Teaching In Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) serves over 704,000 students and is the second largest school district in the country. Seventy-three percent of the students in LAUSD are Latino/Hispanic, 11% African-American, 9% Caucasian, 4% Asian-American. The district is comprised of 878 schools with 80% of the students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and 38% identified as English Language Learners.
The problem:
In a look at the 2007 NAEP results, the LA Times observed:
In most instances, white and Asian students at Los Angeles Unified School District schools are on par with their counterparts in urban districts elsewhere. Those scores were often higher than the nation’s average for all students.
L.A. Unified’s black and Latino students, however, are not only 30 points or more below the nation’s average scores, but also much lower than the average for their peers in the other cities, leaving L.A. Unified with a much wider achievement gap than the national average.
It’s clear that the achievement of LA schools still has a long way to go to serve all of its students:
- Only 41% of elementary schools, 21% of middle schools and 24% of high schools met both 2008 State API (Academic Performance Index) and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) targets
- Out of the nation’s 50 largest cities, Los Angeles is ranked 42nd by graduation rate with 45.3% of students completing high school with a diploma.
Be a part of the Solution:
The right changes are starting to take place in Los Angeles. LAUSD is making bold and significant changes to help close the achievement gap, and improve the academic attainment of all students:
- LAUSD elementary schools more than doubled their 2006-07 growth on the California Academic Performance Index (API) with a 34 point increase.
- LAUSD middle schools tripled their 2006-07 growth with a 32 point increase, and LAUSD high schools tripled their 2006-07 growth with a 22 point increase.
- Overall, the district’s API growth was 21 points, LAUSD’s highest in five years.
Additionally, the California Department of Education awarded forty-two LAUSD schools the 2007-2008 Title I Academic Achievement Award because their students made significant progress toward proficiency on California’s academic content standards.
Now is the time for you to lend your energy and talent to increasing this momentum. By teaching the LAUSD students who need you most, you will be working in the most important way towards closing this achievement gap. One of the great innovations of the city, that needs your talent, is The Partnership for LA Schools...
To learn more about Los Angeles Unified Schools, please visit their website.
The Partnership for LA Schools
The Partnership for LA Schools is an innovative collaboration between the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with a goal to empower teachers and schools. The Partnership is a nonprofit organization started by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that is committed to the transformation of Los Angeles public schools so that all children in Los Angeles graduate from high school prepared for college and careers. The Partnership’s goal is to both dramatically improve student achievement within Partnership Schools and to create a model for collaboration, school reform and community advancement that can be replicated throughout Los Angeles schools.
Located in traditionally underserved neighborhoods, this initiative oversees ten of the most challenging schools in the City of Los Angeles and represents a movement to change the face of inner-city education reform. Beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year, Partnership schools will have greater autonomy to manage their budgets, design their own school plans, and hire their own staff in exchange for greater accountability for improving school and student outcomes.
To learn more about The Partnership, please visit their website: http://www.partnershipla.org
Charter Schools
California leads the nation with 687 charter schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District views charter schools as an asset that can help the district in its mission to close the achievement gap. LAUSD is actively working to foster a collaborative relationship among charter and non-charter schools. Among the larger and more well-known charter school networks are Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, Inner City Education Foundation, and KIPP Schools.
To learn more about charter schools in California, please visit The California Charter Schools Association: www.myschool.org
