Santibañez featured in major new report; Cohn on money and politics in state superintendent race
Is California’s public education system on the right track?
Yes, thanks to reforms enacted over the past decade, according to Getting Down to Facts II, a major preK-12 educational report released late last month and led by Stanford University and the organization Policy Analysis for California Education.
The report, which provides crucial data to state policymakers, presents the research of leading scholars in the education field, including CGU’s Associate Professor of Education Lucrecia Santibañez.
Santibañez said she was invited by one of the report’s main organizers to join the research effort and took part in “the ‘teacher improvement’ group, along with Linda Darling-Hammond, Dan Goldhaber, and other folks. My study deals with how to better prepare teachers to improve achievement among English Language Learners.”
In particular, in the report Santibañez examines the impact of early career teachers on these students as well as mapping out their future experiences in the state educational system. Read more about her contributions to this major report here.
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CHARTER VS. PUBLIC: For Carl Cohn, one of the biggest votes in next month’s state elections will be for the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
In a commentary piece published by The Mercury News, Cohn — who is an SES professor emeritus and a former director of the university’s Urban Leadership program — defines the choice between candidates Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond as a choice between charter schools and public ones.
Even though the choice of a state school leader might be less interesting (or entertaining) to the general electorate than a race for governor or a congressional seat, Cohn says the battle between Thurmond and Tuck “is projected to be the most expensive race in California this fall.”
Cohn’s commentary outlines what is at stake: billionaire moneyed interests versus a system designed for all.
“Public education can save lives,” Cohn writes. “For me, it’s a belief that stems from 50 years working in education.”