Insights
Dr. LeAnn Fong-Batkin Appointed as New Executive Director!
The Education Insights Center (EdInsights) is pleased to announce Dr. LeAnn Fong-Batkin as our new Executive Director. Dr. Fong-Batkin brings over two decades of K-12 and higher education policy experience from WestEd, the Foundation for California Community Colleges, Sacramento State, the California Department of Education, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, and the California State Auditor. She has committed her career to social justice and equity for under-represented students.
Justice-Involved Students’ Education: Barriers to Expanding Programs, but Opportunities for Future Progress
Many California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) adult facilities paused in-person interactions and programming to help minimize the risk and spread of COVID-19, but offered correspondence-based community college courses instead. This transition...
Justice-Involved Students’ Education: The Importance of Collaboration and Communication
Correspondence-based educational courses are the only form of programming being offered in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) adult facilities during COVID-19, reaffirming the importance of collaboration with colleagues and partners around...
Justice-Involved Students’ Education: Understanding Barriers Exacerbated by COVID-19
California’s public colleges and universities cannot change the significant racial disparities embedded within the state’s criminal justice system, but by providing education opportunities to individuals who are currently incarcerated (justice-involved), they can...
Setting Priorities for California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System
The California Cradle-to-Career Data System Workgroup and its various subcommittees and advisory groups have been working hard all year to develop recommendations for the Governor and the Legislature on how to design and implement a longitudinal student data system to...
Governance Decisions are Critical to the Success of California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System
California’s planning process for a “Cradle-to-Career” data system has reached a critical juncture, as the Workgroup charged with making recommendations about the system considers governance options and the selection of an entity to manage it. Past efforts to develop a statewide data system in California were stymied over concerns about the make-up, roles, and responsibilities of the entity selected to manage the system, and how data collected by that entity would be used and by whom.
Our Commitment to Action for Racial Justice
EdInsights stands in solidarity with demands for racial justice, and commits to actions to identify and dismantle white supremacy, structural racism, and oppression in public education. We will work to ensure that our education systems deeply value and provide meaningful learning opportunities for Black students. We take the President of Sacramento State’s charge to hold his colleagues responsible for action very seriously.
The Importance of Funding Career Education in This Time of Crisis
As someone who has studied career education (CE) in the California Community Colleges (CCC) for many years, I am concerned about the potential impact of proposed cuts to the CCC budget for 2020-21 on the students served by CE programs, and on the state’s workforce—especially at a time when some job sectors might collapse and people will need new skills. The CE mission of the CCC is critical to ensuring that Californians have opportunities to prepare for the many “middle skill” jobs the state’s employers have struggled to fill in recent years—jobs requiring more than a high school education but less than a bachelor’s degree (e.g., technicians in engineering, healthcare, advanced manufacturing).
Ensuring Our Policies Support Students, Communities, and Regional Economies
Among the devastating effects of the COVID-19 crisis is the expected impact on California’s state budget, as revenues decline with shrinking financial markets and expenditures increase to cover unemployment claims and other vital government services. As prior economic contractions have demonstrated, this situation portends a challenging time ahead for higher education. The Great Recession brought significant cuts in state appropriations to the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC). The UC and CSU replaced some of their lost revenue by raising tuition substantially, while the CCC cut class sections dramatically, making higher education both less affordable and less accessible at a time that the workforce skills gap was growing. State funding for higher education in California took a decade to fully recover.
Pulling Together Across Roles and Sectors in a Time of Crisis
The annual meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA) was to be held in San Francisco this week, but, like all events, the in-person conference was cancelled so that its members could stay safe and focus on urgent transformations in their lives and work situations during this crisis.
EdInsights Publications and Presentations
EdInsights publications and presentations are available for the public to view and share.