Los Angeles' Dropout Prevention Action Plan

23 Pages·2009·0.2 MB·English

Action Plan to Help More Young People Graduate High School,
Ready for College, Work and Life

Name of Summit State or Community: Los Angeles Unified School District

Date and Location of Summit: June 5, 2009 Los Angeles, California

Geographical Area Covered by Action Plan: Los Angeles Unified School District

Cities entirely within LAUSD include: Cudahy, Gardena, Huntington Park, Lomita,
Maywood, San Fernando, Vernon and West Hollywood. Cities partially within LAUSD
include: Alhambra, Bell, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Carson, City of Commerce,
Culver City, Downey, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Long Beach, Los Angeles,
Lynwood, Montebello, Monterey Park, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates, Santa
Clarita, Santa Monica, South Gate, South Pasadena and Torrance. In addition, LAUSD also
provides services to several unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Date Submitted: August 17, 2009

Main Point of Contact: Debra Duardo, Director
Pupil Services
Los Angeles Unified School District
333 S. Beaudry Avenue, 29th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Ph: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]
I. Building Knowledge: Understanding Your State’s or Community’s Dropout &
College-Readiness Challenges

1. What is your state’s or community’s current graduation rate? (Please cite source
and methodology)

Data released August 3, 2009 by the California Department of Education (CDE)
indicate the graduation rate for Los Angeles Unified School District was 72.4% for
the 2007-08 school year.

This is the second year that the CDE has derived dropout and graduation rates based
on student level data through the use of unique Statewide Student Identifiers (SSID).
Using SSIDs, the CDE is able to track students across districts throughout the state.
California continues to calculate the graduation rate using the formula as required
under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. The formula is displayed in
the box below.

Number of Graduates (2007-08*)

Number of Graduates (2007-08) + Grade 9 Dropouts (2004-05) +Grade 10 Dropouts (2005-06)
+Grade 11 Dropouts (2006-07*) + Grade 12 Dropouts (2007-08*)

*Dropout and graduate counts are derived from student-level data

In the future, the CDE will be able to track students for four years using the unique
SSID to account for incoming and outgoing transfers. More accurate dropout and
graduation rates will be reported with the class of 2010.

The CDE defines a graduate as a student who completes the state and district course
requirements and passes both English language arts and mathematics components of
the California High School Examination (CAHSEE). Students who completed high
school equivalency programs such as the General Educational Development (GED)
Test, California High School Proficiency Examination (CHPSE), Adult Education
High School Diploma Program, or special education certificates of completion are not
reflected in the rates.

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2. What does both national and local data indicate about your state’s or
community’s graduation and college-going rates over the last few years (e.g. over
the last 2, 5 and 10 years)? Have the schools’ rates been improving or getting
worse? How do your local statistics compare with your state and the nation as a
whole?
National GraduationTrend
1995-06 to 2005-06
71.0
70.0
69.0
68.0
67.0
66.0
65.0
64.0
63.0
1995-06 1996-07 1997-08 1998-09 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06

The graph above represents actual data as reported by the EPE Research Center. It
shows that gains made between 1997 and 2004 are being offset by recent declines in
graduation rates.

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California Graduation Rates
1997-98 to 2007-08

72
71
70
69

68
67
66
65
1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

According to the CDE, graduation rates in California have fluctuated between 67.1
and 71.1 percent during the last ten years, reaching their peak during the 2004-05
school year. After dropping a full 10 percent, the rates are once again beginning to
climb. The graph mirrors that of the national averages which peaked in the same year,
but then began a decline.

Graduation Rates by Urban Districts in California

School District 2007-08 2006-07 Change

Oakland 69.0% 68.3% + 0.7%
Fresno 69.1% 72.2% - 3.1%
Los Angeles 72.4% 67.1% + 5.3%
Pomona 73.4% 74.8% - 1.4%
Pasadena 75.1% 83.2% - 8.1%
Long Beach 79.0% 82.4% - 3.4%
California 80.2% 80.6% - 0.4%
San Jose 86.1% 85.6% + 0.5%
San Diego 84.3% 79.9% + 4.4%
San Francisco 84.4% 86.0% - 1.6%
Sacramento 84.5% 80.5% + 4.0%
Santa Ana 84.8% 83.8% + 1.0%

The table above presents the CDE graduation rates for LAUSD, other large urban
unified districts and California state. Highlighted is the 2007-08 graduation rate for
LAUSD which increased by 5.3 percentage points from 2006-07. This rate reflects an
increased number of graduates in the 2007-08 school year and fewer grade 12
dropouts, compared to the 2006-07 school year. Although the graduation rate of
LAUSD is lower than the majority of urban districts in California, LAUSD posted
significant gain during the 2007-08 school year.
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Many inner city LAUSD senior high schools with a history of low graduation rates
posted exceptional gains. Belmont increased 12.3%, Dorsey increased 13.5%, and
Jordan increased by 19.1%. These increases are of course offset by schools that
posted rates lower than last year. One of the challenges facing the district is to
determine what contributed most to the success of these schools and replicate those
factors.

The chart below compares the national graduation rates with CDE data from
California, Los Angeles County and LAUSD during the past six years. The national
data is from the recent report by the EPE Research Center. The 2006-07 and 2007-08
graduation rates have been projected to be 75.4% by the National Center for
Educational Statistics (NCES). As this graph shows, LAUSD is making steady
progress despite the recent decline of the state’s average graduation rate.

Graduation Rates:
National and Regional Comparisons
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
National* California Los Angeles County LAUSD

* The national data for 2006-07 and 2007-08 is not yet available. NCES projects the graduation rate to be 75.4%.

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3. Please describe what efforts have or will be taken to better understand the issues
from key perspectives, such as parents and young people themselves. Explain
what data analysis, surveys, interviews or other efforts have or will be
implemented to build your knowledge base of who drops out, from which schools,
when and why. What is known, and what do you still seek to learn?

The LAUSD is taking a variety of steps to try to understand the dropout issue from
different perspectives, including:

1. In July, 2007 the LAUSD School Board passed the “Diplomas for All”
Resolution to improve graduation rates in the district. The Diplomas for All Task
Force:
• Reviewed over 100 recent research projects, studies and articles on
dropout prevention.
• Identified 15 common elements which show evidence of success in
improving graduation rates
• Conducted needs assessment of existing District resources and programs
• Conducted a gap analysis to determine where we fall short in meeting
student needs
• Established sub-groups to focus on key areas of concern

The Task Force identified the following 15 Key Components of Successful
Dropout Prevention Programs:

1. A centralized method of tracking and reporting student data
2. An early indicator tracking system to identify potential dropouts
3. Adult advocates to identify academic and personal challenges early on to
get students the various types of support they need
4. Parent engagement and education concerning individualized graduation
plans and other pertinent student information
5. Rigorous college and work preparation curriculum exists and is required
for high school graduation
6. Smaller schools or schools-within-schools, academies
7. Support systems for transitions from elementary to middle school and
middle to high school
8. Extra-curricular and after-school programs provide students with
expanded learning
9. Provide safe environments and offer students opportunities to strengthen
the school-community connection
10. Expanded advanced learning opportunities exist through dual enrollment
11. Counseling support and access to other resources are available to help
students remain in school and graduate
12. Student participation in quality early childhood education programs
13. Students receive California High School Exit Exam preparation

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14. On-going professional development provides teachers with the strategies
and skills to develop differentiated instruction
15. Students with special needs receive student support services, special
classes and instruction with accommodations. English learners are
provided with language development programs so they can complete
graduation requirements.

The task force findings highlighted areas in need of improvement, including:

• Limited Educational Alternative Options
• Limited professional development specific to the needs of at-risk students
• Lack of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy in many classrooms
• Inconsistent reclassification of English Language Learners
• Discrepancy between District policy and school site practice
• Lack of a formal accountability system that holds members at every level of
the District accountable

The Diplomas for All Strategic Plan set the following five goals. These goals are
quantified in Section III.:

• Improve attendance district-wide
• Expand and create educational alternative placement options
• Ensure learning at all levels and within all sub-groups
• Establish personalized, safe, and healthy school environments
• Develop an effective, district-wide student tracking data system

2. The Dropout Prevention and Recovery unit utilized Student Input in their effort
to determine how best to reach and engage students. Focus groups were held, and
students themselves developed the theme, “My Future, My Decision”, and logo.
They helped to shape the web site and came up with original ways to connect with
other students, such as using text messages and MySpace.com. The ideas from the
students were used to launch a media campaign geared towards young people.

3. A Logistic Regression Model was used by the Dropout Prevention and Recovery
Unit to support the District’s focus on potential student dropouts. Personnel
analyzed the data of LAUSD students who had dropped out of school to
determine what indicators could be used to predict the risk of dropout in other
students. The logistic regression model included five variables:

• Age minus grade – used as an indicator of whether a student has been retained
or is on track to graduate in four years
• Attendance rate
• Cumulative GPA
• Number of Unsatisfactory (U’s) in Work Effort
• Number of Fails (F’s) in Math and English

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This model was used to determine which secondary schools had the most students
at risk of dropout. These schools were targeted to receive the additional support
of a Dropout Prevention Advisor to work specifically with the identified students.

4. An Early Warning System was developed as a universal data tool to identify
students whose performance indicators have experienced any drop: in attendance,
grades, test scores or work effort. This tool can trigger an alert based on specific
indicators selected by staff. In this way, even students not generally identified as
“at-risk” can be recognized early. For example, a student who’s math grade
slipped from an A to a B, their attendance dropped 5% and they received their
first suspension could be identified, enabling school staff to monitor and intervene
when necessary.

5. The At Risk Report helps the district at all levels to identify at-risk students
based on performance thresholds across subject areas, such as reading and math
assessments, attendance, GPA and suspensions. Reports can provide the
percentage of at-risk students in specific local districts, schools and classrooms.
Specific students can also be identified. This system will be crucial in the
District’s efforts to intervene early while providing evaluation data to monitor the
effectiveness of interventions.

6. The Office of Data and Accountability has developed a number of statistical
reports to inform the district on key data such as attendance, graduation and
dropout rates, behavioral indicators, including student suspensions, transfers and
expulsions, as well as achievement reports, such as grades and test scores. The
district currently publishes “Report Cards” for each school and local district
detailing this information.

7. Parent and student voices are an essential component of our knowledge base.
Information gathered in focus groups of parents and students were used to drive
the direction of the Los Angeles Dropout Prevention Summit. In the months prior
to the event, focus groups were held throughout the district to listen to the ideas
and experiences of those most affected by this crisis, students and parents. The
information gathered was organized into four different themes: School Culture,
Parent Engagement, Access to Resources and Safety. Each theme consisted of
five topics that encompassed the specific concerns identified in the focus groups.
These are shown in the table below.

School Culture Parent Engagement Access to Resources Safety

Teacher Quality Student-Parent Finding Resources Gang Problems
Involvement

Classes Parent-School Interactions Ability to Use Community Safety
Resources

Counselors and Deans Parenting Issues Climate of the School Safety
Agency

School Environment Educational Issues Value of the Safety in the Home
Resource

Staff-Student-Parent Attendance Issues Concerns Regarding Discrimination and
Relationships Use of the Resource Harassment
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At the summit, participants broke into twenty separate think tank groups to begin formulating
the priorities that will guide the actual work of solving the dropout crisis. Each Think Tank
was comprised of a trained facilitator, recorder and time keeper. A community member was
selected as Chair with a student serving as Co-Chair. Each group was made up of a variety
of stakeholders, including educators, corporate, government, media, faith, health, public
policy, labor and community based organizations. There were a total of twenty think tanks,
with five separate groups each working on one of the themes listed above.

The specific topics raised by students and families in the focus groups were shared and
briefly discussed during the think tank sessions. Students and parents had the opportunity to
give a personal example of how their own lives have been affected by these issues. The
groups spent time brainstorming possible ways to address these concerns, and selecting what
they determined to be their group’s top three priorities. These are the items considered to be
important first steps for the new coalition.

Despite working on different themes, many of the groups came to very similar conclusions.
For example, on the topic of school safety, students stated that they feel safer when they are
in small settings and have meaningful relationships with those around them. These same
ideas came out of the school environment and parent engagement groups. The priorities
most cited include:

• Create respectful customer service environments at schools with high expectations that
increase ownership, involvement and accountability among all stakeholders through a
system of shared leadership. Provide training to school staff that increases sensitivity and
engagement of families through positive, personalized relationships with students and
parents.

• Provide more parent education (importance of education, counseling, English, health,
other) including regular parent education meetings PreK-12th about the school system and
life success

• Engage more students, parents, family and community members as volunteers, mentors,
and peer mentors (i.e. Parent/parent).

• Improve quantity and quality of communication with parents (have staff make home
visits, “track” parent involvement, maintain correct contact information)

• Create “One-Stop” resource/wellness centers in schools with resource portfolios and 24-
hour help lines for the community. Form partnerships/collaborations with various
community stakeholders to offer a variety of services and information. Allocate
resources equitably according to need.

• Support students with reading/tutoring help, smaller classes, transition programs, A-G
information.

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• Create more quality before/during/after school programs for parents and students in
schools and in the community.

• Create safe passages and safe places in the community

• Provide expert gang intervention in schools and communities.

7. The district has recently launched school-based surveys to gather information directly
from students, parents and school staff about individual schools. The surveys will collect
valuable data about the school climate and culture and will be published on the LAUSD
website as part of the report cards currently available at the school, local district and district
levels. This information will be used to identify the environmental issues inhibiting the
attitude, achievement and positive relationships in each school setting.

II. Rallying Your State or Community: Getting Buy-In to Address the Crisis

1. What key data and message points have you developed around the issue to secure
commitment form your community’s and state’s leaders and to mobilize the
general public? What’s the impact of the dropout challenge on your economy,
state or city budget, social services, employers, post-secondary institutions, etc?
If you don’t yet have these message points, what are your plans to obtain them?

Upon its inception, the LAUSD Dropout Prevention and Recovery Program motto has
been “Inside Every Student is a Graduate”. As mentioned above, the website for this
unit named by students is www.MyFutureMyDecision.org. The June 5, 2009 Dropout
Prevention Summit in Los Angeles was entitled “Diplomas for All; Our Future, Our
Solution.” All of these phrases were developed to empower youth and inspire
community stakeholders.

The following briefing was sent to all Summit participants prior to the conference.
These message points detail the scope and impact of the dropout challenge in the Los
Angeles area. Some of these data points were also included in the LAUSD media
release for the summit.

Every day hundreds of thousands of students leave school without a High School Diploma. The United
States is the only industrialized country in the world in which today’s young people are less likely than their
parents to have completed high school. We need to act with increased urgency. The America’s Promise
Foundation has initiated a Dropout Prevention Campaign to raise awareness of the problem and to generate
solutions. As part of this campaign, over 100 Summits are being held throughout the nation to convene
community members to stimulate discussions and to develop a plan to improve how we support students
towards graduation.

Data from across the country show students have been dropping out of school at an alarming rate for over 30
years. Consider these national statistics:

More than one million high school students drop out every year. That is one student every 26 seconds
Nearly one-third of all public high school students do not graduate with their class
African Americans and Latinos have only a 50% chance of graduating with their class
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