The Children's Agenda for California
Defining the goals of
The Children's Movement
Goal 2:
Clarifying the state’s role in the education system by focusing it on developing standards for student success and holding districts accountable for meeting those standards, including a greater emphasis on knowledge and skills in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Specific policy components to consider:
- Implementing a strong core curriculum and aligned assessments.
California has adopted an augmented version of the Common Core State Standards that will ultimately allow for more accurate state-by-state comparisons of students’ knowledge and skills. There now needs to be legislation to allow the California Department of Education (CDE) to begin implementing curriculum frameworks aligned to the Common Core. The CDE’s updated frameworks should integrate 21st century learning skills, including building on brain research that demonstrates the effectiveness of hands-on, inquiry-based approaches and youth development principles.
To further implement the Common Core and ensure California’s testing system is adequately measuring the skills and knowledge necessary for success, the state should continue to participate in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career consortium and ultimately adopt new assessments, starting in English Language Arts and Mathematics. The state assessment system should include formative and summative exams, provide actionable assessment data for school staff, and more effectively measure student’s problem solving and complex thinking skills. - Developing a more effective accountability system.
California must reengineer its school accountability system to be based on individual, year-to-year student growth in order to more accurately measure the impact schools are having on student achievement. In addition, this new accountability system should integrate accurate drop-out and graduation data. It also should place a greater emphasis on Science, which will require the development and implementation of Science assessments for additional grades to ensure appropriate sample sizes for accountability purposes.
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