The Alliance schools, which include 17 high schools and 9 middle schools, are all located in low-income neighborhoods but have an overall high school graduation rate of 94 percent and combined 2012-2013 API scores of 760, which exceeds state (735) and LA Unified (693) averages.

While not all charters have performed well in LA Unified, and with Alliance having faced challenges, too, over the last decade, the network does serve as an example to many supporters of what charter schools can offer students in struggling neighborhoods.

“The first thing I would point to about our success, and it may be a bit hokey, but believing that all kids can do it and having high expectations for students when they come in,” Alliance spokesperson Catherine Suitor said. “Everything we do is focused on and works around that.”

Other key factors Suitor pointed to are longer school days, giving decision-making power to principals, setting aside more training time for teachers and having smaller schools.

At Alliance schools, kids attend an average of 38 days more of school a year, which comes from having an extra hour of school a day plus 10 more full days per calendar year than LA Unified students have, Suitor said.

“We’re very academically focused. When those kids come in and they are behind, there is tutoring, they double up on math and English the first couple of years because they are always playing catch up,” she said. “It’s that expectation that they will get there even if they come in behind.”

Teachers also get extra days, which includes 10 days of training before school opens and six days throughout the school year, which amounts to twice the training days teachers in traditional LA Unified schools get, Suitor said.

While Alliance has seen great academic success from its students, it hasn’t been all wins, as two of its middle schools and two of its high schools performed below the API average of LAUSD schools during the 2012-13 school year. Alliance also had to close a school for poor performance in 2012, replace the leadership and some staff and reopen as the Renee and Meyer Luskin College-Ready Academy.

“It’s all about leadership. I think the principal leadership is incredibly important,” Suitor said when asked what lessons were learned from the school’s restructuring. “I would say the other thing that we learned is move faster if something is not working. Those are the big things learned from that lesson.”

On the subject of principals, Suitor also said that Alliance believes in allowing for decisions to made at the local level. This is possible in part because Alliance uses a model in which each school is run as an individual non-profit, with a separate governance structure, compared with some other charters that operate as a single non-profit. 

“We don’t want to run the risk of jeopardizing the whole network for one school. Let’s say you have a catastrophe at one school, you don’t want it to circulate through the whole system,” CFO David Hyun recently told LA School Report.

The funding structure also allows for the money to go directly to schools, Suitor explained.

“The schools pay Alliance for some backend help and HR, but the money goes directly to the school so the principal decides who to hire, how to spend money, and whatever the particular needs of the school are,” she said. “There are very different communities all around LA, and they do make different decisions based on what’s going on there. And they are all held accountable for results.”

Alliance also keeps the size of its schools small, with all high schools serving fewer than 600 students and its middle schools fewer than 450.

“There is a lot of research to back it up that the size of the school is more important than the size of the district. There is a lot of debate about should LAUSD be broken up into smaller districts, but we have found it is having small schools that matters,” Suitor said. 

And success is breeding the potential for more success: Alliance is planning to open 10 more schools over the next five years, starting with two in Sun Valley next school year.

Photo: Take Part

California has just suspended the calculation of API scores until 2016—and that’s cause for celebration by those of us who believe in meaningful accountability. I know, many people are freaking out because they believe this suspension of scores will leave schools in low-income communities free to go down the toilet for two full years while corrupt administrators and bad teachers merrily cash paychecks, accountable to no one.

Here’s why I think that logic is wrong—and why I believe this temporary suspension is a great opportunity to create a better system.

First of all, over a decade of API scores doesn’t seem to have done much to stop corrupt administrators and bad teachers. Schools that were terrible before we started testing are still terrible. Where schools were declared failing and taken over by the Partnership for L.A. Schools or other charter management systems, results have been underwhelming no matter who is in charge.

I have heard not a single story of a miracle takeover, but have heard many stories of schools that are as bad as before. In any case, test scores are not the best measure of whether these takeovers have been successful; the first measure is safety, followed by attendance and student attrition rates. Very high teacher turnover rates or large numbers of long-term subs are also serious red flags. We don’t need test scores to measure dysfunction. I wish it were that hard.

Test-driven education may have significant negative consequences for students even in success. Schools in underserved communities with impressive test scores often need to use extremely authoritarian, compliance-driven educational models to produce those scores.

“Our students love to sit and bubble in answers,” a teacher once said to me approvingly as she watched her class dutifully bend to a practice test. But this eagerness to please adults and get the “right” answer may have unintentionally been rendering our students less competent in college and in their future careers, where there are no boxes to check, no directions and no clear right answer. “My students can’t think” is a continual refrain among my teacher friends who bemoan days and weeks lost to tests and test prep.

Test-driven education helps create a two-tiered, unequal education system. As I visit schools across Los Angeles, I’m struck by the fact that schools in more affluent communities are far less driven by test prep—students often come in already at a fairly high level for a variety of reasons: parents with more education, less stressful home conditions, preschool that began when they were toddlers and a lifetime of access to summer school, arts enrichment and individual help as needed. These students will often test relatively high no matter what the teacher is doing. In fact, in affluent communities it seems to be a point of pride among teachers to have no interest in state testing because it would impede their ability to create rich, meaningful curriculum.

Teachers in underserved communities do not have this luxury; their school’s survival depends on producing high test scores, turning schools in low-income communities into high-test-score-production factories. Charter schools are often bashed for their obsession with test scores, but in fact, our test-score-driven system has left them no choice.

API scores are not the only form of accountability. What percentage of that school’s graduates attend college? A solid indicator of school rigor is the number of students enrolled in courses required for UC/CSU admission—if that number is not close to 100 percent, that school is not serious about preparing all students for college. Any of these measures can be ascertained with a phone call from a concerned parent.

In addition, students already take a boatload of tests. I’m perplexed when people argue for the CST’s because “an imperfect test is better than no test.” We have plenty of imperfect tests on deck already: the CAHSEE, the EAP writing and math tests for college placement and of course, the SAT, which is free for students from low-income families. Any of these could be a rough, imperfect measure if you crave the sight of digits.

Finally, Common Core is a radical shift in education. Observing teachers in classrooms across the city, I’ve seen some exciting changes happening. I’m seeing richer discussions and logical, evidence-based answers when students are asked to synthesize multiple texts and justify their own interpretations. Teachers are free to experiment, learn and collaborate in a way they would not if their schools were forced to demonstrate high scores on old tests that are focused on bubbling in the right answer.

Right now, Common Core tests are not ready for prime time—and schools are not ready to take them. Take a practice test online and see for yourself; there’s some promise in the idea of reading and synthesizing texts, but they still seem similar to the just-scrapped Writing SAT, and they’re nowhere close to being “adaptive” or set to a student’s individual level. These tests are designed to measure, among other things, a student’s fluidity with online research, but right now only about a quarter of LAUSD schools have the bandwidth to administer the test, much less teach students the internet skills they’re being asked to demonstrate.

So let’s all breathe and use common sense. Whether we wanted to or not, we’re now participating in a nationwide experiment in education. We know the old system didn’t work. Let’s stop clinging to it. If we’re going to give Common Core a shot, let’s give teachers and schools a chance to build something that will really work. And if you’re really concerned about your child’s school, ask her what she thinks of her teachers. If she complains that they push her too hard and there’s too much reading and writing, chances are, she’s at a pretty good school.

Ellie Herman is a guest commentator. Read more of her thoughts at Gatsby in LA.

Several of the brightest, including the highest score for any school in the district as well as the highest scoring middle school, belonged to KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) charter schools.

It’s welcome news for the San Francisco-based network of schools which is celebrating 10 years of operating campuses in south and east Los Angeles and is expanding to nine campuses this year from seven.

“We’re thrilled about the (API) scores and especially proud of all of our students and teachers,” Marcia Aaron, Education Director for Los Angeles’ KIPP network of schools said. “But we still have some that we’re working on.”

Four of KIPP’s seven schools operating in 2012-13 academic year scored above 900 — that’s well over the state’s 800 API target.  The other three schools scored between 717 and 789:

• The KIPP Empower Academy in south LA, earned a score of 991, making it the highest performing school in LAUSD and the 10th-highest performing school in California.

• KIPP Comienza Community Prep in Huntington Park, scored 979, making it the third highest performing school in LAUSD.

• KIPP Raices Academy in East LA earned an API score of 969, the 6th highest performing school in LAUSD.

• KIPP LA College Prep in Boyle Heights earned a score of 916, down from 925 last year. Still, it was the highest performing middle school in LAUSD for the third year in a row.

While only about half of LA Unified 228 charters met the 800 standard, several factors contribute to the high scores for KIPP. For starters, the charter schools are very small compared with traditional district schools, each founded with only two grades at a time, adding a new grade level each year.

Empower Academy, for example, served only K-2 students.

KIPP schools also practice extended learning days. The average school day lasts nine hours, and students attend two-weeks of summer school every year.

For the KIPP schools that didn’t reach 800, Aaron says the staff is “doubling down” on providing teachers with extra professional development support. They’re also planning for more academic intervention for 5th graders across all campuses.

“The concepts that are taught in higher grades are far more complex and they require more complex teaching,” she said.

As children get older the differential between students at the low end and the high end increases.

“In middle school we will have students whose scores will range from Kindergarten to 8th or 9th grade in different subjects,” Aaron said. “Our typical incoming 5th grader is performing below our exiting 2nd graders.”

But as KIPP elementary schools matriculate 4th graders, whose average API scores is a 983, and funnel them into network middle schools, Aaron says she expects to see more gains.

Still, API scores are not the endgame, she said.

“At KIPP we’re all about college so it’s a long way before they receive their college degree,” she said. “There’s still lots of work left to do.”

Previous Posts: API Tests for LA Unified Improve Slightly, State Scores Fall, LA Unified Schools Top Lists of California’s Best Charters, By the Numbers: Charter School Waitlist Exceeds 15,000

For LA Unified students, the annual Academic Performance Index (API) shows a three point increase over last year, to 749 from 746, as the state score dropped to 789 from 791.

“For the second-largest school district in the nation to outpace nearly all urban districts in California in the API is an extraordinary accomplishment,” said Superintendent John Deasy. “I’m tremendously proud of our administrators, students, and teachers for achieving this result while the District remained in the throes of a devastating budget crisis” according to a press release issued by LAUSD.

API scores range from 200 to 1,000 points, with a goal of 800 for every student. The scores are based on the results of several standardized state tests, including the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program and the High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).

Despite the gain for LA Unified, other numbers betrayed the upward trend.

In all, only 247 schools – about 36 percent of the district’s total — hit the target 800, about the same as the year before. The large majority, 222 schools, are elementary schools, leaving just 16 middle and 9 high schools that met targets. That’s better than year when only 6 high schools reached 800.

Despite the strong performance of 46 percent of LAUSD elementary schools meeting the target, it still feel short of the statewide level of 56 percent.

The 3-point gain for LA Unified was smallest in 10 years, breaking a five-year streak of double-digit advances. Combined with the state performance, the district drew as close as it has ever been to the statewide score, still lagging behind by 40 points.

The 2013 results showed other notable gains for LAUSD. Scores for English learners jumped 28 points, the highest gain in history for the district, and 27 points above the statewide figure. Scores for students with disabilities grew by 17 points, versus 5 points across California. Economically disadvantaged students improved 8 points in the District, compared with 5 points statewide.

For the first time ever, API scores decreased for Asian and white students by 2 and 4 points, respectively. At the same time, African-American students improved by 1 point and Hispanic students saw a 4 point gain.

LA Unified’s improvement was second biggest among California’s urban school districts, traling only San Diego Unified, which grew 9 points.

The Santa Ana Unified School District, formerly lead by Thelma Melendez, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s education czar, dropped 13 points, to 742 from 755.

Previous Posts: LAUSD’s Big API Gains

Why such little fanfare to these numbers? As Rob Kuznla of the Daily Breeze notes, the scores are almost a year old.  “The bigger release typically happens in August or September, when the state unveils the Academic Performance Index scores from tests that students in grades 2-11 took just a couple of months before.”

If you’re curious, the Bay Area News Group put together a searchable database that allows you filter schools by both county and school district.

Previous posts: Test Scores Will Matter Less for a School’s Fate… In Four Years; LAUSD Shows Improvement In State Tests

As you can see, LAUSD’s API score showed significant improvement, climbing 16 points to reach 745, but was still below California’s statewide goal for an 800 API score. When it came to the district’s AYP score, which is a broader federal measure of how a school district is progressing, LAUSD did not meet AYP target goals for student performance or graduation rates. LAUSD did, however, meet participation rates in math and English/language arts.

LAUSD was not alone in its struggle to meet AYP goals, and both AYP and API are incomplete measures of school effectiveness.

Previous posts: No NCLB Waiver — No “Freeze”, Testing Problems at 2 LAUSD Schools

In a statement, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy praised the progress, saying, “In spite of five years of brutal budget cuts, 10,000 layoffs, larger class sizes, and a shortened school year, teachers continue to focus on instruction, learning and our goals.”

The API has been a source of frustration for educators who say it places too much emphasis on the results of standardized tests. Last month, Governor Brown signed legislation that will broaden how schools are measured using multiple factors in addition to testing.

Also today, California state school chief Tom Torlakson released a new online tool called School Quality Snapshot that allows you to drill down on the details.

LAUSD approves one-year contract for Superintendent John Deasy
The Los Angeles Unified school board voted 6-0 late Tuesday to grant a one-year contract extension to Superintendent John Deasy. The board vote took place about 7:30 p.m. in executive session, which came after a lengthy board meeting. Daily News

API Scores: An Educational Horse Race That Will Soon Change
The California Department of Education will release the Academic Performance Index numbers Thursday in an annual tradition that’s the educational equivalent to horse racing. But this state measure, as it currently exists, will soon be obsolete. KPCC

Yvonne Chan’s Charter School Empire Flourishes In Pacoima
It’s been nearly 20 years since Chan transformed LAUSD’s failing Vaughn Elementary into the nation’s first independent conversion charter, a move she parlayed into a thriving network of charter campuses serving 2,400 students in preschool through 12th grade. Daily News

Jordan High School In Watts To Undergo $75-Million Renovation
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved the redevelopment project this week. School officials said construction will probably begin in November or early December. LA Times

Growing Crisis Of Trust And Participation Among CA Electorate
The findings would not seem to bode well for a number of ballot measures pending before voters in the November election – especially Proposition 30, the temporary tax plan sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown. SI&A Cabinet Report

Compton Superintendent: Student Protests Should Be Before Or After School
On Wednesday, Superintendent Darin Brawley released a statement encouraging “stakeholders” to voice their concerns. KPCC

LAUSD Arts Funding Cut 76% In Five Years
In the last five years, funding for arts education at L.A. Unified has dropped from a budgeted high of $78.6 million to $18.6 million. The 76 percent drop in funding equates to about $60 million, and is the result of a dramatic decrease in state support and the district’s need to constrict its budget in response. KPCC