Giving Compass' Take:

• In this piece, the EdSource Staff shares a lightly edited transcript of the opening statement from the new President of the California State Board of Education, Linda Darling-Hammond, at her first meeting.

• How will education advocates in California be affected by Darling-Hammond's goals and intentions?

• To learn more about the education plan of California's previous administration, click here.

Linda Darling-Hammond became president of the California State Board of Education on March 14, 2019. EdSource is closely tracking the changes in education policymaking in California since the election last November of Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. The following [are excerpts from] Darling-Hammond’s opening remarks as State Board president at her first meeting on March 14.

By 2010, [California was] 48th in funding, 50th in teachers, administrators, counselors, librarians, and on and on. We now have a new funding system which is much more equitable and is one of the most progressive funding systems in the country. We have more resources in education, although we would all agree that there’s not quite yet enough. We have new standards that are focused on higher order thinking and critical problem solving, and new assessments that are really groundbreaking. We have a new accountability system with multiple measures that informed what happened on the federal level, because California did it first. Other states began to say, “Let’s look at the whole child, the whole education system, and build that kind of a system.” We’ve created social-emotional development and academic guidelines and initiatives. We’ve improved outcomes in significant ways.

 

We have a lot of work to do. We have to figure out how to support continuous improvement in all the ways that we’d like to. We’ve got to figure out how to build a system of support for schools and for professional learning. We’ve got to figure out how to continue our focus on more equitable learning opportunities, both in terms of the funding that’s made available to kids, but also the kind of education that prepares them for this future.

Read the full article about the California State Board of Education by the EdSource Staff at EdSource