California School Dashboard

December 12, 2019

Some ratings rise in 3rd year of California School Dashboard

Fewer districts will require help from county offices, but colors tell a bigger story; disparities among student groups persist.

John Fensterwald

December 12, 2019

Search and compare data from the California School Dashboard, 2019

Search and compare all California public schools, districts, cities and counties for data from the state's school accountability dashboard.

Justin Allen, Daniel J. Willis, And Yuxuan Xie

December 5, 2019

LA Unified releases new data measuring academic success of students over time

California’s largest school district published academic growth data, which measure how students improve from year to year.

Michael Burke

November 22, 2019

California is poised to confront high proportions of underqualified teachers in low-income schools

Uncredentialed teachers are concentrated where students struggle academically; the State Board may soon have data to support a teacher equity index.

John Fensterwald

November 6, 2019

LA Unified drops ranking system for schools but promises to share student growth data

The district is suspending implementation of the School Performance Framework but plans to use some of its elements.

Michael Burke

October 21, 2019

LA Unified should release data on student academic growth to parents

Political arguments are getting in the way of sensible solutions.

Paige Kowalski and Seth Litt

October 9, 2019

LA Unified moves away from plan to assign schools a single rating

Push to kill single rating for schools wins support of a key committee. LAUSD board will vote on it on Nov. 5.

Michael Burke

September 6, 2019

Q&A with Michael Kirst: Single rating for schools ‘just too simplistic’

Former State Board of Education president says that there is strong support in California for the California School Dashboard.

Louis Freedberg

September 5, 2019

Push for single rating of LA schools challenges state's multi-dimensional accountability system

A push in L.A. Unified to devise a 1-to-5 ranking of its schools would be at odds with the statewide system that avoids a “summative rating.”

Louis Freedberg

August 6, 2019

Why we factor suspension rates into how we identify top schools for underserved students

Authors reject the notion that some students want to learn and some students don’t.

Matt Hammer and Alicia Gallegos-Fambrini

July 8, 2019

California may create 5th year high school graduation rate

The new rate will credit districts for helping non-graduating seniors to earn a diploma the next year. It would be combined with the 4-year grad rate on the School Dashboard.

John Fensterwald

April 19, 2019

As a candidate for president, Harris taking a softer stance on truancy than she did as a prosecutor

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris championed tough-on-truancy laws while serving as San Francisco’s district attorney and California attorney general. Now she's taking heat for it on the campaign trail.

David Washburn

February 10, 2019

Kamala Harris’s stance on truancy resurfaces as she launches presidential campaign

A 2010 video clip of California senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris advocating the prosecution of parents for their children's truancy has re-ignited controversy as schools statewide face greater scrutiny for their rates of chronic absenteeism.

David Washburn

February 6, 2019

California quietly publishes list of 781 lowest-performing schools

Convinced that stigmatizing “bad schools” and dictating improvements didn't work, state officials are counting on district-led solutions to low achievement.

John Fensterwald

January 31, 2019

Chronic absenteeism in California schools up slightly, new data show

More than 1 in 10 students statewide were chronically absent from school in 2017-18. Rates for students in marginalized groups much higher than the state average.

David Washburn