Political Philosophy for Delaine Eastin

Candidate for
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Two newspaper quotes on Delaine and a summary of her key accomplishments are listed below. These provide a good sense of what Delaine has been fighting for and what she has achieved.

"Eastin has used her office as a bully pulpit to push her agenda: improved reading instruction, higher academic standards, smaller classes in the primary grades and a longer school year. These reforms...originated in the school chief's office...Eastin has had a good start."
Los Angeles Times - Editorial Endorsement, May 19, 1998

"In four years as state superintendent of public instruction, Delaine Eastin has never allowed her focus to be diverted from the all-important goal of improving the academic performance of California's public school students. [She] has been unwavering in keeping the pressure on to achieve three main objectives while in office: rigorous academic standards, a standardized test that reflects the tougher standards and system to hold schools accountable. That the state is well on its way to achieving those goals is greatly due to Eastin's persistence and concentration. The public may be unaware that many of the ideas -- from class-size reduction and statewide standards to tougher high school graduation requirements -- were being touted by Eastin long before they became politically popular."
San Francisco Chronicle - Editorial Endorsement, May 21, 1998

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Reduced Class Sizes in Grades K-3. Upon taking office as State Superintendent, Delaine Eastin made class size reduction in the early grades her top priority. Delaine's advocacy led the State Legislature and the Governor to allocate $2.5 billion toward California's landmark class size reduction program. However, the first phase of funding was not approved until three weeks prior to the start of a new school year. Delaine immediately went to work with school districts throughout the state -- helping them acquire classroom space, hire qualified teachers, and obtain instructional materials. Today, 98% of California's school districts and over 86,000 classrooms have reduced class sizes in grades K-3 from 30 to 20 students.

Fought to Set High Statewide Academic Standards. Superintendent Eastin has been a major player in the effort to establish statewide academic content and performance standards in California. For the first time in history, the state has rigorous content standards in reading and mathematics. Standards will soon be adopted in history/social studies and science. These standards will be the foundation on which the assessment and accountability programs will be based.

Developed New Math and Reading Guidelines. In response to declining math scores, Delaine Eastin convened a Math Task Force which led to the development of new guidelines for teaching math. Those guidelines were presented to State Board of Education and have successfully been implemented. And in an effort to boost declining statewide reading scores, State Superintendent Eastin developed a new set of guidelines for teaching reading. The balanced guidelines emphasize both phonics and the reading of literature.

Developed Content and Performance Standards for Each Grade and Core Subject Area. As part of her overall emphasis on raising academic standards, Delaine Eastin initiated development of content and performance standards for each grade and core subject. These guidelines constitute the most comprehensive effort ever undertaken in the state to prescribe what students should know and when they should know it.

Led Efforts to Raise School Funding to the National Average. California, which ranked fifth in the nation in per-pupil funding in 1965, now ranks near the bottom -- nearly $1,000 less than the national average. In response, Eastin has been leading the fight to raise school funding to the national average over the next five years. The EASTIN Investment Plan details a number of targeted investments that she would implement if school funding were raised to the national average.

Introduced Systemic Reform: Challenge School District Reform Initiative. In the fall of 1995, Superintendent Eastin launched the "Challenge Initiative," a groundbreaking reform effort to raise standards and accountability. The Challenge is embraced by 56 school districts throughout the state -- with nearly 500,000 students. The Challenge calls for each participating school district to adopt content and performance standards and a comprehensive accountability system to measure student performance annually.

Enhanced the Teaching Profession. Because Eastin feels that strong teacher training and staff development are crucial to the success of California's education system, she increased teacher training and has been a strong advocate for expanding the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program. Starting in 1999-2000, all first and second year teachers will be eligible for mentoring through this effective program. Eastin is also working with local, state, and higher education communities to design teacher education and professional development programs that support the new standards.

Launched Universal Pre-School Task Force. Armed with evidence that pre-school attendance leads to improved academic performance in elementary school, Superintendent Eastin convened a task force to develop an effective education program for 3 and 4 year-olds. Superintendent Eastin and the task force recommended a voluntary universal pre-school program for all children.

Supported Libraries. Under Superintendent Eastin, the Department of Education distributed library grants to 2,651 school libraries, using $13.1 million from the California Public School Library Protection fund. The funds will provide new books, magazines, reference CDs, laser disks, as well as computer and education technology. Stemming from years of insufficient funding, California libraries rank last in the United States in the ratio of books, periodical collections and librarians to students. Superintendent Eastin has initiated efforts to provide students the resources they need for educational excellence.

Increased Technology in the Classroom. Superintendent Eastin undertook major initiatives to bring California schools into the information age. California, which ranked 50th in student access to computers and technology when Eastin took office, has surpassed five other states to 45th and is rapidly rising. Eastin helped bring together corporations, business leaders, unions, school employees, parents and community volunteers to make thousands of classrooms internet-ready on NetDay96. To bring California's schools into the information age, Delaine Eastin convened the California Education Technology Task Force to develop an integrated, long-term technology plan for schools. In July 1996, the Task Force completed its report, "Connect, Compute and Compete" which includes concrete measures to acquire technology, train teachers, and incorporate technology into both student instruction and performance evaluation for teachers. In addition, Superintendent Eastin is working in partnership with Governor Wilson to equip 200 high schools each year with computers in every classroom so that every public high school will have computers in all classrooms by 2001.

Visited Over 240 California Schools. Superintendent Eastin surpassed her campaign commitment to visit an average of one school a week. To date, she has visited over 240 schools throughout all of California's 58 counties.