California School Dashboard Finally Up and Running
This week marked a major milestone in California’s efforts to establish a new accountability system that shifts the state decisively away from the top-down, sanctions-heavy, and test-focused No Child Left Behind regiment. After years of development and public input, the state has launched the multi-colored California School Dashboard, a new way to measure how well, or poorly, schools are doing on a range of indicators, not just test scores. Two-thirds of the 228 districts the state has identified as needing assistance are on the list because of the lagging performance of their special education students (read story).
In this week’s podcast, Louis Freedberg talks with Carl Cohn, executive director of the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, about the “systems of support” the state is establishing to assist districts to improve education outcomes. He also talks with Arun Ramanathan, executive director of Pivot Learning, about the need to reform how the state serves challenges districts face in improving the performance of students with disabilities.
Related Resources
Read Carl Cohn’s commentary on how the CCEE is working to get the right kind of help and assistance to districts, charters and county offices of education (read story)
Use EdSource’s School Dashboard database to search and compare all California schools and districts on a range of performance indicators (search database)
Understand how to use the information in the California School Dashboard using our quick guide (read guide)
Produced by Sarah Tan