June 2010 > Students

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State of CA Education Gets GSE Airing

Clockwise from upper left, Jack O'Connell, Judith Warren Little, Robert Birgeneau, Norton Grubb, David Pearson and Anthony Smith. Additional photos may be found here.

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The Berkeley Review of Education (BRE) held a one-day symposium in March that brought together leading education scholars and policymakers from across California to discuss “crucial issues of the economic, political and social dimensions of public education during the current fiscal crisis and beyond.”

Despite rainy weather, a large gathering nearly filled the Education/Psychology Library for a stimulating presentation. Many of the speakers discussed the economic realities of education funding and pointed to the crisis facing public schools, community colleges and universities.

After opening remarks from Chancellor Birgeneau, O'Connell gave a reasonably optimistic view of public opinion on education funding. "When you look at polls, people want to invest," he said, pointing to the support of local tax measures in November 2008.

But later in the day, GSE Professor Bruce Fuller told the audience: "We have a population that's deeply skeptical of new taxes to even return to the level of public finance we had just a few years ago.” Then GSE Professor Norton Grubb noted that there were “no loose pots of money out there.”

In his closing remarks, BRE Editor Shlomy Kattan, said:

“What we tried to do today was put together another forum where we can come to talk about these issues, we can analyze them and try and figure out ‘OK, what are the next conversations that we can engage in amongst ourselves to try and figure out the type of strategies we need before going out and doing the type of work we believe needs to be done.’ It’s good work. My friend [GSE alumnus] K. Wayne Yang calls it dirty work because we don’t get a lot of respect and appreciation for it, but we do it.”

Program
Robert J. Birgeneau, UC Berkeley Chancellor
Opening Remarks

Jack O’Connell, California Superintendent of Public Instruction
A Snapshot of K-12 Education in California
                
Judith Warren Little, Professor, UC Berkeley
California's Teacher Workforce and Issues in Teacher Quality

P. David Pearson, Dean, School of Education, UC Berkeley 
Cynthia Coburn, Associate Professor, UC Berkeley
The Impact of State and Federal Policy of Literacy Pedagogy in California: A Tale of Simultaneous Success and Failure

Bruce Fuller, Professor, UC Berkeley
From Reagan to Obama--Institutions, Relationships, and the Shrinking State

Norton Grubb, Professor, UC Berkeley 
Lynda Tredway, PLI Coordinator, UC Berkeley
California's Race to the Bottom: History, Consequences, and Democracy in Danger  

Cristina Gonzalez, Professor, UC Davis 
Hedgehogs and Foxes at the Crossroads: Leadership and Diversity at the University of California

Anthony Smith, Superintendent of Oakland Unified School District 
One Oakland: Oakland Unified School District as a Platform for Creating a Healthy Oakland

Proceedings from the event are expected to be published in BRE's second issue, due in Fall 2010, as part of a broader look at the state of public education in the U.S.

 

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