This report commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Getting Down to Facts project, which sought to provide a thorough and reliable analysis of the critical challenges facing California's education system as the necessary basis for an informed discussion of policy changes aimed at improving the performance of California schools and students. The report focuses on the four key issues that received emphasis in the Getting Down to Facts studies: governance, finance, personnel, and data systems. The authors review what has changed and what has not in the five years since the original studies were completed, and reaffirm the importance of a long-term agenda for reform in California's education system that is guided by solid evidence and rigorous analysis. [This report was supported by the California Education Policy Fund.]