NBBJ Insider

New paradigm on education: focus on infants

The state’s K-12 system is one of the poorest performing in the nation. More than 30 percent of Latino boys drop out of high school. The number of college entrants is falling behind an ever-expanding need. Trade and other career educational programs are under attack. The state’s school bureaucracy is broken and non-responsive.

The consequence: California’s status as a world-class economy is under serious and immediate threat.

Now a growing number of business and academic leaders, among them the president of AT&T California, Ken McNeely, believe the solution is to reach back to the years before children even enter school.

California falling behind in high-wage education

At the very moment budget cuts will mean tens of thousands of young people in California will not have access to a college education, a report issued today by the Campaign for College Opportunity and the Bay Area Council concludes California is fast losing its position as a leader in college math and science education.

Is it time for a California constitutional convention?

The following column was first published May 18, 2009:   One of the fastest-growing divisions of Medtronic Inc. that focuses on treatments for diabetes is based in Northridge. But its 1,400-employee expansion won’t be there. It will be in San Antonio, Texas.   Defenders of California will cry that it was a clear case of [...]