Designed to diagnose and track California’s education challenges and provide data necessary for policymakers to enact meaningful statewide education reform
Research Briefs
Technical Reports
Researchers
Student Impact
55 technical reports and 22 research briefs document opportunities and gaps, and point to a need for alignment and accountability, balance, and coherence
California has always been willing to make bold bets on its students, on early childhood education, community schools, and literacy, and the research shows those bets are paying off. GDTF III offers California’s policymakers something rare: a clear diagnosis grounded in evidence.
California is at an inflection point in education. Over the past two decades, the state has built stronger foundations through more equitable school funding, stronger standards and assessments, expanded early childhood education, improved data systems, and investments in community schools, early literacy, and the educator workforce. Yet California now faces a different question: whether those stronger foundations can support a public education system prepared for a very different future. Work is changing quickly, student engagement and well-being remain fragile after the pandemic, and federal commitments to civil rights, student welfare, and accountability have become less certain.
Across 55 studies, this body of work examines the conditions, practices, and systems that drive impact. The findings provide a rigorous evidence base to inform decision-making at the state, district, and school levels.
This report examines California’s growing paraeducator workforce, which is increasingly central to student support. It identifies ways to strengthen training, role clarity, compensation, professional support, and career pathways.
This report examines the evolving role of county offices of education in California’s education system. It considers how county offices can serve as both support providers and accountability partners for districts.
This report examines California’s preparation system for teachers of English learners and bilingual classrooms. It highlights regional access, teacher qualifications, and the preparation needed to support multilingual instruction.
This report examines school facilities funding, climate resilience, and equity. It highlights how buildings, outdoor spaces, and local fiscal capacity shape students’ learning environments.
This report studies changes to middle and high school math pathways after the Common Core transition. It shows how decisions about the timing of Algebra I and the structure of high school courses can shape students’ achievement and opportunity in advanced mathematics.
This report examines the evidence on strategic school staffing, a framework for rethinking how schools organize educators’ roles, time, and pay to better align teacher expertise with student needs. It presents evidence of demonstrated impact on teacher and student outcomes, investigates California principals' interest in and perceived barriers to implementation, and concludes with implications for state policy to further support more innovative staffing.
