In Fiscal Year 2015-16, the California Children and Families Act has appropriated an average of $440 per child from the state tobacco tax revenue to support early development of children ages 0-5. Based on the proportion of live births in each county, First 5 Kern administered over $10 million of the state funding to support 41 programs in Child…

Twenty years ago, a report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) changed the national discussion about what must be done to improve America's schools so that all students experience success. The Commission drew attention to the overlooked fact that the most important school variable affecting student achievement is…

For years California has been a leader in public education. In 1999, the state implemented some of the strongest content standards in the country through its main accountability metric, the Academic Performance Index (API). The state has also signed onto the Common Core State Standards, taking important steps to ensure its students are college-…

Data are only useful if people are able to access, understand and use them. Without access to the right information, stakeholders are forced to make decisions based on anecdote, experience or instinct. For information to be useful, it must be timely, readily available, and easy to understand. This brief highlights the importance of implementing…

Data-based decision making has been the mantra of the school reform movement since the late 1980s, but California does not yet have an effective system for collecting and using vital school information. California has taken a number of steps to address this shortcoming. These include the Public School Accountability Act of 1999 and Senate bills…

The State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative represents a unique opportunity to improve the quality of life for young children and their families, and support them in reaching their full potential. Under the SECCS Initiative, state mother and child health agencies are being asked to apply MCH experience and expertise to a…

This final report of a project conducted to design, develop, and test a comprehensive management plan for vocational education in Missouri is divided into three sections. Section I describes the rationale and components of a model based on the general systems approach to planning. An analysis of the planning process introduces several planning…