From Blueprint to Reality: San Diego's Education Reforms

Publication Date: October 2005

Publisher: Public Policy Institute of California

Author(s): Julian R. Betts; Andrew C. Zau; Kevin King

Research Area: Education

Type: Report

Coverage: California

Abstract:

During the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 school years, the San Diego Unified School District introduced a focused set of reforms to improve San Diego students’ reading and literacy skills called the Blueprint for Student Success. The changes the district implemented included new teaching materials, double- and even triple-length English classes where necessary, additional teacher training, and more classroom time for reading practice and instruction. This report presents the first student-level evaluation of that effort and shows that the Blueprint reforms in large part accomplished what they set out to do: reading scores at elementary and middle-school level improved among students who participated in Blueprint activities, and achievement gaps among different racial and ethnic, language, and socioeconomic groups narrowed.