they have been ar harder or some.

For example, high schools in districts that rely less on state unding because otheir substantial local revenue base have been better able to protect instructionaldays and counseling sta. We compared survey responses o principals in basic

% of Principals ReportingFewer Opportunities for

Teachers Professional Growth

86%


18/28



aid districts or in school districts with local revenues greater than $1,000per pupil to the responses o other principals in our sample. One quartero principals rom basic aid or high local revenue districts reported cuttinginstructional days, compared with more than hal o principals rom otherdistricts. Similarly, whereas one quarter o principals rom basic aid or highlocal revenue districts reported reductions to counseling sta, more than hal

o principals in other districts reported such cuts.% of Principals

Reporting Cuts to Schools in

High Wealth DistrictsSchools in

all other Districts

Instructional Days 25% 51%

Counselors 25% 52%

Basic aid districts are school districts whose substantial local property tax revenues exceed the core unding promised

to all districts. As a consequence, these districts do not receive so-called revenue limit unds rom the state, but only

categorical unds or particular programs. (Until 2003, basic aid districts received $120 per student o basic aid in lieu

o revenue limit unds. In 2003, the state stopped providing these unds, arguing that it ulflled its constitutional obligation

through categorical unds.) Districts with high local revenues generate these additional unds through contributions rom

local cities, ees on construction, parcel taxes, or donations rom community members and oundations. Combined, basicaid districts and high local revenue districts serve about 6% o Caliornias students. On average, these districts spend more

per student than the rest o the state.

Our research also ound that high-poverty schools have less capacity togenerate private donations than low-poverty schools, and they raise one dollaror every twenty raised by schools serving ew poor students. The medianresponse among all principals surveyed was that they raised $20,000. However,schools with ew students rom low-income amilies received an average o$100,000 in donations compared to $5,000 or schools with a high proportion

o poor students.

All High Schoolsin Survey

Low PovertyHigh Schools

Mid-Level PovertyHigh Schools

High PovertyHigh Schools

% Free/Reduced Lunch 0%-33.9% 34%-62.9% 63%-100%

Median Donations $20,000 $100,000 $20,000 $5,000

In addition to soliciting donations, Caliornias high schools increasingly arecalling upon amilies to pay or services that had previously been covered bythe school. Principals were most likely to ask amilies to pay or feld tripsand sports, but a sizeable number o principals reported requiring parents to

contribute or instructional materials or arts and music. Again, the impactdiers according to whether a school is high or low poverty. For every service,principals rom low-poverty schools were much more likely to require amilycontributions than principals rom high-poverty schools. Six times as many(54% to 9%) principals o low-poverty schools reported that they requiredamily contributions or arts and music. These dierences are not surprising:principals in high-poverty schools know that the amilies they serve cannotaord additional expenses.

At this point we

have not had to cut

as deeply as revenuelimit districts, but

were getting there.Jessica Hampton, principal

in a basic aid district.

I think because

were Basic Aid,

and because we

had a parcel tax,

we havent seen the

effects. I think this

year well start to see

the effects.Lana George, principal,

Santa Clara County.


19/28



Has your school begun requiring students and amilies to pay or or make additional

contributions to any o the ollowing services as a consequence o the budget cuts?

All HS Low Poverty High Poverty

Field Trips 43% 53% 26%Arts and Music 34% 53% 9%

Instructional Materials 19% 32% 9%Summer School 12% 20% 5%Tutoring 10% 15% 4%Clubs 12% 17% 9%Sports 47% 57% 30%

As high schools shit costs to amilies, inequality between schools oten grows.Low-poverty high schools that charge ees are better positioned to maintainservices than high-poverty schools that do not. Further, when parents in low-poverty schools cover costs that high-poverty schools must pay out o their

school budget, the low-poverty schools end up with more unds to spendon other budget items. (See Miles Garrisons story on this page.) Requiringamilies to pay or services also exacerbates inequality within schools. Lowpoverty is not the same as no poverty, and hence the imposition o eescan disadvantage students rom poor amilies whose classmates are primarilymiddle class or auent. Kristin Hughes in Del Norte County reports that,since her school began requiring students to bring additional materials, beyondthe textbook, students whose amilies are very poor will come withoutpencils, theyll come without paper, and were unable to help them with that aswe have in the past.

Its the difference between whats equal and whats equitable. For instance, my kids goto the wealthy school in our districtits not that wealthy but wealthy enough. And webuy them [calculators] as parents because [we] can afford to. That principal at thatschool never has to spend money on calculators, because the parents buy them. For thatmatter, the parents buy the novel that they are reading as well. They send home a littlenote that sort of intimates that youre a lousy parent if you dont buy them the novel,so [the students] can keep notes in it. So we buy the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, formy daughter, and she goes and takes the English class. Well, as a principal at SaguaroHigh School, I have to buy To Kill a Mockingbird for every student thats reading it atthe time. So that is, not only am I spending my principals allocation, versus the otherprincipal who is getting the same amount of money per child, and hes not spendingany money They can then have money to do some of the bigger ticket items.. Weget nickel and dimed andit is the poor schools that are suffering more because of this.

Miles Garrison, principal of a high-poverty high school in Los Angeles County

When the scope o public school services shrinks, amilies with fnancial meansoten seek additional support in the private sector. For example, upper middleclass and auent amilies oten employ private college counselors.22 Onerecent national survey o students who perormed well on the SAT or ACTound that more than one quarter hired a private educational consultant tohelp them with the college admissions process.23 Data rom the United States


20/28



Bureau o Labor Statistics point to the advantages that more auent parentsprovide to high school students. On average, amilies o 15-17-year-olds withearnings above $98,000 spent more than seven times as much on education-related expenses as amilies earning less than $57,0000.24 Students rom low-income amilies have ew options when public schools cut back on counselingand other college access programs. Larry McLaughlin, a principal in Alameda

County, explains, Weve been able in the past to contract someone to help ourstudents, particularly students o color and frst-generationgoing to college,help them with writing their essays to get into college and support. And thoseprograms, we dont have the money or that.

Growing Needs (Due to Economic Crisis)

The diminished capacity o Caliornia public schools coincides with growing

social welare needs o high school students due to the economic crisis. Withstatewide unemployment over 12% and underemployment estimated at morethan 20%, many Caliornia youth lack secure housing, ood, and clothing.25

The ailure o our economy and our social saety net to provide the basics orCaliornias youth has a direct human cost that cannot be overstated. It alsostrains the capacity o our public schools and impacts educational outcomes.

This fnal section o our fndings highlights the growing social welare demandsthat Caliornia high school students bring into their schools and the eectso economic stress on valued educational outcomes. There is a growing bodyo international research documenting the relationship between parental

unemployment and educational achievement. Data rom Australia, Canada,and the United States converge on a common fnding: On average, parentalunemployment negatively aects the educational trajectories o children.26

These studies suggest that policy makers should look upon K-12 education asinextricably connected to economic development and the provision o socialwelare. Caliornias high school principals intuitively understand this idea, andthey highlighted its importance throughout their interviews.

Growing Housing Instability

Three in our (75%) high school principals reported that homelessnesshas increased among their students. Homelessness rose even in auentneighborhoods like the one where Kim Rogers works in Orange County. Wevejust seen more kids who have needed more support, either with transitionalhousing or that are living in hotels, being evicted. It used to be, I mean, werein a pretty good area socio-economically and I think its been shocking overthe last couple o years to see how many more o our kids are either evicted or[orced to move] because amilies lose their home. In addition to homelessness,

% of Principals Reporting an

Increase in Homelessness

75%


21/28



fve in six (82%) principals reported higher rates o residential mobility. Whenjobs are lost, homes oreclosed, or eviction notices served, students end upmoving. The uncertainty about housing makes it difcult or students to ocuson, let alone, complete, homework. Miles Garrison whose school is in a highoreclosure section o Los Angeles County, identifes another problem: As hisstudents ollow their amilies to new housing, they end up transerring into and

out o his school, and this wreaks havoc on their grades.

We have several students who have lost their homes; their parents havelost their homes and they may be living in a hotel, motel; they may beliving at a center, they may be living in their car. So sometimes theydont know where they may be living tomorrow.

Alice Nelson, principal in Los Angeles County

Well, what were nding here isa huge increase in the number ofstudents whose entire family has moved in with their grandparents oran aunt and an uncle or something like that, and so we have multiple

families in a single home. Ted Dryfuss, principal in San Luis Obisbo County.

Just the number of students that come in and out, the number ofstudents that check in and check out of our school. We are a lowerincome area, so although we have students that have come in constantly,we have the same amount that are moving out. We have students thatmove home to home. The stability alone affects how our students aregrowing and having the ability to do homework or not do homework.A home plays a very important part of students lives and their abilityto be successful at school. Sue Booth, principal in Riverside County

We are ground zerofor the economic crisis. No area in the countryhas been hit harder than us, and we have three areas of this city thathave absolutely been devastated by home foreclosures and people losingtheir jobs. Our mobility rate is over 50%... Thats the number ofstudents coming and going throughout a school year. I had over athousand students last year who either entered [the high school] brandnew, or left. And when you have that kind of mobility rate, when wetalk about standardized testing, [it] makes it much more difcult.

Daryl Sugarman, principal in San Joaquin County

Growing Hunger

More than hal (56%) o the principals we surveyed reported an increase in oodinsecurity amongst their students. Jim Villa is a principal in Merced County thathas among the highest oreclosure rates in the nation and an unemploymentrate o over 20%. His school now provides ree lunches to 82% o all students.Kristin Hughes in Del Norte County says, We see a lot more kids that are


Student Food Insecurity


an Increase in StudenResidential Mobility

56%

82%


22/28



stressed out about it, theyre worried about losing their homes, you know, kidsare hungrier, theyre not making it to the end o the month with the salary thattheir parents have, and so were seeing a lot more kids just in a state o struggleall the way around with their basic needs. You know, thats going to impact theiracademics, becauselearning math today is not immediate, whereas eating is.

Diminished provision of social welfare outside of school impacts schools.

More than hal (53%) o principals surveyed indicated that they have seen a decrease in

social welare and health services provided to their students by government agencies or

community groups.

I think the impact I have noticed has been in terms of studentdepression and stress because parents are unemployedand theyrecoming into their counselors in need of assistance because of economicreasons that impact their mental health.

Jerry Chin, principal in Ventura County

Growing Threats to Graduation andCollege-Going

Economic stress has made it more challenging or some students to remainin high school. Sasha Trenton in Sacramento County recounts, I have had a12th grader and her 10th grade sister leave the school mid-year and go into anindependent study program so that they could work most o the day, because

they needed to work to support the amily.

Economic problems have had a huge impact on students college plans. Withunemployment and underemployment rates higher than in decades, manyamilies lack the fnancial wherewithal to pay or college. 27 Nearly eight in ten(78%) principals blamed the economy or ewer graduating seniors movingon to our-year colleges and universities. Riley Wilson, a principal in SiskiyouCounty, where unemployment stands at 19%, tells the story o his classvaledictorian. He was a very, very talented young man, and instead o himgoing to a our-year institution, because o the economy he has chosen to goto a two-year institution. Wilson does not dismiss the value o community

colleges, but regrets that his student did not have a choiceeven with availablescholarships. Similarly Henry Gonzalez in Solano County reasons, Its kind osad. The kids have done what they needed to do to go to a our-year college,but the economic situation o their amilies just makes it so that theyre goingto a junior college and thats not necessarily a bad thing. Its just sad that theytook care o their business and theres just no way or them to go on to a ouryear.

% of Principals Reporting a

Decrease in Social Welfare and

Health Services


Fewer Graduates Going

to a Four-Year College

or University

53%

78%


23/28



V. Ending the Free Fall

The high school principals whose experiences and voices are at the heart othis report understand the direct and immediate connection between theopportunities they can provide and whether or not their students move ona pathway toward graduation and college. To thrive in school, their studentsneed more instructional time, more attention rom teachers and counselors,more and newer materials, more engaging and rigorous curriculum, and moresocial supports. Yet budget cuts and the economic crisis have let their schoolswith less, oten much less, o these critical conditions. Schools serving largenumbers o low-income amilies have been hit hardest. Meanwhile, sta layosand the elimination o proessional learning time have brought improvementeorts in many schools to a virtual halt. In the last three years, Caliornias highschools have allen rom advancing reorm to just barely surviving.

This is not to say that the principals we spoke with have given up. Every day,principals across Caliornia struggle to do the best they can with what theyhave. Murray Rose, a principal in the San Joaquin Valley, tells his sta, Fouror fve years rom now when our studentsare entering the job markettheycant [tell their prospective employers]there was an economic downturn inthe time that I was in high school. We have to prepare them. So principalslike Linda Garfeld in Sacramento County work 14 or 15 hour days, rallyingtheir sta and encouraging their students, to keep [their] eyes on the prize oachievement, graduation, and college access.

Courage, motivation, and ocus cannot, by themselves, sustain a system o

quality public education. Such commitment is a wonderul resource that speaksto the potential or Caliornia to build a frst-class educational system whenit invests the necessary resources. But, at best, relying on heroic acts createsa patchwork o low and high quality educational services. At worst, it leads torustration, resentment, and burnout.


24/28



Caliornians desire and deserve better. Eighty-six percent o Caliornianssurveyed this all said that a college education is very important today. (Bycomparison, only 75% agreed with this statement in a national survey.) Latinoand Arican American respondents were most likely to view college as necessaryor success in the work world. Almost all Caliornia parents hope that theirchildren will attain at least a bachelors degree.28

How can this hope be transormed into a orce to stem Caliornias ree all?Caliornians need to understand the connection between opportunities,learning, and budgets. Certain opportunities matter or student outcomestime, attention, engaging curricula, up-to-date instructional materialsandthese conditions cost money. Martin Baker, the award-winning principal weintroduced at the beginning o this report, notes that it is not enough to tellschools, just do it, i the state does not provide the resourcesthe how to doit. Caliornians also must recognize their shared responsibility and collectiveagency. We have to look in the mirror, says Principal Baker. All o us ascitizens have ailed to provide or the utures o our kids. It is now time or

Caliornias public to invest in its youth and renew its commitment to qualitypublic education or all.


25/28



Endnotes

1 All principal names used in this report are pseudonyms. We promised confdentiality tothe high school principals who participated in our survey and ollow-up interviews. We doidentiy the county where the principals work.

2 Local Area Unemployment Statistics, U.S. Bureau o Labor Statistics, accessed March

4, 2011, http://www.bls.gov/data/.

3 This is the second year o declining expenditures. See Mac Taylor, The 2011-12 Budget:Year-Two SurveyUpdate on School District Finance in Caliornia (Legislative AnalystsOfce, 2011), accessed March 4, 2011, http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis/2011/education/ed_survey_two_020711.pd.

4 The legal settlement oCTA v. Schwarzeneggerrequired the State o Caliornia to pay topublic schools the amount it still owed them based on agreements in the 2003-04 fscal year.SB 1133 (Torlakson) codifed the terms o the settlement and placed signifcant restrictionson how those additional dollars could be spent by creating a new program, the QualityEducation Investment Act (QEIA). Williams v. State o Caliornia was settled in 2004 andrequired that all students have instructional materials, that their schools be clean and sae,and that they have qualifed teachers.

5 Local Area Unemployment Statistics.

6 This claim is based on cost adjustment. Quality Counts, Education Week, 2011, accessedFeb. 28, 2011,http://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2011/16sos.h30.fnance.pd

7 Quality Counts.

8 National Center or Education Statistics, accessed March 3, 2011, http://nces.ed.gov/

9 Robert Balanz et al., Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge o Low-Graduation-Rate

High Schools(Everybody Graduates Center and Jobs or the Future, 2009), accessedFebruary 16, 2011, http://programs.ccsso.org/projects/Membership_Meetings/APF/documents/Graduating%20America.pd.

10 Margaret Orr, Transitions to College: An In-Depth Look at the Selected Inuences oDemographics, Development, and Policy, Teachers College Record 111 (2009): 2311-2319.

11 Cecilia Elena Rouse and James J. Kemple, Introducing the Issue, The Future o Children19 (2009): 3-15.

12 John Thomasian et al., Accelerating the Agenda: Actions to Improve Americas High Schools(National Governors Association Center or Best Practices, National Conerence oState Legislatures, National Association o State Boards o Education, and Council o

Chie State School Ofcers, 2008), accessed March 4, 2011, http://www.nga.org/Files/pd/0901IMPROVEHIGHSCHOOLS.PDF.

13 See the special issue oThe Future o Children, Americas High Schools, 19 (2009); also

see Accelerating the Agenda: Actions to Improve Americas High Schools.

14 Elena Rocha, Expanded Learning Time in Action: Initiatives in High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools and Districts(Center or American Progress, 2008), accessed February 11,2011, rom http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/07/pd/elt1.pd.


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15 Brian Rowan et al., Time or Learning: Education Policy White Paper. (National Academy oEducation, 2009) accessed February 9, 2011, http://www.naeducation.org/White_Papers_Project_Time_or_Learning_Briefng_Sheet.pd.

16 Linda Darling-Hammond and Diane Friedlaender, Creating Excellent and EquitableSchools, Educational Leadership 65 (2008): 14-21.

17 Patricia McDonough, Counseling and College Counseling In Americas High Schools

(Alexandria, Virginia: National Association or College Admission Counseling, 2005),accessed February 28, 2011, http://www.inpathways.net/McDonough%20Report.pd.

18 Jeannie Oakes and Marisa Saunders, Beyond Tracking: Multiple Pathways to College, Career,and Civic Participation (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Education Press, 2008).

19 Suzanne Wilson et al. Teacher Quality (National Academy o Education, 2009)accessedFebruary 11, 2011, http://www.naeducation.org/White_Papers_Project_Teacher_Quality_Briefng_Sheet.pd; Darling-Hammond and Friedlaender, Creating Excellent andEquitable Schools.

20 Anthony S. Bryk et al., Organizing Schools or Improvement: Lessons rom Chicago(Chicago: University o Chicago Press, 2009).

21 Linda Darling-Hammond and Nikole Richardson, Teacher Learning: What Matters?,Educational Leadership 66, no. 5 (2009): 46 - 53.

22 McDonough, Counseling and College Counseling In Americas High Schools.

23 Donna Van De Water, Thomas D. Abrahamson and Kevin Lyons, High Achieving Seniorsand the College Decision (Lipman Hearne, 2009), accessed February 28, 2011, http://www.lipmanhearne.com/home/newsResources/resourceDetails.aspx?id=38.

24 Mark Lino, Expenditures on Children by Families, Publication Number 1528-2009 (U.S.Department o Agriculture: Center or Nutrition Policy and Promotion, 2009). The

Bureau o Labor Statistics conducts the Consumer Expenditure Survey that serves as thebasis or this report.

25 For discussion o underemployment, see, Alternative Measures o Labor Underutilizationor States, 2010 Annual Averages, U.S. Bureau o Labor Statistics, accessed February 28,2011, http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm.

26 Ann Hu Stevens and Jessamyn Schaller, Short-Run Eects o Parental Job Loss onChildrens Academic Achievement, Working Paper, No. 15480. (National Bureau o EconomicResearch, 2009), accessed February 11, 2011, http://www.nber.org/papers/w15480; SaraStrom, Unemployment and Families: A Review o Research, Social Service Review 77,no. 3 (2003): 399-430; Ariel Kalil and Patrick Wightman, Parental Job Loss and ChildrensEducational Attainment in Black and White Middle-Class Families(National Poverty Center,

2010), accessed February 11, 2011, http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/working_papers/?publication_id=192&; Michael B. Coelli, Parental Job Loss and the EducationEnrollment o Youth, Labour Economics18, no. 1 (2011): 25-35.

27 A all 2010 survey ound that 60% o Caliornia parents worried about paying or college.Mark Baldassare et al., PPIC Statewide Survey: Caliornians and Higher Education (PublicPolicy Institute o Caliornia, 2010), accessed March 7, 2011, http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_1110MBS.pd.

28 Baldassare et al., PPIC Statewide Survey: Caliornians and Higher Education.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The UCLA IDEA research team wants to thank the students from UCLAs Principal

Leadership Institute(PLI) Cohort 10, listed below, for their invaluable contributions

to the Principal Interview Study.

Participating UCLAs PLI students:

Dora Ayala, Linda Butala, Diego Chavez, Rebecca Chu, Joshua Cook, Lindsey Corcoran, Mark Duncan, Ashley

Englander, Monique Garcia, Roberto Gonzalez, Andre Hargunani, Germaine Jackson Decree, Brenda Keller,

Seonhye Kim, Jerey La Haie, David Lai, Alice Lai, Elizabeth Maldonado, Shazia Malik, Pablo Mejia, Stepan

Mekhitarian, Elias Miles, Karina Moreno, Marishka Nunez, Julie Olson, Michael Nemiro, Christina Quimiro,

Paula Paulino, Alyce Prentice, Adam Rand, Karen Recinos, David Sermeno, Ryan Stough, Rebecca Suarez,

Anthony Terry, Patrick Vaughan, Velia Valle, Dina Zepeda, Danielle Zgrabik

We also want to extend our deep gratitude to the high school principals across the state

for their participation in this study. Without their contribution, this report would not

have been possible.

Support for the California Educational Oportunity Report was provided by:

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Ford Foundation,

and the University of California.


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UC/ACCORDALL CAMPUS CONSORTIUM ON RESEARCH FOR DIVERSITY

Principal ResearchersJohn RogersMelanie BertrandRhoda FreelonSophie Fanelli

Contributing ResearchersCarolyn CastelliMaritza Del RazoNickie FungJohn KucseraDavid MedinaWendy PerezBryan Ventura

Contributing EditorsMartin Lipton

Carolyn CastelliClaudia Bustamante

Web DevelopersDoug HaxallJared Planas

Design and ProductionNery OrellanaJared PlanasJessie Castro

UCLA IDEA is a research institute seeking tounderstand and challenge pervasive racial andsocial class inequalities in education. In addition toconducting independent research and policy analysis,IDEA supports educators, public ofcials, advocates,community activists, and young people as they design,conduct, and use research to make high-quality publicschools and successul college participation routineoccurrences in all communities. IDEA also studieshow research combines with strategic communicationsand public engagement to promote widespreadparticipation in civic lie. www.ucla-idea.org

UC/ACCORD (University o Caliornias AllCampus Consortium on Research or Diversity)is an interdisciplinary, multi-campus researchcenter. UC/ACCORD serves as an inormation andresearch clearinghouse and catalyst or promotingthe delivery o high-quality, equitable schooling to

all students. UC/ACCORD harnesses the researchexpertise o the University o Caliornia to identiystrategies that will increase college preparation,access, and retention. www.ucaccord.org

This report can be accessed online at http://www.edopp.org

For information about the sources used for this report, please see the

Data and Defnitions: A Technical Appendix document online at http://www.edopp.orgFor further information, contact UCLA IDEA

1041 Moore Hall, Box 951521, Los Angeles, CA 90095

phone: (310) 206-8725; fax: (310) 206-8770; email: [email protected]

Documents

UCLA/IDEA: "Free Fall: Educational Opportunities in 2011."