Scale of the CA TK-12 Education System
Last Updated - March 2024
PURPOSE AND KEY QUESTIONS FOR UNDERSTANDING SCALE
Purpose and Overview
DATA OVERVIEW: Many of the different Ten Strands and UndauntedK12 initiatives focus on taking environmental and climate action and literacy “to scale” across California’s TK-12 education system. Therefore it is critical to have a clear understanding of the system at all different scales - state, region, county, district, school site, classroom, etc. The video to the right provides a brief overview to this data focus area. Check out other videos below to explore findings and interactive visuals.
Overview Video for Scale Focus Area
Key Questions
CORE QUESTION: How is California’s TK-12 Education System organized at all different scales - region, county, district, school - and what role might enrollment size and geographic distribution play in how a school district organizes its system of support?
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:
What are the largest school districts in California, and what counties and regions are they located in?
How are the CA school districts organized within counties (and regions) in California?
What role does enrollment size play in how a district structures its systems of support?
Where might we see the largest immediate impacts of our efforts?
Data Methodology
Resources and Data Collection: This data set was compiled from the California Department of Education (CDE) website using Public Schools and Districts, 2022-23 Enrollment in California Public, and Census Day Enrollment by School data files. These data files include an extensive collection of information across all school districts in California. The CDE's website was chosen as the data source due to its reliability and comprehensiveness, despite the potential delays in updates, as exemplified by the Public Schools and Districts dataset's last revision in July 2020. This highlights the dataset's thoroughness, albeit with a potential gap in the most current data due to the update cycle of the source.*
Data Cleaning: This data was cleaned manually by removing duplicate records, standardizing data formats and removing unnecessary characters and spaces.
Data Team: The primary compilation efforts were done by a Ten Strands Climate Corps Fellow in the Fall of 2023.
*Note: The sources for this data includes the following disclaimer: "Data Disclaimer - The California School Directory and related public school and district data files (collectively referred to as the “Directory”), contain information about California schools, districts, and school/district administrators that is voluntarily self-reported by local education agencies (LEAs) to the California Department of Education (CDE) as a public convenience. Because the information is voluntarily self-reported, the Directory does not contain information for every LEA and the information that is in the Directory may be outdated or have errors, omissions, typos and other inaccuracies. Therefore, information, or the absence of information, in the Directory should not be relied upon for any purpose and should be used only to contact the LEA. The CDE makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, with respect to Directory information."
State and Regional Overview
Analysis video sharing findings for scale focus area
This section provides an overview of the findings related to enrollment size, and how an understanding of the enrollment size of any given district (or cluster of districts) might impact strategy when engaging at different scales of change (i.e. district scale, county scale, regional scale, and state scale).
Watch the video to the left for an overview to this section and/or explore the findings below.
CA School Districts by Size
California has the largest number of students and the second largest number of districts (behind Texas) in the United States (Ballotpedia). California school districts very greatly in regards to enrollment size, with a range of districts that have less than 1,000 students to districts that have over 400,000 students. The table above is based on 2022-23 enrollment data for CA school districts and groups districts into general size categories ranging from extremely large to extremely small. The purpose of displaying data in this format is to support an understanding of 'scale' and to acknowledge that the term "school district" will look very different depending on a number of factors that also includes enrollment size.
To explore more data related to the number of districts in California visit the CDE Finger Tip Facts on Education in California - this data includes the number of districts that are unified, elementary, or union high school, and also includes the number of schools by type.
Cumulative % Enrollment by # of California District
The data in the graph above shows the number of school districts along the X-axis, and cumulative % of student enrollment up the Y-axis. Note that the % numbers in red show what cumulative % of CA students are reached by # of districts:
Large and Medium urban and suburban school districts contain a significant portion of CA students:
80 districts (7% of all CA districts) = 50% of student enrollment
245 districts (24% of all CA districts) = 80% of student enrollment
Small to very small suburban and rural school districts make up the other 20% of enrollment spread across 770 school districts
Enrollment by County
*The color scale of the map has been adjusted to more obviously show the difference in color between the counties.
The map to the left shows the 2022-23 Census Day Enrollment data broken down by county. These data include the number of districts and school sites within each county.
Using this map, we can see that Southern California is generally more densely populated than the rest of the state. Of particular note is Los Angeles County which has a significantly higher number of students than the rest of the state, serving 1,313,903 students or around 22.45% of all K-12 students in California.
CA County Superintendent (CCS - formerly CCESSA) Regional Overview
There are eleven CA County Superintendent Regions which are primarily used by the CA County Superintendents (CCS - formerly CCESSA) and the staff that support them, including the Curricular and Improvement Support Committees (CISC).
When broken down by region, we can see that regions 9, 10, and 11 serve over 50% of the students in the state, with region 11 (comprised of only one county -- Los Angeles) serving almost a quarter of the students in the state.
Geographic Regional Overview
The state is also divided into seven regions led by Geographic Lead Agencies. These regions are often used when determining grant allocations for the state.
When divided using the Geographic Regions, we see that the two most southern regions serve approximately 63% of the students in the state.
Rural and Urban Counties
Overview: The data in the graph above provides one more perspective on size and scale that focuses on land area in square miles population size for each of CA counties and designations of “urban” (grey) and “rural” (green) categories based on the percentage of population living in rural blocks (2020 census). The bubble size corresponds to the selected scale type and the number of school districts within that county are on the 'y' axis. Using this visual we can consider that different strategies will need to be considered for how to bring change to communities based on their urban or rural characteristics as well as their size.
Findings: In general, rural counties (green bubbles) tend to have a lower count of districts than urban counties (grey bubbles). Many rural counties contain approximately 10 districts or even fewer. While rural counties may cover a larger geographic area than some urban counties, they have much smaller populations.
Terminology: The U.S. Census Bureau defines rural and urban areas on the basis of population size and density. To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or have a population of at least 5,000. The following from the U.S. Census Bureau also includes more specific nuances to distinguish between the terms:
Urbanized areas contain a population of 50,000 or more. They may or may not contain any individual cities of 50,000 or more. In general, they must have a core with a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile and may contain adjoining territory with at least 500 persons per square mile.
Urban clusters (suburban areas) have at least 2,500 people but fewer than 50,000 residents. In general, they must also have a core with a population density of 1,000 persons per square mile and may contain adjoining territory with at least 500 persons per square mile.
Rural (nonmetro) areas consist of open countryside with population densities less than 500 people per square mile, and places with fewer than 2,500 people.
Statewide Scale Key Take-aways: A shared goal of the founding partners of this data initiative is to have all students throughout California have access to high quality environmental literacy and sustainable and climate resilient infrastructure. Below are some takeaways from this data set that connect to this goal:
For educators, policy makers, and advocates working at the state level it is clear that different approaches are going to be needed to work with school districts that differ dramatically in enrollment size.
Focusing on different areas of the state to provide proof of concept and then scaling strategies that work best for districts, counties, and regions of a similar size could help scale efforts statewide more easily.
County, District, and Site Level Data
Scale Walkthrough.webmVideo explaining how to use the interactive data tools below.
This section allows local educators, such as those at the county or district level, to drill down into the enrollment data to determine the trends in their areas of influence. The aim of this section is to provide the more specific data needed to identify local starting points for this work.
Watch the video to the left for a walkthrough of how to utilize the interactive Tableau graph below in order to view student enrollment and demographic data at the school, district, county, and regional levels.
The interactive visualization below allows the 2022-23 Census Day Enrollment data to be viewed in different ways, allowing the user to drill down and look for trends.
Directions for use:
Use the tabs along the top to select which data you would like to view (regional level, county level, district level, demographic breakdowns, or grade level breakdowns).
Once on the correct tab, use the filters (starting with the top-most filter) to select the correct data for your desired area.
If you have any questions or concerns about the interactive visualization, please contact swhiting@tenstrands.org
Local Scale Key Take-aways: The regions, counties, and districts in California have diverse enrollment and contexts. At the local level it may be helpful for districts within different counties and regions to better understand the size and scale of their neighboring districts.
However, we want to note that this while enrollment and geographic data can be useful in making decisions about impact and strategies, there are more many other factors to consider when looking for entry points or equitable solutions to going to scale. Some additional factors to consider are included in other data sets on this initiative and briefly outlined below:
Equity Factors: Example indicators for equity factors include more traditional education equity data such as % of unduplicated students, English Language Learners, Expense ADA, etc. Other factors that are not always considered, but should be in particular for the topic of environmental sustainability is local pollution burden. These indicators are included in this data project in the statewide equity analysis.
Broader Context Factors: These are the indicators that show environmental and climate commitments within the broader municipal and county jurisdiction areas.
Investments in Environmental Literacy and Sustainability: These indicators paint a picture of what investments are being made at the district level for environmental initiatives and staffing to coordinate these initiatives.