Author Archive

John McDonald

University of California, Los Angeles

New UCLA Research Effort Aims to Increase Diversity of Educators in California

Professor interacting with small class of students

This article originally appeared in Ampersand, the UCLA Ed & IS online magazine, and is reprinted with permission.

The Center for the Transformation of Schools at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies is launching a new research initiative to inform and strengthen efforts to increase the racial, cultural and linguistic diversity of educators in California.

The project will bring together expert researchers and K-12 and higher education representatives from a variety of backgrounds to examine and identify the factors that fuel the gap in the racial identity of California’s educators and the students they serve.  The research will produce an evidence-based landscape study of the challenge, as well as additional research and policy briefs that build public awareness and set forth strategies and models for state and local efforts to increase the diversity of the education workforce. The project is funded by a grant from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a national effort to increase educator diversity.

UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools Partners in New Statewide Effort to Change School Discipline Practices, Strengthen School Culture and Climate

This article originally appeared in UCLA Ed & IS online magazine, Ampersand, and is reposted with permission.

CTS joins with Orange County and Butte County to expand California’s Multi-Tiered System of Support for educators and school systems.

In recent years, California has greatly reduced the number of student suspensions. Between the 2011-12 and 2016-17, the number of suspensions each year dropped by nearly half, from about 710,000 to a little over 381,000 students.