A Synthesis of Recent California Education Reform Recommendations

By: Reino Makkonen, Camille Esch

Four prominent California initiatives — the California Dropout Research Project, the Governor's Committee on Education Excellence, the Superintendent's P-16 Council, and Getting Down to Facts — have recently recommended fundamental reforms to California's education system. To help policymakers and stakeholders access these varied proposals, the Stuart Foundation asked WestEd to analyze and synthesize the initiatives' summary reports. This brief describes the common themes found across the reports' recommendations, and — in consideration of the state's challenging 2008-09 budget environment — addresses the extent to which those recommendations will require new funds.