Community Effort Improves LAUSD Students’ Performance

In the 18 months since Ruben Zacarias has taken over as superintendent of the second-largest school district in the nation, the people who make up the Los Angeles Unified School District have experienced an almost spiritual renewal of their vows as educators, parents and community members. In refocusing our attention to a few very basic but essential goals, we have achieved some major victories, made significant strides in other areas and committed resources to those needs that have evaded us.

Noteworthy advances in meeting district goals have been made over the past four years, since the district’s move to local control under the cluster configuration. With teachers, administrators and parents working together on common concerns affecting elementary, middle and senior high schools, the ability to respond to local needs has increased dramatically.

With cluster administrators working alongside “instructional cabinets” in each high school complex, attendance rates have increased each year and the dropout rate has dropped significantly. The number of students mastering English has greatly increased, and the percentage of high school students enrolled in Advanced Placement and college preparatory classes has risen sharply.

Yet as 1998 began, the district faced many challenges, including the need to raise standardized test scores. With Zacarias in place, the state economy allowing more money for education, and labor strife behind us, the district was able to begin helping students do better on standardized tests, increasing the number of students reading by the end of the third grade and getting more books and other materials in every school.

The state’s funding formula for education has been grossly inadequate for many years. With an increase in the public’s awareness of this problem leading to involvement and assistance from the corporate world, the superintendent was able last spring to commit to putting textbooks for every core subject in the hands of every high school student. Inventories were done, funds allocated, orders submitted, and when the new school year opened, our secondary students had books for every class.

We are acutely aware that if a student cannot read by the time he or she leaves the third grade, the ability to reach his or her full educational potential is severely limited. Literacy has become the major focus of the district. Many hours of professional development for teachers and administrators have been devoted over the past year to literacy techniques, including a move back to phonics instruction. The district and the state have allocated major portions of this year’s educational spending to provide further training and additional materials to improve literacy in elementary and secondary schools.

With Proposition 227’s passage restricting bilingual instruction, there were predictions of chaos. Although many issues remain to be resolved and many parents are still considering the most appropriate way to meet the needs of their children, school staffs are learning new techniques to teach English to young people speaking scores of languages.

Concerns over “social promotion” have plagued public education for many years. There is a conflict between our concern with the emotional and psychological needs of children and our desire to ensure that children meet the basic requirements before they are moved to the next grade. With the superintendent’s call for the end of social promotion and a funding commitment from the Board of Education, students will have the opportunity to receive the assistance they need to master subjects.

As we count down to the new millennium, we see an effort to address those issues that remain. The district’s focus on the improvement of student achievement affects every educator and support staff member. We are all accountable for the improvement of student achievement. The superintendent, the board and school staff devote their time and energy to meet accountability goals.

The goal of each member of the school community is to improve student achievement. The need for involved, knowledgeable parents and community members is essential to a healthy, effective school system. Parents are taking classes at most of our school sites--learning English, completing their education, and most important, learning how to support and help their children. The community is a classroom. Through partnerships, the establishment of support programs and educational reform efforts, community agencies, civic groups, businesses and the corporate world are finding their role beside parent and teacher to provide opportunities to help young people learn and grow.

That the future is dependent upon how well we educate our children is a basic belief. We don’t debate this issue. The business of public education is everyone’s business, not just the worry of those who work in our schools. Given the tremendous social and economic challenges we face in this community, we have come a long way. Our focus is on the children, the quality of the education they receive and the obligation each of us has to the next generation.

John Liechty is a Los Angeles Unified School District assistant superintendent for instruction and Debbie Leidner is a cluster administrator overseeing the Birmingham/Cleveland/Reseda cluster.