Education
The Alliance for a Better Community is involved in a variety of efforts aimed at improving local schools and ensuring excellence and equity in education for all students. Identified strategies are based on Action Team discussions and recommendations based on the Latino Scorecard.
Latino Scorecard Recommendations
Increase the availability and quality of college preparatory classes, including advanced placement courses.
Communities for Educational Equity (CEE)
Since June 2004, ABC has convened the Communities for Educational Equity (CEE), a coalition of over twenty community based organizations, civic leaders and institutions of higher education to ensure that all students who graduate from LAUSD high schools satisfy UC and CSU admissions eligibility requirements. This will ensure that all students who graduate from LAUSD high schools successfully complete a rigorous and relevant curriculum that prepares them to receive a high quality post secondary education and enter the skill intensive 21st century workforce.
In June 2004 ABC, along with the Community Coalition, convened The Communities for Educational Equity (CEE), a coalition of over twenty community based organizations, nonprofits, civic leaders and research institutions. CEE seeks to mobilize Los Angeles' community and leaders toward ensuring that the high school standard curriculum and experience prepare all students to be engaged, responsible participants in our civic and social spaces by organizing and advocating to make certain that students graduate prepared for entry and success in universities and the 21st century workforce. In June 2005 CEE's mobilization efforts resulted in the passing the "Huizar, Lauritzen, Tokofsky Motion to Implement Educational Equity in Los Angeles Through the Implementation of the A-G Course Sequence. The CEE will continue to collaborate with parents, students and LAUSD to ensure that the requirements are successfully implemented and result in increased educational outcomes for all students throughout the Los Angeles Area. Read more about CEE's mission and goals.
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Community Collaboratives
As a catalyst for coalition-building, ABC promotes opportunities for local leadership and community organizations to work together hand-in-hand with school administrators. These community partnerships demonstrate a hands-on approach to fulfilling community responsibility at the local school level. ABC, a leading organization of both the Belmont and Valley Education Collaboratives, stimulates school accountability, promotes collaboration and offers a network of support services to ensure the effective implementation of services and programs to address the need for college preparatory coursework, dropout intervention strategies and the development of smaller learning communities.
Belmont Education Collaborative (BEC)
Valley Education Collaborative (VEC)
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Hold school districts accountable for graduation rates.
High School Dropout Crisis
Every four years, more than 50,000 students in Los Angeles County disappear from the high school system before what would be their graduation day. Unfortunately, the majority of students that do not graduate are students of color: 48% are Hispanic and 44% are African American. In LAUSD, the dropout rate has steadily increased over the years to 53%. For example, out of the 58,834 9th graders who enrolled their freshman year, only 27,795 students graduated four years later. This loss is unacceptable and inexcusable. More statistics . . .
ABC is addressing this crisis by launching a Dropout Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Program to ensure that students complete high school successfully. Our student retention efforts are divided into three initiatives: a community based mobilization toward a policy and advocacy campaign; a coordination of prevention, intervention and retention services; and finally a public awareness campaign.
The policy and advocacy campaign seeks to mobilize parents, students, CBO's and other stakeholders to ensure that schools and districts acknowledge the dropout crisis and reform policies to be accountable for student attendance and graduation. Unfortunately, most schools do not recognize accurate dropout rates, thus, they are not focused on real solutions.
Upon identifying at-risk students, ABC will work with schools, districts, and a multitude of stakeholders to coordinate intervention services that effectively increase student retention, decreasing the number of students exiting middle or high schools. ABC will work with 4 or 5 high schools and feeder middle schools across Los Angeles County to develop our Dropout Prevention, Intervention & Recovery Program. In addition, ABC will apply the results from our Latino Scorecard best practices research to identify successful dropout intervention strategies already in use.
Finally, ABC will develop a regional media campaign aimed at students, parents and the greater Los Angeles community to a) build awareness of the unacceptable numbers of students disappearing from high school; b) discuss the consequences to individuals, communities, and the Los Angeles region, and; c) deliver encouraging messages to stay in school.
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