EdSource symposium focuses on state's "new vision for school success"
Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the Learning Policy Institute, at EdSource’s 2016 symposium in Oakland.
Several education reforms currently underway in California have the potential to result in improved student achievement, but more work is needed to ensure that they achieve their goals, speakers at EdSource’s annual symposium said Thursday.
Nearly 600 education leaders, advocates, teachers and parents attended the event, which EdSource has sponsored in one form or another since its founding in 1977. The theme of this year’s symposium was “Making It Work: Implementing California’s New Vision for School Success.”
The symposium was conducted in partnership with the Learning Policy Institute.
“The real shift that’s going on in California is ultimately not a policy shift,” said David Plank, executive director of the Policy Analysis for California Education organization known as PACE. “What’s really at stake here is a culture shift.”
Plank said the state is “trying to move from a system of compliance (to state and federal regulations) to one of continuous improvement.”
That culture shift he referred to includes transitioning from an accountability system that focused largely on test scores to one looking more broadly at student and school success in multiple areas, including social and emotional learning and school climate.EdSource symposium focuses on state’s “new vision for school success” | EdSource: