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| Getting Down to Facts
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"Getting Down to Facts" is a research project of more than 20 studies designed to provide California's policymakers and other education stakeholders with comprehensive, research-based information on the state’s current school finance and governance systems.
This $2.6 million project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Stuart Foundation, is designed to carve out common ground for a serious and substantive conversation about these important issues.
This independent research project was specifically requested by Governor Schwarzenegger's Committee on Education Excellence, Senate pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, and former Education Secretary Alan Bersin.
The “Getting Down to Facts” research studies were released to the public on March 15 2007. Along with a formal press event that day, the researchers conducted a special in-depth briefing.
The Research Findings
The studies in this project provide a wealth of information related to how California’s finance and governance system currently operate, the extent to which resources are efficiently used, and what additional resources are needed so that California students can meet the goals we have for them.
The following list contains the summaries of the studies prepared by IREPP. The full text of the research reports is available at www.irepp.net.
Research Summaries:
Efficiency and Effectiveness Studies
The Evolution of California's State School Finance System and Implications from Other States. Michael Kirst.
Understanding the Incentives in California’s Education Finance System. William Duncombe and John Yinger.
District Dollars: Painting a Picture of Revenues and Expenditures in California’s School Districts. Susanna Loeb, Jason Grissom, and Katharine Strunk.
School District Financial Management: Personnel, Policies, and Practices. Mary Perry, Robert Miyashiro, et al.
Leadership Development in California. Linda Darling-Hammond and Stelios Orphanos.
Schools, Resources, and Efficiency. Maria Perez, Tom Parrish, et al. (Includes two report summaries: Successful California Schools in the Context of Educational Adequacy and Charter Schools in California: A Review of Their Autonomy and Resource Allocation Practices.)
Principal Resources: Acquisition, Deployment, and Barriers. Bruce Fuller, Susanna Loeb, et al.
A Review of State Teacher Policies: What Are They, What Are Their Effects, and What Are Their Implications for School Finance? Susanna Loeb and Luke C. Miller.
Curbing or Facilitating Inequality? Law, Collective Bargaining, and Teacher Assignment Among Schools in California. William Koski and Eileen Horng.
Evaluating the “Crazy Quilt”: Educational Governance in California. Dominic Brewer and Joanna Smith.
Financing School Facilities in California. Eric J. Brunner.
Do Nonschool Resources Substitute for School Resources? A Review of the Evidence. Thomas Downes.
Costing-out Studies
Assessing the Costs of K-12 Education in California Public Schools. Jennifer Imazeki.
Efficiency and Adequacy in California School Finance: A Professional Judgment Approach. Jay Chambers, Jesse Levin, and Danielle DeLancey.
Aligning School Finance with Academic Standards: A Weighted Student Formula Based on a Survey of Practitioners. Jon Sonstelie.
Considering Special Education Adequacy in California. Jenifer Harr, Tom Parrish, et al.
Resource Needs for California’s English Learners. Patricia Gándara and Russell W. Rumberger.
Teacher Compensation and Local Labor Market Conditions in California: Implications for School Funding. Heather Rose and Ria Sengupta.
California's State and Local Education Data Systems. Janet S. Hansen and Springboard Schools. (Includes two report summaries: Education Data in California: Availability and Transparency and Bringing the State and Locals Together: Developing Effective Data Systems in California School Districts.)
Press Conference Webcast:
View the March 14th Sacramento press conference, which focused on the governance and effectiveness studies in the "Getting Down to Facts" project.
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For More Info
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An 8-page Summary of Key Findings provides a useful overview of the research and what the studies revealed. Download it from the IREPP website.
The 2007 EdSource Annual Forum focused on School Finance, especially the "Getting Down to Facts" Research Project.
View video of project director Susanna Loeb's presentation on the "Getting Down to Facts" findings.
For more video and other information from the Forum, see the EdSource website.
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