The California Way: Local Control for Continuous Improvement

• In Event: 72.011 - The Atlantic Rim Collaboratory: An Emergent Movement for Global Educational Change

Abstract

Grounded in a strong vision of educational equity, California has set the foundation and policy framework for a greater focus on support and continuous improvement to ensure all students graduate ready for the world that awaits them. This work rests in a commitment to standards and the development of the local capacity and professional capital necessary to implement them successfully.
Our emergent “California Way,” (Superintendent’s Advisory Task Force, 2016) centered on student success, relies on high standards, more equitably distributes resources (Humphrey & Koppich, 2014), and trust in local educators and communities to design the educational structures and supports that our students need to reach their full potential (PICO California, 2014). This session will explore how California started down this path, rejecting the one-size-fits all mandates of Washington D.C. (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2012) and continuing to build a learning environment and accountability system focusing on the whole child and the whole education system.
The “California Way” originated in 2010 with the election of Governor Brown. In 2012, after years of devastating budget cuts – more than $50 billion – and 50,000 educator layoffs, California voters approved a tax increase to support education funding. Lawmakers also approved a new school funding formula to target more resources to students with the greatest needs and to move school funding decisions back to local school districts, while also demanding more involvement in those decisions by educators, parents, students and the community.
California had adopted the CCSS, but also recognized that shift would not happen overnight. Rejecting demands from the federal Department of Education, California eliminated outdated tests and suspended the state’s testing and accountability system while transitioning to new state standards. Led by Governor Brown, California rejected Race to the Top and its punitive approach to school change. California also refused to include a teacher evaluation system based on student test scores. California law allows local districts to determine how tests are used in evaluations and believes the focus should be on improving instruction. Supporting instruction is another critical component. For three years, the state has provided additional resources to support the implementation of the new standards with a focus on professional support for educators. The California Teachers Association also pioneered new improvement processes in large numbers of schools incorporating shared leadership, smaller classes, and professional collaboration with demonstrable and sustained impact on achievement results (California Teachers Association, 2015).
California is now heading down the path to build a new accountability system that gets beyond test scores and cements multiple measures based on continuous improvement, equity and support. This new system must not only look at student performance but also access and opportunity for all students. California’s educational leaders are participating in the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory to discuss how to realize the inspiring values that the state shares with the collaboratory, and, in the context of ESSA, to build networks of global policy learning for the state at a time when more authority for educational policy development and implementation is shifting to the state level.

Author

• Eric Heins, California Teachers Association