Citywide Coalition Joins Forces to Strengthen Student Achievement and College Preparation for Los Angeles High School Students

LOS ANGELES -- The Alliance for a Better Community (ABC) today announced a $2 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation to strengthen Communities for Educational Equity (CEE), a coalition of grassroots organizations committed to providing critical support to prepare high school students in Los Angeles for college and work success. CEE will launch an aggressive public outreach and engagement campaign to encourage Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students, parents, teachers, and other community members to understand and support the newly adopted A-G curriculum that will raise academic standards to college preparatory levels. 

“The district set a progressive policy to increase the rigor of today’s high school education to better prepare students for the demands of college and career,” stated Veronica Melvin, executive director of the Alliance for a Better Community. “To achieve this goal, parents and students must be aware of these heightened expectations and also work in unison with the schools to achieve them.”

In recent years, LAUSD has worked to implement higher standards in its high schools and improve student performance, yet the district still struggles to ensure that all students achieve at high levels. The state’s official graduation rate for Los Angeles is 66.3 percent, and only about 22 percent of 9th graders in the class of 2003 graduated having successfully completed the A-G curriculum. Rates for minority students are even worse. According to The Education Trust-West, only 16 percent of Latino 9th graders in the class of 2003 graduated having mastered the curriculum. CEE organizations will deepen partnerships in five communities in LA to ensure that all students, particularly low-income and students of color, understand the district’s A-G curriculum, which students must pass for admissions to the University of California and the California State University systems. 

"I am excited by the Communities for Educational Equity's bold work to empower parents driving for change in our schools,” said Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa. “These groups understand that connecting parents, students, and communities is at the heart of school reform. This collaborative approach should be a model for all neighborhoods in the city."

Organizations in CEE were largely responsible for the district’s original adoption of the state’s A-G curriculum in 2005. Starting in 2008, freshmen will automatically be enrolled in the A-G curriculum, although they can choose to opt out; students will be required to take this curriculum starting in 2012. While the adoption of the A-G curriculum marked a critical first step, CEE now is engaged in additional work to strengthen course offerings and classroom instruction to meet these rigorous requirements.

“For the past several years, the Los Angeles Unified School District has worked to create high quality learning environments that provide challenging coursework relevant to students’ lives and career aspirations,” said Superintendent David L. Brewer III. “We are proud to be partnering with the CEE coalition to strengthen our efforts and provide students with resources they need to succeed.”

In these communities, the coalition will work through five education collaboratives that will, over the next two years, bring in community-based organizations, civic leaders, and businesses to inform, advocate, and build community demand for long-term and meaningful progress in student achievement. This will include a core group of active and informed parent and student leaders who can expand local awareness and engagement within their communities. The collaboratives will offer counsel to parents, students, and teachers about the importance of the A-G curriculum and how to access the resources and tools they need to successfully complete the coursework. In addition, the collaboratives will provide additional professional development for school personnel to foster high expectations for all students and to engage parents as valuable partners.

“Communities for Educational Equity is a promising, inclusive, and community-driven model for educational reform,” noted Anne Stanton, youth program director for The James Irvine Foundation. “We believe the collaboration will play a vital role in fully preparing all of Los Angeles' youth for success in college, career, and civic life.”

This effort is part of LAUSD’s plan to increase its graduation rate by improving the high school curriculum, instruction, and learning. Work currently underway includes the district’s “Putting Students First” plan that builds on its successful elementary school programs by providing secondary school students with a personalized educational experience, assessment of individual student progress every six weeks, and a consistent 180-day school calendar. The district is also providing comprehensive professional development to help teachers meet students’ cultural, linguistic, and academic needs.

“The Los Angeles School District has been taking bold and important steps in recent years to ensure that all high school students graduate with the skills they need for college and life,” said Carol Rava Treat, deputy director of advocacy for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The long-term success of this effort will depend on the support of the entire community—parents, teachers, students, community and business leaders—working together to create excellent high schools for all of our students.”
 
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Communities for Educational Equity (CEE) is a citywide coalition of community-based organizations, civic leaders, and research institutions—formed in response to the district’s poor academic outcomes for its predominantly Latino and African-American student population—whose mission is to ensure college and life success for all LAUSD students. Together with students, parents, and the community, CEE will hold the district accountable for increasing student achievement by closely monitoring and providing support to the district as it works to reform its high schools and implement a rigorous, relevant curriculum that prepares students for college. The coalition is comprised of organizations throughout the entire city but its membership comes primarily from the five regions that serve the majority of the district’s African-American and Latino students: Belmont/Pico Union, the San Fernando Valley, East LA, South LA, and Boyle Heights.

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The James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation is a private, nonprofit grantmaking foundation dedicated to expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, inclusive, and successful society. The foundation’s grantmaking is organized around three program areas: Arts, Youth, and California Perspectives, which focuses on increasing public understanding of critical issues facing the state. Since 1937 the foundation has provided more than $900 million in grants to over 3,000 nonprofit organizations throughout California. With current assets of more than $1.7 billion, the foundation expects to make grants of $75 million in 2007 for the people of California.