Funding Sources:

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Welcome to the Cal-PASS program! Cal-PASS is a vital resource to help educators improve student achievement by identifying and reducing barriers to successful student transition in all levels of education: from kindergarten through college. The power of Cal-PASS rests in two aspects:

• the data the system collects
• bringing K-16 groups and faculty together from different educational segments to use the data to identify barriers, empower educators to make changes and build best practices.

Cal-PASS provides the information educators have been asking for. Working together, educators use the Cal-PASS data to equip students with the tools they need to make the successful transition to higher education. So please peruse our web site and become involved with our exciting program. Cal-PASS is for everyone interested in student success!

From the Executive Director:
On Growth & Perkins IV
From our humble beginnings in 1998, Cal-PASS has grown in membership to more than 4,000 K-16 institutions in 46 counties and houses more than 195 million records. There are currently 55 Professional Learning Councils (PLCs) across the state with more than 1,000 K-16 faculty meeting monthly in English, math, EL/ESL, science, counseling and career technical education, reviewing research on student transition and success and suggesting improvements in practice that Cal-PASS funds and evaluates.
One of the ways to determine if an organization is making an impact is to assess how well it is integrated into state operations and other activities. From the state perspective, Cal-PASS was recently named in the California Career Technical Education State Plan as the data provider for local, state and federal Perkins IV reporting. Perkins IV is a significant change in reporting from the previous system and numerous accountability provisions have been added that focus on tracking students from high schools to community colleges.
Read the whole story in the Summer Newsletter.

PLC Growth Hits New High
Since this time last year, the number of Cal-PASS Professional Learning Councils (PLCs) has more than doubled. From 25 PLCs at the end of 2007, there are now 55 flourishing Cal-PASS PLCs from Eureka to San Diego and from San Francisco to Yucaipa.
Approximately 1,000 faculty members representing middle schools, high schools, community colleges and universities now meet with colleagues in discipline-specific, regionally based councils to look at student data, analyze misalignments in curriculum, and develop innovations aimed at helping to align curriculum, increase student transition and decrease the number of students disappearing from the education pipeline.
Read the whole story in the Summer Newsletter.

California Standards Test a useful tool to determine community college readiness

How can so many students streaming through the corridors of California’s institutions of higher education be so unprepared for college-level math and English?
Nowhere is this question asked with greater urgency than at the state’s 110 community colleges, which serve the largest number of college students in need of basic skills. As schools search for answers on how to better prepare students for college, a just-released Cal-PASS study funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation says that a test taken by every 11th-grader can help reduce the need for remedial education in community colleges.

Strengthening Student Success: Basic Skills and Beyond
Planning for this year’s Strengthening Student Success conference is moving along and we will have an exciting program to offer. The conference will be at the Marriot in Anaheim, October 1-3, 2008.
The conference is tailored to those engaged in the quest for student success through the assessment of learning and collaborative inquiry. We are seeking to share teaching strategies, institutional efforts and assessment methods that have demonstrated success in increasing student learning. This year’s focus is on strategies that move students through and beyond basic skills (or pre-collegiate level).

Cal-PASS launches myCal-PASS
Cal-PASS members can now collaborate and share ideas with a few clicks of the mouse! myCal-PASS is now open to administrators, faculty and research staff from districts or institutions with a signed Cal-PASS MOU. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. MyCal-PASS presently allows users to self register and create a username and password. After your registration is validated and confirmed, you will be able to view shared documents, participate in forums, view regional calendars, submit data, download data and access the Cal-PASS on-line queries. Check it out!