Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2868
QEIA reduces class sizes, brings positive change Left: Debbie Peterson, a teacher leader paid out of QEIA funds, at Cooper Elementary School in Solano County. Below: Kim Kellett’s class size reduced due to QEIA. Opposite page: Intervention teacher Ed Palor. their state Academic Performance Index targets schoolwide. CTA is leading efforts to help County are all on the same page, working diligently to improve their struggling school and lift students up. The extra resources provided P by the CTA-sponsored Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) are making a world of difference, says parent Lewis Brown. “There’s something magical going on here.” He cites both the dedication of the teachers and the reduced class size of his daughter Jasmin’s fifth- grade classroom, which shrank from 32 students last year to 27 this year, thanks to QEIA. “The smaller class size means a lot for my daughter,” Brown says. “Children can concentrate on what they’re learning. The kids don’t feel like they’re in this mass of people.” Jasmin’s teacher, Kim Kellett, shares Brown’s enthusiasm about arents, teachers and admin- istrators at Cooper Ele- mentary School in Solano smaller classes and QEIA. “This has made such a huge difference in my classroom. I can actually spend more time with each student.” Parents and educators are speaking with one common voice when it comes to praising the land- mark law (SB 1133), the only one of its scale in the nation to focus so many extra resources on a state’s neediest schools. Signed into law in 2006, QEIA provides $2.9 billion over seven years to 488 underperforming schools statewide for proven inter- vention resources. It’s reducing class sizes, getting qualified teach- ers in all core subjects, increasing the number of high school coun- selors, and providing quality pro- fessional development training for teachers and principals. The QEIA resources are af- fecting the learning lives of about 500,000 students and the teach- ing lives of 21,000 teachers. Unprecedented collaboration 24 California Educator | november 2008 among all stakeholders at QEIA schools is widespread. For exam- ple, teachers at Cooper Elementa- ry in the San Francisco Bay Area and at schools in the Moreno Val- ley Unified School District in Riv- erside County say the investment is paying off with better student achievement. CTA research shows some aca- demic progress already. For the 2007-08 school year, 349 (72 per- cent) of the 488 QEIA schools met these schools. More than 260 teachers, principals and parents from schools around the state attended a weeklong QEIA training during CTA’s Summer Institute at UCLA. CTA is also identifying representatives at each QEIA site to help the schools network together and share information. At Cooper Elementary in the Vallejo City Unified School District, CTA President David A. Sanchez was inspired by the teamwork he saw during a visit in early October. “Cooper Elementary could be a model of how CTA is making a dif- ference in the implementation of the far-reaching Quality Education Investment Act,” Sanchez says. “I give full credit to the Cooper teach- CTA photos by Becky Flanigan