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September 2023
All signs point to fall….cooler temps, shorter days, football, and revving up for the CERA Annual Conference!
CERA 2023 Annual Conference - Educational Research: Guiding the Way Forward
Keynote Highlight
Dr. John Hodge, president and co-founder of Urban Learning and Leadership Center, will close our conference on Wednesday, November 15 with his inspirational words. Dr. Hodge has served as a reading teacher, English teacher, AVID teacher, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of AVID Center Eastern Division. He served as Director of An Achievable Dream Academy, an inner-city school that piloted many of the interventions used by Urban Learning and Leadership Center. An Achievable Dream Academy is a high performing, high poverty school that has received numerous national awards.
What sets Dr. John W. Hodge apart in the field of education is his well-documented ability to put research and theory into everyday practice in rural, urban and suburban schools. Dr. Hodge has helped educators in elementary, middle and high schools make the necessary changes to help all children meet and exceed rigorous academic standards. He is truly one of America's most respected new voices in education. Prior to starting his career in education, Dr. Hodge distinguished himself in the service of our country with the 7th Infantry Division of the United States Army. He is known as a master teacher and staff developer.
Conference Schedule
Planning ahead for your time at the conference? You can find our Schedule at a Glance and the detailed conference schedule on our website. Be sure to attend the keynote speakers, the Presidential Reception on Monday evening, and breakout sessions throughout the 3 days.
Annual Data Viz Competition
Showcase your data visualization and storytelling skills by entering CERA’s 2nd Annual Data Viz Competition!
CERA will host a data visualization poster session on Tuesday, November 14. Participants will present key findings from their research or key practices from their daily work in a visually interesting way. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to review the posters and vote for the best data visualization. CERA will award two prizes for the Best Data Visualization (chosen by a panel of experts) and People's Choice Award. For more details on submission requirements and award criteria, visit our website. To enter the competition, notify CERA of your intent to participate by completing the entry form by November 1, 2023.
Board Elections
Want to help plan future CERA conferences and webinars? Serve on CERA’s Board!!!
CERA has 2 open Board positions: Secretary and Member-at-Large. Both positions include 4-year term. The secretary position progresses from Secretary the first year, Vice President the second year, President the third year and finally as Past President the fourth year. The At-large Member assists the officers and appointed committee in the completion of their responsibilities and contributes knowledge and expertise to the discussions and decisions of the Executive Board. Positions are elected by the CERA members during the annual conference and positions begin immediately following the 2023 conference. Nominations open on September 25 and close on October 25. Please submit your statement of interest here.
Two of these things are kinda the same…Assessment and Surveys…Validity and Reliability
In case you missed our September webinar, Dr. Sherrie Reed and Valerye Salazar shared their expertise in survey construction. They likened assessments and surveys, as they both serve as tools to collect data. Assessments collect data on students’ skills, knowledge, abilities, and aptitudes. Surveys collect data on respondents’ knowledge, opinions, or experiences. Both assessments and surveys demand attention to reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the consistency of a survey, whereas validity refers to the accuracy of the instrument. A survey, like an assessment, is reliable if it repeatedly produces stable and similar results under consistent conditions and valid when it collects the data that it’s intended to collect. Consider the administration of a survey to teachers about their experience in a professional development seminar. A reliable survey would yield similar results for various groups of attendees with similar teaching conditions who experienced the same facilitator in the same room, but at different times. A valid survey would elicit responses to questions about the facilitator’s expertise, the relevance of examples, and the applicability of learning, rather than participants’ prior experiences with the topic, views on campus leadership, or temperature of the room, for example. Reliability is a necessary condition of validity. That is, you may have a survey that consistently measures the wrong thing, but you may not be accurately measuring a specific set of knowledge or opinions if the results would not be consistent if you administered the survey at a different time. The key to ensuring reliable and valid surveys is in the way questions are constructed!! For their list of 12 Best Practices in survey design see the recording of their webinar.
August 2023
Fall is a time for learning and we have some don’t miss opportunities coming your way!!
CERA 2023 Annual Conference- Educational Research: Guiding the Way Forward
Keynote speakers are booked, breakout sessions are selected, and the conference schedule is published! We are so excited for all the learning that awaits!!
Be sure to register before October 31st to save $50. Regular registration is $475 and includes your annual membership fees. On November 1, registration increases to $525. You can access registration through the registration system or through our website.
September Webinar
Join us for our September CERA professional learning opportunity: Got questions? Best Practices in Survey Design, Valerye Salazar and Dr. Sherrie Reed and will share their expertise in survey design to help you create valid and reliable instruments for your next project.
When: September 12th at 1:30pm
Where: This is an online webinar
How to Register: Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf-yprjIjHt16HLsqwXYaz19MR0qEVnJP
Last Call for Award Nominees
Nominations for the Education Leadership Award and the Research-Practice Partnership Award close August 18, 2023!!
Education Leadership Award honors a dedicated leader from K-12 or higher education for their efforts in improving California students’ equitable access to high quality educational opportunities and their outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination, please click here.
Research-Practice Partnership Award honors a California research-practice partnership that exemplifies the collaboration and cooperation between researchers and practitioners that result in improved educational outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination, please click here.
Stay Tuned for our 2nd Annual Data Viz Competition
Are you a visualization and storytelling expert? Enter the Data Viz Competition to showcase your data-driven artistic skills! CERA will host a data visualization competition where participants will present key findings from their research or key practices from their daily work in a visually interesting way. During the conference, participants will select a People's Choice Award and CERA Board Members will select one recipient for the 2023 Data Viz Award. Watch for more details coming in September!!
Spotlight on Research
In honor of our call for Research-Practice Partnership Award nominees, we wanted to highlight some of our nominees from last year.
The Pomona Regional Learning Collaborative (RLC) was founded in 2015 by Claremont Graduate University (CGU) Professor Nazanin Zargarpour in partnership with Pomona Unified School District (PUSD), to address the structural challenges which low-income, underrepresented students face in the transitions from high school through higher education. The RLC includes over 90 partners from PUSD, two community colleges, four baccalaureate university partners, and a graduate university, and civic organizations and college. The RLC is supported by regional and national partners and funders. The RLC engages in systematic, evidence-based, and equity-focused collaboration which has resulted in several noteworthy outcomes:
1.) reversal of the attrition rate for PUSD students who enrolled in the local community college - from 86% of enrolled students dropping out without earning a single college credit, to over 85% of students persisting in credit-bearing, transfer-level courses;
2.) increasing dual enrollment offerings from 2 to 20 courses and from one largely affluent high school to all seven traditional and alternative high schools in the district;
3.) doubling low-income student participation rates and tripling Latinx student participation rates in dual enrollment within just two years of implementation.
The Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum -English Language Development (ERWC-ELD) consortium, managed by Dr. Pamela Spycher, Senior Research Associate for WestEd, Debra Boggs, Language and Literacy Coordinator with the Merced County Office of Education, Dr. Adele Arellano, Professor in the College of Education, CSU Sacramento, Dr. Roberta Ching, Professor Emerita in the Department of English, CSU Sacramento, came together to craft an ELD focus for California's linguistically diverse classrooms within the larger ERWC organization (https://writing.csusuccess.org/). These leaders have independently advocated for multilingual learners through practice, policy, and research and their collaboration has aimed to improve the practice of culturally responsive teaching and learning for multilingual learners through the development of accessible, educative secondary curriculum and aligned professional learning. For over six years, the ERWC-ELD has addressed multiple critical needs including:
1.) developing stakeholder knowledge of high-quality and culturally responsive integrated and designated instruction and assessments for English language and literacy development;
2.) creating accessible and rigorous curriculum which centers students' community assets and funds of knowledge;
3)providing an exemplar of integrative research-practice partnership.
AERA Job Board
We also want to remind you to keep an eye on the AERA job board if you, or anyone you know, are interested in research jobs!
July 2023
Register now to attend the conference!
Registration runs from June 1 through October 31 at the cost of $475 and includes your annual membership fees. After November 1, registration increases to $525. You can access registration through the registration system or through our website which also has additional information.
If you are unable to attend the conference this year, remember to renew your membership through our registration site. Membership is $50 and includes the monthly newsletters and professional learning webinars we offer throughout the year.
Reminder: Call for Award Nominations!!
At the 2023 Annual Conference, the CERA Board of Directors will be honoring education leaders and research-practice partnerships who exemplify the dedication and collaboration required to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn and achieve at the highest level. Please consider nominating individuals and partnerships for the following awards:
Education Leadership Award honors a dedicated leader from K-12 or higher education for their efforts in improving California students’ equitable access to high quality educational opportunities and their outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination before the August 18th deadline, please click here.
Research-Practice Partnership Award honors a California research-practice partnership that exemplifies the collaboration and cooperation between researchers and practitioners that result in improved educational outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination before the August 18th deadline, please click here.
Keynote Highlights
We are excited to announce our second keynote Sue Lottridge. Sue is a Chief Scientist of Natural Language Applications at Cambium Assessment, Inc. She has a Ph.D. in Assessment and Measurement from James Madison University and Masters’ degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In this role, she leads CAI’s machine learning and scoring team on the research, development, and operation of CAI’s automated scoring and feedback software. Dr. Lottridge has worked in automated scoring for fifteen years and has contributed to the design, research, and use of multiple automated scoring engines including equation scoring, essay scoring, short answer scoring, speech scoring, crisis alert detection, and essay feedback. Her keynote will provide an overview of generative AI tools, considerations around their use, and potential impacts in K-12 assessment.
Save the Date for our September Webinar
We are excited to open registration for our September CERA professional learning opportunity: Got questions? Best Practices in Survey Design. Surveys are an essential tool in educational research and evaluation and how these instruments are designed is critical. In fact, how we ask the questions may be more important than what we ask. Presenters Valerye Salazar and Dr. Sherrie Reed and will share their expertise in survey design to help you create valid and reliable instruments for your next project.
When: September 12 at 1:30pm
Where: This is an online webinar
How to Register: Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkf-yprjIjHt16HLsqwXYaz19MR0qEVnJP
A Note from Our CERA Graduate Student Representative
Greetings fellow Graduate Students,
My name is Antwanisha Williamson and I am your 2023 Graduate Advisor! After serving 18 years of honorable service in the United States Navy as a logistician, training officer, and data analyst, I transitioned into the world of education in pursuit of my doctorate in Transformative Action in Education from the University of the Pacific. Being a member of the CERA board as a graduate student has afforded me the opportunity to explore many leadership roles in education including academia, research, and non-profit.
I would like to encourage you all to attend the California Educational Research Association’s 102nd Annual Conference, November 13-15 at the Disneyland Hotel. This year’s theme is Guiding the Way Forward which is designed to highlight innovative ways California’s educational researchers are using data to guide the way forward and improve results.
Attending as a graduate student will provide you with a wealth of information, an opportunity to meet current practitioners in the field, and gain a clear understanding of how educational research could be used to shape educational outcomes. This year we will be hosting a special meet and greet for all of our graduate students to come together during our presidential reception. I look forward to meeting you all and I can’t wait to see you there!
In community,
Antwanisha Williamson, Ed.D
June 2023
Professional Learning Webinar – Thank you!
CERA would like to thank you for attending our first professional learning webinar and for completing the survey at the end. You helped make this session a great professional learning opportunity for everyone.
The recording of our May 2023 CERA webinar, Stupid Excel Tricks, has been posted to the CERA YouTube channel! You can access the recording of the session and a copy of the handout on the webinar page of the website.
Educational Research: Guiding the Way Forward – CERA 2023 Annual Conference
Reminder: Submit your proposal before the June 20th deadline
We are excited to solicit presenters for consideration at the 102nd CERA Conference at the Disneyland Hotel November 13th through the 15th. With a theme of Educational Research: Guiding the Way Forward we are particularly interested in sessions that will focus on partnerships between K-12, Higher Education and/or Research Organizations and showcase the impact educational research has on the field.
Keynote Highlights
We are excited to announce our opening keynote Shane Safir, co-author of Street Data: A Next Generation Model for Equity, Pedagogy, and School Transformation. Shane will speak Monday at 4 pm as the opening Keynote. This session will be followed by drinks, appetizers, and music at our Presidential reception. For more information about Shane, visit the 2023 Conference Keynotes page of our website.
Register now to attend the conference!
Regular registration runs from June 1 through October 31 at the cost of $475. After November 1, registration increases to $525. Registration includes your annual membership fees. You can access registration through the registration system, or through our website which has additional information plus links to register.
Call for Award Nominations!!
At the 2023 Annual Conference, the CERA Board of Directors will be honoring education leaders, research-practice partnerships, and conference presenters who exemplify the leadership and collaboration across education sectors (K-12 and higher education; research and practice) required to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn and achieve at the highest level. Please consider nominating individuals and partnerships for the following awards:
Education Leadership Award
The Education Leadership Award honors a dedicated leader from K-12 or higher education for their efforts in improving California students’ equitable access to high quality educational opportunities and their outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination before the August 18th deadline, please click here.
Research-Practice Partnership Award
The Research-Practice Partnership Award honors a California research-practice partnership that exemplifies the collaboration and cooperation between researchers and practitioners that results in improved educational outcomes. To find out more information about this award and to submit your nomination before the August 18th deadline, please click here.
Spotlight on Data Viz
This month’s Data Viz spotlight was written by CERA Board Member Valerye Salazar.
Creating data viz that is accurate and compelling is about good story telling. Kickstart your high-quality charts with these habits from Stephen Convey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Be Proactive: Plan your story. Before opening your favorite Data Viz software, brainstorm questions your audience might have about the data. What do they already know? What will they want to know? What barriers to engaging with the data might they bring with them?
Begin with the end in mind. Boil down your story into one concise statement or idea, and make that the tile of your chart. Knaflic calls this the “Big Idea” while Evergreen asks, “What’s the point?”
Put first things First: Define what is most important for your story, and remove all the clutter. This step is an iterative process for me, and I am constantly revising data charts to remove noisy elements like horizontal gridlines or data points that distract from the story.
Think Win-Win: Use your visualizations to encourage collaborative conversations with the end goal of fostering mutual understanding. Providing context is so helpful here. Consider adding carefully curated call-out text boxes that contain the fill in gaps to the story that the chart alone doesn’t tell.
AERA Job Board
We also want to remind you to keep an eye on the AERA job board if you, or anyone you know, are interested in research jobs!
May 2023
Abstract Submission Window Now Open
We are excited to solicit presenters for consideration at the 102nd CERA Conference at the Disneyland Hotel November
13th–15th. With a theme of Educational Research: Guiding the Way Forward we are particularly interested in sessions that will focus on partnerships between K-12, Higher Education and/or Research Organizations and showcase the impact educational research has on the field. Visit the Submit a Session Proposal page for more information.
If you are involved in original research or project implementation, we encourage you to apply! Click here to access the conference registration site and submit your abstract before the June 20th deadline. There will be NO EXTENSIONS to this timeline, so plan to have your abstracts submitted by this date.
2023 Conference Schedule
Our 2023 conference high level schedule has been approved by the board. This year we have made most of the breakout sessions a little longer to ensure presenters have the time they need to showcase their work. We are also bringing back Disney Night on Tuesday November 14. The conference will end by 4 p.m. to ensure that anyone who wants to go to the park has dedicated time to do so. Check out the Schedule at a Glance web page.
May Webinar Archive
The recording of the May CERA webinar is now posted on the CERA website, and can be viewed on the Webinars page.
AERA Job Board
We also want to remind you to keep an eye on the AERA job board if you, or anyone you know, are interested in research jobs!
Spotlight on Accountability
This month’s Accountability Spotlight was written by former CERA president Rachel Perry.
Fall 2022 marked the re-launch of the Dashboard after missing data for a couple of years during the pandemic. The return came with more school districts eligible for Differentiated Assistance in the form of support from their county office of education. More schools are expected to be identified for assistance too, and next year charter schools will be eligible. The capacity of COEs will be tested in the coming years as they continue to support and build capacity in school districts.
One of the significant challenges facing California’s accountability system is pressure from the California Legislature, education advocates, and others to add more information to the Dashboard that is beyond the original intent of the tool. I applaud the CDE and SBE’s attention to developing guiding principles for the accountability system. They’ve revisited them several times over the years to help guide their conversations about the Dashboard’s continued evolution.
Cindy Kazanis believes the Dashboard is here to stay. I agree. The Dashboard is dynamic and responsive, unlike previous accountability systems that were launched but never evolved and seemed to sit on the shelf waiting for their expiration date. It evolves in response to the availability of new data and to user feedback. I know that CERA is a valued partner of the CDE. I look forward to identifying ways that our members can inform the on-going evolution of the Dashboard and the other elements of California’s accountability system. Click this link to read Rachel’s full accountability story.
April 2023
Happy April CERA members. The CERA board is hard at work on the 2023 conference as well as the professional opportunities we are presenting this year. Our April email is full of reminders, important dates, AND a spotlight on the assessment world!
Important Dates
We have two dates that you will want to make sure are on your calendar:
2023 CERA Conference
November 13-15, 2023
Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, California
May Webinar
Don't miss your chance to attend CERA's first Professional Learning Opportunity in 2023—“Stupid Excel Tricks” which will cover timesaving shortcuts, cool formulas, and some fun ways to make your data shine!
When: May 16, 2023 @ 1:30 p.m.
Where: This is an online webinar
How to Register: Register here
If you have a presentation you would like to present as a future CERA webinar, please complete this short form.
Call for Abstracts
Our call for abstracts window is opening soon, so mark your calendars. May 1st is when the window opens, and it will close on June 20. There will be NO EXTENSIONS to this timeline, so plan to have your abstracts submitted by this date. We look forward to seeing what sessions are submitted in 2023.
Spotlight on Assessment
Right now, we are in the thick of the spring assessment period, and everyone has their heads down trying to get through testing with as few STAIRS cases as possible. There are, however, a few exciting announcements we want to call your attention to.
If you are responsible for assessment data in your role and want a recap of how to access that data in CERS, consider registering for the Accessing Summative Assessment Results in CERS webinars hosted by the CDE. These webinars are May 4, 11, and 18, 2023. More information can be found on the Upcoming Training Opportunities web page.
And we know everyone is excited to start getting more information about the CAST and ELPAC Interim Assessments. An email was just sent out by CDE earlier this week about the CAST and ELPAC Interim Assessments. The email gives us more detail about how many interim assessments there will be, and in what content areas. If you did not receive the email, you can find it on the CAASPP Coordinator Emails web page.
March 2023
We are excited to open registration for our first CERA professional learning opportunity of the 2023 year! Like 2022, we will be offering two professional learning webinars leading up to our annual conference for our membership.
For our first webinar, Cathy White and Nikki Antonovich from the Sacramento County Office of Education will be presenting “Stupid Excel Tricks”. Despite the plethora of data analysis tools and programs, we still rely quite often on Excel. One of the reasons is the sheer number of built-in tools and functions that make our work much easier. “Stupid Excel Tricks” will cover timesaving shortcuts, cool formulas, and some fun ways to make your data shine!
When: May 16, 2023 @ 1:30 p.m.
Where: This is an online webinar
How to Register: Register here
We look forward to bringing you additional professional development webinars leading up to our in-person conference at the Disneyland Hotel, November 13-15, 2022!
If you have a presentation you would like to present as a future CERA webinar, please complete this short form.
AERA Reminders
Conference
If you haven’t heard…The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is a national research society, that strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. They serve as an organizing body of education researchers throughout the country with nearly 150 special interest topic areas. They publish high quality peer-reviewed research; host conferences, trainings and webinars; recognize scholarly excellence and support researchers-in-training.
Their annual conference is just around the corner, including:
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In-person conference in Chicago April 13–16
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Virtual conference May 4–5
It is not too late to register!!! Learn more at: www.aera.net
Job Board
Keep an eye on the AERA job board if you are interested in research jobs!!
Spotlight on Research—Dual Enrollment
From policymakers in Sacramento to local school boards and district administrators, dual enrollment is one hot topic these days! With the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars to dual enrollment, the state seeks to expand opportunities for high school students to take community college courses. These efforts are largely aimed at improving increasing access to college for historically underserved youth and improving college readiness more generally. So, you may wonder what we know about who participates in dual enrollment in California currently and the impact of their participation on their educational trajectory. Over the last couple of years several prominent research organizations in the state have been hard at work to understand more about dual enrollment participation. Here is a sample of what is available:
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Dual Enrollment in California: Promoting Equitable Student Access and Success (Public Policy Institute of California)
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Dual Enrollment in California: A Growing and Promising Practice Statewide (Wheelhouse and California Education Lab, UC Davis)
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A Jumpstart on College: Dual Enrollment Resources (Ed Trust – West)