Why The Need For Change?

"Having small schools is a must. If you look at our test scores, many overcrowded, year-round schools have some of the lowest scores”

   Bev Cook, UTLA VP, California Educator Nov. 2001

…[R]research has consistently shown that when a school is too big, serious problems often arise.  Smaller schools tend to have lower dropout rates, better attendance, fewer incidents of violence, and more student participation in extracurricular activities.  Discipline problems can be more serious when students see themselves as being relatively anonymous…. As for academic achievement, the research suggests that at-risk students are at a particular disadvantage in overly large schools. - American Federation of Teachers, Improving Low-Performing High Schools: Ideas and Promising Programs for High Schools.

The promising news is the progress LAUSD students have achieved in the elementary schools over the past few years. Our challenge remains that the improvement in academic and overall performance of the students in middle schools and high schools is generally flat and in many instances tragically low.  At some high schools the 4-year drop rate may be as high as 40-60%.  Most of these same schools are huge - many enroll between 2,000 to 5,000 students.  These huge schools are legacies of the comprehensive high school designed last century and often over crowded for even their original intended design.

Large Overcrowded High Schools are troubled by issues of:  Student Anonymity - Parents and students are intimidated by the size of our institutions, and are deeply concerned about how peer relationships will be built in these settings.  Students are not well known by the adults on our campuses.  Pupil/teacher class loads make it difficult to build close relationships with our students.  Unless behavior and/or academic skills stand out at a level to require urgent intervention, the student may be anonymous in our large comprehensive schools.  The multi-track system makes it difficult to provide quality time for ongoing professional development that includes classroom observations, peer coaching, collaborative work and conferencing.  Student-counselor ratios of 450:1

College and Career Preparation – In some schools within LAUSD only 1 of 5 of this year’s graduating class had passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).  Unless immediate action is taken, the majority our 12th graders will receive a certificate of completion instead of a diploma Thus most of our youth will have either dropped out or are not college qualified to do college work or enter the labor market. If our students do not accomplish standard academic achievement while they are in high school, they will be left behind. If we are to now rise to the challenge to ensure all of our middle and high school youth of today and tomorrow are educated for college and lifelong success, we must reinvent our current schools.