Don’t eliminate a powerful force in California’s higher ed landscape

OPINION – As former presidents of two California State University campuses, Monterey Bay and Stanislaus, we have seen good budgets and bad budgets over the years. Even with this year’s projected state deficit and proposed 3 percent cut to the California State University and University of California systems (down from an earlier proposal of 8 percent), the State of California proposes total funding for higher education at more than $45 billion in the next year to support the 23 CSUs, 10 UCs and 116 California Community Colleges, and the more than 2.8 million students enrolled at our schools, the largest number of college students than in any other state in the nation. But even that falls short of adequately supporting higher education’s responsibility to provide meaningful education to California’s diverse population of students.

Enter the California Education Learning Lab, which has been a quiet, state funded program that basically acts as a research and development (R&D) unit for public higher education to stimulate faculty led innovation in teaching and learning and boost student success. In effect, the Learning Lab program acts as a force multiplier for California public higher education, magnifying its impact on student learning and graduation rates.

Since 2018, the Learning Lab has been a vital hub for intersegmental faculty innovation. Through grantmaking and hands-on support, Learning Lab incentivizes faculty from our different institutions and segments to work together, rethink how they teach, leverage evidence-based practices and new technologies, and create open educational resources (OER) that reduce costs – in the service of all students.

This small, but consequential funding is already having significant positive outcomes for the many thousands of faculty participants who have taught over 125,000 students thus far. Projects funded by the Learning Lab are seeing real success— some have increased pass rates in difficult STEM courses from 10 to nearly 30 percent. Evaluations frequently show that students feel a greater sense of belonging, are more motivated, and experience deeper learning in these courses, which stand to have lasting impact throughout their educational journey and beyond.

Because of the Learning Lab’s efforts, faculty across the UCs, CSUs, and CCCs are working together like never before to create better pathways and share resources and best practices that positively impact learning for hundreds of thousands of students.

It is worth noting that Learning Lab’s current budget (about $5 million annually, from a high of $11 million in prior years) represents 0.01% of the $45 billion that the state currently allocates to higher education. This funding is an important force multiplier since it produces positive student outcomes at scale.

Unfortunately, this is not what investment in educational innovation in the 4^th largest economy in the world should look like. Not only is Learning Lab currently underfunded, but the State’s Department of Finance is now proposing to eliminate this program entirely at a time when California needs it more than ever. Changing workforce demands, an uncertain economy, and rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence call into question what teaching and learning should look like as we prepare students for careers in the coming decades. Shuttering the state’s only R&D program on higher educational innovation that runs on just a few million dollars and is a proven method for effective teaching and learning is unwarranted and not defensible. The faculty who are involved are brimming with energy, innovative methods, and ideas for teaching and reaching students. We need to continue to seed and grow this arc of progress of dedicated faculty working to enhance the success of future generations of students who will join our state’s vibrant workforce.

A state entity like the California Education Learning Lab is essential for keeping California at the forefront of educational innovation, which is really where all innovation starts. Keeping the $5 million for Learning Lab is a necessary and wise investment in helping faculty and campuses to continue to support a statewide culture and commitment to ensure, protect, and enhance greater student success in higher education and beyond.

 Eduardo M. Ochoa is President Emeritus of California State University, Monterey Bay. Ellen Junn is President Emerita of California State University, Stanislaus.