New Research Shows Why Sacramento School Benefits From Statewide ‘QEIA’ Reforms
Contact: Mike Myslinski at 650-552-5324
Harmon Johnson Elementary, is flourishing and recently won a high-profile national award for excellence. It’s receiving extra resources from the state’s Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) of 2006. The QEIA law targets low-income schools, like Harmon Johnson in the Twin Rivers Unified School District. Parental involvement and volunteering have soared at the school as well.
Harmon Johnson Elementary, is flourishing and recently won a high-profile national award for excellence. It’s receiving extra resources from the state’s Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) of 2006. The QEIA law targets low-income schools, like Harmon Johnson in the Twin Rivers Unified School District. Parental involvement and volunteering have soared at the school as well.“With QEIA, we are finding new and effective ways to help our vulnerable students and to discover practices that all teachers can learn from,” said Vogel, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association. “New research shows that these proven reforms are leading to positive impacts in achievement, school reputation, school climate and parent engagement. This is exciting to see and watch.”
Twin Rivers Superintendent Steven Martinez praised the promise of QEIA. “Harmon Johnson is the perfect example of utilizing additional QEIA resources appropriately -- by identifying students by name and by need, and aligning financial resources along with the human resources, where they really make a difference and significantly impact student achievement."
CTA sponsored the law, SB 1133, that created QEIA to settle a CTA lawsuit against former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about funds owed to public schools. Over eight years, the program now targets about 400 at-risk schools with nearly $3 billion in proven reforms, such as smaller class sizes, better training for teachers and principals, quality professional development, more collaboration time, and more counselors in high schools. Several QEIA schools have won academic awards, and the turnaround program received international acclaim last year in a book by education reform researchers.
The new research is the first of five reports to be issued over the next year by Vital Research of Los Angeles and is based on in-depth case studies of dozens of QEIA schools. The highlights of the report,