Education Trust-West In the News
Elk Grove Unified may limit open enrollment
Sacramento Bee
Linda Murray, acting executive director of Ed Trust West, an education policy organization, said the district needs to look a bit closer at the shift.
"Why are parents moving their kids?" Murray said. "Is it just that (Pinkerton's) a brand new school or are there other things going on? Could it be about perception? Or could it be about the reality of the program in that school?" "Do a survey. There are plenty of older schools with plenty of charm and great things going on in inside their walls," she said.
Santa Ana seeks to ease high school graduation requirements
The Los Angeles Times
February 8, 2009
Linda Murray, who was superintendent of San Jose public schools when they boosted their requirements to 240 credits in 1999, said Santa Ana's plan could give students more latitude without backpedaling. "Dropping back to 220 should not keep them from pushing this envelope of getting kids to college," said Murray, now superintendent in residence at the Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based advocacy group focused on closing the achievement gap. "Having worked so hard to increase rigor in their district, they should hold to that," she said. "But sometimes it's hard to balance the needs of kids that are under extreme hardships with high standards for all."
Inland school districts making sure ‘gifted and talented’ comes in all shades
Riverside Press-Enterprise
February 3, 2009
"GATE is one of several areas where the achievement gap between white and minority students is evident, said Molly Mauer, assistant director of data and policy for Oakland-based Education Trust-West. 'We see the same disparities in (enrollment in) college prep classes and access to college,' Mauer said.
Dear Mr. President - If you could tell the President one thing about education, what would you say? Twelve experts answer our challenge. Russlynn Ali's open letter to President-Elect Obama.
Scholastic Administrators Magazine
January 2009
Black Media Briefed on Achievement Gap for Black Students
New America Media
December 25, 2008
Journalists, activists, educators, students and elected officials gathered on Dec. 12 to discuss the academic performance of black students in California public schools. They were clear about several things: the achievement gap is ongoing, closing it should be the state’s top priority, and it takes more than the current education system to achieve it.
Supporters of the algebra policy expressed disappointment. "It's incomprehensible that we have to argue about teaching kids more," said Russlynn Ali, executive director of Oakland-based Education Trust-West, a nonprofit advocacy and research group.
Report urges database on state's students
The Sacramento Bee
12/19/08
"We spend $60 billion annually on public education, and we know from No Child Left Behind that our schools are not doing well, especially in serving children of color," said Russlynn Ali, executive director for Education Trust West, a national educational policy organization that supports the report. "We know the outcome data, but very little about how to fix these problems … we can't do schools better unless we do data better."
SF Schools Chief Wants Higher Bar for Grads
San Francisco Chronicle
11/20/08 - San Jose Unified is the only urban district to currently require it. There, starting with the class of 2003, students have had to pass the A-G courses to get a diploma, and 66 percent have met the UC and CSU requirement of a C or better in each class. "Every myth that we hear about increasing high school expectations - that kids will drop out - that is debunked," said Russlyn Ali, executive director of the Education Trust-West, an Oakland nonprofit focused on closing the achievement gap. "When you give kids the right support, when you give teachers the right support, graduation rates will rise."
Growth Data for Teachers Under Review
Education Week
10/20/08 - Russlyn Ali, the executive director of Education Trust-West, which lobbies for better education for poor children, said her Oakland, Calif., organization challenges that interpretation of the law. “We are going to need a judicial opinion to decide this, because there is too much confusion and too much vitriol,” said Ms. Ali, whose organization supports the use of value-added data to identify excellent teachers. Experts also are concerned about the potential for such laws to hinder research.
News... Grier Eyes a Tiered System of Diplomas to Curb Dropouts
Voice of San Diego
10/21/08 - Remington Gladney spent almost two years out of school before Garfield High School offered him an unexpected path to his diploma. He could graduate at the alternative Garfield school with far fewer credits than at San Diego High, the school he was "kicked out of," if he took a class at the community college and met the minimum graduation requirements set by California.
Growing number of English learners in schools
Mienlace
10/14/08 - Local schools are enrolling a growing number of students who don‘t speak English – students who typically fare poorly on standardized tests – at a time when the federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for unprecedented test score gains.
Dumping the California Exit Exam is Not the Answer
New America Media
10/6/08 -Once again, doomsday predictions failed to materialize with 90.2 percent of California's high school students passing the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) in 2008, making it evident that if expectations are raised, both students and teachers will rise to meet them.
Latinos avanzan en la escuela
La Opinion
9/5/08 -This article responds to the 2008 AYP/API results released by the California Department of Education. While over half of all California schools met their benchmark goals, the achievement gap remained glaringly apparent.
Lo que estamos empezando a ver es que la brecha académica se está comenzando a cerrar poco a poco", dijo Russlynn Ali, directora ejecutiva de The Education Trust-West. "Sabemos que aún queda un largo camino por recorrer y para llegar a ese punto lo que los distritos van a tener que hacer es responder a las necesidades de los estudiantes en lugar de usar el desafío como una excusa".
Is our students learning?
Sacramento News and Review
8/28/08 -When students return to Sacramento City Unified schools next week, it’s likely they won’t recall much about the thousands of little bubbles they marked on the spring Standardized Testing and Reporting exams. Their teachers and administrators don’t have the luxury of forgetting. Whether they support the current state and federal systems regulating California schools or regard them as a nuisance, educators will start the new school year analyzing last year’s data in depth.
Más latinos en escuelas públicas
La Opinion
8/27/08-This article is about the growing Latino population in our schools. A Pew report released August 26, 2008 found that 1 in 5 public school students is now Latino.
"Lo que hay de verdad es que un giro demográfico en los salones significa nuevas necesidades, tener nuevos rumbos, y esa parte del trabajo aún no se ha hecho. La mayoría de los distritos escolares ni siquiera están preparados para esto", comentó Russlynn Ali, directora ejecutiva de The Education Trust-West, para quien una de las prioridades debería ser que esos alumnos aprendan "rápido y de una forma consistente el inglés".
“The truth is that a demographic shift in the classroom presents a new set of needs, having new goals, and that is the part of the effort which has not been done. The majority of school districts are not prepared for this”, commented Russlynn Ali, Executive Director of The Education Trust-West, for whom one of the priorities should be for those students (ELL) “to learn English in an accelerated and consistent manner.”
California Cramming
Campus Report Online
8/22/08 - California students only managed to demonstrate minimal gains in English and made no significant progress in Math on academic achievement tests, according to the data released recently by the California Department of Education, as the Education Trust-West relayed.
California test scores are higher, but higher federal targets put more schools at risk
Los Angeles Times
8/15/08 - In that regard, the state should have made more progress, said Russlynn Ali, executive director of the Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based research and advocacy organization.
"Indeed, with time, the narrowing of achievement gaps between groups slows in the elementary grades, stops in middle school, and then begins to widen again in high school," Ali said in a statement.
Oakland’s test scores rise, especially in elementary schools
Oakland Tribune
8/15/08-Russlynn Ali, executive director of the Oakland-based education advocacy group Education Trust-West, would agree.
"Some schools are making great gains," Ali said. "The real question is why all of them aren't."
EdTrust’s sober assessment
Educated Guess blog (San Jose Mercury News)
8/15/08 - Education Trust-West has turned around an analysis of the STAR results that the State Department of Education released yesterday. The study offers a detailed look at the state’s continuing and persistent achievement gap — the dark side of the sunny news that the state continues to make slow, but steady progress in scores on state standardized tests.
College Board to debut an 8th-grade PSAT exam
The Los Angeles Times
8/8/08 - Russlyn Ali, executive director of Education Trust-West, the Oakland arm of a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to improving education, said many California public school students are first-generation college aspirants who lack the background and information to map out their own routes to higher education. "That plays out in kids' real lives; most of them are taking a hodgepodge of classes and by the end of 11th grade it's too late," Ali said.
24% LIKELY TO DROP OUT AT STATE'S HIGH SCHOOLS; New, more accurate tracking system finds rate is far higher than previously thought
San Francisco Chronicle
7/17/08-Nearly 1 in 4 California students will drop out during high school, state educators said Wednesday, basing their prediction on what they said is the most accurate information about student attendance they've ever collected.
Old Problem, New Approach to Solving Achievement Gap
KXTV-TV ABC, Sacramento
7/15/08 - According to a 2007 study by the Department of Education, 69 percent of black students and 62 percent of Latino students in grades 8 through 11 perform at a "below basic" level in Algebra II. Meanwhile, 64 percent of white students and 76 percent of Asian students perform at the basic or proficient level of the same subject. That is just a snapshot of the chievement gap from a recent study by the Education Trust West. Advocates with the Education Trust West say it's important for students to learn at the proper level starting in preschool as it increases a child's chances of succeeding in the years ahead.
Schools Reclassify Students, Pass Test Under Federal Law
Sacramento Bee
4/27/08-Will C. Wood Middle School faced a vexing situation when last year's test results came out in August. Most students had met the mark set by No Child Left Behind. But African American students' math scores fell far short of it, bringing the school into failing status in the eyes of the federal law.
State of the State: Addressing the Education Information Deficit
1/09/08 -On Tuesday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the creation of a new education data commission to ensure that California’s parents, teachers, educators and policy-makers have the information they need to make effective decisions about transforming California’s education system so that all students are prepared for college and the workforce.
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