55 technical reports and 22 research briefs document opportunities and gaps, and point to a need for accountability, balance, and coherence
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 7, 2026 — Getting Down to Facts III (GDTF III), a comprehensive independent review of California’s PreK–12 system, is now free and publicly available at www.gettingdowntofacts.com. Led by Dr. Susanna Loeb, Professor and Faculty Director of the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, this new body of research consists of 55 technical reports and 22 research briefs produced by leading education policy researchers from around the country. It is the most comprehensive review of California’s public education system since the GDTF II report, released in 2018.
The period between Getting Down to Facts II and GDTF III has been anything but ordinary. A global pandemic closed schools, devastated learning, and left chronic absenteeism nearly double its pre-pandemic level. Wildfires, extreme heat, and power outages have cost California students nearly 10,900 instructional days, and the districts hit hardest are still the least equipped to recover. Artificial intelligence is arriving faster than schools can absorb it, demanding new thinking about what students need to know, what educators need to do, and what schools need to become. California families, meanwhile, are under extraordinary financial and emotional strain: 84 percent of families with young children experienced material hardship as of December 2025, and 92 percent of parents report emotional distress, pressures that reach well into middle-income households.
About Getting Down to Facts
GDTF III is the third in a series of comprehensive, independent reviews designed to diagnose and track California’s education challenges and provide data necessary for policymakers to enact meaningful statewide education reform. The first GDTF, in 2007, found California's students near the bottom of national rankings and helped catalyze the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). GDTF II, published in 2018, documented real gains from those funding reforms and laid the groundwork for one of the most promising developments in California education since: the expansion of Transitional Kindergarten (TK), now fully implemented for four-year-olds. GDTF III builds from a stronger foundation than either prior project, but with a clear-eyed verdict: California has enacted strong policies, made major investments, and seen real gains, however those gains are not yet reaching all students consistently.
The “A, B, C” of GDTF III
When analyzed as a complete body of work, three system-level challenges recur across all 55 technical reports and 22 research briefs:
- Accountability and alignment. California has many accountability tools and data systems, but they are not well connected to one another or to clear guidance and support. The system produces information without consistently turning that information into action.
- Balance between state guidance and local control. Districts carry substantial responsibility while facing ambiguity and compliance burdens. Education administrators spend roughly 19–20 hours per week, nearly half their working time, on compliance activities. In areas such as math instruction, tutoring, and curriculum, local leaders make consequential decisions with limited guidance, even where the research base is strong.
- Capacity. Teacher shortages, uneven preparation, fragmented support for district staff, and leadership instability make it difficult to deliver high-quality, coherent learning experiences at scale. Nearly 30 percent of California’s math teachers are not fully certified in their subject area. The supply of newly credentialed teachers remains only about half of what it was two decades ago. These gaps fall hardest on the schools serving students with the greatest needs.
GDTF Policy Implications
GDTF III arrives at a pivotal moment. California will inaugurate a new Governor and a new State Superintendent of Public Instruction in January 2027, leaders who will inherit the genuine progress and the structural challenges that have slowed the progress from reaching every student. The GDTF III evidence points consistently to the next-generation challenge: California has enacted many strong policies, but those policies do not yet connect. The state’s next phase of progress depends not on more reform, but on coherence. The research points to the following five priorities:
- Maintain and build on LCFF while strengthening fiscal stability. LCFF remains one of California’s most important reforms. Preserve its equity logic while addressing the instability created by volatile revenues, attendance-based funding, pension pressures, and facilities inequities that weaken what LCFF is designed to do.
- Consolidate and align governance and accountability systems. California’s current structures are too fragmented to support coherent improvement. The evidence points to the value of goals, planning, oversight, support, and intervention operating as parts of a connected system, rather than as separate compliance exercises.
- Build stronger state capacity. California needs a stronger state role in workforce development, instructional guidance, and system learning, particularly in areas where districts face high ambiguity, including literacy, mathematics, multilingual learner support, and tutoring. Early literacy shows what is possible when the state commits to this role. Math shows the cost when it does not.
- Reduce administrative burden. Overlapping plans, repeated reporting, and procedural duplication consume the time districts have for instructional leadership and community engagement. The research identifies an opportunity to streamline requirements that generate compliance more reliably than improvement.
- Support disciplined innovation. The research points to significant opportunities in developing, studying, and extending promising models in high school redesign, tutoring, educator career pathways, and the thoughtful use of technology and artificial intelligence, grounded in clear goals, strong evaluation, and systematic learning from early implementation.
“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,” said lead researcher Dr. Susanna Loeb, Professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Education. “Our challenge is no longer one of vision. The goals are right. The investments are real. The evidence identifies coherence as the missing piece: the degree to which the state’s standards, funding, accountability tools, and support for teachers and districts actually connect to one another so that good policy reaches classrooms..”
About Getting Down to Facts III
GDTF III was led by Dr. Susanna Loeb, Professor and Faculty Director of the SCALE Initiative at Stanford University, in partnership with the Give Forward Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Silver Giving Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, the Stuart Foundation, Tandem Philanthropies, and the Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, as well as individual supporters. The project brought together approximately 112 researchers from leading institutions across the country.
Webinar registration: https://scale.stanford.edu/events/getting-down-facts-iii-release-webinar
Full report and briefs: https://www.gettingdowntofacts.com
Methodology
GDTF III began with a listening tour. Project leaders consulted with educators, district and county leaders, families, and community-based organizations to identify the priority topics the research needed to address. Those conversations shaped the research agenda. Approximately 112 researchers were then commissioned to conduct 55 independent studies, with advisory groups of educators, families and caretakers, and students providing real-world feedback on works-in-progress. External reviewers provided feedback on draft technical reports. The 22 research briefs distill the 55 technical reports for general audiences, and a summary paper integrates the findings across the full body of work.
Media Contact
Colby Zintl | colbyzintl@gmail.com | 415-732-9944
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