Introduction

I was especially delighted to serve as a member of the Student Learning Workgroup of this emerging K-16 Master Plan, because, unlike the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, this plan will demonstrate that California's public segments of education (K-16) are inextricably linked.  Specifically, setting the standards and defining the quality for K-12 education is not the exclusive province of the K-12 system alone, nor is the quality of k-12 instruction.  Higher Education is as responsible for quality K-12 instruction and student learning as K-12.  I am strongly committed to working with educators throughout the state to reverse the circumstances that, based on empirical research, has systematically relegated a disproportionately high percentage of low-income socioeconomic California citizens and citizens of color to a class referred to as the "educationally undereserved."