Insights

It’s with great enthusiasm that we look forward to a year of change at EdInsights. Next month we will announce a new executive director, poised to lead our work within California’s educational community. As we enter 2025, we reflect on the transformative impacts within our center, and take this as an opportunity to share our progress with all of you.

Historically, CTE programs have been instrumental in preparing students for the workforce by providing them with practical skills and hands-on experience. These programs offer a powerful medium to bring together various funding initiatives and frameworks within California’s community colleges. These programs, with their focus on practical, skills-based education, are uniquely positioned to address the dual needs of workforce development and student achievement.

As we celebrate National Student Parent Month and settle into the start of a new academic year for student parents and their children, it is important to remember that championing student parent success is not just about helping a specific group of students succeed — it’s about investing in the future of California and the future of our youngest learners, more than 500,000+ of which have a parent in school. Research consistently shows that when student parents earn a degree, their children directly benefit.

The state of California has the largest EL student population in the nation at 19.1%. Multilingual learners are often subject to a deficit orientation in schools that focuses on what they are assumed to lack rather than the assets that they bring from their multiple languages and cultures. The term English Learner itself assumes that racialized multilingual learners are lacking in their ability to speak and understand English. Current and future multilingual learners face many challenges posed by a slew of structural imbalances as well as this deficit framing — such as economic hardship, segregation, interrupted schooling, under-resourced schools, lack of ESL/bilingual certified teachers and low expectations.

CTE is defined by the California Department of Education as a program of study that combines core academic knowledge with technical and occupational skills to provide a path for students into postsecondary education, training, and/or career. CTE programs are offered by most high schools across the state and feed into degree programs at local community colleges and four-year universities. CTE provides a vital link between educational and career pathways in a way that can profoundly impact students’ life trajectories by providing them with space to explore potential career interests.

Like many organizations, in May of 2020, EdInsights released a statement acknowledging calls for racial justice spurred by law enforcement’s murder of George Floyd and recommitting to actions that advance racial equity in education. As we look forward to celebrating Juneteenth this year, we offer this reflection on how EdInsights has lived into this commitment over the intervening years.

The heights of achievement possible for students vastly surpasses the existing commitment and capability of our school system. Now is the time to imagine and create the educational environment and community that actually nurtures and unleashes every child’s full potential and success.

While sustained funding initiatives are important, the need to learn from previous efforts in a way that allows for a consolidation of the myriad of ongoing initiatives and builds cohesion within institutions is equally important. The results of such efforts have the potential to transform educational structures and policies in support of students’ needs, particularly those belonging to marginalized groups.

The heights of achievement possible for students vastly surpasses the existing commitment and capability of our school system. Now is the time to imagine and create the educational environment and community that actually nurtures and unleashes every child’s full potential and success.

Since 2016, College Futures Foundation has supported several intersegmental partnerships between California State University (CSU) campuses and California community colleges in their regions. In an effort to learn more about these transfer partnership efforts, College Futures Foundation partnered with Education Insights Center (EdInsights) to engage key constituents in a retrospective learning engagement that included a survey, interviews, and meaning making sessions.