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Leading California's Education Reforms: A View From the State Board

Mon, April 20, 10:35am to 12:05pm, Virtual Room

Abstract

Kirst will discuss the politics behind California’s recent education reforms. Former California Governor Brown decided to use the State Board of Education as his instrument of change. He abolished the ineffectual Office of the Secretary of Education and put the state board in his own office. The executive director of the State Board was also the special assistant to the Governor for education. We hired 11 professional policy analysts for the board, and forged close relations with the influential Department of Finance within the Governor’s office. California’s approach was systemic standards-based reform using a full array of aligned policies for almost all components of state education policy. We focused on improving classroom instruction with an awareness that better teaching proceeds from inside the schools out. It helped that we had a rapidly rising tide of revenue from state economic growth and a statewide referendum for a tax increase. There were large Democratic party majorities in both houses of the legislature working closely with Governor Brown and state board staff. A crucial decision was to avoid state policy overload upon local districts by not adopting all the changes promoted by the Obama administration. Unlike in most states, the California state board, not the state education department, is the federally designated state education agency to make decisions concerning federal aid implementation. Some of the Obama administration’s initiatives did not fit with our systemic, aligned approach and others pushed implementation too fast. The California way involves patience, persistence, humility, and continuous improvement.

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