The California Education Lab is a collaborative group of researchers investigating important questions of education policy and practice in California.  Much of our work focuses on understanding how young adults are prepared for, transition into, and succeed in college.  We also have expertise in K-12 school and teacher quality, college quality, peer effects, educational achievement gaps, school climate, facilities, finance, and school choice. Our projects explicitly aim to understand and improve persistent inequalities in educational attainment for students from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Partnership 

In our work, we partner with California educators and policymakers across the K-12 and postsecondary sectors to answer timely and relevant questions with rigorous analytical methods. Our long-standing relationships with the California Department of Education, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, the California State University Chancellor’s Office, the University of California Office of the President, and the California Student Aid Commission inform and enable our research. Overtime, we have accumulated considerable knowledge about the State’s multiple, and diverse, education sectors, and the data and methods necessary to answer critical policy questions for California.

Dissemination

To ensure the greatest impact on practice and policy, we cooperate with Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE),  Wheelhouse Center for Community College Leadership and Research, and UC Davis Center for Poverty Research to disseminate our research findings. In addition to academic research conferences and publication in peer-reviewed journals, we disseminate our findings through research and policy briefs, and present at a wide variety of conferences and convenings.

Funding

Our work is supported through federal research grants and the generosity of private foundations.

• Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
• S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• College Futures Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• The James Irvine Foundation
• Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE)
• Sobrato Family Foundation
• Stuart Foundation
• Stupski Family Foundation
• Tipping Point Community