The Unequal Opportunity to Learn in California's Schools: Crafting Standards to Track Quality

By: Andrea Venezia, Julie Maxwell-Jolly

How do we know if all students are getting an equal opportunity to learn and become proficient in core subjects?

This paper, co-written by Andrea Venezia, Senior Research Associate at WestEd, examines the idea of creating opportunity to learn (OTL) standards — a way for states to collect and analyze indicators of school quality that predict student achievement.

According to the authors, a well-designed OTL system would help parents, the public, and policymakers know whether students are receiving the resources they need to succeed.

This paper addresses several key questions related to the design and feasibility of OTL standards:

• How have OTL standards been created in other states or within schools?
• Should OTL indicators signal levels of school inputs, teaching practices, and/or achievement outcomes? Which inputs and practices are empirically predictive of student performance?
• Which public authorities should decide on valid OTL indicators, and who should monitor districts or schools?
• How would OTL indicators motivate positive organizational change, and greater equity in school quality, over time?