California districts have made significant upgrades to facilities, textbooks, and teacher assignments in schools that serve large numbers of poor children, says a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Nearly a decade after settling a class-action lawsuit that was brought by the ACLU and other civil rights groups on behalf of children who lacked access to safe buildings and basic learning resources in their schools, California’s public schools have driven down the number of teachers who were “mis-assigned” based on their qualifications and lowered the number of buildings considered unsafe or unclean. They also have increased students’ access to textbooks and instructional materials, according to the ACLU’s report card on the Williams v. California settlement.
All schools in California must comply with the terms of the Williams settlement, but only those that score in the bottom 30 percent on state exams are closely monitored by the state’s county offices of education.
