Walters: California can fix its school crisis. Two projects point the way

When the state Department of Education released academic test scores of California’s public school students in October, it cast them in positive terms.

“Overall,” the department said, “the percentages of California students meeting or exceeding standards (demonstrating proficient or advanced grade-level knowledge and skills) in (English language arts), mathematics, and science increased, from 46.7% to 47% percent in (English language arts), from 34.6% to 35.5% in math, and from 30.2% to...