WestEd: Policy Center

Assessment for Learning

What Policymakers Should Know About Formative Assessment

Formative assessment in the classroom aims to reveal not just what students are learning, but how they are learning, with results used to inform instruction. This policy brief highlights the formative component of next-generation assessment systems and makes recommendations for state and federal policymakers. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2013

Understanding Formative Assessment

Insights from Learning Theory and Measurement Theory

By: Elise Trumbull, Andrea Lash

Formative assessment is intended to yield real-time information about if and how students are learning—and what might be impeding their progress. Insights gained from this ongoing classroom assessment process can help teachers shape instruction and guide student efforts as well. The effective use of formative assessment can add balance to assessment systems that, in recent years, have leaned heavily toward assessment for accountability purposes. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2013

Professional Development on Formative Assessment

Insights From Research and Practice

By: Elise Trumbull, Nancy Gerzon

Formative assessment is a key component in next-generation assessment systems. This paper, authored by former WestEd researcher Elise Trumbull and WestEd's Nancy Gerzon, outlines how different programs and studies have responded to educators' need for professional development on formative assessment. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2013

Narrowing the Achievement Gap

Perspectives and Strategies for Challenging Times

Edited by: Thomas Timar, Julie Maxwell-Jolly

"[T]his incisive book offers promising and realistic measures for helping children who are poor and often racially and linguistically isolated. The authors provide a thoughtful set of alternatives to failed federal policies that have not and cannot address the pernicious achievement gaps that endanger our democracy."
— David C. Berliner, Regents' Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University more >

Price: $29.95 | Format: Trade Paper | Copyright: 2012
ISBN: 978-1-61250-123-9 | Order #: HEP-12-01

Building a Research Agenda to Improve Education Outcomes for Children and Youth in Foster Care

What the Experts Say

By: BethAnn Berliner, Nicole Lezin

How can we ensure children and youth in the foster care system receive the quality schooling they need? This Policy Perspectives paper makes the case for developing a research base that educators and institutions can draw on when creating and implementing education strategies specifically for children and youth in foster care — a first step toward creating a brighter and successful future for foster kids. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2012
Order #: PP-12-01

The Latino Education Crisis

Rescuing the American Dream

By: Patricia Gandara

In this Policy Perspectives paper, Patricia Gándara outlines a plan to narrow the education achievement gap between Latinos — the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group — and other students. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2010
Order #: PP-10-02

Education Research: Past, Present, and Future

By: Grover (Russ) Whitehurst

What does the future hold for education research in the United States? Find out in this new Policy Perspectives paper by Grover (Russ) Whitehurst, former Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2010
Order #: PP-10-01

Education That Works: Ideas for Sacramento

By: Mayor Kevin Johnson

As part of the California Mayors Education Roundtable Initiative, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson held a March 2009 summit that brought together nationally renowned educators to discuss their work, successes, and lessons learned. This white paper, developed from the ideas and discussions emanating from the gathering, is the continuation of a dynamic citywide discussion about how to ensure academic success for all Sacramento students. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2009

A Synthesis of Recent California Education Reform Recommendations

By: Reino Makkonen, Camille Esch

This brief analyzes and synthesizes four prominent California education reform initiatives proposed by the California Dropout Research Project, the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, the Superintendent's P-16 Council, and Getting Down to Facts. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2008

Minding the Gap: Why Integrating High School with College Makes Sense and How to Do It

Edited by: Nancy Hoffman, Joel Vargas, Andrea Venezia, Marc S. Miller

Many young people never get a chance to go to college, yet a postsecondary degree has become the baseline requirement for success in today's highly competitive economy. Learn how leading experts, including WestEd's Andrea Venezia, propose to tackle this important issue. more >

Price: $29.95 | Format: Trade Paper | Copyright: 2007
ISBN: 978-1-891792-45-8 | Order #: HEP-07-01

Reforming Teacher Pay: The Search for a Workable Goal-Driven Compensation System

By: Reino Makkonen, Kristin Arnold

This Policy Trends report examines the growing interest in and the challenges of implementing a differentiated compensation system that rewards educators for performance. It also outlines key considerations for developing such a system. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2005
Order #: PT-06-01

Student Achievement and Graduation Rates in Nevada: Urgent Need for Faster Reform

Nevada ranks first in student enrollment growth and almost last in student achievement and graduation rates. What must the state do to secure its economic future? more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2005

Full-Day Kindergarten: Expanding Learning Opportunities

When it comes to kindergarten, is more better? This brief summarizes the most recent research on full-day kindergarten and offers perspective on the issue. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2005
Order #: PO-05-01

Scientific Research and Evidence-Based Practice

By: Paul Hood

Two of the most prevalent phrases used in the recent discourse of education reform are "scientifically-based research" and “evidence-based education.” But what do these phrases mean and how do they affect education improvement efforts? This paper suggests an answer. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2003

Student Achievement in California: Steady Progress Made, Faster Improvement Needed

This report presents WestEd’s analysis of student progress in California since the advent of the state’s accountability program. Though test scores have risen steadily in the past decade, it states, progress needs to accelerate. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2004

California's Graduation Rate: The Hidden Crisis

Highlighting data on California's high school graduation rate, this report provides a comparison between California and other states, and draws three conclusions about the states ongoing trends in graduation. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2004

Tough Love for School Reform

By: Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, offers a common sense agenda that can help foster excellence in America’s public schools. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2004
Order #: PP-04-02

La Frontera: Challenges and Opportunities for Improving Education Along the U.S.-Mexico Border

By: Joan McRobbie, Malia Villegas

This report elaborates on findings from Voices from La Frontera: A Study of School Districts Along the United States-Mexico Border and further builds understanding of how to support this region’s districts and, through them, their schools and students. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2004
Order #: FRNT-04-01

School & College Partnerships: The Missing Link

One side complains about teachers not prepared for real classrooms. The other about students not prepared for college. This new Policy Brief examines the problems created by lack of K-16 alignment and offers recommendations. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2004
Order #: PO-04-01

Censorship From the Right...Censorship From the Left

By: Diane Ravitch

Diane Ravitch, former Assistant Secretary of Education, has tracked the U.S. textbook industry for years. In this excerpt from her new book, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn, Ravitch documents the effect in schools of publishing censorship, self-censorship, and the books that survive. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2004
Order #: PP-04-01

The Future Federal Role: Observations and Ideas

By: Christopher T. Cross

This excerpt from Christopher T. Cross' new book, Political Education: National Policy Comes of Age, considers the federal role in K-12 public education in the coming half century. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PP-03-04

What You Can Do to Improve Your School

By: William G. Ouchi

In an excerpt from the recently published Making Schools Work, William G. Ouchi, UCLA management professor and advisor to California Secretary for Education Richard Riordan, offers seven "rules of change" that will help revolutionize schools and school districts. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PP-03-03

Teacher Supply & Quality: The Changing Role of Community Colleges

The longstanding challenge of ensuring both teaching quality and adequate teacher supply is underscored by new federal policies requiring a highly qualified teacher in every pubic school classroom. This Policy Brief examines the promise of community colleges to help meet that challenge by attracting, preparing, and supporting a diverse range of teacher candidates. It also identifies policy considerations for those looking to better harness this potential. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PO-03-02

District Implementation of No Child Left Behind

While states bear the initial responsibility for drafting No Child Left Behind compliance plans, the real onus for implementation is on school districts. WestEd gathered documentation and interviewed district leaders in this Policy Notes, offering promising ideas and practices for NCLB implementation efforts. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PN-03-01

Trends & Best Practices for Education Management Organizations

By: Guilbert C. Hentschke, Scot Oschman, Lisa Snell

This paper examines the interplay of education management organizations in the context of contemporary American schooling, and in so doing, seeks to understand their recent emergency and possible future. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PP-03-02

Leading in Difficult Times: Are Urban School Boards Up to the Task?

In a number of big cities, where politics, demographics, and the sheer size of the school district and its budget make the challenges of education improvement that much more complex, stakeholders are questioning the effectiveness of their school board. This brief outlines some current proposals for school board reform in large urban districts. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PT-03-01

Making Sure Exit Exams Get a Passing Grade

The trend is clear: By 2008, half the states are likely to have adopted high school exit exams. How can we ensure the fairness of this policy? This Policy Brief examines the issues and offers policy recommendations. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PO-03-01

What Research Says About Unequal Funding for Schools in America

By: Bruce J. Biddle, David C. Berliner

Interest in the topic of unequal funding for public schools is widespread in America. This report answers key questions about public school funding and concludes with strategies designed to provide greater funding equity. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2003
Order #: PP-03-01

Using School-Community Partnerships to Bolster Student Learning

In many schools and districts, improving academic outcomes for underperforming students requires more than ensuring high-quality curriculum and instruction. It requires a commitment to helping address challenges in students' lives outside of school.
more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: PO-02-04

How Best to Achieve School Success

Since 1998, prestigious panels have reviewed cognitive, social, emotional, and neuro-physiological research and come to consensus about our current scientific understanding of how children learn and how learning is best facilitated. Few of these findings, however, have been used to drive recently developing school readiness initiatives. This must change if these programs are to succeed. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: PO-02-03

Urgency Rises for Quality Child Care

"The explosion of knowledge about early development is sending a clear message to policymakers: Children's earliest experiences profoundly influence later intellectual and emotional functioning.... Yet many working parents find that child care, if available at all, is alarmingly substandard and expensive."
— from the Policy Brief more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: PO-02-02

What Research Says about Small Classes and Their Effects

By: Bruce J. Biddle, David C. Berliner

This report answers key questions on class size: What research has appeared on class size to date? What findings have surfaced and how can we explain those findings? Why have those findings provoked controversy? And, what should we conclude about class-size policies based on the research? The report is part of a series funded by the Rockefeller Foundation entitled, In Pursuit of Better Schools: What Research Says. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: PP-02-01

Investing in Technology: The Learning Return

This Policy Brief addresses the question of how and under what circumstances technology can make a difference in instruction and learning. more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: PO-02-01

Voices from La Frontera: Study of School Districts Along the United States/Mexico Border

By: Paul Koehler, Stanley Chow, June Lee-Bayha, Tenley Harrison

School board associations in four states — California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas — commissioned this broad-based report about K-12 education along La Frontera, the United States/Mexico border, to identify common issues and questions facing the region's school districts. more >

Price: $8.00 | Format: Print | Copyright: 2002
Order #: FRNT-02-01

Improving Student Achievement in Arizona: A Call to Action

Report by the Governor's Task Force on Efficiency and Accountability in K-12 Education

This report was prepared for the Office of the Governor of Arizona's Task Force on Efficiency and Accountability in K-12 Education. It calls for fundamental education reform to be implemented in order to greatly strengthen Arizona's education system and, ultimately, ensure our children's success. more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2001

The Redesignation Dilemma: Challenges and Choices in Fostering Meaningful Accountability for English Learners

By: Robert Linquanti

"This policy report focuses on the tensions and dilemmas surrounding one of the most common milestones used for defining and measuring English learners’ progress: their redesignation or reclassification from limited to fluent English proficient."
—from the report more >

Format: PDF | Copyright: 2001

Are Small Schools Better? School Size Considerations for Safety and Learning

By: Joan McRobbie

"Overwhelming evidence indicates that violence is less likely in smaller schools. And a number of studies also find a correlation between smaller school size and higher achievement for poor and minority students, with all students performing at least as well if not better than in large schools."
—from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2001
Order #: PO-01-03

Building a Workable Accountability System: Policy Brief

By: Sri Ananda, Stanley N. Rabinowitz

"Hold schools more accountable for results, and teachers and administrators will do everything in their power to ratchet up student learning: That theory underlies the recent proliferation of statewide accountability systems through which policymakers hope to ensure that education reform takes hold and yields the desired outcome of high achievement for all students. Coming up with an effective system is not an easy task."
—from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

Format: Print | Copyright: 2001
Order #: PO-01-02

Seamless Schooling

By: Joan McRobbie

"Seamless education" results when K-12 systems and higher education work as partners. It's been happening in Long Beach for six years, with exemplary results in student achievement and teacher preparation. more >

Making Time Count

"The key to increasing achievement is not necessarily more time in school but maximizing the amount of academic learning time."
—from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

R&D Alert^® Winter 2001

Focus on Evaluation Research

This R&D Alert highlights some of the lessons learned from WestEd's efforts in evaluation. At the core of this work is a commitment to helping schools, districts, community organizations, and other agencies understand whether a program is doing what it was intended to do, whether it was implemented properly, and how it could be improved. more >

Ensuring Teacher Quality: A Continuum of Teacher Preparation and Development

"Research…indicates that dollars invested in teaching quality net larger student achievement gains than the same dollars invested in any other type of school resources."
—from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

Analysis and Implications of Proposition 38: Will Vouchers Improve Student Access to Private Schools?

"...the details of the initiative, coupled with the projected capacity, costs, and admission practices of California private schools, would largely limit any expanded private school choice to more-advantaged families."
— from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

Can State Intervention Spur Academic Turnaround?

By: Joan McRobbie

This report examines what "machinery" needs to be in place to enable and support state intervention with low-performing schools, what an intervention entails, and the key elements of success in a school turnaround. more >

Class Size Reduction: Great Hopes, Great Challenges

This policy brief discusses the potential benefits of reducing class size and the challenges of designing effective class size reduction (CSR) programs. Its recommendations on crafting successful CSR programs describe important design elements for policymakers to consider, such as targeting, teacher support, facility support, flexibility, and program evaluation.
more >

The High Stakes of High-Stakes Testing

By: Sri Ananda, Stanley N. Rabinowitz

This policy brief addresses both the benefits of and concerns raised by use of high-stakes testing. It offers specific recommendations for policymakers seeking to incorporate these tests in state accountability systems.
more >

School Funding: From Equity to Adequacy

"How much is enough to educate a child?...Adequacy formulas expose the gap between what schools now receive and what they may really need, particularly those schools facing the costs of educating large numbers of students with special needs."
—from the WestEd Policy Brief more >

Private School Vouchers: Issues at a Glance

By: Kyo Yamashiro, Lisa Carlos

This document discusses "private school choice," or voucher programs, that allow parents to put tax dollars toward a private education. It presents the different types of voucher programs, the status of vouchers, and arguments in support of and against vouchers.
more >

What We Know about Vouchers: The Facts behind the Rhetoric

By: Erica Adelsheimer

With Kate Rix

This report describes the variety of publicly funded voucher programs in operation at the state and local level. It examines existing research into whether voucher programs improve or erode the quality of education and looks at alternative enrollment options. Finally, the report offers recommendations to policymakers, educators, and parents involved in the continuing debate over school vouchers. more >

Focus on Class Size Reduction: Smaller Classes Aim to Launch Early Literacy

By: Joan McRobbie

This publication examines how the implementation of California's class size reduction efforts is affecting literacy in the early grades. The publication also examines the continuing challenge of implementation, including facilities and personnel, and the lessons learned from research. more >

Class Size Reduction: Lessons Learned from Experience

By: Joan McRobbie, Jeremy D. Finn, Patrick Harman

This Policy Brief starts from the position that class size reduction is not a silver bullet, but rather one approach that has been shown to improve learning, especially in the early grades. It points out that a critical question is not whether class size can make a difference, but how and under what circumstances it does. more >

California's Class Size Reduction: Implications for Equity, Practice, and Implementation

By: Edward Wexler, Jo Ann Izu, Lisa Carlos, Bruce Fuller, Gerald Hayward, Michael Kirst

With Jin Sook Lee, Kyo Yamashiro, John F. Flaherty, Dianna Gutierrez

This evaluation of California's first full year of its class size reduction effort draws on survey results and interviews with district and school staffs to examine how class size reduction has affected special populations, teacher credentials and distribution, teachers' classroom practices, and parental involvement. more >

More on Charter Schools: Issues at a Glance

By: Lisa Carlos, Kyo Yamashiro

This document summarizes the issues surrounding charter schools and the implications of recent research about the future of the movement.
more >

Creating Working Relationships: How Can School Districts and Charter Schools Work Together Effectively?

By: Jo Ann Izu

Drawing upon WestEd's evaluation of 13 charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, this knowledge brief highlights the difficulties of balancing the twin needs of charter school autonomy and accountability, and the implications for how charter schools and districts can work together. more >

Stop the Clock: Ending the Tyranny of Time in Education

By: Julie Aronson

Shifting the focus from how much time students spend in school to how well they master essential skills and concepts, this report looks at ways to restructure education schedules so that all students reach high standards. more >

Improving Student Achievement by Extending School: Is It Just a Matter of Time?

By: Julie Aronson, Joy Zimmerman, Lisa Carlos

This report frames the research on the complex relationship between time and learning, focusing primarily on the empirical evidence about how time affects student achievement. more >

Policy Center

Director

Contact Information

Resources

What Policymakers Should Know About Formative Assessment

Insights from Learning Theory and Measurement Theory

Insights From Research and Practice

Perspectives and Strategies for Challenging Times

What the Experts Say

Rescuing the American Dream

Report by the Governor's Task Force on Efficiency and Accountability in K-12 Education

Focus on Evaluation Research