UNITE-LA is a leading advocate on education issues including pre-kindergarten through university education and job training systems that ensure students and adults are prepared to succeed in a global economy and contribute to our community.

Several reform strategies inform and underpin the advocacy efforts and work of UNITE-LA

1. •Small Schools & Small Learning Communities  Thematic, rigorous, contextualized learning environments that are either autonomous [small schools], or occupy contiguous space [small learning communities] on the campus of what was once a traditional, comprehensive high school.
   

2. •Partnerships:  Business + Education  Partnerships match businesses, professional associations and trade organizations with theme-based Small Schools and Small Learning Communities creating;
   

3. •Unique, personalized learning environments with fewer than 500 students
   

4. •Coursework centered around industry-related themes, such as arts and media, finance and health
   

5. •A focus on parent and community engagement
   

6. •Linked Learning  A revolutionary approach to high school education that transforms the structures, pedagogy and purposes of the comprehensive high school, and moves beyond the century-old practice of sorting students into coursework based on presumptions that some high school graduates will go to college, but the majority will go to work or stay at home to raise children.  Linked Learning seeks to prepare all students for both higher education and careers, but is grounded in the belief that not all students can or should find their way to post-secondary programs and high-wage, high-skill jobs in the same way.
   

7. •Project-Based Learning  Complex, standards-based curricular units that result in meaningful, engaging projects that are centered on the student, and feature teacher-created documents, connections to work-based learning, integration of various technologies for planning and presentation, scaffolding activities, and evaluation rubrics.  Emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered, integrated with real world issues and practices, and that motivate students by engaging them in their own learning.
   

8. •School-To-Career  A system of policies, partnerships and strategies that promote access to learning for all students and preparation for success in a complex and changing world.