ocean view college application day

Ocean View College Application Day

Interview with Dr. Courtney Robinson about the annual College Application Day at Ocean View High School. All seniors apply, during the school day, to multiple postsecondary institutions based on each student’s interests and aspirations and have experts onsite all day to support them through the process.

We Are Valley Painted on building

Santa Ana Unified Creating Incredible Pathways for Students

A recent article in Getting Smart, Santa Ana Unified Creating Incredible Pathways for Students K-12, features Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) and includes EPIC’s work with Valley High School over the past three years. The district is providing incredible learning environments for K–12 students, and EPIC has been instrumental in creating change in one school, Valley High School. We have been strategic in supporting Valley in three areas: (1) developing a shared positive language and culture; (2) transitioning Valley to a wall-to-wall academy; and (3) implementing an adolescent literacy development plan focused on universal (schoolwide) strategies that support all students every period, every day.

Policy Brief: More Than One C

More Than One C: Educating Students to Be Ready for Careers and College

This policy brief from EPIC discusses the United State’s bias toward college-going as the gold standard and how to counteract that singular mode of thinking. EPIC outlines why definitions of K–12 success should balance an emphasis on each C (college and career). EPIC also shows the related pitfalls of districts failing to attend to the issues that are most salient for their communities. To avoid those dangers, EPIC recommends democratizing postsecondary pathway access to ensure equity, localizing districts’ definitions of success to suit community needs, and personalizing educational experiences so students can become ready on their own terms.

Defining a New North Star: Aligning LCAPs to College and Career Readiness

In this policy brief, EPIC recommends that college and career readiness serve as the “North Star” in California’s recently reformed accountability system. A district seeking to use its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to promote a college- and career-going culture should take the following steps:

• Adopt, modify, or generate a consistent and shared definition of college and career readiness.
• Evaluate the current LCAP for alignment to that definition.
• Revise the LCAP to align with college and career readiness as its new North Star.

By following these steps, district leaders will help ensure that the goals and actions outlined in their LCAP describe a coherent system instead of a collection of eight competing priorities.