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A continuing economic recession, coupled with state and local tax limitations, constrain California's fiscal ability to respond to the needs of its growing, and increasingly diverse, student population. Inflation-adjusted per pupil expenditures increased a mere 6 percent overall between 1984 and 1993 and have declined sharply since 1989-90. As a result, California now spends, on average, considerably less than the national average on education. Housing the growing numbers of students is itself a major challenge, and class sizes in the state are the second highest in the nation.
The second prong of the strategy is the alignment of state policy components to support the realization of the overall vision in general, and the content of the curriculum frameworks in particular. These components include primarily the adoption of textbooks and other instructional materials, student assessment, teacher and administrator professional development, and teacher credentialing and re-service education.
Finally, the state has developed a number of strategies for supporting school-based change in the directions articulated in the frameworks and grade-level reform documents. Major programs and recent developments in each of these prongs are summarized below.
The integrated English Language Arts framework that came out in 1987 is still in use by the California Department of Education (CDE). Revision plans for the 1993-94 school year were abandoned because the Department's goals and objectives were seen as still being consistent with the 1987 framework. Instead, the CDE has decided to focus on areas of the existing framework that were insufficiently developed or were difficult for teachers to work with, and has provided supplementary monographs in these areas. For example, based on feedback from the schools, the CDE concluded that the framework gave inadequate attention to early literacy instruction, especially for children who do not come from literacy-rich environments prior to school. In addition, the emphasis on meaning and whole language instruction was misinterpreted by some to mean there should be no phonics instruction. New publications argue instead for a balanced approach.
Assessment. California has two major state level assessment efforts, the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) and the California Assessment Collaborative (CAC). The goal of CLAS, a 26 million dollar effort, was to develop a state of the art assessment that reflected the content of the frameworks. Unlike its predecessor, the California Assessment Program (CAP), CLAS included extended answer tasks and allowed for individual, as well as school level scores. The full program was to include on demand and curriculum embedded (portfolio) assessment, and would attempt to include students previously excluded from state assessment by piloting a Spanish version of the test.
In September 1994, Governor Pete Wilson vetoed the funds for CLAS and eliminated the CDE funds to administer the program. There were several factors that seem to have led to the Governor's action. The CLAS test would not be able to provide individual level scores in the time frame desired by the Governor. The CDE experienced several problems related to test development and dissemination. There was a strong organized opposition from the religious right, and it was an election year.
The CAC is another state assessment effort, but it is not part of the CDE. The CAC is a collaboration of 29 projects in districts and schools statewide designed to develop performance based assessment tasks and to build capacity to use performance assessment to improve instructional practice.
Professional Development. California supports several professional development efforts linked to the systemic reform initiatives. Professional development opportunities emanate from several different sources including: local, legislated, independent, professional and higher education.
The Subject Matter Projects (SMP) have been identified as the major strategy for professional development of teachers in conjunction with state curricular reforms. The SMPs, which were developed about ten years ago and are modeled after the Bay Area Writing project, are an effort to expand the number of teachers knowledgeable about the curricular initiatives and to increase teacher leadership in the area of curriculum. There are currently 90 sites of the SMPs in 11 curriculum areas. Some regard the SMPs as a strategic remedy for curricular problems, while to others they are just a quick fix. About 2 percent of the teachers in California have participated in an SMP; the projects are administered by the University of California (UC) in concurrence with California State University (CSU) and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
SMPs are administered through summer institutes, which are generally 4-6 weeks long and provide an opportunity for teachers to work together in a specific content area. The projects, many of which incorporate teacher research and other research, give teachers experience in actually "doing" exercises in the subject areas and then offer time for reflection and development of instructional and curricular strategies and projects. The focus of these professional development activities is on content knowledge and pedagogy.
The SMPs provide follow up support to the teachers and districts through out the academic year. Follow up may come in the form of opportunities for leadership development through on going networks and project, or professional development assistance for the district. Assistance to districts allows the SMPs to have a broader impact and fees are used to support other SMP projects, including Saturday seminars and workshops on special projects.
SB 1882, which funds the SMPs, also provides 13 million dollars to districts for school level professional development. About one-third of the districts in the state receive the SB 1882 monies, which can not be given to schools that are part of the SIP program. Since the funds are allocated directly to the schools, the state has no control over how they are spent or if they are supporting programs related to current state reform efforts. The legislation also provides $3 million to establish regional consortia and resource agencies. These consortia have played an important role in training and coordinating teachers to score the CLAS test, an activity which in itself provided an important opportunity for professional development.
As a result of a study that found that support for new teachers made a difference in their performance, the quality of the curriculum, and teacher satisfaction, the legislature allocated $4 million for the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSAP). Due to the high costs associated with obtaining the desired results, only 2500 of the state's 10,000 new teachers each year are able to participate in the program. The Mentor Teacher Program, which gives mentors a stipend to develop mentor designed projects, is one way that districts support their new teachers. The program also provides an indirect professional development opportunity for the mentors, and can be a source of capacity building for all involved.
The California School Leadership Academy (CSLA), a quasi-independent organization, provides curricular reform training for administrators. CSLA programs focus on developing instructional leadership congruent with state reform activities and has served 8000 to 9000 administrators, mostly principals. The CSLA also works with other state initiatives.
Teacher Credentialing. Teacher credentialing is another component of California's systemic reform. Half of the state's 20,000 new teachers come through state accredited teacher preparation programs; the other half are from out of state or come to teaching through other routes. While the legislature is responsible for many of the changes in the credentialing system, they are highly influenced by recommendations from the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The Commission is an independent, professionally based body, and is not part of the CDE. Composed entirely of teachers, it has several areas of responsibility. Commission staff handle applications for credentials, prepare studies and reports for use by the Commission, handle misconduct and other disciplinary matters. The Commission is also involved in national efforts to develop teaching standards and professionalize the teaching force.
The Commission has undertaken a comprehensive review of the basic teaching credential requirements and standards. The Commission staff will be revisiting the standards that have developed incrementally since 1970, and reconsider them in total. The goal is to reunite content and pedagogical preparation of teachers. The standards being developed by the Commission are closely linked to the frameworks. While these standards will apply to new teachers that receive their accreditation through California programs, it will not affect the nearly 50 percent of new teachers that come into teaching through other routes. The tool used to assess these candidates is a special form of Praxis III, which requires the candidate to write about the content areas, and is considered to be "moving in the same direction" as the standards.
Subject-specific Initiatives. In mathematics, the main subject specific school network is Math Renaissance, a middle school initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, which is now in its third year. Also in initial stages of development at the time of the interviews was a similar initiative in elementary school math. Last year, approximately one fourth of the California middle school (245 schools) were involved in Math Renaissance. The Department had hoped to increased the number to 400 this year but were actually expecting to fall short of that target, in part because it costs a school $3000 to join and many schools are unwilling to sponsor the necessary teacher time. In English Language Arts, the CDE has established a pilot network of schools focused on early literacy, called REACH. The goal of this network is "to have every child at or above grade level in reading in an integrated language arts program by the end of third grade--in English or in the child's home language." REACH is a school-wide literacy program that especially targets children below grade level and incorporates professional development and parental involvement. Network meetings are held three times per year.
SB 1274 Restructuring Initiative. SB 1274 is a state funded restructuring initiative passed in 1989 and funded in 1990. The first funding round provided planning grants to 212 schools in 1991 and 146 schools were funded for demonstration projects in 1992. SB 1274 is designed as a leadership/ lighthouse project that will change unproductive habits embedded in the structure of school by using criteria that focus attention on student work and student learning. To facilitate this endeavor, Project participants and staff have developed a process (called the "Protocol") to initiate on-going, school-wide reflection on instruction and student learning. The results of this process then feed back into the restructuring efforts in the school. There is also a network among the participating schools, and school teams participate in 1274 annual conferences to share what they are learning.
Grade level networks. The principal school networking strategy is the grade level networks based on the visionary reform documents, It's Elementary (California Alliance for Elementary Education), Caught in the Middle (middle school network), and Second to None (high school network). The central idea of the grade level documents and the networks is to help schools pull together the various threads of reform into a coherent strategy at the school level. The middle school network came first, formed with foundation support after the publication of Caught in the Middle. The document provides a model for transforming middle schools, placing emphasis on the whole child and integrated instruction. Now in its third round, 400 of the 1400 middle schools in the state belong the initiative's regional partnerships. They have developed a trainer of trainer model, a bi-weekly fax newsletter, which provides both substance and news, and regional symposia. The California Alliance for Elementary Education follows a similar model. To join the Alliance as a full member, a school must agree with the set of principles embodied in It's Elementary and pay a membership fee equivalent to $1.00 per student enrolled in the school. The five principles and beliefs are: a strengthened curriculum; all students can learn; teachers as professionals; schools as caring communities; and measuring success. The focus is on instruction and curriculum; It's Elementary recommends that schools start with one content area (e.g. science) work on that for a few years and then move onto another.
School Improvement Program and Program Quality Review. The other main school-based efforts sponsored by the state involve the School Improvement Program (SIP) and Program Quality Review (PQR). SIP began twenty years ago with a focus on early childhood education; it then incorporated elementary, middle and high schools. In recent years the SIP program and the PQR have been influenced by developments in and lessons from SB 1274 as well. In SIP the program is centered on the Program Quality Review, which is a school self study process, supplemented with periodic outside review. Based on the review, schools draw up a concise improvement plan. The PQR has moved from a focus on what teachers do (instruction) to what students do (student work). In this respect, the effort parallels SB 1274. SIP is a district-based program and does not include networks. It is less intensive, less on-going, and because it is focused on subject areas, it is less comprehensive in scope than 1274.
Second, reform is viewed as being primarily a professional endeavor. The frameworks, the SMPs, indeed most aspects of the reform have their roots in professionally-based efforts, like those of the Bay Area Writing Project, and there are strong links between the professional associations like the California Mathematics Council and the state reforms. The view of the teacher as a professional lies at the heart of the grade level networks, professional development and teacher credentialing policy as well.
A third theme was the increasing emphasis on student performance and the use of student work not only as a means for judging the student but also as a tool to improve instruction. This was evident in the revision of the PQR review and in the SB 1274 protocol discussed above as well as in the interviews.
Finally, many of the interviews stressed the need to develop "learning communities" for both students and adults. One manifestation of these communities were the SMPs, one goal of which is to provide a "professional home" for teachers. There was also discussion of the school as a community of learners and an increasing emphasis on school-based change.
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