There is no achievement gap at birth.1 It’s time to stop questioning what low-income students of color can achieve in school and time to start focusing on learning from the public schools that are beating the odds.
When offered equal access to rigorous coursework, strong instruction, and teachers with high expectations, all students — regardless of race and ethnicity — achieve at high levels, oftentimes closing existing gaps.2 Unfortunately, many kids are being failed by school systems that are not equipping them to achieve their full potential. Many factors hold kids back: poverty, systemic racism, language barriers, and struggles at home or in their community. These are compounded by limited funding to schools, and district and statewide policies and practices that don’t work.
But some schools are finding ways to help all of their students succeed, despite the many socioeconomic barriers and barriers in our public school system. These schools are currently the exception, not the rule. But they each show us what a single school can do. They show us what’s possible despite the odds.
Our Top Public Schools for Underserved Students report highlights those schools closing the achievement gap for low-income African American and Latino students in Los Angeles County. Since 2015, we have produced this report annually for Bay Area schools. This is our first year producing the report for Los Angeles County.
To qualify, schools must beat the statewide average in one or more factors including math and reading scores, and college eligibility rates, and suspension data. Still, when you talk to leaders of schools on this list, they will tell you that it is not enough. “While we are pleased to see some schools closing the achievement gap, we all still have a long way to go to achieve true and equitable excellence for our students who have historically been left behind,” says Superintendent Jeff Pelzel of Newhall School District.
There is much work yet to be done for Los Angeles’ students, but our list highlights the schools that are leading the way. We hope educators, civic leaders, parents, and students across Los Angeles can get inspired by their example. We believe all schools in Los Angeles County can become Top Public Schools.
1. Delpit, Lisa D. (2012). “Multiplication is for White people: raising expectations for other people’s children.” New York: New Press. Distributed by Perseus Distribution.
2. TNTP (2018). The Opportunity Myth: What students can show us about how school is letting them down– and how to fix it.
Click the map to explore each school’s outcomes for low-income African American and Latino students.
There isn’t one single program or model that leads to the remarkable results these schools have accomplished. In fact, all school governance models — traditional district, charter, and other magnet or pilot models — are represented in this report. Innovate Public Schools has studied high-performing schools across the country and found that they are as diverse as the communities they serve. However, we found that many of the schools on this list do share certain core school-wide practices and beliefs that distinguish them from other schools.
Our World-class Schools Framework outlines these practices. We partnered with the USC Price Center for Social Innovation and the USC Center on Education Policy, Equity and Governance to profile two schools from this year’s Top Public Schools list. Below we highlight schools that show what these practices look like in action:
Our annual Top Public Schools report examines how well schools in Los Angeles County are preparing students for the futures they choose. We consider multiple factors, including math and reading scores, college eligibility data, and suspension data to identify schools that are closing the achievement gap and ensuring students, regardless of race or income, are on track for college.
In order to make our list as a Top Public School for low-income Latino or low-income African American students, schools must meet the following inclusion criteria:
How schools get removed from the list
After identifying schools that meet the set of inclusion criteria outlined above, we eliminate schools that meet one or more of the following exclusion criteria: