LAUSD Graduation Rates
The L.A. Times reports that, according to a "new" study -- based on four-year-old data -- just over 44% of LAUSD high school students graduate in four years.Now, before you deem that an indictment of the LAUSD, and an endorsement of the Mayor's program, consider two more facts: i) the LAUSD has a higher percentage of "English Learners" (i.e., children who don't speak English) than any other city; and ii) the graduation rate in New York, which Villaraigosa holds up as his model, is 39% (i.e., five percentage points LOWER than LAUSD).
In a related story, the San Francisco Chronicle includes an article by Stanford researchers who report, "At Stanford University's School of Education, we analyzed California's policy for assessing students learning English. We found that 1 out of every 4 students learning English did not pass California's exit exam and will not be able to graduate." Ouch!
Posted by Walter Moore @ 6/20/2006 06:12:00 PM
21 Comments:
Roy Romer sounds just like that idiot pr guy who used to work for Sadaam Huessein - "Aw - what's the problem the schools are fine - the dropout rate - what are you talking about - we will beat the americans - they will all be sent back to america with their yankees between their legs."
Why don't the bureuacrats at LAUSD want change: they might have to put in an honest days work. No way.
Villaraigosa beat the hell out of Wacko in last year's Mayoral primary. Ha-ha!
Oh MY, the hypocrisy! LAUSD get's handed a partial excuse for sub-50 percent graduation rates in the SAME blog that was just days ago endlessly lambasting new, struggling Academia Semillas -- which has DOUBLE DIGIT percentages MORE English learners than LAUSD (and many points more than even other local, East L.A. schools).
But did ANY of the regular thread-starters (or brick throwers) here cut THEM some slack, even maybe suggest that holding the LAUSD performance yardstick hard against THAT school's still developing back might be unfair? That maybe it wasn't QUITE even close to an even-handed comparison to say "that school" (with a much, MUCH higher % of new and returning ELs than LAUSD) shouldn't be held to the same standard of performance or annual improvement?
Hell, no! And we have yet to even see how Academia kids will do in terms of numbers graduating.
People need to stop being so critical of La Academia Semillas del Pueblo and the LAUSD. It would be hard for anyone to successfully run a school, let alone an entire district, that is saturated with illegal aliens.
To 6:42: Do you have any basis in fact for asserting that LAUSD bureaucrats put in any less time than anyone else?
To 7:27: Do you seriously contend that the children at Aztec Elementary have a better chance of passing the English language exit exam by studying Nahautil?
To 7:14: The next time you write "Ha-ha," please specify that it should be uttered in the style of Nelson from "The Simpsons."
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If Antonio was so confident that Mayor takeover would be a good thing for LAUSD why didn't he allow the voters to decide instead of going over our heads? I'm sure those legislatures don't know how many illegals are in the public school system over crowding classrooms and who can't speak English. For damn sure all those stats should include them. I'm surprised at Antonio's alignment so closely with Arnold and not the GOP on this issue.
I meant AND THE GOP ON THIS ISSUE. He knows he'll lose the vote with democrats and that Republicans support a takeover.
Because he is a Democrat... a San Francisco Dem... a European Dem... a Socialist...
Hard left wingers tend to do things through legislation rather than asking their constituents to vote on an issue.
To them it is better that potential voters don't have a voice.
7:48
"Do you seriously contend that the children at Aztec Elementary have a better chance of passing the English language exit exam by studying Nahautil?
Absolutely! And you have no proof that it won't.
Countless studies show that the more one studies the structures and variances of languages - ANY language, the better they understand their own. Children also find it easier to learn multiple languages, and provide us with the best bridges to the older residents who can't or won't. Being multilingual in the "real" Los Angeles isn't divisive, it's unifying.
Academia Semillas students are not studying six subjects a day in Nahuatl. It's maybe the equivalent of less than one class, sprinkled throughout their hours at school -- an intermittent mental "field trip" if you will to learn a few key words and phrases over the course of several years in a language spoken by nearly 2 million people (half the population of L.A), in the central region of country many come from and many will return to -- voluntarily otherwise.
The overhyping of this situation is nothing short of racist paranoia, suggesting they spend the whole day in feathers beating drums and uttering tongue-tangling phrases that scare "whitey" spitless.
Kids at other local schools spend more time learning "to the test" things they will forget tomorrow, than these kids will ever spend studying Aztec culture. If this school was in rural Kansas, they'd probably be talking livestock and planting seasons in the same shares.
They still spend 90 percent of their time studying CA state curriculum in English, and for those not fluent enough yet, in Spanish.
I thought you were the more "reasonable" type of Republican, Moore, but apparently you're just another knee-jerk xenophobe, afraid of anything that wasn't in the textbooks 20-30 years ago when you and I slept through lessons, and afraid that if someone spends the equivalent of 30-60 minutes a day learning about their own heritage, that they won't eventually be seduced by the great American dream.
Geez, have a bit more faith in the intoxicating affects of capitalism and mainstream American culture. I'm guessing the founders of this school have more "faith" in those aspects that any of their atatckers do... otherwise they wouldn't be working so hard to counteract it just a bit, for a few years in order to give kids a bit more perspective. Listen, if billions of people around the world who aren't bombarded by Ameican culturisms every day are lined up to come here and take part with us, and would give up home and family to be hear, then a few years of rythmic drums beats and words with too many "X's" in them isn't going to tear these kids incubating in our culture away from their ipods and MTV.
Oh yee of little faith in us.
Any student who moves out of LAUSD to another school district is considered a "dropout" under the current formula.
So if you go from Van Nuys High to Harvard-Westlake, you're a dropout.
These numbers are way funny.
Just FYI, dum dums.
Can't really defend the district, particularly when it's play Darry and its former employee (Glenn Griztner) 10K a month for political advice on mayoral take over. The drop out rate speaks for itself.
And, Antonio's retreat this afternoon only ensure that the drop out rate will continue.
LET'S CALL HIM MAYOR RETREAT
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced today that he struck a compromise with the teachers union and state legislators giving him direct authority over the district's 36 lowest-performing schools and increasing his power over Los Angeles Unified's massive budget and hiring of a new superintendent.
In agreeing to the proposal, Villaraigosa dropped his efforts to gain total mayoral control and instead agreed to a form of shared leadership with the school board that will be limited to policy authority.
>> Any student who moves out of LAUSD to another school district is considered a "dropout" under the current formula.
No. That is incorrect. Students seeking to transfer to schools outside the district have to get permits to get their records transferred to the new district. Those students are not considered dropouts.
I think it's fair to assumed that if you are not interested in continuing school then you won't seek a permit to transfer your records. It's those students that are considered a dropout.
The district has troubles figuring out who they are because they obviously don't make a formal declaration that they've given up.
To 9:56 a.m.:
Please cite even ONE study indicating that these children will have better odds of passing the English exit exam by studying Nahautil, specifically.
You say there are "countless studies" supporting your position. I'll settle for one.
Wrong, dum dum:
"A Los Angeles Times series tracing dropouts at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys concluded that, although accurate numbers are difficult to calculate, dropout numbers are far greater than state and district numbers suggest.
District and state officials say that formulas used by many researchers to estimate the district's graduation rates are imperfect, because they do not account for students who withdraw from district schools and then earn diplomas elsewhere."
LATimes
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dropout21jun21,1,5823590.story
5:53
Academia's own stats show their English Learners picking up steam at a faster rate than ELs in mainstream schools.
So, now you;re satisfied.
(I doubt here are any specific studies that mention Nahuatl, so your request is bogus and intentionally unattainable).
Walter, that whole diatribe on you not having faith in the lure of Americanism on this country's residents and how the schools "Aztec" lessons are like an elective anywhere else, and the best response you can come up with is "name one study?"
Don't schedule yourself for any one-on-one debates in your political career, dude. Their guy made some excellent points, and you retreated to "show me one study."
So, show HIM one study that shows that dabbling (NOT multilingual immersion) in some other languages hinders English skills later in life.
That piffle would get you booed off most candidate forums.
"Ha-ha" sounds like a great idea for at least a few new Simpson episodes such as Simpsons move to El Sereno and Bart and Lisa enroll in local Aztec charter school.
Homer works at latest low green house gas emission powerplant, a Russian style Chernoblyl nuclear facility owned by Mr Burns in Alhambra across from Marcos Aguilar's casa.
Moe buys a cantina on Huntington Drive and posts signs saying all orders must be placed in Nahuatl.
AV faces a recall election like Mayor Quimby.
Antigua Cafe House menu in Nahuatl.
Does Marcos Aguilar own antigua cafe?
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