1.cdn.edl.io€¦ · Web vieweLIZABETH LEARNING CENTER sELF-STUDY REPORT. 4811 Elizabeth Street Cudahy, CA 90201. Los Angeles Unified School District. March 6-9, 2016. ACS WASC/CDE

ELIZABETH LEARNING CENTERSELF-STUDY REPORT

4811 Elizabeth StreetCudahy, CA 90201

Los Angeles Unified School District

March 6-9, 2016

ACS WASC/CDE Focus on Learning Accreditation Manual, 2015 Edition

ACS WASC/CDE FOL 2015 EditionRevised 12/14

Elizabeth Learning Center ACS WASC/CDE Self-Study Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Principal’s Message……………………………………………………………………… 2

Coordinator’s Message........................................................................................... 3

Chapter I: Student/Community Profile and Supporting Data and Findings............ 6

Chapter II: Progress Report................................................................................... 60

Chapter III: Student/Community Profile — Overall Summary from Analysis of Profile Data and Progress.......................................................................................

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Chapter IV: Self-Study Findings............................................................................ 70

A: Organization: Vision and Purpose, Governance, Leadership and Staff, and Resources....................................................................................... 70

B: Standards-based Student Learning: Curriculum.................................... 81

C: Standards-based Student Learning: Instruction..................................... 103

D: Standards-based Student Learning: Assessment and Accountability.... 124

E: School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth.................................................................................. 141

Prioritized Areas of Growth Needs from Categories A through E.................158

Chapter V: Schoolwide Action Plan.......................................................................

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159

Appendices..............................................................................................................166

Principal’s Message

As Principal of Elizabeth Learning Center, my primary responsibility is to provide a safe, welcoming, and nurturing environment that will support and enhance the educational opportunities of our students, and be responsive to the needs of all our stakeholders. I take this responsibility very seriously, and I have been fortunate to work with dedicated and like-minded individuals. In order to maintain a culture of academic success, along with a focus on social and emotional well-being, there must be an ongoing process of reflection and revision in our shared work.

I view the 2016 WASC Visit as an extension of our ongoing process of self-improvement and growth. This is an opportunity for us as a school community to reflect on our outstanding achievements. We are excited about the opportunity to share these successes. However, in order to continue fulfilling our vision of a college-going culture, we need to continually refine our well-established practice of reflection and collaboration with authentic input from all stakeholders. With this input, we consistently measure the effectiveness of our instructional program.

Our engagement in developing the WASC Self-Study has given us an opportunity to reflect on our past, but more importantly, to critically measure and strategically plan future academic ventures that are data-based and grounded in research. Our Infotech and Health Academies demonstrate the power of hands-on learning that prepares students for immediate entry into a career while also increasing college and university readiness, leading to life-long success.

I truly appreciate the hard work, dedication, and commitment of our students, staff, and parents, who have helped to prepare us for this important milestone in our growth as a school. I would also like to extend a hearty welcome to the WASC Visitation Committee members. I look forward to working with the Committee to support this important undertaking in reviewing our progress as a center of learning in the community.

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All of our stakeholders are proud of what we have accomplished here at ELC. This Self-Study is indicative of our pride as a school, and embodies the hopes and dreams of every student who enters our doors.

Damian LenonPrincipal

Coordinator’s Message

It has been an extraordinary honor and pleasure to work with the stakeholders of Elizabeth Learning Center in bringing together all the myriad pieces of information that went into producing our 2016 WASC Self-Study. The buzz of activity, with parent groups and students meeting formally and informally with teachers, administrators, and out-of-classroom teachers to gain a better perspective on how we work as a team to serve our students, has been exhilarating.

Our Focus Groups and Home Groups have worked diligently to review our progress since our 2010 WASC Visit and 2013 Three-Year Revisit, and have made their written contributions to the document, which reflects what we do best as a school, and where we can continue to grow.

Our Mission, Vision, and Schoolwide Learning Outcomes continue to guide our teaching and learning in the classroom, along with our career-oriented applied learning in the Health Academy and Information Technology Academy.

Through our Self-Study, Elizabeth Learning Center

Involved and collaborated with all stakeholders to support student achievement. Helped clarify and measure what all students should know, understand, and be able to do

through schoolwide learner outcomes and academic standards. Analyzed data about students and student achievement. Assessed the entire school program and its impact on student learning in relation to the

schoolwide learner outcomes, academic standards, and ACS WASC/CDE criteria. Aligned a long-range Action Plan to the school’s areas of needs and capacity to

implement and monitor the accomplishment of the plan.

The opportunity to coordinate the WASC Self-Study process has given me personally an opportunity to pause and reflect on what our purpose is as professional educators. Why do we teach? Do we really make a difference? How do we know, and what authentic measures do we use to measure what we do for kids? We as professional educators at Elizabeth Learning Center do indeed make a huge difference in the lives of our students, and our data, along with feedback

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from parents and other members of the surrounding community, continually reaffirm this fact.

I thank every single one of our stakeholders for their hard work, collaboration, and perseverance in this self-study process. May our school continue to be strong and resilient for generations to come. Go Bulldogs!

William V. Morris, Ph.D.WASC Coordinator

Elizabeth Learning Center (High School)Administration, Faculty, and Staff

ADMINISTRATION

Damian LenonEiman HernandezJorge ParraLuis Tejada

PrincipalAssistant Principal, Student Counseling ServicesAssistant Principal, SecondaryAssistant Principal, Secondary/WASC Administrator

HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY

Dr. Nahid Amlani-KanjiRuben ArteagaDennis BarberMegan BoydJuan CardonaJavier CossioKelly ChoiHilda GarciaNancy GarciaElias GomezOsvaldo GomezJose Luis GonzalezDean HowellRoger HullJohn JonesChristopher KyawRodney Lewis

Special Education ScienceMathematicsSocial Science and Virtual BusinessHealth Careers and ScienceSpanish/Chair, Foreign Language DepartmentEnglishSocial Science/Chair, School Site CouncilRSP TeacherPhysical EducationMathematicsEnglish/Lead, Health AcademyPhysical EducationEnglishEnglishMathematicsChemistry and Physics/Lead, Infotech AcademySpecial Education English

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Carmelita MagatJohn McGintyBruce McIverRobert MillsGeorge NanoskiChristian OfforkaBerch PapikyanKimberly ParkerMaria SantanaStephen ScanlanCarlos UruetaRaymond Zepeda

BiologySocial ScienceHealth CareersSocial ScienceBiologyMathematicsRSP TeacherArtSpanishInformation Technology CareersMathematicsChair, English Department

CERTIFICATED COUNSELING AND SUPPORT STAFF

Adriana OstosAna RomeroHannah BaussKenneth CompletoJosephine Crisostomo, R.N.Cynthia CorpuzPatricia HidalgoGuadalupe Martinez-GinDr. William MorrisIrene Parocua NelsoLuis TorresRocio Vargas

High School Counselor/College CounselorHigh School CounselorPupil Services and Attendance CounselorLibrarianNurseDean of StudentsCommon Core CoachPsychiatric Social WorkerCategorical Program Advisor/WASC CoordinatorSpeech TherapistTitle III CoachTargeted Student Population Advisor

CLASSIFIED SUPPORT STAFF

Victoria HallKristian CervantesVictor SalinasOdessa DavisTammy SmithColeen LewisSanjuana PrietoMax BañuelosPatricia BecerrilDiana CarranzaBeulah MatthewsJosefina DiazJaime UrbinaIvonne Loucel

School Administrative Assistant/Office ManagerPlant ManagerAssistant Plant ManagerFinancial ManagerCafeteria ManagerSenior Office TechnicianSenior Office TechnicianMicrocomputer Support AssistantOffice TechnicianOffice ClerkOffice ClerkStudent Store AssistantSSS Program CoordinatorNavigator (Social Programs)

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Silvia CasasNorma ContrerasJacqueline Hernandes

Community RepresentativeCommunity RepresentativeCommunity Representative

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Chapter I: Student/Community Profile and Supporting Data and Findings

Elizabeth Learning Center is located in Cudahy, California, approximately ten miles southeast ofLos Angeles. Cudahy is bordered by the cities of Bell to the north, South Gate to the south, BellGardens to the east, and Huntington Park to the west. While Cudahy has the second smallest population of any incorporated city in Los Angeles County, it is densely populated. Cudahy’s28,000 inhabitants reside in an area of only slightly over one square mile, making it the most densely populated municipality west of the Mississippi. Approximately 90 percent of Cudahy residences are rentals, and the city has the lowest per capita income of all cities in urbanized areas of California. Cudahy’s ethnic composition is 94.1% Hispanic, 3.6% Caucasian, and 2.3%Non-Hispanic other ethnicities. The median age of Cudahy’s residents is 24. Approximately 65 percent of the adults in the community have not graduated from high school. Eighty-one percent of ELC’s students live below the poverty line, as indicated by eligibility for the federal free lunch program.

Local District East and Community Profile

The Los Angeles Unified District is the second largest school district in the United States with over 640,000 students in its charge. The seven-member Board of Education, in concert withSuperintendent Ramon Cortines, is working to improve comprehensive student achievement through a series of instructional initiatives and reforms. In an endeavor to address local needs in a district so large, each school board member represents a specific geographic constituency. In addition, the district itself has been divided into six semi-autonomous local districts, each with a local superintendent. The local districts work with area schools to improve student achievement. Elizabeth Learning Center (ELC) is part of Local District East, which is composed of six small cities and a portion of the City of Los Angeles: Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, South Gate, Vernon, and East Los Angeles. The superintendent of Local District East is Dr. Frances Gipson. Elizabeth Learning Center is located in Board District 5, represented by Board of Education Member Ref Rodriguez.

LAUSD Calendar 2015-2016

The LAUSD calendar for 2015-2016 consists of 176 school days. The first day of instruction was August 18, 2015, and the last day is June 10. Teachers started the year with a Pupil-Free Day on August 17 and will complete the year with a Pupil-Free Day on June 13, 2016.

Fall Semester: August 18-December 18, 2015 Spring Semester: January 11-June 10, 2016

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School History

Elizabeth Learning Center (ELC) opened as San Antonio School in 1921, making it one of the oldest schools in the community. Initially, San Antonio served students in grades kindergarten through eight. Later, the school’s scope was narrowed to kindergarten through sixth grade. The name was then changed to Elizabeth Street Elementary School. As school population increased in the 1960s, Elizabeth Learning Center instituted double class sessions to accommodate its increased student numbers. When double sessions could no longer provide sufficient space for continuing increases in enrollment, ELC became the first school in the Los Angeles Unified School District to go on a year-round schedule. At that time, the school began investigating new ways to address issues of student achievement within the Cudahy community.

In 1992, the school staff began researching alternative school models to address student achievement. One such model was the Urban Learning Center Design (ULCD) model. ULCD was a result of President George H.W. Bush’s “Goals 2000,” in which issues of urban school reform began to take on a new urgency nationwide. In the wake of Goals 2000, a nationwide proposal for school reform was launched in 1992 by the New American School’s DevelopmentCorporation (NASDC), whose charge was to make systemic changes in schools to promote lifelong learning. In the spirit of NASDC, the Los Angeles Educational Partnership (LAEP) formed an alliance with LAUSD to design 21st century schools; NASDC received 11 proposals to design such schools. Only one proposal was accepted, and in 1992 Elizabeth Learning Center became the first Urban Learning Center Design site.

In 1994, the staff voted to become part of the new LAUSD LEARN initiative. This program sought to bring more local control to schools through site-based management, budgeting, and decision-making. After ELC voted to become a LEARN school, the Urban Learning CenterDesign (ULCD) became the official school governance model for school-based reform at ELC.In 1995, Elizabeth Learning Center expanded to become a pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade site. Two other K-12 schools in LAUSD followed: Foshay Learning Center and 32nd StreetMagnet/USC Math/Science/Technology Magnet, both located in South Los Angeles near theUniversity of Southern California’s main campus. The ULCD model remains in place at all three of these schools.

The Urban Learning Center Design is a comprehensive school model that aims to create a learning environment based on a rigorous, standards-based instructional program supported by strong community connections. The ULCD model has three parts: Teaching and Learning,Governance and Management, and Learning Supports. An Urban Learning Center seeks not only to create a multi-level school learning community, but also to breach barriers to learning that may hinder a student’s ability to perform well academically.

The Teaching and Learning component focuses on ELC’s curriculum and instructional practices that foster academic success for all students. The Teaching and Learning component of ULCD provides for the integration of the California state content standards with thematic teaching and an interdisciplinary curriculum. Furthermore, the plan anticipates students’ transitions from school to work and post-secondary education, and it provides an education that considers and

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makes accommodations for those transitions. It is through this aspect of the plan that ELC first applied to become a California Partnership Academy site to increase the attention on career and technical education. ELC’s first Academy was focused on Health Careers; the second centered on Information Technology Careers.

In the fall of 2006, ELC faculty and staff resolved to adopt the Professional Learning Communities model in Fall 2008 as a more comprehensive method for staff development. This PLC model, supported by the then-Local District 6 superintendent and his staff, is based primarily on the research of Robert Eaker, Richard DuFour, and Rebecca DuFour in Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities (2002). The theory asserts, “schools that function as PLCs are always characterized by a collaborative culture…teacher isolation is replaced with collaborative processes…they are called upon to be contributing members of a collective effort to improve the school’s capacity to help all students learn at high levels.”

In 2012-2013, after several years of rising API results, ELC’s API still fell short of expectations. Therefore, the school’s Program Improvement status was altered. With the school needing a special type of support structure to promulgate further academic growth, ELC was identified as a California Office to Reform Education (CORE) waiver school. Along with ELC, many other LAUSD schools were experiencing the same need of support. Therefore, the District applied for and received a waiver from NCLB requirements in order to allow primarily low-socioeconomic status schools an opportunity to redouble their efforts to serve their students more effectively.

A memorandum from Donna Muncey, Chief of Intensive Support and Intervention, on September 13, 2013, explained,

“On August 6, 2013, LAUSD was one of eight California districts awarded a No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver for selected Districts. The California Office to Reform Education (CORE) is a consortium of ten California districts, eight of which formed a partnership to craft the waiver application to the United States Department of Education (USDE). This waiver allows flexibility pertaining to various aspects of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (formerly CCLB), and transition our district into a new accountability system.”

As a result, the school transitioned from being a Program Improvement school to a Core Waiver Focus School. The definition of Focus Schools is

“Schools with the largest gaps between high and low achieving students, or largest gaps in graduation rates by being in the lowest 5% of achievement gap width for 2010-2012, or has a subgroup with low achievement or low graduation rate, defined by subgroups at less than 20% average proficiency in math and ELA scores and less than 5% improvement over three years.”

The corresponding newly developed accountability structure, which is established through the School Quality Improvement System (SQIS), attempts to support schools in order to create proper infrastructures to support students, teachers, and essentially districts. It encompasses such

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items as academic achievement, graduation, persistence, and multiple social-emotional components and school culture and climate indicators. Under this new system, ELC is no longer mandated to follow the former system of program improvement identification, corrective action, or other previously required interventions.

WASC Accreditation History

The last decade has seen a variety of changes in the way ELC delivers on its promise to educate children and to embrace authentically contributions from all members of its stakeholders. In response to the 2006 WASC Visiting Committee’s recommendations to enhance the regular use of data to inform decision-making about curriculum, instruction, and assessment, ELC adopted the Professional Learning Communities model in Fall 2008 as a more comprehensive method for staff development.

ELC received a six-year accreditation from WASC in 2010 with a revisit in 2013. In those intervening three years, the school worked diligently to correct six deficiencies identified by the Visitation Team. At the close of the 2013 revisit, the school received six commendations and three recommendations:

“The WASC VC commends ELC for the following:

Excellent API improvement ELC’s commitment to a personalized family-type school community ELC has made great strides examining and using data to drive instruction. ELC fosters a college-going culture. ELC students feel cared about by the school. At ELC, teaching and learning are obviously the top priorities.

“The WASC VC recommends the following:

ELC should continue to find ways of implementing interventions for struggling students during the school day.

As budget constraints continue to be an issue, ELC should work to ensure that its EL students receive adequate intervention time.

ELC should make sure that it continues to seek authentic input from its stakeholders.”

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Since the 2013 revisit, ELC has received a District Title III Coach who collaborates with teachers to develop and implement English Language Development (ELD) strategies for all grades, models lessons for teachers who teach ELD, coaches teachers in enhancing their delivery of ELD learning material, and assists in evaluating students in their English acquisition with both formative and formal assessments. The hard work of this individual has not only raised the school’s EL reclassification rate, it has also helped teachers to develop more effective intervention strategies in order to support all of their students.

In 2014-2015, the school hired a Common Core Coach to assist K-12 teachers in developing lessons and teaching strategies to serve low-performing students. This individual has many years of teaching experience and is very effective at identifying and supporting students who are at the greatest risk of not meeting the requirements of the new Common Core Standards.

ELC continues to actively pursue authentic input from all stakeholders: parents, students, teachers, administrators, and members of the surrounding community. Whereas before 2014-2015 faculty professional development was managed and delivered by the school’s administrators, the new Principal has restored the practice of allowing faculty leaders to design and deliver seven research-based PD sessions throughout the year. This goes further toward ensuring the accurate targeting of teachers’ professional development needs and their freedom to share ideas openly with each other.

The School Site Committee (SSC) and School Management Council (SMC) both have significant numbers of elected parents, students, and teachers, and their input continues to be vital to the financial and logistical management of this school. The English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) ensures active participation by parents in the planning and evaluation of English Language Development (ELD) instruction.

ELC’s stakeholders continue to strive for more inclusion among its stakeholders, particularly parents who may have limited time to participate in the school’s activities and decision-making processes. The school regularly contacts parents through Connect Ed telephone messages, letters, flyers, and signage posted around the school. Also, when necessary, either the PSA Counselor or the Principal, sometimes in the company of another school official, visits homes in order to communicate with parents who have not responded to critically important school messages. The goal is total, active participation in every aspect of the school’s affairs by all stakeholders.

California's New School Finance System

California’s 2013-14 Budget Act included landmark legislation that greatly simplifies the state’s school finance system. The changes introduced by the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) represent a major shift in how California funds Local Educational Agencies (LEAs). For nearly 40 years, California has relied on a system that included general purpose funding (known as revenue limits) and more than 50 tightly defined categorical programs to provide state funding to LEAs. Under LCFF, California funds school districts equally per student with adjustments based on grade levels as well as demographic characteristics.

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Under the new funding formula, school districts are subject to new rules for transparency and accountability, which include creating and adopting a Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) that lays out how the District will spend the funds and its goals for improving student outcomes according to eight priorities set by the state. Elizabeth Learning Center, along with the District, strives to meet its goals and to improve student outcomes while applying a variety of interventions to help students achieve and to keep parents involved in their children’s education.

Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP)

As noted above, there are eight state priority areas for which school districts, with parent and community input, must establish goals and actions:

1. Providing all students’ access to fully credentialed teachers and instructional materials that align with state standards and safe facilities.

2. Implementation of California’s academic standards, including the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math, Next Generation Science Standards, English language development, history and social science, visual and performing arts, health education, and physical education standards.

3. Parent involvement and participation, so the local community is engaged in the decision-making process and the educational programs of students.

4. Improving student achievement and outcomes along multiple measures, including test scores, English proficiency, and college and career preparedness.

5. Supporting student engagement, whether students attend school or are chronically absent.6. Highlighting school climate and connectedness through a variety of factors, such as

suspension and expulsion rates and other locally identified means.7. Ensuring all students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers,

regardless of what school they attend or where they live.8. Measuring other important student outcomes related to required areas of study, including

physical education and the arts.

This Self-Study bears out the progress ELC has made in fulfilling its long-term goals, as well as adhering to the eight state priorities. Enhancing our school’s ability to educate its students and prepare them for a life-long career is at the very center of everything we do at to our school, and we proudly produce evidence to back up that claim.

Common Core State Standards

In 2012, the District initiated a transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This transition was scheduled to phase in over a period of three years, after which time the state would implement a new assessment developed by the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (www.smarterbalanced.org). At this time, ELC students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 participate in the assessment practice. Their participation in these computer-based tests replaced the former paper-based, multiple-choice assessments in English language arts/literacy (ELA) and math. Targeted Student Population

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http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2013/edu/lcff/lcff-072913.aspx#District_Development_and_Adoption_of_LCAPs


ELC’s Targeted Student Population (TSP) adviser is a recent addition to the Instructional Leadership Team. This individual provides direct instructional and testing services to K-12 English learners and supports their teachers in the classroom. The objective of this position is to support an effective EL program designed to foster English Learners’ acquisition of English language proficiency and master of grade-level learning standards as measured by the Annual Measurable Achievement Objectives (AMAOs). As stated in the General Funds School Manual, school sites must ensure that they fund and operate a program for ELs in accordance with existing policy and federal agreements. School sites must also adhere to the English Learner mandates outlined in the District’s agreement with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and operationalized in the 2012 Master Plan for English Learners. These mandates include, but are not limited to, English language development instructional services, intervention, monitoring students’ academic and English language proficiency, and building teacher capacity. ELC’s purchase of an out-of-classroom teacher in the capacity of TSP Adviser ensures compliance with the above mentioned agreements.

Schedules

ELC is on a traditional school calendar with students attending 180 days. The high school day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 2:47 p.m. In 2014-2015, a new breakfast schedule was incorporated into the school day. Whereas students used to go out to the courtyard for a nutrition break after their first period, they now have breakfast served inside of the class. Breakfast in the classroom (BIC) is scheduled from 8:00-8:18 a.m.

On 14 Tuesdays a year, students have shortened classes (39 minutes each) to accommodate 90 minutes of banked-time professional development for teachers in the afternoon. Regardless of the day, students have a 20-minute breakfast in the classroom period and a 30-minute lunch period. By union contract, teachers have a “duty-free lunch.”

Campus Organizations

The Governance and Management aspect of the urban learning design model seeks to expand collaboration among stakeholder groups toward the development and implementation of an educational environment that will ensure academic success for all students. At ELC, four councils provide varying levels of input into school governance, management, and budget:

The School Site Council (SSC) is an elected council composed of 16 individuals: the principal, five classroom teachers, two other school employees, four parents or community members, and four students. The most important functions of the SSC are to develop a comprehensive school plan designed to improve student achievement and to assess the effectiveness of various school programs. SSC annually reviews the school Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) grant, and establishes the Federal Title I, II, and III categorical budgets.

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The Site Management Council (SMC) consists of 18 stakeholders elected by their peers. The SMC’s focus is establishing local policy and planning school direction. SMC has oversight over many areas of school operations: professional development, year-round school funds, instructional materials accounts, school equipment inventory, bell schedule, events schedule, discipline, and other areas.

The English Learner Advisory Council (ELAC) is an elected advisory body composed primarily of parents of students classified as English learners (limited English proficient) that provides input to School Site Council regarding the instructional programs for LEP students.Committee representatives work in two areas: at the site level and at the District level. The ultimate goal of the governance structure is to keep stakeholder energy and work focused on the Elizabeth Learning Center Mission, Vision, and SLOs. All parts of the governance structure work together to focus on student achievement. In this governance structure, everyone has a vested interest in student success. Each stakeholder has an opportunity and a responsibility to be heard and to participate in the work of establishing school-wide policies that promote student success.

The Learning Supports component of the Urban Design Plan offers students various forms of additional assistance so they will reach their full academic potential. Included within its parameters are strengthening a sense of community throughout the school, developing and maintaining ties and sharing resources with the city of Cudahy, integrating health and human services, and providing for community members through adult education. The Urban Design model posits that a school committed to success for all its children must include an array of activities and programs that promote learning. Learning Supports encompass a programmatic approach for achieving healthy development and for surmounting barriers to learning.

The six areas for Learning Supports are: Classroom-focused intervention Direct, on-campus services for student and family assistance, including an on-campus

community health clinic Crisis assistance and prevention Support for transitions Home involvement in school Community outreach

The Learning Supports model represents a major reform in the ways that schools provide services that support the “whole child”—including academics, physical and emotional health, and other related student and family support services. It integrates school support services and community resources into a comprehensive model which seeks to overcome barriers to learning.

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Mission, Vision, and Schoolwide Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

ELC’s Mission, Vision, and SLOs, at that time ESLRs, were originally established in 2009 ahead of the 2010 WASC Self-Study. During the months-long development process, the WASC Leadership Team visited with elementary, middle school teachers, and high school teachers throughout the spring semester, and these discussions yielded three underlying key concepts: critical thinking, lifelong learning, and 21st Century skills. Next, the committee presented these concepts to a committee of students, parents, and classified staff members for input. The students were adamant that language about creativity and imagination should be evident throughout. Parents and classified staff wanted the language of the ESLRs to be as important to kindergarteners as it would be to graduating seniors. All three groups wanted to see the phrase “lifelong learning” put back into the documents. The new suggested language was shared with the School Site Council and teachers from all grade levels. The final language of the Mission, Vision, and ESLRs, approved by the entire K-12 staff in late August 2009, reflected the thinking of all stakeholder groups and continues to serve as a cornerstone of ELC’s shared culture.

More recently, the school reviewed and renamed its ESLRs as Schoolwide Learning Outcomes (SLOs). This well-established cornerstone of ELC culture sets a clear benchmark for where we are now (our Mission), where we would like to be (our Vision), and the goals for our students upon graduation. All important concepts recommended by the different groups are embedded within the three documents. Each academic department, grade level, and high school academy continues to align its curriculum, instruction, and assessments to the Mission, Vision, and SLOs.

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Elizabeth Learning CenterBulldog Pride

Mission

Who we are:

We promote rigorous, standards-based instruction as the core of our pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum. We champion effective communication, critical thinking, creativity, imagination, teamwork, the desire for lifelong learning, and commitment to local communities and the global society.

VisionWhere we would like to be:

We will cultivate a collaborative and supportive environment of high academic achievement and personal growth, preparing all students for the challenges of college, careers, and the opportunities in the 21st Century.

SLOs

Expected Schoolwide Learning Results:

Promote critical and creative thinking by using different levels of questions during academic discourse in classes.

Reach goals through collaboration by working in collaborative structures to achieve learning goals.

Inspire lifelong learning through student engagement in school and community activities. Develop a meaningful community of global contributors through college and career

readiness. Engage in effective communication by developing academic writing, reading, and

speaking.

Revised 2015

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Academy Programs

At the high school level, ELC is composed of two academies: the Health Academy and theInformation Technology Academy. These are both part of the California Partnership Academy(CPA) program, which provides Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding for high school-to-career courses and resources. Eighth-grade students at Elizabeth Learning Center who are interested in remaining at Elizabeth Learning Center for high school must show an interest in either health or information technology careers and participate in a process that simulates the application process for institutions of higher education and for prospective employers.

Prospective students, who either currently attend ELC’s middle school, or live in the Cudahy area and attend a different middle school, may complete an online application form through the LAUSD Zones of Choice portal. The site asks applicants to rank their top three choices of nearby high schools. For students currently enrolled in the eighth grade at ELC, acceptance is automatic. For student applicants from other middle schools, selection is based on tiered random selection, taking into account students’ scaled choices. The other nearby high schools are Bell High School, Huntington Park High School, South Gate High School, Marquez High School, and Maywood Academy.

During ninth grade, freshmen complete pre-academy courses such as computer literacy, health, and life skills and begin instruction in foreign language. Upon completion of their freshman year, they join their chosen academy, either Health or Infotech. Students remain in their academy of choice through their twelfth grade.

Information Technology Academy

The Information Technology Academy prepares students for acceptance to a four-year university while providing them with the requisite skills for a career in the information technology field. There has been a major revision in the class offerings of the Information Academy since the last WASC visit. Classes are tightly aligned with CTE and UC guidelines for new course submission. Exploring Computer Science was adopted by the school in 2013 and Programming and Game Design is a new class being piloted this year. Exploring Computer Science is an introductory computer survey class that teaches students how computers function and how logic controls mechanical and data systems. ECS includes the fundamentals of web page development, game logic and game design using MIT’s Scratch gaming platform, robotics using Lego Mindstorms, a brief introduction to electronics, and an introduction to databases. In addition to these requisite skills for ECS, students learn how to create documents in Word, Powerpoint, and Excel and their equivalent programs in the Google Drive suite of programs. Students also learn the fundamentals of graphic design using Adobe Photoshop and Flash.

In the 11th Grade, students learn in-depth computer skills while taking Programming and Game Design. During this year, students acquire skills that enable them to earn badges and certificates on the CodeCademy.com web site. Students learn HTML & CSS, jQuery, and Javascript as they learn the intricate process of creating games that function on the Internet. Students progress

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through several games to develop their skills in manipulating variables, arrays, and JSON structures. Students incorporate sounds and graphics to make their games as realistic as possible and refine their skills to make their games play better. Quality control and attention to detail make all the difference. After students complete the requirements for these classes, they will have mastered computer skills that will put them on the path to earn a Tech Academy Certificate as graduating Seniors.

Students receive a Certificate of Academy Completion if, in addition to passing their general education and technology classes, they complete the requirements delineated below:

Information Technology Academy Requirements

Grade Activity One Activity Two Activity three Activity Four10 Sophomore Project Infotech Academy

classProfessional dress Community Service

11 Service Learning Project

Infotech Academy class

Professional dress Mentorship

12 Academy Portfolio Project

Infotech Academy class

Professional dress Internship

In addition to their general education and career courses, all Tech Academy Seniors take a course in Virtual Business, which is based on teaching models from Virtual Enterprises International, an organization dedicate to teaching young, aspiring entrepreneurs the rudiments of operating a business with a complete corporate structure. This is where students apply knowledge they have acquired in their 10th and 11th grade Infotech classes. Over 10,000 students in more than 500 high schools across the U.S. are involved in this teaching model, which was originally based on business instruction used to rebuild Europe in the wake of World War II. ELC Tech Seniors form virtual companies, design a product line and logo, develop manufacturing and marketing strategies, and build their own websites. Students assume the roles of Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Marketing, and other positions necessary for maintaining and operating a real business. Students must conduct all their billing and customer communication online, and they design their own billing and accounting spreadsheets using Excel. Students meet for one period a day in a standard classroom setting to communicate face-to-face regarding the details of their businesses, but they conduct their businesses on the Internet through websites of their own design.

Every year, Virtual Business students organize an event in which students, faculty, and staff purchase virtual items on display in the Virtual Business classroom. Students from the class take orders on iPads, and the orders are processed automatically through each respective team’s website. This is a highly motivating experience for students who are heading toward college and are considering careers in finance, accounting, marketing, or engineering. Our Virtual Business students participate annually in statewide competition at the Bakersfield Trade Show and at regional competitions in Long Beach and San Diego. Our students have been highly decorated with awards at the state level, which is testament to their enthusiasm and skill, as well as to the instruction and inspiration they receive from their Infotech teachers. Health Academy

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The Health Academy prepares students for acceptance to a four-year university while providing them with the requisite skills for a career in the allied health disciplines. In addition to taking A-G college preparatory classes, the academy program teaches students skills necessary for careers in health-related fields. The Health Academy’s curriculum and projects, in concert with mentorships and internships, allow students to gain a background in radiology, physical and occupational therapy, patient care, nursing, office work (admitting, medical records, and billing), and laboratory procedures. Health Academy students additionally receive Red Cross First Aid and CPR certification. In order to earn a Health Academy Certificate, students must go beyond the core requirements and complete a series of activities beyond their general education and Health Academy classes. These requirements are as follows:

Health Academy Requirements

Grade Activity One Activity Two Activity three Activity Four10 Sophomore Project Health Academy class Business attire Community Service

11 Service Learning Project

Health Academy class Business attire Mentorship

12 Academy Portfolio Project

Health Academy class Business attire Internship

Tenth-grade students perform community service to gain an appreciation of community health and wellness. Building on their tenth-grade experiences, eleventh-grade students are paired through a mentoring program with a healthcare professional who works in an area of interest to the student. Students are generally mentored during regular school hours at the mentor’s workplace. Healthcare centers who have participated in this program include CSU Dominguez Hills Student Health Center, Cudahy Community Dentist Clinic, Los Angeles County Department of Health, Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers (Bellflower and Cudahy), Saint Francis Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Students who have completed their mentorships and met requisite skill competencies undertake an internship as seniors. Internships include working as a clinical assistant, medical records assistant, transportation orderly, central supply clerk, and medical assistant intern. Students must complete 80 hours at Saint Francis Medical Center in Lynwood or Kaiser Permanente Hospital inBellflower during their winter break (January/February) to fulfill their internship requirement.Prospective interns fill out a job interest survey, take a skills test, and attend an orientation workshop prior to beginning their internships. During their intern training, students keep journals to document their experiences, and their supervisors regularly evaluate their professional progress. Students may intern in such departments as cardiology, central supply, physical and occupational therapy, customer service, emergency service, laboratory, medical records, hospital security, surgery, or the respiratory clinic.

Completion of Academy Programs

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Students who successfully complete the Health Academy or Information Technology Academy receive an academy certificate attesting to the specialized training they have completed. Upon completion of all course work, academy students have gained sufficient academic and work-based knowledge to pursue several post-secondary options. One option for students is enrollment in a four-year university to pursue a degree in either a health or technology-related field. A second option is enrollment in a technical/vocational school or community college to prepare for either a health or technology career or further education at a four-year school. A third option for academy graduates is to secure an entry-level job in healthcare or in information/technology-related work.

Student Support

Counseling

The school’s overall counseling function is composed of numerous components, all of which coordinate their efforts together in the manner described on the ELC School-Wide Student Support Flow Chart. For student counseling needs that extend beyond teachers’ PRIM interventions, ELC support staff—principal, assistant principal of Secondary Counseling Services (APSCS), dean of students, psychiatric social worker, school psychologist, academy/college counselors, pupil services and attendance (PSA) counselor, and Family Center—provide services with the aim of accommodating the academic, behavioral, and educational planning needs of all the school’s students. In order to continue providing high-quality counseling services, ELC has developed a comprehensive approach to monitoring, refining, and documenting its progress in student academic growth, student personal growth, and support for counselor professional growth.

Support for Student Academic Growth

In the first two weeks of each school year, academic counseling staff visit high school classrooms to distribute an Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) to each student. The IGP details the specific path each student must follow in order to fulfill high school graduation requirements and A-G requirements for admission into the California State University system or the University of California. In the first semester of the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, each student also receives a cumulative grade report, which is a key tool in planning the remaining semesters leading up to graduation and the college application process. The new course assignment matrix for each year is based on grades and CST scores in order to match courses to individual student needs.

Individual meetings between counselors and students are logged online by counselors using LAUSD’s My Integrated Student Information System (MiSiS), whether those meetings are scheduled, referred by a teacher or parent, or walk-ins. Counseling records of students cover their entire academic career within LAUSD and provide an ongoing narrative of student-

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counselor interactions, which, along with grade records, inform counseling and administrative staff throughout the process of academic planning and enhancing individual student achievement.

The ELC high school counselors work with incoming 10th graders to prepare them for the PSAT and with juniors and seniors to prepare them for the SAT and ACT. Counselors distribute SAT fee waiver applications to upper division students who have achieved a minimum 2.0 grade point average and advise students on how to complete the waiver applications. Seniors meet with counselors individually, as needed, to prepare applications for college admissions, Federal financial aid, and scholarships.

Academic counseling staff organize and provide early advisement to sixth- through eighth-grade students regarding high school graduation and A-G requirements for admission to the CSU and UC systems. Counselors visit classes to articulate the critical importance of students’ current academic performance and to explain how their achievement dovetails into the curricular chain leading all the way up to matriculation in the postsecondary institution of their choice.

Support staff meet once a week to check school-wide progress on goals to serve student behavioral and academic needs, establish new goals for meeting those needs, and review ways to provide the best social/emotional support for students who are at risk for not meeting our Schoolwide Learning Outcomes (SLOs). In these meetings, participants discuss the specific needs of individual students who have been referred for counseling services, or who have been identified through some alternate means as experiencing physical, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional challenges to their academic progress. Meeting agendas, sign-in sheets, and minutes are stored in the Academic Counseling Office to aid in the ongoing self-monitoring of the school’s multi-faceted counseling system.

The Infotech Academy and the Health Academy have developed a system called “DEFCON,” in which students with academic deficiencies receive mentoring from parents and faculty. Rather than supplanting the formal school-wide counseling function, DEFCON serves as an adjunct form of feedback and support in order to motivate at-risk students toward personal and academic success.

In the Freshman Academy, the freshman lead teacher and assistant principal overseeing the 9th Grade Academy meet with students in the first semester to spell out graduation and A-G requirements and to answer specific student concerns about graduation criteria. The Freshman Academy faculty meet once a month in order to discuss such matters as achievement goals, intervention strategies, standards for student professional dress (on Wednesdays), and future events, such as the “Student of the Month” celebration, which is intended to motivate students to comply with Freshman Academy behavioral standards and to excel in their coursework.

During Back to School Night, Open House, and Parent-Teacher Conferences, all secondary faculty and staff remind parents and students, in both English and Spanish, with a translator if needed, to consult with students’ respective counselors regarding individual needs at the very moment they have a question or concern about the overall academic program, individual

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teachers’ expectations, or student progress. Administrators, leads, academic chairs, and teachers make a conscious, coordinated effort to route students back to their academic counselors when they have questions that cannot be answered easily by another staff member.

Support for Counselor Professional Growth

Counselors receive local district training to ensure equitable access for all students in keeping with the guidelines of the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) and LAUSD counseling policies.

The local district holds training sessions every two months to support counselors in the analysis of data, new curricular requirements for graduation and college admissions, LAUSD Performance Meter goals, credit recovery options, crisis intervention, and techniques for working with teachers to develop classroom management strategies and meet the academic and personal needs of their students.

The main focus of the training sessions is on analysis of data from CAHSEE, CELDT, and the new Smarter Balanced testing and applying that data in the counseling of students regarding class selection and the completion of graduation requirements. Counselors also learn how to identify students who are at risk of dropping out or not meeting graduation requirements on time. Counselors receive training in how to access data on the Integrated Student Information System (ISIS), analyze and cross-reference specific threads, and maintain security of electronic and physical files of individual student information.

The counselors, school psychologist, dean of students, PSA counselor, teachers, and administrators comprise a relatively small, tight-knit learning community that coordinates its efforts both formally and informally to steer students toward staying in school, arriving on time, and avoiding activities that could otherwise hamper their progress toward a high school diploma and career readiness. The positive, tangible outcomes of the school’s combined counseling efforts are evident: suspensions and suspendable acts are down, first-time CAHSEE passage rates have been trending upward, and in a school district with an average 70 percent high school graduation rate, 93 percent of our Class of 2015 walked away with a high school diploma right on schedule.

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(INSERT COUNSELING FLOW CHART PAGE)

Family Center

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The Family Center is the social, cultural, and educational hub for parents and community members of Elizabeth Learning Center. On any given day, parents may walk in to volunteer for morning duty, lunch duty, or clerical work on campus. Book fairs, English literacy classes, parent workshops, and other gatherings targeting the specific needs of parents are regularly scheduled in the Family Center. If a parent has a question that cannot be handled by the front office, that parent is immediately directed to the Family Center. Three community Representatives work part-time in the large, two-room center to coordinate events, classes, and meetings for parents. Also, various committees and panels meet to discuss and plan events affecting the community and to support students and staff. The English Language Acquisition Committee (ELAC) meets periodically in the Family Center to review proposals for improving English language instruction and related matters.

Nursing Services

A registered nurse is on duty every day of the school year to render services to ELC students. The nurse’s services support the school’s mission of ensuring that every child is physically and mentally prepared to participate in the learning process inside and outside the classroom. The following general funded core services are provided by the school nurse:

Athletic pre-participation exams (PPE) Mandated screenings: vision, scoliosis, audiometric, growth (height and weight), and oral

health Communicable disease (CD) and illness exclusion and readmission Care for injured students, emergency care and transport Administration and assistance with medication at school Specialized skilled care and supervision of care for students with special health needs,

such as: diabetes, severe allergies, spinal bifida, asthma, cardiac conditions, respirator dependency, seizures etc.

Special Education Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and Special Education Related Services

504 Plans for students with Disabilities

Fitness Center

The ELC Fitness Center opened in 2004 as part of a grant awarded by Cindy and Bill Simon’sSound Body, Sound Mind Foundation. In partnership with LAUSD, 50 high schools are included in the grant. The goals of the Fitness Center are to encourage high school students who are not athletically inclined to be physically active, to explore other options for exercise, to increase and improve California Physical Fitness Test (Fitnessgram) scores, and to reduce rates of teenage obesity. Since the opening of the Fitness Center, this target group of students has improved its scores in most areas assessed on the Fitnessgram, most notably Body Composition, Upper Body Strength, and Aerobic Capacity. A requirement for continued funding under the grant is to send annual pre- and post-test fitness scores to the foundation.

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Student response to the Fitness Center has been overwhelmingly positive, as students report increased motivation to exercise and increased attention to goal-setting in the areas of physical health and fitness. The Fitness Center is open during the day for high school physical education classes, and also Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. After school, the Fitness Center is staffed by a specially trained parent volunteer to ensure access to students, families, and the entire Cudahy community.

In February 2010, ELC was selected by the Sound Body, Sound Mind Foundation to become one of the first schools to pilot a new program entitled “School Day.” The goal of this new program is to merge the new California Content Standards for Physical Education with modern fitness instruction. The pilot will come with curriculum guides, professional development, and equipment for including new sports such as kickboxing and Pilates into our physical education program.

College Center

Elizabeth Learning Center’s College Center opened in 2004 to provide students with information regarding post-secondary institutions. The center, which is now housed in the middle of campus in Room 401, includes a number of computer stations with internet access so students may research colleges, apply to colleges online, register for college entrance exams, and apply for financial aid and scholarships. ELC’s two college/academic counselors are housed in theCounseling Center to provide immediate information and assistance for preparing for high school graduation and college and/or trade school admission. However, both counselors attend to students’ college planning needs in the College Center as well as in the Counseling Office. Outside telephone lines are also available for students who wish to contact universities.

The college/academic counselors also provide assistance with credit recovery options to help students graduate from their respective academies and to fortify students’ academic records in anticipation of the college application process. In an effort to increase participation in the PSAT, SAT, and AP examinations, and in local community college placement tests, the academic/college counselors coordinate their efforts more directly with the administration and the Testing Coordinator.

Technology Resources

Elizabeth Learning Center is committed to cultivating an atmosphere that provides students and staff with instruction in educational technology. Students become technologically competent through a continuum of technological skills integrated at every level, K through 12. The school maintains an array of technologies to complement instruction. Those technologies include desktop publishing; video recording; online and offline video editing; multimedia integration of voice, video, and data types; telecommunications; and use of related accessories, such as XeroxLive Board, Mimeo, and SMARTBoard-integrated whiteboard technology. Two computer labs (rooms 306 and 305) house over 30 networked computers each for student,

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teacher, and staff use. In addition, the facilities are sometimes used to provide professional development after school and on weekends. The computer labs in rooms 300, 305, and 308 are used to teach a variety of technology-based curriculums. Room 305 is equipped 37 desktop computer stations that are fully networked and connected to the Intranet and Extranet. Room 308 is used for technology-driven classes, such as Economics, e-Commerce, Web Design, and Virtual Business for the Infotech Academy. Room 307 and designated rooms in the 400 Building provide technological applications specific to the Health Academy. Room 305 was retrofitted and reconditioned in recent years to provide ELC’s first computer laboratory serving all secondary students in grades 6-12. Over the last decade, the school has appropriated funds to provide laptops for teachers to develop their standards-based lessons. The school has purchased seven mobile laptop carts, each with 20 laptops and a networked printer for student use. While five of the carts are limited to word processing by virtue of their dated software, the other two rolling carts provide Intranet and Extranet information access anywhere on campus. ELC is served by a fiber optic high-speed backbone to the Internet and fiber optic connections throughout the campus. All Internet-connected devices on campus are automatically assigned a DHCP I.P address through a recent updated router. A significant portion of the computer upgrades have been made possible by Microsoft Vouchers and E-Rate upgrade retrofit funding. This includes Cisco 2934 switches, which replaced outdated hubs. Beginning in the fall of 2009 and continuing in the summer of 2015, the district used additional E-rate funds to equip the entire ELC campus with upgraded wireless proficiency. The auditorium serves as a multi-purpose room for school events, professional development, cafeteria services, and parent meetings. It is equipped with an LCD projector and document reader, plus a sound system to provide for limited multimedia presentations. As the Auditorium was built in 1921, the ELC community decided it was time for significant renovation, enabling the Auditorium to be utilized for instruction and 21st Century applications. Using LAUSD Existing School Construction Bond funds, the ELC auditorium was converted into both a full-service cafeteria and multimedia multipurpose room, and the entire building was expanded with a larger floor plan. Work on the auditorium-cafeteria complex was completed in 2012.

During Smarter Balanced Testing, ELC has access to four iPad carts lent by the district strictly for this purpose. The new iPads provide a user-friendly, interactive platform with which students are comfortable. Students connect to the Internet for testing through several routers place in the Auditorium, which is the main testing site. Students requiring special testing accommodations use the desktop PCs in Room 305.

Clubs and Activities

Elizabeth Learning Center offers its students a variety of extracurricular activities, clubs, and

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sports programs. Activities are intended to help students with their academic needs and to motivate them to achieve academic excellence. They are described in detail below in alphabetical order.

Academic Decathlon

The United States Academic Decathlon is a 10-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Academic Decathlon has a long and proud history in LAUSD, producing 15 of the last 23 state champions with 10 of those teams winning the national competition, and one school last year taking first place in the Nation. Each participating high school enters a team of up to nine students: three A-average “honor” students, three B-average “scholastic” students, and three C-average “varsity” students. The 2015 LAUSD competition consisted of 64 schools competing in academically challenging tasks over two consecutive weekends in late January and early February. ELC is in LAUSD Conference 7, which comprises 11 small high schools throughout LAUSD, many of which are magnet schools with gifted/high ability programs.

ELC’s approach to the Academic Decathlon is a truly collaborative effort. ELC’s two head coaches organize and work collaboratively with student assistant coaches and selected ELC teachers and administrators to prepare the students for the competition. Elizabeth Learning Center has scored in the upper half of LAUSD schools for over a decade, and last year’s team placed 20th overall in the District and fourth in conference.

Beyond The Bell Extended Learning Academy (ELA): Summer School and Tutoring

Summer School, intervention, tutoring, and enrichment classes in academic core areas are held during off-track time (vacation), Saturdays, and after school, depending on space availability and funding for staff. High school intervention programs generally target ELA and math performance but also have included science intervention. The Beyond the Bell Extended Learning Academy normally offers Saturday CAHSEE Boot Camp classes for students in grades 10 through 12 throughout the year in advance of the different CAHSEE administration dates. However, with the recent suspension of the administration of the CAHSEE and of the 2016 results, Saturday Boot Camp has been placed on hold pending further instructions from the District Superintendent.

Chess Club

The Chess Club welcomes chess players of all proficiency levels, from beginning to advanced, to practice their skills Mondays and Fridays after school from 3:15 to 5:15 in an intellectually stimulating environment. Approximately 25-30 students in grades 3 through 12 compete in tournaments at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.

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DECA

ELC is a proud member of DECA, an international organization dedicated to preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA boasts over 200,000 high school student members and 15,000 college and university student members. DECA strives to integrate itself into the broader classroom curriculum with applied learning, business principles, and an emphasis on competition. Beyond the business side, DECA aims to help students become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, and aimed toward taking on leadership roles throughout life.

DECA’s competitive events directly support ELC’s mission. As an integral part of the classroom curriculum, DECA’s industry-validated competitive events are geared toward marketing, business management and administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism. DECA’s flagship evaluation process involves students in both a written component, such as an exam or report, and an interactive component with an industry professional serving as a judge. DECA’s competitive events directly contribute to every student being college and career ready when they graduate from high school.

Gay-Straight Alliance

The ELC Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) was founded by high school students in 2005 to promote tolerance and understanding of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender-questioning students on campus. The group is an official chapter of the National GSA and meets weekly for discussion, support, and activism. The students are mentored by a former ELC student and her partner on issues of relevance to gays and straights alike, and a current teacher advises the group. In keeping with their credo of promoting tolerance, the club’s motto is “Free to Be.” Among the club’s activities is annual participation in the National Day of Silence.

HUB Cities Consortium

The objective of the HUB Cities Consortium at Elizabeth Learning Center is to provide meaningful work experience for high school students aged 14 to 21 while providing the community with an array of year-round services. The program and its providers coordinate activities and information to assure a coherent and accessible system for all. The HUB Cities program provides mentoring, job shadowing, career exploration, career guidance and counseling,12-month follow-up, leadership development, occupational skills training, paid/unpaid work experience, summer employment, supported services, and tutoring. After orientation and training, students are placed in classrooms or offices at ELC and work as teachers’ aides or office assistants.

Interscholastic Athletics

Despite its small enrollment, Elizabeth Learning Center boasts a proud tradition in

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interscholastic athletics. The athletic program at ELC is considered one of the strongest of its kind in the Small Schools Division of the Los Angeles City Section of the CaliforniaInterscholastic Federation (CIF). Since the high school’s opening in 1995, its athletic teams have won 35 league championships, 10 city runner-ups, and 13 city championships. ELC has had 11 state playoff entries including six quarter-finals and one semi-final.

Following is a summary of ELC sports performance for 2014-2015:

In 2014, cross country qualified for city playoffs. Girls’ volleyball won a league championship and a city championship, and competed in

State quarter-finals. Girls competed in CIF Tennis Individuals’ Tournament Boys’ and girls’ soccer played in city playoffs. Boys’ basketball played in city playoffs. Boys’ volleyball played in semi-finals of city playoffs.

Leadership

The Leadership class at Elizabeth Learning Center is composed of student body officers, class representatives, and other students interested in becoming role models for fellow students. The group is responsible for planning activities for the entire high school, such as dances and activity nights. They also plan school rallies to promote unity among students, increase school spirit, and promote fund-raising activities. In addition, they recognize and celebrate good citizenship and responsible leadership. High school leadership students work collaboratively with their counterparts in the elementary and middle school programs on K-12 initiatives. Since the high school does not have an official ASB organization, leadership is open to all interested students. However, four students, who are often affiliated with the leadership class, are elected to the School Site Council.

Nutrition Network

The Nutrition Network teaches students the benefits of healthful eating and the importance of exercise. Students, parents, and teachers work together to create a Health Expo where students prepare healthy snacks for their parents. Teachers receive monthly lessons about healthy foods and proper nutrition. This program begins in Grade 1 and continues into the AP EnvironmentalScience class for juniors and seniors.

Ready, Set, Gold!

The Ready, Set, Gold! Program of the Southern Californian Olympians and Paralympians in Los Angeles City schools encourages fitness and healthy living. The program was developed by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games (SCCOG), and its purpose is to reduce

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childhood obesity and diabetes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The program matches these Olympic and Paralympic athletes with ELC students to inspire and counsel them on proper fitness and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. ELC has been assigned three athletes who make five visits to provide our students with real life examples of how setting goals helped them become successful in sports and in life. In addition, the visiting Olympians support students in achieving their California Physical Fitness Test, or Fitnessgram, goals. The Fitnessgram measures six areas: aerobic capacity, body composition, abdominal strength, trunk extension strength, upper body strength, and flexibility.

Science Club

The Science Club provides a variety of instructional activities revolving around science themes and concepts. Weekly meetings provide opportunities for scientific debate and flow of information. Activities include native plant restoration and recycling, environmental community service, meteor shower observations, various scientific excursions, and the creation and administration of diversity surveys. Past trips have included camping on the Channel Islands and a trip to Joshua Tree National Park. A recent off-shoot of the Science Club is the addition of the AP Environmental Science course. One of the ongoing projects of this class and the Science Club is the maintenance of the grant-funded native habitat garden, located in the “circle” flagpole area in the middle of the Quad. These students also assist the elementary students in planting and maintaining herbs, trees, and flowers in all of the school’s planters.

Students Run L.A.

The mission of Students Run L.A. (SRLA) is to encourage at-risk students to realize their potential and improve self-esteem by training for the 26.2-mile Los Angeles Marathon, held each spring. The principal tenet of the program is, “Anything is possible.” As less than one percent of the world’s population has ever completed a marathon, it follows that if one can accomplish this daunting task, one can, in turn, do other great things. The Elizabeth Learning Center has traditionally participated in this event. Ten ELC students completed in the 2015 SRLA marathon and went on to complete the Los Angeles marathon, and 15 students have signed up for the February 16, 2016, SRLA.

Woodcraft Rangers

Woodcraft Rangers is an after-school program that provides fifth- through ninth-grade students at ELC with a wide range of physical and creative activities. Participants receive snacks, homework assistance, and time for clubs on a daily basis. Woodcraft Rangers’ activities include seasonal sports, dance, drama, music, and arts and crafts.

Conditions of Learning

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Elizabeth Learning Center’s academic program encompasses a transitional kindergarten (TK) through 5th grade elementary program, a middle school consisting of grades 6 through 8, and a high school, which consists of the Freshman Academy, the Information Technology Academy, and the Health Academy. The vast majority of teachers assigned to all grades at the school are NCLB Highly Qualified. Overall, 94.78 percent of our 78 teachers are NCLB qualified and hold the appropriate credential for the classes they teach. One of our teachers is also a National Board Certified teacher who has provided guidance to a number of teachers during their induction, or Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) phase of their training. Of our 78 teachers from Kindergarten through high school, including three out-of-classroom teachers, three (3.8%) possess an earned doctorate, and 38 (48.7%) have a master’s degree, for a total of 41 (52.6%) in possession of a graduate degree. Also, several more teachers are enrolled in master’s degree programs.

ELC’s students benefit from a highly experienced faculty. Overall, our teachers possess an average of 18.7 years of teaching experience, and 46.2% have been in the teaching profession for more than 20 years. Our teachers have taught in LAUSD schools for an average of 17.5 years, with an average of 14.13 years teaching at this school site. Teachers often cite the safe, supportive, “college-going” atmosphere of the campus among their reasons for staying at ELC.

K-12 Teaching Staff ExperienceAt This Location With LAUSD Total Teaching

Experience1-5 Years 11.4% 3.8% 3.8%6-10 Years 24.3% 13.9% 7.6%11-15 Years 18.6% 22.8% 17.7%16-20 28.6% 34.2% 34.2%More Than 20 Years 17.1% 25.3% 36.7%

The school currently has nine teachers assigned to teach classes outside their subject areas and one teacher who has not completed her preliminary credential.

TeachersSchool District

2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2014-15With Full Credential 81 84 78 25,019Without Full Credential 0 0 1 700Teaching Outside Subject Area Competencies (With Full Credential) 5 9 TBD TBD

Our one non-credentialed teacher is currently enrolled in a Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) program for her preliminary secondary credential in Special Education. One other teacher, who possesses a preliminary credential and is teaching Special Education, is currently enrolled in LAUSD’s Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment

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(BTSA) program to complete her clear credential. All of the teachers assigned to ELC, except for the one who is still pursuing her preliminary credential, possess a Clear California Credential in Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD).

Percent of ClassesIn Core Academic Subjects

Taught byNCLB Compliant

Teachers

Taught byNon-NCLB Compliant Teachers

This School 94.78% 5.22%All Schools in District 90.12% 9.88%High-Poverty Schools in District 89.93% 10.07%Low-Poverty Schools in District 96.76% 3.24%

The percentage of our teachers compliant under No Child Left Behind ((NCLB) requirements is a key indicator of the quality of our teaching staff. With nearly 98 percent of our teachers fully qualified under NCLB, we are significantly higher than the District average. This correlates with the high levels of teaching experience among our teachers, their commitment to the teaching profession, and the relatively low turnover of teaching staff at ELC.

Professional Development Programs/Activities

Teachers participate in a wide array of professional development activities on a variety of themes and skills on campus, off-site, and online. In 2014-2015, under the direction of our principal, there were 14 professional development sessions conducted throughout the year. Seven of the PDs were designed and presented by administrators and out-of-classroom teachers. Following are the underlying goals guiding the design and presentation of professional development:

Ensure that all students graduate from high school college-prepared and career-ready; students complete the A-G Requirements sequence required for a high school diploma with grades of A, B, or C.

Full, high-quality, rigorous implementation of all content standards, including the integration of the Common Core Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6−12 for all students with equitable access for English Learners, Standard English Learners, students with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged students, and foster youth.

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Implementation of the California English Language Development Standards (CA ELD) in tandem with CCSS, through Designated and Integrated ELD and culturally and linguistically responsive instructional strategies integrated in all content areas.

Transition to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Implementation of a multi-tiered support system (including Response to Instruction and Intervention, RtI2) for academics and behavior.

Development of the instructional leadership team to collectively build capacity that increases the ability of all educators to make the instructional changes needed for all students to be college- and career-ready.

The remaining seven PDs were designed and presented by faculty members. In 2014-2015, teachers presented PDs on technology-based learning in order to enhance students’ access to the Common Core standards, along with supplemental enrichment learning material, and to prepare students for Smarter Balanced testing. In addition, each academic department meets several times a year to plan curriculum, compare notes on best practices, select supplemental learning sources for students, and plan common assessments.

In addition to school-site based professional development, teachers are encouraged to attend training tailored to their specific academic disciplines. Elective training focuses on a wide array of interests and specialties, some focusing specifically on the Common Core standards in a given subject area. Following is a sample list of off-campus programs in which individuals or small groups of teachers have participated:

LAUSD Gifted and Talented (GATE) EducationCommon Core Lead Teacher TrainingKelly Gallagher Book StudyEnglish Learner Summer Training (Verify actual name.)UCLA Writer’s WorkshopPowerful Choices Writing WorkshopCollege Board/Advanced Placement (AP) seminarsAVID TrainingBehavior Management (Special Education)Child Welfare and AttendanceChemical SafetySecondary Science Writer SymposiumOpera for EducatorsSymphony for SchoolsFriends of Arts EducationTechnology for ArtEvenings for Educators at Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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CPR/First for CoachingStanford History Education Group (SHEG) trainingMicrosoft Office TrainingEducating for CareersEffective Writing in ScienceHealthy Choices/Healthy RelationshipsCommon Core Science Winter Symposium

Certificated and Classified Staff

ELC prides itself on a highly diverse staff among both certificated and classified personnel. A diverse staff enables the school to serve the needs of students and parents from different angles, allowing groups to find solutions uniquely suited to their needs and the school’s goals. Our certificated staff is 3.5 percent African American, 8 percent Asian, 57 percent Hispanic, and 33.4 percent White.

Certificated Staff: Gender & Ethnicity African-Am. Asian Hispanic Native Am. White

Female 1 5 28 0 12Male 2 2 21 0 15Total 3 7 49 0 27

Our classified staff members also reflect a high level of diversity. The ethnic proportions of classified personnel are as follows: 14 percent African American, 81 percent Hispanic, 1.6 percent Native American, and 3 percent White.

Classified Staff: Gender & EthnicityAfrican-Am. Asian Hispanic Native Am. White

Female 8 0 38 0 2Male 1 0 14 1 0Total 9 0 52 1 2

Physical Resources

Students have access to a variety of physical, academic, and technological resources to support their learning. The school’s cornerstone facilities include a library with a full-time Teacher Librarian, a large computer lab, computer stations in many secondary classrooms, a recently renovated cafeteria, breakfast in the classroom to ensure students have the nutrition they need in order to learn, a well-equipped gymnasium with workout room, and a recently constructed

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Learning Garden.

The physical plant itself received a repair status report of “Good” in all categories, according to the most recent School Accountability Report Card (SARC). The main building, constructed in 1921, received a new roof in 2012 and is currently the site of the Main Office and six high school classrooms. In the most recent site inspection, conducted in school year 2014-2015, ELC received an overall rating of “Exemplary.”

One hundred percent of all ELC students have the textbooks and related instructional materials they need to in order to fulfill their course requirements. Students also have access to a broad array of supplemental resources in the school library and in classroom book collections. These ancillary materials serve students’ needs for research resources and elective/recreational reading.

Academic Program

All secondary English, Math, and Science courses required for graduation are based on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Students receive instructional materials, classroom instruction, and assessments based on the CCSS. The widespread application of heterogeneous grouping strategies and real-world problem-solving techniques throughout the school is a direct reflection of training that teachers have received through school-wide and departmental professional development. Examples of CCSS training in which our teachers have participated include Effective Writing in Science, Common Core Lead Teacher Training, the Common Core Science Winter Symposium, the Secondary Science Writer symposium, and Kelly Gallagher Book Study.

The curricula for science classes at ELC are designed to fulfill UC/CSU A-G requirements. Furthermore, the facilities, materials, and supplies meet District and Williams standards, and the school continues to make corrective action to bring itself into full compliance with OSHA recommendations. The District is currently in the process of planning the modernization of four high school science classrooms. All students enrolled in science classes, along with their parents, are required to read, understand, and sign the school’s Student Safety Contract and Flinn Scientific’s Student Safety Contract. Students are also required to pass the Science Laboratory Safety Test from Flinn Scientific, Inc., and they are further tested on chemical procedures throughout the school year.

The school applies a variety of measures to gauge student academic progress and readiness for college-level study. These metrics include the number of 9th graders enrolling in Algebra 1, progress toward fulfillment of A-G requirements, number of students enrolling in AP courses, and participation in extracurricular activities. The Assistant Principal supervising Counseling Services also oversees the CSU/UC A-G approval process and all secondary course enrollment.

Our teachers and administrators work in concert to align course offerings and classwork with the demands of preparing for postsecondary education and career preparedness. For example, all ninth graders, including special day class students, are enrolled in either Algebra 1 or Geometry. Once the students transfer into either the Health Academy or Info Tech Academy, they may elect

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to enroll in AP Biology, AP Chemistry, or AP History as early as their sophomore year. In their last two years, they may elect to pursue AP coursework in English, Calculus, History, Spanish, and the physical sciences.

To further support students’ college aspirations, counselors and faculty work with students to complete a full complement of A-G coursework, enabling them to fulfill a key requirement in applying for admission to the University of California or California State University system. In 2013-2014, 52.7% of high school students were on track to complete A-G requirements while 24.1% were missing three or more courses. While we are working through our counselors and teachers to raise these numbers, our students are still performing 10 points above the District average and roughly equal with the state average on this measure.

A-G Requirements

The Health and Tech academies, in conjunction with parents and counselors, work diligently to encourage students to complete A-G requirements, which will equip them to enter either the California State University or University of California. While raising these numbers is always a challenge, the school’s efforts continue to pay off. In 2013-2014, 55 percent of our graduates had completed A-G requirements, as compared to 30 percent for the district and 36 percent for the state. Enrollment is only one aspect of raising these numbers. Even more important is the work of our secondary teachers in keeping A-G classes challenging and engaging. While we are proud of our successes, we are equally aware of the need to keep students enrolling in these classes and working toward the tangible goals of a university degree and a worthwhile career.

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Percentage of Students Grades 9-12 Meeting CSU A-G Requirements (2014-2015)A-G Not On

Track (missing 3 or more courses)

A-G Not On Track (missing 2

courses)

A-G Not On Track (missing 1

course)

A-G On Track

Elizabeth LC 24.1 11.4 11.4 53.1LAUSD 32.6 9.6 14.1 43.7

AP Enrollment

The percentage of students enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course has been trending upward in recent years, not only among Initially Fluent English Proficient (IFEP) students, but also among Limited English Proficient (LEP) students. This is the direct result of a school policy of encouraging as much participation in AP coursework as possible. Administrators, counselors, and teachers actively recruit students to take as many AP courses as they can manage. In parent meetings through the Family Center and with individual parents on Back to School Night and in Parent Conferences, school staff reinforce the importance of enrolling in A-G and AP courses to promote their students’ ability to enter a university directly upon high school graduation.

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AP-Enrolled Students by Language Classification

Funding

Per-Pupil Funding (Fiscal Year 2013-2014)

School SiteExpenditures per Pupil

Expenditures per Pupilfrom Unrestricted Sources

Percent DifferenceBetween School Site and

Total RestrictedSources

UnrestrictedSources District State District State

$8,039 $3,304 $4,734 $5,140 $4,690 -7.9% 0.9%

ELC receives funding from a variety of categorical (restricted) and non-categorical (non-restricted) resources. The main sources of categorical funding are Title I (No Child Left Behind) and Title III (Limited English Proficiency). The main non-categorical funds are the General

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Fund and Targeted Student Population (TSP). The School Site Council (SSC) approves all Title I budget adjustments, while the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC), composed primarily of parents and community members, approves all Title III budget adjustments and expenditures. General Fund and TSP budget matters are under the purview of the Principal. In all budget processes at ELC, the focus is consistently on meeting the needs of students and parents. Our total financial support was 7.9% below the District average for 2013-2014 but still slightly above the overall State average.

Budget development for all funds is an organized, interactive process among all of the school’s stakeholders. Members of the SSC, School Site Council (SMC), ELAC, and Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) meet throughout the academic year to discuss needs based on the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and to make recommendations for budget adjustments and expenditures, which may include the purchasing of new teaching or classified positions, supplemental instructional materials, general supplies, or technology, such as laptop computers and printers. During the budget season in mid-spring, SSC holds a special meeting to work out a Title I budget that meets the needs of the various stakeholder groups represented in the council, including minutes from the ELAC budget meeting. The Principal and Categorical Program Advisor also give their input and guidance to help inform the meeting, which culminates with an approved Title I and Title III budget for the following school year. In addition, the Principal receives input regarding General fund allocations and applies those recommendations to the non-categorical budget process as well.

The school’s budget processes have worked well over recent years, as there has been an on-going effort by the former and current Principal to ensure transparency and responsiveness to the needs of students, parents, and teachers. Questions about the budget process are aired openly at ELAC, SMC, and SSC meetings, and potential solutions to specific challenges are proposed and voted on in order to resolve such matters.

Pupil Achievement Outcomes

The learner outcomes at ELC are the direct product of the school’s focus on its Schoolwide Learner Outcomes. Teachers review the SLOs periodically throughout the school year with their students, and also refer to them during collaborative professional development sessions.

Schoolwide Learning Outcomes

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Promote critical and creative thinking.Reach goals through collaboration.Inspire lifelong learning.Develop meaningful community and global contributions.Engage in effective communication.

Our teachers work diligently to instill in our students the importance of critical and creative thinking, which are the bedrock of high achievement. Collaborative learning, purposeful grouping, a variety of research methods, and effective writing are constantly reinforced in our classrooms. The learning results from these strategies inform our practice as educators so that further enhancements can be incorporated into the educational program. As a tangible result, our past testing performance showed a steady rise over recent years, and we look forward to resuming the positive trend with the new Smarter Balanced Testing.

Annual Performance Index (API) Growth

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ELC API Year 2010 2011 2012 2013Base 656 692 713 723Growth 692 713 723 720

ELC’s Academic Performance Index was gradually trending upward up until the end of CST testing in the spring of 2013. However, one of the inherent challenges we faced in gauging our performance against other high schools was that our API was an aggregate of all grades that were taking the CST, from first through eleventh grades. With other statistical indicators indicating healthy levels of achievement among our high school students, the administration and faculty agree that had the API for the high school been disaggregated from elementary and middle school, that figure would have been significantly higher.

Our students’ performance on the last three years of the former California Standards Test (CST) gives some idea of the trends we were observing in our students through 2012-2013. The percentage of students scoring Proficient or Advanced in English Language Arts grew steadily from 2009-2010 to 2012-2013. Furthermore, we saw a huge climb in our Proficient and Advanced in Math, from 9.7 percent in 2008-2009 to 31 percent in 2012-2013. While we work through the initial piloting phase of Smarter Balanced Testing, we have faith that once our students are comfortable with the new format and platform, our students will resume their gradual climb in ELA and Math achievement.

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ELA & Math CST, Proficient or Advanced, Grades 9-11

Subject 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013

English/Language Arts 41% 47% 44.2% 48.5%

Mathematics 9.7% 12.3% 18.5% 16.2%

In regards to the availability of the next generation of year-end achievement scores, the Los Angeles City Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution on January 13, 2015, urging State Education Superintendent Tom Torlakson “to not use the Spring 2015 SBAC assessment results to make any judgments regarding the District’s students, teachers, or schools.” In response to this resolution and similar statements from other school districts around the state, the State Board of Education suspended the use of the 2014 and 2015 results for the calculation of APY and API. However, the Spring 2015 scores will serve as a baseline for subsequent years, starting with the 2016 SBAC scores.

The California Department of Education (CDE) is developing new indicators to include in the high school API. Input from API surveys, regional meetings, and educational experts was sought as part of the process of developing a new set of achievement indicators. Administrators, teachers, parents, guardians, students, school board members, educational organizations, community members, and business leaders have contributed to the process of developing a new set of scaled indicators. The ELC community looks forward to embracing the new testing challenges as we continue to focus our efforts on mastering the Common Core Standards.

ELC staff ushered in the recent change to Smarter Balance Testing in the spring of 2015 with practice assessments on iPads to allow students to become acquainted with the new testing method and technology. Schoolwide, 93 percent of our students completed the full complement of online testing, one of the highest turnouts in the entire district, which is especially notable considering the fact we are a span school. Mirroring the general level of performance occurring across the state, the results of our first year of Smarter Balanced testing were mixed. Anticipating the need for more intense focus on the Common Core Standards and on technology-based testing, we are reviewing ways to enhance student facility with the new technology and testing format, along with continuing to refine our classroom delivery of the new learning foci.

The results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASP) first became available in the fall of this academic year. The performance of our students in 9th through 11th grade has generated a set of baselines on which to measure progress in our academies in subsequent years.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) Preliminary Results

The Junior class’s first-time administration of the SBAC produced mixed, inconclusive results.

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As with the rest of the State, we will need several years of testing results to establish a firm trend and to allow students to become acculturated into the new technological and academic format of the test battery. This same class scored significantly above the District average on the CAHSEE the previous year, so the school has a fairly good idea of how these students are achieving academically. Nonetheless, this gives us a starting point for understanding how students respond to questions, and their feedback will help guide our lesson planning and test preparation on subsequent administrations of the test. The high school students taking the SBAC this year will be doing so for their first time as well, so again, we will need at least one more year of testing after the current year to produce comparison data for informing our instruction.

11th Grade SBAC ELA Spring 2015

% Not/Nearly Met Standard

% Standard Not Met

% Standard Nearly Met

% Standard Met

% Exceeds Standard

% Meets/Exceeds Standard

34% 9% 26% 50% 16% 66%

11th Grade SBAC Math Spring 2015

CAHSEE Testing

Although CAHSEE testing has been halted, at least temporarily, we offer these data to document the fluctuations of 10th grade class performance over the last six years, as this test is a key indicator of students’ preparedness for life after high school. The trend in ELC’s CAHSEE scores show that despite the recent change to Zone of Choice, which introduced a dramatic shift in the academic preparedness of our entering ninth graders, the first-time passing rate among sophomores was steadily rising until spring 2015. Our tenth graders had been keeping up with the state average and consistently staying slightly above the District level. The portion of students scoring proficient or advanced in ELA rose to 46.2 percent in 2014-2015, its highest level in five years. In Math, the same group rose from 43 percent proficient or advanced in 2010-2011 to 49.2 percent in 2014-2015, a net gain of 6 points. Despite these gains, the overall passage rates last year showed a significant dip.

CAHSEE ELA Grade 10 Passing Rate

Year School District State

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% Not/Nearly Met Standard

% Standard Not Met

% Standard Nearly Met

% Standard Met

% Exceeds Standard

% Meets/Exceeds Standard

77% 41% 35% 20% 3% 23%


2009-10 82% 72% 81%

2010-11 86% 75% 83%

2011-12 84% 77% 84%

2012-13 89% 78% 84%

2013-14 86% 79% 85%

2014-15 71% 78% 85%

CAHSEE Math Grade 10 Passing Rate

Year School District State

2009-10 85% 73% 81%

2010-11 86% 75% 82%

2011-12 87% 76% 83%

2012-13 88% 77% 83%

2013-14 82% 78% 83%

2014-15 67% 77% 85%

In view of these results, and assuming CAHSEE testing will resume in the near future, the school continues to work toward enhancing skills that will raise their 10th grade performance on the CAHSEE. The faculty and staff have demonstrated a long-term commitment to redoubling their efforts in preparing students during and after regular school hours for this all-important metric, which can have a long-reaching influence on their future. Every year in the months leading up to the CAHSEE, two teachers are assigned to hold Saturday Boot Camp for students who feel they can use extra help building their skills before sitting for the exam. In Saturday ELA Boot Camp, students practice multiple questions and write several essays based on the CAHSEE writing style. The teachers offer personal assistance, targeting areas that need to be improved in each student’s style of attacking the sample essay prompts. The benefits of this intense training extends to all their academic subjects, where students are required to compose brief, in-class, standards-based analytical essays.

Saturday CAHSEE math Boot Camp covers all essential concepts from basic operations through polynomial equations and basic geometry. The class starts with a review of foundational skills, including decimals and fractions, and proceeds through algebraic functions, geometry, and statistics and probability. The teacher coaches students in responding to constructed response questions, in which students must explain, in writing, the steps involved in solving a problem and then justify their steps. This comprehensive approach, which is aligned with the Common

45


Core, goes beyond the immediate demands of testing by helping to prepare students for the type of real-life mathematical challenges they will face in the contemporary workplace.

Graduation Rates

ELC’s graduation rates have fluctuated over recent years, yet they continue to trend high when compared to district and state levels. The graduation rate peaked in 2014 at 95 percent and receded slightly to 93 percent the following year, but with the district average for 2014 at 77 percent and the state at 80.2 percent for that year, we are proud to boast of a high school graduation trend that continues to compete with the state’s top-performing public high schools.

The faculty of the Health and Technology academies meet every two weeks to discuss learning interventions, discipline issues, and strategies for keeping students on track for high school graduation. ELC’s DEFCON program, a high school intervention program for students who are falling behind in their class work or are in danger of failing a class, is a critically important tool in identifying struggling students and providing faculty and peer counseling to help these students stay on track until Graduation Day.

AYP Graduation Rate

Year Graduation Rate2015 93.00%2014 95.00%2013 92.93%2012 88.44%

AP Performance

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Each year, over half of our students grades 10 through 11 complete and pass Advanced Placement courses. These course are open to any student who wishes to enroll, irrespective of prior academic achievement. Regardless of whether a student passes a given AP exam, that individual acquires skills that will serve her later on in college. From 2012 to 2014, the course passage rate was above 90 percent. Furthermore, the AP Exam passage rate has risen steadily over the last five years, even while the number of students in AP classes has grown greatly. In 2011, 52% of 186 students passed their AP exams with a 3 or better; in 2015, 61% of 238 students passed. This steady improvement reflects the high level of dedication and commitment from students and faculty in these challenging courses.

ELC Advanced Placement Course Offerings

AP Biology AP Government

AP Calculus AP English Language

AP Environmental Science AP English Literature

AP U.S. History AP Spanish Language

AP European History AP Spanish Literature

AP Art History

Percent of ELC Students Passing AP Exams (Score ≥ 3)

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Advanced Placement Course Passing Rates

School Year AP EnrollmentPercentage With a “C” or Better

Percentage with a “D or “F”

2013-2014 381 91.3% 8.7%

2012-2013 400 93.5% 6.5%

2011-2012 415 94.0% 6.0%


Total AP Students at ELC

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

186 228 236 212 238

SAT

The faculty and staff of ELC’s high school have made a concerted effort to raise the turnout of students sitting for the SAT. They also have worked to prepare students for this all-important assessment, which is heavily weighted in the college and university application review process. In 2011-2012 91 of 175 (52 percent) of the seniors took the SAT, and only 4.4 percent of the scores were at or above 1500. Two years later, 69 percent sat for the SAT, and 13.37 percent of the scores were at or above 1500. The greatly increased portion of students and more than tripling of the percentage of students scoring at or above 1500 is directly attributable to the work of our counselors, teachers, and other staff working diligently to prepare the students academically and to prepare them for the SAT through workshops with prep questions in all of the tested domains. This gradual improvement is due to a college-going culture that began to take root at the school roughly a decade ago.

SAT Performance Summary

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Year Grade 12Enrollment

NumberTested

CriticalReading Average

Math Average

WritingAverage

% of Scores≥1500

2013-2014

148 102 425 406 435 13.37

2012-2013

154 98 432 409 433 17.30

2011-2012

175 91 405 405 419 4.40

College Placement

Graduates from the Health and Tech academies routinely gain admission into the University of California, California State University, and numerous private universities and colleges, primarily in Southern California. ELC’s graduates are employed in a wide spectrum of disciplines, including the social and physical sciences, engineering, nursing, social work, and the liberal arts.

The portion of students enrolled in classes required for admission to UC/CSU rose dramatically from 39.6 percent in 2012-2013 to 46.5 percent in 2013-2014. This is due to the work of our counselors and teachers in guiding students toward college-bound coursework and classroom learning experiences aimed at preparing students for fulfilling careers as trained professionals.

Transition to Postsecondary Education—Spring 2015 (Self-reported/total = 127)University of California

California StateUniversity

Private College or University

Community College

Other

7 (5.5%) 49 (38.6%) 1 (.08%) 63 (50%) 7 (5.5%)

Early Assessment Program

In 2014-2015, the only year for which we have data, 65.5% of our juniors sitting for the EAP English Assessment scored as either Conditionally Ready or College Ready. In a school where English is commonly the student’s second language, these figures are encouraging; however, they also point to a need to enhance English proficiency and academic preparedness to ensure 100% of our students are ready to tackle their college studies upon graduating from their academies.

EAP English Language Status

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College-Ready

Conditionally

Ready

Not Yet Demonstrating Readiness

Not Demonstrating Readiness

Total

23 (15.5%) 74 (50%) 38 (25.7%) 13 (8.8%) 148

Career Readiness

Health and Tech academy students are automatically enrolled in career preparation courses starting in their sophomore year. In cases where students need to make up core courses required for graduation, students are usually enrolled, depending on their specific schedules, in the necessary make-up courses before being enrolled in their Academy classes. Academy classes are geared toward preparing students through real-world, hands-on experiences, be they in the allied medical/health fields or in technology-based careers. The academies saw a major jump in career course enrollment between 2012 and 2013, with a slight dip in 2014, but the overall trend is positive. When compared to district and state-wide levels of student exposure to career prep coursework, ELC students are consistently far ahead of the curve.

CELDT

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Each year, the Targeted Student Population (TSP) Adviser and Title III Access to the Core Instructional Coach assist teachers in administering the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to students who have been designated as English Learners and have yet to attain status as Reclassified fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students. When a student first enrolls in a California school, she or he is required to take an Initial Assessment of the CELDT within 30 calendar days upon enrollment. The Initial Assessment is used to determine if the new enrollee is an English learner. The CELDT is also given each year as an Annual Assessment to students who are identified as ELs to evaluate their progress in acquiring English language skills. ELs continue to take the Annual Assessment until they are reclassified as RFEP.

The reclassification rate has increased steadily since 2011-2012, owing again to the intensive efforts of both the title III Coach and TSP Adviser to target students who have been at risk of not passing the CELDT, and teachers who have needed support in fulfilling their mission in serving the needs of English learners in their classrooms.

Reclassification Rates Over Three Years (Pre-K through 12)

School Year No. of ELs No. Reclassified % Reclassified

2011-2012 613 88 14.4%

2012-2013 584 107 18.3%

2013-2014 578 96 16.6%

2014-2015 584 134 23.0%

Annual Measurable Academic Objectives 1

The school’s progress in Annual Measurable Academic Objectives 1 (AMAO1), “making annual progress in learning English,” is demonstrated in the jump from an overall 39.2%, meeting growth target in 2012-2013, to 49.2% in 2013-2014. And in 2014-2015, this number increased again to 53.1%. In 2012-2013 the school welcomed a Title III Coach to the staff, and this individual, in conjunction with the TSP Adviser, has dedicated himself to working closely with teachers by offering group and one-on-one interventions for students, demonstrating lessons for teachers, working with the Instructional Leadership to develop short-term and long-term goals for greater levels of English language acquisition and enhanced overall academic achievement.

AMAO 1

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Annual CELDT Growth 2012-2013

Prior Year CELDT Level Number in Proficiency Level Prior Year

Percent in Proficiency Level

Number Meeting Growth Target

Percent Meeting Growth Target

BEGINNING 3 3.8% 2 66.7%EARLY INTERMEDIATE 9 11.4% 4 44.4%INTERMEDIATE 50 63.3% 16 32.0%EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: NOT ENGLISH PROFICIENT

33.8%

133.3%

EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: ENGLISH PROFICIENT

1417.7%

857.1%

Grand Total 79 100.0% 31 39.2%






BEGINNING 4 6.3% 4 100.0%EARLY INTERMEDIATE 15 23.8% 11 73.3%INTERMEDIATE 29 46.0% 7 24.1%EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: NOT ENGLISH PROFICIENT 5 7.9% 2 40%EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: ENGLISH PROFICIENT 10 15.9% 7 70.0%Grand Total 63 100.0% 31 49.2%






BEGINNING 63 14.4% 38 60.3%EARLY INTERMEDIATE 82 18.7% 60 73.2%INTERMEDIATE 193 44.0% 71 36.8%EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: NOT ENGLISH PROFICIENT

21 4.8% 8 38.1%

EARLY ADV/ADVANCED: ENGLISH PROFICIENT

80 18.2% 56 70.0%

Grand Total 439 100.0% 233 53.1%

Annual Measurable Academic Objectives 2

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On AMAO2, “proficient level on the CELDT,” students raised their passage rate from 30% in 2012-2013 to 45% in 2013-2014, and then settled back to 35% in 2014-2015. Overall, the scores have been edging upward in recent years, albeit with fluctuations along the upward trend. This is due in no small part to the efforts of teachers, the Title III Coach, and the TSP Adviser.

ELC’s success in raising CELDT scores is attributable to the efforts of our elementary teachers, secondary ELA faculty, and the intervention program designed and implemented by the Title III Coach and the Adviser. The Title III Coach develops English Language Development (ELD) strategies for all grades, models lessons for teachers who teach ELD, coaches teachers in enhancing their delivery of ELD learning material, and assists in evaluating students in their English acquisition with both formative and formal assessments. Our Title III Coach meets regularly with fellow Title III coaches from other regions of the district in order to share experiences and glean what they have learned from their work at other schools.

The TSP Adviser complements the Title III Coach’s efforts by providing instructional support for teachers regarding effective strategies for English learners, foster youth, and low-income student learning and academic success. This individual conducts demonstration lessons to improve instruction for English learners and facilitates grade-level department meetings to analyze data, review student work, discuss best practices, identify student needs, and plan differentiated instruction. Additionally, the TSP Adviser provides professional development and supports the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) and the School Site Council in fulfilling their legal responsibilities to English learners.

AMAO 2

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2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

Grade # Tested # Possible FEP

% Possible FEP

NINTH GRADE 41 13 32%

TENTH GRADE 20 9 45%

ELEVENTH GRADE 15 3 20%

TWELFTH GRADE 12 6 50%

Grand Total 88 31 35%

Engagement Indicators

ELC’s administrators and teachers, along with SSC, SMC, and ELAC, depend on a variety of

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% Possible FEP







% Possible FEP







indicators related to the overall learning environment in order to develop operational procedures, disciplinary practices, and teaching strategies to meet the specific needs of the school’s students and larger community. The School Experience Survey, completed by parents, student, and teachers, provide a formal channel for the school community to rate the school’s various functions and to indicate the changes they would like to see. Informal input is also received through Coffee with the Principal, Back-to-School Night, Open House, and Parent-Teacher Conferences. Among the other indicators available to the school are statistics related to student attendance, absenteeism, discipline, retention, and graduation.

Graduation and Dropout Rates

School District State2010-

112011-

122012-

132013-

142010-

112011-

122012-

132010-

112011-

122012-

13Grades 9-12Dropout Rate 8.7 6.0 3.2 N/A 22.6 20.3 17.2 14.7 13.1 11.4

Graduation Rate 89.53 92.93 96.13 92.8 64.75 66.63 68.07 77.14 78.87 80.44

ELC’s graduation rates have historically been significantly among the highest in LAUSD and in the region. At the same time, the dropout is significantly low when compared to other schools throughout the District. There was a 3.33-point drop in the graduation rate from the class of 2013 to 2014, but again, the 2014 rate of 92.8% is still a source of great pride for the school, and more importantly, it maintains a high goal against which subsequent classes will have to compete. This kind of competition in a small-school environment is one of the keys to the esprit d’corps that characterizes our school.

Suspensions and Expulsions

Further evidence of our students’ commitment to a positive school environment is their relatively low rate of suspensions and expulsions. Suspensions had been steadily dropping over recent years until, in 2014-2015, we brought our suspensions to zero. Likewise, there have been zero expulsions over the last four years.

School District State2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014

2014-2015

2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014

2011-2012

2012-2013

2013-2014

Rate of Suspensions 2.5% 1.1% 0.7% 0.0% 2.7% 1.7% 0.9% 5.7% 5.1% 4.4%Rate of Expulsions 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%

Attendance (K-12)

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Attendance Rate (K-12)Year Stability Rate Transiency Rate Actual Attend Rate2012-13 90.53% 16.45% 96.34%2011-12 91.79% 13.85% 96.46%2010-11 92.69% 12.57% 96.36%2009-10 89.63% 18.62% 96.06%2008-09 87.42% 21.60% 95.15%

The staff and programs at ELC encourage high daily student attendance with the help of teachers, the PSA (Pupil Services and Attendance) counselor, and the entire staff. The PSA counselor visits homes of students who are routinely absent. The PSA counselor receives referrals from teachers, out of classroom staff, parents, and students regarding individuals with low or poor attendance. PSA counselors conduct parent and student conferences to uncover the real issues behind a child’s absences. PSA counselors then address the issues on site or make referrals as needed to address these issues, which may include teen pregnancy, substance abuse, gang affiliation, child abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, foster care, etc.

ELC expects that students will be present at school on a daily basis. The district and school goal is a maximum number of 7 days absent (96% attendance rate per year) including partial day absences. The cumulative attendance rate remained fairly consistent throughout the year during the 11-month period of 2014-2015. The average was 96.18 % with a high of 97.1% in September and a consistent low of 95.7% from February to June, for a range of 1.4 points.

ELC also has additional social and emotional support for students via the Psychiatric Social Worker (PSW). The PSW collaborates with teachers, administration, staff, families, and all shareholders to ensure that shareholders create a positive, safe, and effective learning community for all students. The services provided by the PSW include individual, family, and group counseling; parent education and training; classroom support and behavior management; and case management and linkage to school and community supports. In addition to the PSW’s support with the social and emotional well-being of ELC students, the school psychologist also assists in DIS (Designated Instructional Services) Counseling.

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

In our ongoing work in enhancing the school’s performance on its five Schoolwide Learner Outcomes, two in particular provide a lens through which we can appreciate ELC’s

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achievements: promoting critical and creative thinking and engaging in effective communication.

Over the course of the last six years, a theme that has emerged in numerous professional development meetings is the need to develop synthetic thinking skills, making sure we avoid falling back on rote memorization or “filling in the blank” when assessing our students’ learning. Teachers reinforce logical inquiry in the process of arriving at answers, plus reflections on the practical applications of what the students have learned. Critical and creative thinking assume tangible forms in such classes as “Exploring Computer Science,” offered by the Tech Academy for 10th graders. Students work in teams to build Mindstorm robots and program NXT software to put their robots into action. The teams must solve complex problems, such as how to lift objects, carry them over and through obstacles, and place them in a container. This requires careful planning and problem-solving in order to program the robots and achieve their design goals. In social science classes, students analyze historical events and trends and compose their own theories about the causes of particular events and the effects felt in contemporary society. Students must cite specific textual evidence, identify what the evidence may be missing, and propose ways to answer unclarified questions in their research. They also learn how to apply both primary and secondary sources in social science research papers.

In every type of learning situation, students are required to engage in effective communication, which is modeled by our teachers in and out of the classroom. School staff use correct English in formal and casual conversations with students in order to reinforce appropriate modes of speaking. In the classroom, students must apply their skills in Standard American English in their written assignments. In all academic disciplines, students meet in groups to compare ideas and work out strategies for solving problems. In math, for example, students must write constructed responses to explain the steps they have followed in arriving at a solution to a particular problem and a justification for those steps. In English Language Arts as well as in other subjects, reading, writing, listening, and speaking are incorporated into all class lessons. Observations of posted student work reveal varying levels of competence in writing the results of these creative group interactions, and teachers continue to emphasize heterogeneous grouping as a key strategy in closing the gap between higher- and lower-performing writers.

Perception Data

The 2014-2015 School Report Card for our High School students paints a fairly positive picture

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of the interaction among parents, students, and faculty at ELC. The school’s administration and staff have a deep understanding of how individual and group perceptions contribute to building a strong sense of pride, a vital ingredient in building a cohesive and collaborative school community.

Parent Perceptions

I feel welcome to participate at this school. 80%

This school encourages me to participate in organized parent groups. 63%

I am a partner with this school in decisions made about my child’s education. 60%

My child’s teachers let me know about my child’s progress. 65%

Among the characteristics contributing to the school’s learning climate are parents’ level of engagement in the school culture and students’ perceptions of the level of commitment among teachers and staff, along with the expectations established by their teachers. The 2014-2015 School Report Card indicates that 80% of parents feel that they “feel welcome to participate at this school,” and 63% report that “this school encourages me to participate in organized parent groups.” While the staff at ELC constantly strive to engage parents, we still acknowledge that we can do more to engage parents in the Family Center and school events. On a related question, 60% of parents felt that, “I am a partner with this school in decisions made about my child’s education.” Again, though most parents feel involved in their children’s education, we as a school need to work toward enhancing this perception further by communicating more frequently with parents.

Additionally, only 65% of parents said, “My child’s teachers talk with me about what my child is expected to learn in class.” Most teachers at the school are English-only speakers, and this sometimes poses a barrier to effective communication and bonding between teachers and parents. Translators are available during Parent-Teacher conferences and other after-school activities, but more must be done to help parents and teachers create a shared set of goals to help students achieve in their studies. The evidence indicates that parents know the school is reaching out to them with information crucial to their children’s education, yet they are still seeking to avail themselves fully of this opportunity.

Student Perceptions

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Teachers go out of their way to help students. 60%

My teachers work hard to help me with my school works when I need it. 69%

This school makes it clear how students are expected to act. 68%

Students’ perceptions of their learning experiences were generally positive, with 60% reporting that teachers go above and beyond to help them. And evidently, students do know how they are “expected to act,” although at 68%, we certainly need to work toward raising that perception by reinforcing models of appropriate behavior. A clear majority (69%) of students feel that “teachers work hard to help me” with school work when they are not understanding the material, yet we can still work more diligently to enhance that perception by targeting students who need help and accommodating their learning needs through purposeful grouping, SDAIE techniques, individualized graphic organizers, and other methods tailored to their personal interests and learning modalities.

Staff Perceptions

This school is a supportive and inviting place for students to learn. 89%

At this school, decisions are made on students’ needs and interests. 73%

I get the help I need to communicate with parents. 81%

Teachers and administrators give ELC high marks when it comes to pride in their school, the focus of decision-making on producing the greatest benefit for students, and receiving help to communicate with parents. If a teacher needs to communicate with a parent regarding homework, behavior, or other matter, the teacher has easy access to that parent’s phone number on the District’s MiSiS data system, and if translation is needed, there are numerous staff members available to accommodate this need. The school has a very low teacher turnover rate, with teachers averaging of over 14 years of service at this school site.

The LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety (OEHS) conducts annual inspections of all school sites to verify whether they meet minimum requirements. Each school is rated on a scale of Poor, Fair, or Good. In 2014-2015, ELC received a rating of Fair. On a related metric, School Facility Good Repair Status, schools are rated Poor, Fair, Good, or Exemplary. In 2014-2015, ELC was rated Exemplary.

The Self-Study Continuum

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The WASC Focus on Learning six-year cycle is part and parcel of the Elizabeth Learning Center’s ongoing, cyclical process of establishing goals, implementing strategies, collecting data, and assessing our performance in serving our students, parents, and community. The school constantly strives to reach out to all of its shareholders in making crucial decisions that weigh heavily in preparing our students for what lies beyond Graduation Day.

During the WASC Focus on Learning six-year cycle since 2010, we have made considerable progress. The collection and organization of data provided all shareholders the opportunity to analyze and interpret findings and apply them to the ongoing improvement and delivery of instruction to enhance student achievement. ELC faculty and staff believe that all students can achieve, become proficient in English, and be prepared for college and careers for the 21st Century. As ELC goes through the continuous cycle of reflection and improvement, it has confidence in reaching these goals through the ongoing focus on its Mission, Vision, and Expected Student Learning Results.

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Chapter II: Progress Report

Significant Developments

Since our WASC Three-Year Revisit in 2013, Elizabeth Learning Center, LAUSD, and the local district office (now Local District East) have undergone significant changes in organization and personnel. In 2014-2015, the District received a new superintendent, Ramon Cortines, who reorganized the District from four Educational Service Centers to six Local Districts, ensuring greater support at the local level. While the school has competed well in achievement compared to schools with similar demographics throughout LAUSD, we look forward to greater strides in achievement well into the future.

Instructional Calendar

In 2010-2011, the school changed from a three-track year-round school to a traditional 180-day instructional year. In 2012-2013, LAUSD mandated an early-start calendar, which allows further preparation for AP students before students sit for the test. The 2015-2016 LAUSD calendar consists of 176 school days, with instruction starting on August 18, 2015, and ending on June 10, 2016.

District Initiatives

In the 2012, the District required three major initiatives to be the focus of professional development: Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the English Learner Master Plan, and the Teaching and Learning Framework. The shift to school-wide professional development has modified the role for professional learning communities, which complement school-wide PD. A primary PD focus has been the transition to the Common Core State Standards, with interim assessments replacing the older CSTs in 2013-14 and the first Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessments completed in spring 2015.

ELC Administrative Staff

Elizabeth Learning Center welcomed its new Principal, Mr. Damian Lenon, at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year. Since the last full WASC visit, the assistant principal overseeing preparations for the three-year 2013 WASC revisit left in 2013 as part of Reduction in Force (RIF) layoffs. In the summer of 2015, the assistant principal who oversaw WASC preparations, data analysis, and testing accepted a position as principal at another school. The other previous assistant principals all left due to RIFs, displacement, or retirement. Currently, there are two centrally funded assistant principal positions, and two additional assistant principals funded through the school. Since 2010, the school’s administration has decreased from seven centrally funded assistant principal positions K-12 to four full-time assistant principals. In the fall of 2015, ELC received two new assistant principals

ELC Instructional Staff Changes

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Since the last full visit, state funding cuts led to district-wide and ELC teacher reassignments. Several new teachers who were new to teaching high school joined the staff. Still, about 95 percent of ELC K-12 teachers are NCLB qualified and have the appropriate credentials for all classes they teach. This compares favorably to 20 teachers without Clear Credentials in 2009-10. ELC teachers have taught an average of over 17 years in LAUSD and over 14 years at ELC. New lead teachers were elected in all three academies prior to the 2013 visit, and have remained for roughly five to six years. As a result, the Health and Infotech academy policies and practices remain stable.

Instructional and Professional Development Changes

Instructional changes have included emphasis on the following:

Common Core Standards and assessments Close reading strategies Developing an argument with textual evidence Critical questioning Critical thinking Research-based learning Student developed questions Displaying Common Core Standards, learning objectives, and assigned tasks Continued use of data Purposeful group work Engagement Writing Across the Curriculum Writing project-based strategies Differentiated instruction Smarter Balanced Assessments and helping students adjust to the computer-based tests Research and writing approaches to mathematical problem solving Explaining the steps to solve complex mathematical word problems Justifying the thinking and process by which the student arrives at a answer

Counseling Changes

The Counseling Center has created a comprehensive whole-student team approach to assisting students. This has led to an enhanced level of active cooperation among counselors, teachers, and support staff in assisting students. This has been achieved despite considerable setbacks. The loss of the ninth-grade counselor in 2010-2011 caused a substantial (approximately 33%) increase in the case load for the Health and Infotech counselors. The cutting of the College Counselor position required a new approach, including counseling interns. The school also lost a team of six ELA and math coaches after June 2010, leaving those functions to their respective academic departments. Nonetheless, grade-to-grade matriculation rates and overall graduation

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rates improved overall. The instructional staff adjusted to these changes in ways that maintained and/or increased student achievement.

Since 2010, students pre-register for classes in grades 9-12. This pre-registration helps ensure students are entered into the required classes and keeps changes to a minimum. This is in keeping with our 2010 Action Plan, which aims to further ensure a comprehensive, responsive counseling program for all students. Since 2013, all juniors and seniors not only register for classes during the summer, but also check IGP and graduation credits with counselors, allowing for additional and timely interventions. This leads to a minimum of disruption, fewer students behind in classes, and more on-task instructional time.

Assessment and Achievement Changes

A major change has been the adoption of the Common Core Standards and Smarter Balanced Assessments, which is a fundamentally new way of testing achievement. Under the old CSTs, API increased each year from 2010 to 724 in 2013, when the CST was abandoned by the state. The score was 657 in 2009. Between 2010 and 2013, proficient/advanced students in English Language Arts grew steadily from 41% to 48.5%. Mathematics jumped from 9.7% in 2008-9 to 31% in 2013. Approximately 93% of ELC students completed the new Smarter Balanced Assessment in 2015. This will be a baseline to measure progress from this point.

In 2012-2013, after several years of rising API results, ELC’s API fell slightly short of expectations and LAUSD applied for CORE waiver of NCLB for ELC and many other schools, which was granted. The SQIS accountability structure now applies.

CASHEE English Language Arts passing rates increased steadily from 73.9% in 2010-11 to 77.5% in 2014-15 with the number proficient highest in 2014-15. This compares to 66% for ELC ELA in 2008-9.

CASHEE Mathematics passing rates increased from 73.5% in 2010-11 to 77.3% in 2014-15. This compares to 54 percent for ELC mathematics in 2008-9. The CASHEE has since been suspended. A Saturday CASHEE Boot Camp contributed to these results.

Graduation rates were 93% in 2015, compared to 89% in 2012 and 90.3% reported for 2008-9 in the last WASC Self-Study.

From 2012 to 2014, the Advanced Placement course passage rate was above 90%.

In 2011-2012, 91 of 175 (52%) of the seniors took the SAT, and only 4.4 percent of the scores were at or above 1500. However, in 2013-2014, 69% sat for the SAT, and the portion of students at or above 1500 more than tripled to 13.37%.

Master Schedule Changes

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ELC course offerings have shifted to meet A-G Requirements. In 2013-14, about 55% of students met A-G requirements, compared to 30% for the District and 36% for the state. This also is an increase from 2012 and 2013. About 53% of grade 9-12 students at ELC were on track in 2014-15 to meet A-G requirements compared to 42.4% for LAUSD.

The percentage of students enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement course has been trending upward, including for LEP students as a result of encouraging students to enroll in these challenging courses. AP European History and AP Chemistry were added as offerings, although 2014-15 did not have sufficient numbers for AP Chemistry.

Core departments each have common conference periods, allowing for common planning time, common review of periodic and other assessments and professional development, including best practicesSophomores, juniors and seniors have pure academy classes in English, History and Science..Ninth and tenth grade students are now placed in physical education classes at the end of the day so that they miss less instructional time.

All ninth grade students now take a semester of Algebra Tutorial Lab to increase critical mathematics skills.

Other Changes

The 2013-14 school year was the last year ELC received QEIA funding. This has required a consolidation of resources and new, creative approaches. State funding from Proposition 30 helped to restore some positions and programs.

The Elizabeth Learning Center Alumni Association was formed, and they are now holding workshops to assist students with college applications, letters of recommendation, and college essays.

A new cafeteria was constructed over a one-year period in 2012-13 and has been in full operation. Installation of solar panels over the Elizabeth Street parking lot and the athletic fields saves money and contributes to a cleaner environment.

The number of applicants to the high school academies has dropped due to the change to a single-track schedule, changes in district recruitment policies, and more choices for entering freshmen in the Zone of Choice model. Now ELC admits all applicants who are selected through Zone of Choice.

Beginning in 2014-15, high school students have received books during the summer for the next year’s classes, saving instructional time.

The number of ELC students completing a Career Technical Education Pathway toward career readiness rose to 91% and 88% respectively in 2013 and 2014 from 36% in 2012.

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Drop-out rates among student in grades 9 to 12 decreased from 8.7% in 2010-11 to 3.2% in 2012-13, compared to 17.2% in the District and 11.4% across the state in 2012-13. This compares to an 8.1% ELC dropout rate in 2008-9, as reported in the 2010 WASC Self-Study.

Student suspension rates decreased from 2.5% in 2010-11 to 0.7% in 2012-13, compared to 0.9% in the district and 4.4% in the state in 2012-13. This compares to 29 in 2008-9 as reported in the last ELC WASC Self-Study.

Expulsions for ELC were zero from 2012 through 2014, compared to two expulsions in 2008-9 for ELC as reported in the last WASC Self-Study.

2013 WASC Visiting Committee Recommendations

ELC should continue to find ways of implementing interventions for struggling students during the school day. (Action Plan Item #1)

Based on grades and other performance data, struggling students assigned as needed to intervention classes to bolster performance in specific disciplines. All 9th-grade students who earned a D or F in their 8th-grade math classes are automatically assigned to Algebra 1 Tutorial Lab to ensure their eligibility for Geometry the following year.

Another critical area of intervention is ELD instruction, testing, and reclassification. Despite our reclassification numbers being at the top of the District, we still strive to improve these numbers. In addition to a Title III ELD coach who joined us three years ago, we have hired an ELD intervention counselor to assist in this effort.

CAHSEE Prep has been offered every year during the regular school day for sophomores preparing for the test administered in June, but this is now on hold until a final decision is made by the California Department of Education on the fate of the CAHSEE. This class has helped ELC maintain one of the highest first-time CAHSEE passage rates in the region, contributing to our high graduation rates.

In responding to students’ needs for intervention during normal class hours, teachers are encouraged to follow best practices as outlined in the Pre-Referral Intervention Manual (PRIM), and to use purposeful, heterogeneous grouping strategies to ensure full participation by all students. Teachers also post the relevant Common Core standards, assigned tasks, rubrics, and explain instructional objectives to their classes to ensure all student understands what is required of them.

As budget constraints continue to be an issue, ELC should work to ensure that its EL students receive adequate intervention time. (Action Plan Item #1)

ELC strives to allot ample classroom time for English learners to meet the goal of

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reclassification. English Language Development 1 and 2 students are enrolled in a double-block class for their English class, and ELD 3 and 4 students have a sheltered English class along with ELD 3 or 4 class. Long-term English learners (LTELs) are enrolled in a sheltered English class, along with either Language and Literacy or Advanced ELD.

Our Title III ELD Coach supports ELD teachers by modeling lessons so that teachers have an opportunity to improve their ELD teaching skills and their use of classroom time in order to serve students more effectively. Additionally, the Title III Coach often meets with students in small groups to offer specially targeted support.

An after-school math intervention class meets three hours per week to help students receiving D’s or F’s in Algebra 1 & 2 to bring their grades up. A large portion of these students are English learners who miss out on important points during regular class hours directly because of their inability to speak or decode academic English. The teacher for the after-school math program is fluent in Spanish, offering a unique learning opportunity for these students.

ELC should make sure that it continues to seek authentic input from its stakeholders.

ELC continues to reach out to all of its stakeholders in multiple ways. The Principal meets monthly with parents for Coffee With the Principal, where he updates parents on the developments in school policies regarding teaching strategies, discipline, making appointments to meet with teachers, and upcoming school events. Parents are encouraged to share their concerns in and informal setting where they can express themselves openly about their learning goals for their children. The Principal has made this an ideal opportunity for parents to express their concerns and share their children’s successes. The meetings are also structured to allow authentic input as they relate to the goals of the SPSA. The SPSA document is reviewed twice a year during these parent meetings, one in the fall and one in the spring. The SPSA review is conducted to make sure that current available data can be shared with the parents as it relates to the school’s progress toward meeting the goals. The SPSA is evaluated annually by the SSC, which includes teachers, parents, the students, and the Principal. This also allows for authentic input into the development of, or updates to, the SPSA based on the available data. WASC has been on the Coffee With the Principal agenda monthly, allowing for parents to contribute to the development of the SLOs and the parent involvement of the WASC Self-Study document.

In faculty meetings, the Principal and other members of the Instructional Leadership Team are always open to questions and comments regarding all facets of the school’s affairs. Time is provided as needed for questions and commentary, and teachers and administrators engage in honest, open discussions in a supportive atmosphere. Every high school teacher on staff was involved in the development of the WASC document through their participation in one of the Focus Groups. They met five times to write their portions of the document, and each team reviewed drafts by the other teams in order to provide additional information and helpful feedback.

School Management Council offers opportunities for membership and participation among students, parents, teachers, and other staff to make key decisions regarding the school’s

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discipline policy, use of facilities, and other issues related to overall school management and planning. School Site Council, which oversees the apportioning of categorical funds to meet the needs of at-risk students, encourages membership among students, parents, teachers, and other staff to ensure that funds are targeted in the best manner possible to promote achievement among all of our students, since ELC is a Title 1 Schoolwide Program campus.

Our Principal, who joined ELC in the fall of 2014, has opened up teacher-run Professional Development meetings in order to encourage authentic participation from all teachers in their own on-going training. The Principal acknowledges that teachers are in the best position to know where their specific training needs lie, and are often the best-trained in their specific disciplines to provide such training. The Health and Infotech academies continue to meet monthly as well, discussing matters specific to their respective disciplines and funding sources. The two academies operate with a great measure of independence in their planning and management, consulting with Administration on matters of spending, course offerings, and teaching assignments.

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Chapter III: Student/Community Profile — Overall Summary from Analysis of Profile Data and Progress

Implications of Student Performance Data

From 2009 to 2013, there was an upward trend in students in grades 9 to 11 scoring proficient or advanced on the CST. In 2011-2012, there was a slight dip of 2.8 points, but with the redoubling of our efforts in classroom interventions, counseling, tutoring, and professional development, the score rebounded to a high mark of 48.5% proficient or advanced in 2012-2013, resuming the upward trend.

The rate of English learners reclassifying to RFEP (Reclassified Fluent English Proficient) rose from 14 percent in 2011-2012 to 23 percent in 2014-2015, showing significant progress among our EL students, along with the ELD teachers who have focused their efforts in helping these students.

Particularly notable are ELC’s high school graduation rates, which remain among the highest in the District. Although our graduates dipped to 88 percent in 2010-2011, they resumed their high rates, peaking in 2012-2013 with 95 percent and still maintaining an enviable 93 percent grad rate in 2013-2014. Academy counselors and DEFCON help with ensuring that students stay on target in regards to their graduation credits. Intervention opportunities are made available to students to ensure that they meet the requirements. Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs) are coordinated by academic counselors to aid students in monitoring their progress through the completion of graduation requirements.

These data demonstrate first of all that ELC students possess the basic, underlying motivation to succeed in their studies, and by extension, in their lives after graduation. Students and their families are focused on school and career paths, and this is a large part of the reason they continue to do well along numerous metrics, with their past CST performance, English learner reclassification rates, and graduation rates as prime examples.

Also, attendance rates have been far above the District’s average. These rates are the product of several programs at ELC, the most significant of which are our academies’ push to make our campus atmosphere an inclusive environment. Personalization is an integral focus of our academies. Further contributing to the inclusive, personalized atmosphere are the academic counselors, who play a vital role in ensuring that students attend class daily, and a PSA Counselor who is on campus for three days a week to ensure that students are present. Attendance Incentive Awards Ceremonies are held on a monthly basis to reward students attend classes daily. Senior Contracts help raise students’ attendance since seniors cannot have more than 10 days of absences, and daily tardy sweeps also ensure that students are present. Further fueling the positive gains made by our students are the ongoing conversations occurring among teachers, department chairs, leads, administrators, and support personnel about how to improve what we do to serve our students’ academic and career aspirations. Professional development organized by both teachers and administrators has offered teachers opportunities to

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explore the things they do well in the classroom, along with areas that can be further honed to offer the best overall learning experience for our students. Our Nurse, Psychologist, and Psychiatric Social Worker have contributed greatly to making sure our students’ physical, social, and emotional needs are met as needed to ensure the overall health and well-being of our students.

Critical Learner Needs

An area of particular concern to the ELC community is the confluence of two student groups who are struggling to reclassify as RFEPs. The first group is comprised of the 75% of our HS ELs who are not meeting the CELDT requirement for reclassification. The majority have been in ELD for many years, some as far back as the elementary grades, but despite the interventions of many years, they persist as long-term English learners (LTELs). In order to reclassify, these students must meet three criteria: 1) a passing score on the CELDT, 2) a satisfactory score on the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI), and 3) a passing mark in their ELA/ELD course. Of the 94 ELS in the high school, 71 are at ELD levels 1-3 as measured by the overall score on the latest CELDT.

The second group, or group within a group, consists of the 36% of our high school ELs who also have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and are receiving Special Education services. These individuals, 4.7% of our high school population, continue to lag behind at the beginning, early intermediate, and intermediate levels of English.

For these two groups, particularly the combined EL/Special Education students, the school community needs to explore new interventions to equip these students with the tools to meet all three criteria for reclassification. Reclassifying to RFEP is a how ELs demonstrate they have mastered the basic English communication skills necessary to survive in postsecondary education and in their future careers. Our ELD teachers and Special Education teachers, along with Special Education Teacher Assistants, involve students in meaningful, productive learning activities, but more must be done to help this small yet still underperforming group.

Questions Based on Analysis

Having reviewed a wide variety of achievement, demographic, and perception data, the ELC community has identified a number of questions to be discussed by the school’s Home and Focus Groups. Of these issues, three in particular stand out in terms of their urgency and relevance as key indicators of how the school is performing.

Student performance: What we can we do to ensure that all of our students are prepared to sit for the new online Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC)? Our first round of SBAC testing in spring 2015, intended for calibration and familiarization purposes, yielded fairly positive results, especially when compared to other schools in our local district. However, what can we do to ensure rising progress on this new online testing platform over future administrations of this assessment? The solutions to this question are embedded not only in good

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pedagogy but in accessibility to technology as well. The school is purchasing more tablet computers to complement its current inventory, but what further kinds of training will be necessary for both teachers and students to ensure adequate preparation for our students? Demographics: Given that 81% of our school’s students live at or below the Federal poverty line, resulting in our Title 1 School-Wide Program status, how can we continue to ensure that our students are receiving the services they need to graduate from high school and enjoy equal access to a college education and a successful career? Owing to our SWP Title 1 status, students have access to a wide range of benefits and services, including free lunch, low-cost Advanced Placement testing, free SATs, and free or low-cost college applications. Nonetheless, many of our high school graduates are still struggling to pass their college classes and enter into professional careers. So what can the school do to enhance our students’ chances of life-long success after graduation?

Parent perceptions: Parent responses on the School Report Card are positive and encouraging, yet what can we do as a school to reach out more to parents and ensure they are genuinely involved in the ELC community and their children’s formal education? In 2013, 80% of parents responded in the affirmative to the statement, “I feel welcome to participate at this school.” In 2014, 84% of parents responded “Yes” to this same item. It is apparent that we are improving our ability to engage parents, but until we see 100% of all parents meaningfully involved in their children’s learning and in the school community, we must intensify our efforts to engage in frequent communication with parents and keep them involved in campus activities, including English Language Acquisition Committee (ELAC) meetings, SSC and SMC meetings, Coffee With the Principal, meetings with individual teachers, and Family Center activities.

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Chapter IV: Self-Study Findings

Category A: Organization: Vision and Purpose, Governance, Leadership, Staff, and Resources

A1. Vision and Purpose CriterionThe school has a clearly stated vision and mission (purpose) based on its student needs, current educational research, current educational research, the district LCAP, and the belief that all students can achieve at high academic levels. Supported by the governing board and the district LCAP, the school’s purpose is defined further by schoolwide learner outcomes and the academic standards.

Findings Supporting Evidence

NARRATIVE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND EVIDENCE

At the time of the last full WASC visit in 2010, the Vision, Mission, and ESLRs (now SLOs) of the school had been recently evaluated, rewritten, and revised by the stakeholders. During the 2008-9 school year, Elizabeth Learning Center began a process to review and revise the Vision, Mission, and ESLRs of the school. ELC researched and evaluated what was done at other organizations and schools. Focus groups each reviewed the information and drafted the Vision, Mission, and ESLRs, and then circulated them among groups of stakeholders, including the elementary and middle school faculty, classified staff, parents, and students for input. These were merged into a single document. This process was completed in the fall of 2009, and copies of these documents were distributed to teachers. ELC’s Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and Schoolwide Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are now more concise and more easily understood by students at all grade levels. The simpler wording allows all students to connect the Vision, Mission, and ESLRs to what they are doing in their classes.

Since that time, the Vision, Mission, and SLOs were distributed to all classes for posting, and the school periodically checks to ensure they remain posted. Teachers employ these in lesson planning, thematic projects, and instruction on a regular basis. The staff, governing councils, and other stakeholders regularly review these for possible revisions, but the existing versions continue to be found effective. Student leadership holds events where students compete based on their knowledge of these. The Vision,

Copies of Vision, Mission andSLOs in classrooms

Student/community profile data

Research-based knowledge ofteaching and learning

National and state educationalissues—NCLB, AYP, standards-based education, CAHSEE, and ELL documents

Notes, minutes, emails, and agendas

WASC leadership group minutes, notes, and emails

Newsletters to parents andstakeholders often include theVision, Mission, and SLOs.

Student leadership documents

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Mission, and SLOs have been posted on the school website and displayed in bulletins and communications to parents. In the Summer Summits of 2014 and 2015, high school leadership students created fully aligned student-based vision and mission statements to further guide students in their leadership class.

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A2. Governance CriterionThe governing board (a) has policies and bylaws that are aligned with the school’s purpose and support the achievement of the schoolwide learner outcomes and academic, college, and career standards based on data-driven instructional decisions for the school; (b) delegates implementation of these policies to the professional staff; and (c) monitors results regularly and approves the single schoolwide action plan and its relationship to the Local Control and Accountability Plan.



Elizabeth Learning Center (ELC) is a pre-K-12 span school within the Los Angeles Unified School District, with governance under the Los Angeles Unified School District/United Teachers, Los Angeles Collective Bargaining Agreement. Elizabeth Learning Center has two governing boards: School Management Council (SMC) and School Site Council (SSC). Both boards have policies and bylaws that were voted on by the boards to be aligned with District policies and guidelines, and the school’s purpose. These are revised from time to time. Since 2013, financing has been subject to the LCAP (Local Control Accountability Plan), and all decisions by the governing boards must also comply with LCAP guidelines and procedures. The SSC makes decisions regarding the Single Plan for Student Achievement and the use of categorical funds while SMC deals with operational processes, including professional development.

The SSC monitors progress toward the goals of the SPSA in relation to Local Educational Authority (LEA) and LCAP. The SSC monitors statutorily required data related to Title I and Title III funding and the SPSA. This data is then shared with the SMC and SSC when relevant to their issues.

Parents are elected as representatives on all councils, including SMC, SSC, ELAC, and CEAC. Parents are full voting members on these councils, who participate in decision-making on budget expenditures and campus policies. Parent groups are also consulted by the principal on many key decisions and advise the principal on budgeting issues. Parents also meet informally with the principal to discuss issues during the monthly Coffee With the Principal meetings. In 2014, a PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) was formed and, among its various functions, it provides the principal

Parent participation—Parent Center, SMC, SSC, CEAC, and ELAC minutes, sign–in sheets and documents reviewed and produced

Selection, composition and duties of governing board: election documents, lists of members, list of duties, minutes

Evidence of monitoring ofperformance and fiscal health:Minutes of SSC

Frequency and regularity of council meetings: agenda, minutes, notices, sign-in sheets

CPA annual reports and studentdata files

PLC minutes, notes, and agendas

Elizabeth Learning Center WASC Self-Study 2016, Chapter 4

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with timely feedback on matters relating to the educational process. Although not specifically governing boards, there are a number of groups that make limited decisions affecting the high school. There are two California Partnership Academies (CPAs), which have been operating within the larger high school structure for about 20 years. Both of these groups make spending decisions on the CPA grant (normally $72,000 to $81,000 per year) and the Perkins grant funds, as well as decisions concerning curriculum, thematic teaching, projects, activities, interventions, and motivational efforts. The academies collect data for the CPA report including family income, at-risk factors, attendance, graduation, credits, and performance data, as well as data dealing with mentorships, CTE course work, post-graduate career paths, community service, and projects.

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A3. Leadership: Continuous Planning and Monitoring CriterionBased on student achievement data, the school leadership, parent/community, and staff make decisions and initiate activities that focus on all students achieving the schoolwide learner outcomes and academic, college, and career standards. The school leadership and staff annually monitor and refine the single schoolwide action plan and make recommendations to modify the LCAP based on analysis of data to ensure alignment with student needs.


The Instructional Leadership Team meets once a week to discuss issues directly affecting the Schoolwide Learner Outcomes and Schoolwide Action Plan. The ILT consists of the Principal, Assistant Principals, Categorical Program Advisor, TSP Advisor, Dean of Students, EL Coordinator, and EL Advisor. These individuals discuss a wide range of topics related to helping enhancing learning in all students from Pre-K through 12th Grade, including at-risk students, English learners, and students with special needs. The ILT identifies the human, physical, and financial resources to support learning and monitors the effectiveness of these resources toward meeting the SLOs, taking into consideration feedback from the Family Center, Student Government, teachers, SSC, SMC, and ELAC.

Parents and other community members offer their feedback through monthly Coffee with the Principal, meetings of the SSC, SMC, and ELAC, and interaction with school staff during Back-to-School Night, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Open House, individual parent-teacher meetings, and casual interactions among parents, students, school personnel, and other community members on campus.

Guest speakers from industry inform students and teachers of the latest trends in the health and information technology industries, and members of the Health and Infotech academies attend the annual Educating for Careers Conference, in conjunction with California Partnership Academies and California Career Pathways Consortia, in Sacramento. This exposure helps Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers stay abreast of the latest developments in technology and in systems designed to inculcate this new information in their students.

Representatives from every part of the ELC community—SSC, SMC, ELAC, Student Government, and Family Center, and other groups—meet regularly to analyze school data and

Schoolwide Learner Outcomes

ILT Agendas

SSC Agendas and Minutes

SMC Agendas and Minutes

Local Control Accountability Plan

Local Control Funding Formula

Industry guest speakers

Educating for Careers Conference

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provide feedback regarding different aspects of the District’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) and the manner in which the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) is implemented at the school level. Members of these various groups also provide input into the annual review of the SPSA and Schoolwide Action Plan, and help to identify specific resources to carry out these two closely related plans in order to align these resources with the learning needs of students, as identified through achievement data.

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A4. Staff: Qualified and Professional Development CriterionA qualified staff facilitates achievement of the student academic standards and the schoolwide learner outcomes through a system of preparation, induction, and ongoing professional development. There is a systematic approach to continuous improvement through professional development based on student performance data, student needs, and research.



A total of 92% of our current high school classes are currently being taught by fully credentialed, NCLB compliant teachers. Those teachers who are still pursuing NCLB qualification status are enrolled in programs to fulfill their requirements, or are pursuing other District protocols to fulfill the requirements. Class assignments are based upon appropriate credentials and trainings. Teachers are evaluated based on the Teacher Growth and Development Cycle (TGDC) and the LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework.

The Faculty Handbook is available online to guide teachers in their daily activities, and regularly scheduled faculty and department meetings are held to support teachers in their growth as professional educators.

Professional Development provides a forum for teachers to receive current updates on the teaching profession from meeting facilitators and to meet in small groups to discuss meaningful ways to implement new teaching strategies. The English Writing Project was highly effective for English and writing across the curriculum in other subjects. The Math Department recently participated in an on-site presentation by Reggie Brookens, and LAUSD math lead who discussed pair-share learning strategies in the classroom. Many math classes use pair-share and other purposeful grouping strategies to support student learning. The History teachers have been engaged in similar training, and Science teachers recently completed a UCLA Center X Training in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

Administrators observe classrooms applying the LAUSD Teacher Growth and Development Cycle (TGDC) and LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework, providing teachers with feedback so that they may enhance their capacity to lead students in challenging, CCSS-aligned

Credential records

BTSA documentation

Certifications

Online Faculty Handbook

Teacher Growth and Development Cycle

Teaching and Learning Framework

District records

State records

Evaluation documentation

Individual and faculty professional development sign-in sheets

Agendas

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learning activities.

Professional development continues to be an ongoing, cyclical process of reviewing and discussing achievement data, identifying student needs, and implementing strategies to support student learning. PD sessions embrace new information on teaching, parent-teacher communication, the TGDC, the CCSS, online learning systems, and other material immediately relevant to raising student achievement. The overall effectiveness of all of these strategies is evident in ELC’s previously high CST scores, high attendance rate, zero suspensions and expulsions, and traditionally high graduation rate.

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A5. Resources CriterionThe human, material, physical, and financial resources are sufficient and utilized effectively and appropriately in accordance with the legal intent of the program(s) and LCAP to support students in accomplishing the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.



The processes currently in use in relationship to District practices for developing an annual budget and conducting an annual review of the SPSA include monthly meetings of the School Site Council, the Site Management Council, and the English Learner Advisory Council. SSC meets to allocate money for specific expenditures and to review the effectiveness of funds spent on raising student achievement at all grade levels. SMC meets monthly to make decisions primarily regarding facilities usage, student discipline, and spending of General Fund money on supplementary instructional materials.

Each of these bodies meets to review the funding for the different programs and supports designed to support all students, including at-risk students, English learners, and special needs students, towards success on the Common Core Standards-based curricula.

School site processes are in place to ensure compliance with Federal, State, and District practices for developing an annual budget, spending on strategies to bolster student learning, and following the appropriate protocols in the handling of general and categorical funds.

The annual budget is developed with the support of a fiscal specialist assigned to the school by the local district office. A spending plan is submitted to the district office for compliance review and subsequent approval. These budgets include Title I, Title III, TSP (targeted student population, including migrant, homeless, and low-performing students), General Fund budgets, and the Core Waiver Plan.

The school’s facilities are adequate to meet the school’s Vision, Mission, and Schoolwide Learner Outcomes; the educational programs are safe, functional, and carried out in a

Single Plan for Student Achievement

SSC minutes

SMC minutes

ELAC minutes

Williams Consent Decree

Categorical budgets

General Fund budgets

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professional manner. Accordingly, the school’s facilities support the school’s Mission, Vision, and Schoolwide Learner Outcomes through the use of the Safe School Plan.

The policies and procedures for acquiring and maintaining adequate instructional materials and equipment, such as textbooks, other printed materials, audio-visual, support technology, manipulatives, and laboratory materials are effective. All students in core classes receive textbooks approved by the Williams consent decree, which guarantees that all LAUSD students receive a standards-based textbook in each core class.

The Health and Infotech academies both depend greatly on Perkins funding to purchase the technological equipment necessary to teach students in their respective areas of career preparation. Purchases include classroom and laboratory equipment, computers and peripherals, general supplies, instructional materials, teacher training, and technical support. Expenditures are reviewed by faculty of each academy, the Principal, and the Local District Career Technical Education coordinator.

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ACS WASC Category A. Organization: Vision and Purpose, Governance, Leadership, Staff, and Resources:

Summary, Strengths, and Growth Needs Review all the findings and supporting evidence and summarize the degree to which the criteria in Category A are being met. Include comments about the degree to which these criteria impact the school’s ability to address one or more of the identified critical learner needs. Summary:

Elizabeth Learning Center periodically reviews its Vision, Mission, and Schoolwide Learning Outcomes, which are grounded in student needs and the LAUSD Local Control Accountability Plan.

ELC has a Schoolwide Action Plan and a Single Plan for Student Achievement that are reviewed periodically by various groups within the school community to ensure alignment with the SLOs and the Local Control Accountability Plan.

The Instructional Leadership Team, SSC, SMC, ELAC, Student Government, the Family Center, and other school groups continually inform the process of educating our students and aligning their learning with the Common Core Standards, the Schoolwide Action Plan, and the SLOs.

Currently, 92% of our high school teachers are highly qualified as defined under No Child Left Behind, with 8% currently pursuing the fulfillment of NCLB requirements through either District or university coursework.

ELC’s staff, parent volunteers, and physical and financial resources are sufficient to carry out the school’s purpose in preparing its students for postsecondary study and careers.

Prioritize the strengths and areas of growth for Category A.Category A: Organization: Vision and Purpose, Governance, Leadership, Staff, and Resources: Areas of Strength

Strengths:

Clear, focused sense of purpose and school identity Well-managed and adequately funded academic and career-oriented learning

Areas for Growth:

Increase portion of NCLB-qualified teachers to 100% qualified. Find ways to elicit greater parent participation in school’s decision-making.

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Category B: Standards-based Student Learning: Curriculum

B1. Rigorous and Relevant Standards-Based Curriculum CriterionAll students participate in a rigorous, relevant, and coherent standards-based curriculum that supports the achievement of the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. Through standards-based learning (what is taught and how it is taught), these are accomplished.

Indicators with Prompts

Current Educational Research and Thinking

Indicator: The school provides examples that document the effective use of current educational research related to the curricular areas in order to maintain a viable, meaningful instructional program that prepares students for college, career, and life.

Prompt: Comment on the effective use of current educational research related to the curricular areas to maintain a viable, meaningful instructional program for students. Examine the effectiveness of how the school staff stay current and revise the curriculum appropriately.Findings Supporting Evidence

Elizabeth Learning Center utilizes current educational research to maintain a viable and meaningful instructional program for students through professional learning communities, small schools, and schoolwide professional development. Every member of ELC is in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) that consists of members in content-alike subject matter.

Using principles from Richard Dufour’s PLC Cycle ofContinuous Improvement (9-Step Cycle), ELC’s commitment to key essential standards guides the creation of common lessons, scope and sequence plans, formative/summative assessments, and regular examination of student achievement data (District-wide interim assessments, PLC formative assessments, and end-of-course assessments).

Teachers participate in peer observations once a semester or independently, using the LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework to guide them through the Lesson Study process. The Framework, based on the work of Charlotte Danielson (2007), prepares teachers for participation in the District’s Teacher Growth and Development Cycle, the formal assessment tool used by administrators to observe classroom teaching.

English and mathematics teachers incorporate the CommonCore State Standards through their PLC work in their

Lesson plans

LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework

LAUSD Teacher Growth and Development Cycle

Formative assessments

Summative assessments

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common lessons and assessments. All other content areas utilize the California Content Standards and the Common Core Career and College Readiness ELA Anchor Standards.

Local District and LAUSD initiatives regarding instructional practices are implemented at ELC. Professional development focuses on the instructional mandates and educational research focused on improving student achievement among subgroups through effective first instruction. Teachers are encouraged to attend professional development offered by District personnel and by the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE).

Numerous professional development sessions have been devoted to strategies for implementing technology in the classroom. PD Facilitators work on developing PD that provides teachers opportunities to practice using technology that can then be used in the classroom. Our PD Committee looks for opportunities for teachers to explore ways to implement new ideas in an organized, coherent way.

Participating in WASC visitations is another way of informing practice. Two ELC teachers have been recent WASC visiting members. They have brought back best instructional practices to the school, departments, PLCs, and academies. Discussions are held regarding what best practices ELC could utilize for improvement of student achievement and meeting students’ needs.

Academic and College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Each Area

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Indicator: The school has defined academic standards and college- and career readiness standards for each subject area, course, and/or program and, where applicable, expectations within the courses that meet the UC “a-g” requirements.

Prompt: Evaluate to what extent there are defined academic standards and college- and career readiness standards for each subject area, course, and/or program that meet state or national/international standards and, where applicable, expectations within courses that meet the UC “a-g” requirements. Examine the annual submission of course syllabus approval to UC for all AP courses. Verify that the facility requirements for "wet labs" are met for all lab science courses.Findings Supporting Evidence

All high school courses at ELC meet the standards and approvals required for their inclusion in the school’s academic offerings. English, Math, and social Science classes are rooted in the Common Core Standards, and all Science classes follow the California Standards.

Every year, the school submits class lists of all A-G required courses to the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). In order to meet the demands of A-G requirements, All science classes are wet-lab compliant as required for UC A-G approval (e.g., for every six students, one sink must be available). All science classes meet the requirement of having a Lab Safety Contract and one lab session per week. In addition, all of ELC’s A-G courses require students to produce a formal research paper citing both quantitative and qualitative data. The U.S. Department of Education Career and College Readiness Standards also help to inform the curriculum where necessary to ensure students are prepared for college and future gainful employment as educated professionals.

Every new teacher of an Advanced Placement (AP) course must submit a syllabus to the College Board for approval before being permitted to teach the course. All new courses listed as “AP” receive approval from the College Board before being offered to students.

UCOP A-G course approvals

AP syllabi and approvals

Lab Safety Contract

Student research papers citing quantitative and qualitative data

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Additional Online Instruction Prompts: Evaluate the extent to which the online curriculum/courses consistently meet state academic standards. Determine if there is effective integration of outsourced curriculum into the program.Findings Supporting Evidence

All required online student work is closely aligned with the Common Core Standards. Normally, online assignments are an extension of a larger assignment, which is aligned with the CCSS and often based on textbooks that cite specific Common Core Standards in the text. Online tasks include research and writing, along with composing lists of references following the Modern Language Association (MLA) format.

Math teachers use ALEKS (an online math intervention program) to target students who are not making adequate progress or who may need additional support meeting proficiency in the CCSS math standards.

Another online resource we used from 2012-2013 to 2014-2015 to support students in accordance with the CCSS is APEX. This allowed students to recover credit for A-G courses that are also required for graduation during a zero period. However, based on District recommendations, we have changed from APEX to the online, Common Core-aligned learning system EDGENUITY for credit recovery.

CCSS-based online student work, including MLA-based lists of references

Classroom observations

Interviews with teachers

Congruence

Indicator: There is congruence between the actual concepts and skills taught, the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.

Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which there is congruence between the actual concepts and skills taught, the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

Our School-wide Learner Outcomes state that students will promote critical and creative thinking, reach goals through collaboration, inspire lifelong learning, develop meaningful community and global contributions, and engage in effective communication.

The CCSS and CCRS embrace all of these ideals, and the high school habitually embeds these goals in its classes and

ELC Alumni Association

Schoolwide Learning Outcomes posted in classrooms

ELC graduate visitors from industry

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extracurricular activities and delivers educational programs specifically designed to achieve them. The clearest evidence of our focus on success, as expressed through our SLOs, is our high graduation rate, which depends on students being inspired to attend school, and our high number of students who continue on into community colleges and universities to fulfill their personal goals for an education and career training. Our graduates frequently visit the campus to volunteer their services in working with current high school students and recently have founded the Elizabeth Learning Center Alumni Association, which is another means of giving back to the school. All of this activity clearly points to a strong sense of school pride and a feeling of belonging, which are clearly rooted in the school’s high academic standards and SLOs.

ELC graduate visitors from colleges and universities

Student Work — Engagement in Learning

Indicator: The school’s examination of representative samples of student work and snapshots of student engagement in learning demonstrate the implementation of a standards-based curriculum and the schoolwide learner outcomes.

Prompt: Evaluate to what extent the examination of representative samples of student work and snapshots of student engagement in learning demonstrate the implementation of a standards-based curriculum and the addressing of the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

A review of student research papers and Academy inter-thematic projects has revealed how student work demonstrates strong implementation of standards-based curriculum and expected school-wide learning results. As an example, the Health Academy first semester sophomore project is a career exploration project which draws heavily from CTE standards as well as Common Core ELA standards for research, reading, listening, and speaking. Students are asked to analyze quantitative data relating to careers of interest. The second-semester sophomore project requires students to research a health condition and produce a multimedia presentation for delivery to the community at a health fair. Science standards are an integral part of this project, as are Common Core Standards for math and ELA.

Some examples of how student work has demonstrated the development of academic skills include:

Student research papers and reflections

Student inter-thematic papers

Student PowerPoints

Student websites

ELC Habitat Gardens

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● Daily opportunities to work/share/participate and present information tied to learning outcomes

● Graphic organizers and sample projects that demonstrate standard based curriculum and learning outcomes

● Use of academic language in discussions as evidence of student based learning

● Student-designed PowerPoints and websites which embed school-wide learning outcomes

● Tech Academy projects demonstrating use of 21st century technology skills

● AP Environmental Science and AP Biology students engaging all SLOs during their hands-on experience with the ELC Habitat Gardens (Outdoor Ecology & Biology lab spaces). From developing the topography and hydrology of vernal pools to monitoring biodiversity and the effects of climate change on micro-habitats, students utilize multiple learning modalities as they engage in data collection and data interpretation.

Integration Among Disciplines

Indicator: There is integration among academic and career technical disciplines at the school and where applicable, integration of outsourced curriculum into the program so that curricular integrity, reliability, and security are maintained.

Prompt: Evaluate to what extent is there integration among disciplines and where applicable, integration of outsourced curriculum into the program so that curricular integrity, reliability, and security are maintained.Findings Supporting Evidence

The Health Academy and Information Technology Academy meet and plan cross-curricular thematic units based on grade level. Examples of this would be the Health Academy's 10th grade Spring Project where students collaborate on how a health issue affects their community. Within this project, students produce research, PowerPoints, and group presentations. Health Professionals attend the ELC Health Fair to observe, mentor, and evaluate student projects and provide feedback to students, teachers, and the Health Academy Lead. Another example of a cross-curricular thematic project is the Technology Academy’s 11th grade service learning project. In history classes, students research the demographics of cities in our local community. The

Health Academy 10th grade Spring Projects

Infotech Academy 11th grade Service Learning Projects

Student PowerPoints

Student research papers with demographic data analysis

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students identify problems within their community, and with the help of their statistics teacher, they create survey questions addressing problems in the community. After their surveys are completed, students process and analyze the data to find out what the community feels is the most pressing problem. Students work in their groups and with teacher “advisors” to figure out a solution to the problem. In their English class, students create a research paper on the problem, and within the technology class students produce websites presenting the problem and the group’s solution.

At our summer retreat, teachers of 12th grade students meet and decide on a common theme. Our Principal recently spoke to the staff about Angela Duckworth’s research on the concept of “Grit” and personality traits as it correlates to students’ success. After this introduction, teachers of seniors decided that the theme for this year’s senior class would be “overcoming obstacles.” Through this theme, teachers focused on how individuals overcome political obstacles (Government), financial obstacles (Economics), and social obstacles (English & Spanish). As a team, teachers helped students understand how important it is to overcome obstacles with grit, an important character trait, and that students can change their own mindset, thereby enhancing their ability to succeed.

In transitioning to the Common Core, many classes have started to integrate Project-Based Learning assignments and Performance Tasks, which integrate other disciplines such as Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and History. An example of this is in the History Department, where teachers are using curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group. This curriculum teaches students how to investigate historical questions by employing reading strategies, such as sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and close reading. Instead of memorizing historical facts, students evaluate the trustworthiness of multiple perspectives on historical issues. They learn to make historical claims backed by documentary evidence.

Special education teachers are integrated into general education curriculum planning. Each SDC teacher attends the meeting relating to the department in which he or she teaches, and the RSP teachers attend the meetings for the department that the teacher supports the majority of the time. Also, the department collaborates among the different courses within

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the special education classes.

Curricular Development, Evaluation, and Revisions

Indicator: The school assesses its curriculum review and evaluation processes for each program area, including graduation requirements, credits, and homework and grading policies, to ensure student needs are met through a challenging, coherent, and relevant curriculum. This assessment includes the degree to which there is involvement of key stakeholders (governing board members, teachers, parents, and students).

Prompt: Comment on the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum review, evaluation, and review processes to ensure student needs are being met through the curriculum; include the extent to which there is involvement of key stakeholders.Findings Supporting Evidence

The school’s review and evaluation of curriculum is an ongoing set of multi-level activities encompassing teachers, counselors, students, parents, employers, and representatives from local colleges and universities. Each one of these sources informs the process of shaping curricula in the manner that best serves the students’ college and career aspirations.

The process includes student needs assessments, such as the CELDT, interim assessments, class work, GATE testing, and special education screening. The results of these various assessments, along with the needs established by College and Career Readiness Standards, the CCSS, the Career Technical Education (CTE) Standards, and other inputs listed above, are synthesized by teachers, counselors, and administrators into curricula reflecting all of these sources.

The cyclical process of analyzing student work and reshaping assignments to meet student needs is one aspect of curricular review. Another critically important facet of the review process consists of formal and informal observations by teachers within departments and across grade-levels. This offers an opportunity for teacher collaboration across the curriculum and allows for multiple feedback on the effectiveness of curricula as it unfolds in the classroom. Every summer and winter the Health Academy and Info Tech Academy meet for a three-day retreat to conduct an intensive analysis and revision of academy curricula. Additionally, the Health and Info Tech Academies’ steering committees help to

Health and Infotech meeting notes

Health and Infotech Academy semi-annual retreats

Interim assessments

CEDLT testing

GATE testing

Teacher peer observations

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guide curriculum in the CTE courses. Academy projects and curriculum are evaluated and revised based on student input during every summer retreat. Heath and Infotech academy meetings and regularly include curriculum updates.

Policies — Rigorous, Relevant, Coherent Curriculum

Indicator: The school assesses the curriculum and its rigor, relevancy, and coherency after examination of policies regarding course completion, credits, grading policies, homework, etc.

Prompt: Determine the extent to which key stakeholders are involved in the selection and evaluation of the curriculum to ensure it matches the school’s mission and schoolwide learner outcomes. Particularly evaluate the strategies used to solicit teacher input into the design of the curriculum and the use of technology within the curriculum.Findings Supporting Evidence

Academy leads, coordinators, department chairs, administrators receive input from teachers and students about what works and what needs replacement in curriculum. Campus leaders also review the school’s SLO’s, the CCSS, the CCRS, CTE guidelines, and District memoranda to inform the process of selecting new textbooks and other learning materials.

Curriculum development is active among the CTE teachers, and all curriculum under the Perkins program has been rewritten to address CSU A-G requirements. The classes in the Tech Academy and Health Academy were all approved by the UCOP for adoption in the 2015-2016 school year. Teachers meet regularly with other professionals to evaluate the effectiveness of the curricula that they deliver (e.g. Exploring Computer Science) and discuss classes that they are piloting.

UCLA provides a number of support groups and workshops for the emerging Computer Science curricula. The CSTA conducts an annual survey of students to determine their knowledge of technology, their interest in pursuing a career in computer science, and their interest in attending college. Teachers have been trained to use Google Docs during Professional Development sessions. CTE teachers are currently researching the feasibility of implementing a CTE Middle School Engineering program to help extend our robotics program to middle school students and promote

ELC Vision and Mission

Schoolwide Learning Outcomes

District guidelines

CTE guidelines

Student thematic projects

Middle School Engineering Program Proposal

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interest in our Engineering Club.

Another opportunity for evaluating curricular effectiveness is cross-curricular, research-based thematic Sophomore, Junior, and Senior projects, which provide feedback for teachers from all disciplines. The projects draw on skills from English language arts, mathematics, science, social science, and physical education as it relates to science. Cooperation among the different departments gives teachers time to evaluate and reflect on the effectiveness of curriculum and the delivery of curriculum in the classroom.

Articulation and Follow-up Studies

Indicator: The school articulates regularly with feeder schools and local colleges and universities and technical schools. The school uses follow-up studies of graduates and others to learn about the effectiveness of the curricular program.

Prompt: Share examples of articulation with feeder schools and local colleges and universities and technical schools, including comments on the regularity and effectiveness of these effects. What has been revealed through the follow-up studies of graduates and others regarding the effectiveness of the curricular program?Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC counseling staff and the two academies maintain regular communication with local community colleges and universities to maintain a well-beaten path between Graduation Day and college admissions. The majority of our graduates enroll in either a state university, such as CSU Los Angeles, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Long Beach, or a local community college, such as Long Beach City College, Pasadena City College, Cerritos College, or East Los Angeles College. Others gain admission to UCLA, the University of Southern California, Mount St. Mary’s College, Loyola Marymount University, and other public and private universities throughout the state.

The annual California Partnerships Academies report indicates the number of our graduates who go on to college and technical schools in both academies. Our CPA grant permits our students to visit local universities through tours which are often led by alumni from Elizabeth Learning Center. The ELC Alumni Association makes every effort to maintain contact with graduates. A steering committee is in

CPA college acceptance tallies

Virtual business job interviews

Alumni Association meetings

University tours

High School Heroes program

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place and holds regular meetings with alumni and community leaders. The Steering Committee maintains partnerships with representatives from the local business community and with faculty from local universities to assist in the planning of community-based junior and senior projects.

Our high school counselors maintain updated information on follow-up studies for college through the counseling office. Students in the Tech Academy meet to advise elementary and middle school students through the High School Heroes program, which is sponsored by Junior Achievement and is sponsored by an Infotech teacher. This teacher invites alumni to visit the school and participate in interviews with students for management positions in the Virtual Enterprise class. ELC Alumni Association members help seniors with college personal statements, applications, and financial aid applications.

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B2. Access to Curriculum Criterion All students have equal access to the school’s entire program and are provided77 assistance with a personal learning plan to prepare them for the pursuit of their academic, personal, and career goals.


Variety of Programs — Full Range of Choices

Indicator: All students are able to make appropriate choices and pursue a full range of realistic college and career and/or other educational options. The school provides for career exploration, preparation for postsecondary education, and pre-technical training for all students.

Prompt: How effective are the processes to allow all students to make appropriate choices and pursue a full range of realistic college and career and/or other educational options? Discuss how the school ensures effective opportunities for career exploration, preparation for postsecondary education, and pre-technical training for all students.Findings Supporting Evidence

The teachers and high school counselors work diligently to promote college and career preparedness in each student in the two academies. Since we are a small high school of some 800 students, students and school staff enjoy the opportunity to engage in meaningful daily conversations regarding the future of each student. All students in both academies receive personal encouragement from teachers and counselors to pursue a postsecondary course of either university study or career training to best suit their personal needs and aspirations.

To support students’ goals, the Health Academy and Infotech Academy offer an extensive list of Honors and Advanced Placement classes. Seniors in the Tech Academy are given the opportunity to produce a capstone project in their Virtual Enterprise class, and students in both academies must complete a year-long project and portfolio in their junior and senior years.

Various extracurricular opportunities also exist to help students develop their awareness of careers and postsecondary study:

● DECA is offered for all students to participate in city, state, regional, and national competitions which are academically rigorous.

● The high school Science Club offers students the opportunity to engage with and ask questions of

DECA trophies

Virtual Business course materials

Junior and Senior portfolios

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scientists (career pathways and specializations) in a variety of fields, such as Biology, Physics, Cosmology, Neurology, and the Earth Sciences through attendance at Skeptic Society lectures and conferences at CalTech, and visits to institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, California Science Center, Huntington Library and Botanic Gardens, Griffith Observatory, Aquarium of the Pacific, and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

● Health Academy students are offered the opportunity to work part-time in local health institutions and universities.

Career Day is held in the spring, enabling secondary students to meet professionals in a wide range of fields, including industry, elected public office, social service, and education.

Accessibility of All Students to Curriculum

Indicator: A rigorous, relevant, and coherent curriculum to all students is accessible to all students through all courses/programs offered. The school examines the demographics and situation of students throughout the class offerings. The school’s instructional practices and other activities facilitate access and success for all students.

Prompt: Evaluate students’ access to a rigorous, relevant, and coherent curriculum across all programs. To what extent do the instructional practices of teachers and other activities facilitate access and success for all students?Findings Supporting Evidence

Students’ access to a rigorous, relevant, and coherent curriculum is guaranteed by the inclusion of teachers, students, parents, administrators, school support personnel, employers, college admissions representatives, the CCSS, the CCRS, and CTE guidelines in informing the curriculum development process.

Professional development opportunities (e.g., academy meetings, ELD trainings, CCSS trainings, etc.) provide teachers with forums to collaborate on instructional practices, assessments, projects, and content development. The fact that ELC is a span school (pre K-12) gives teachers a chance to engage in rich dialogue centered on developing curriculum that challenges students, yet provides the necessary support for all learners to achieve. Although many of our students are

Academic department meeting notes

Grade-level meeting notes

Problem-based learning tasks

Completed student work

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making adequate progress towards accessing this curriculum, we still have to work on ensuring that all students make adequate progress.

One of the subgroups still in need of additional help to make adequate progress is our Special Education students. RSP teachers provide academic support to students who are eligible for Special Education services in general education classes. If Special Education students need a more restricted environment, as determined by their IEP, they receive that support from an SDP teacher. Currently, special day program students at ELC are mostly students with specific learning disabilities, with a few students who qualify for either autism classes or multiple disability orthopedic classes.

English Learners (ELs) are also a subgroup of students who need additional support. ELs are currently enrolled in ELD (i.e., designated ELD supports, such as ELD time in elementary, ELD 1-4, or LTEL classes for secondary students). Our teachers are currently learning how to implement ELD standards in their lessons, especially as it relates to integrated ELD, in order to ensure that students are able to access the curriculum. ELs are also supported academically in sheltered English classes where they are grouped in core classes so that the teacher is able to provide targeted instructional support.

Teachers in the visual and performing arts provide learning opportunities to students in the form of problem-based learning assignments that allow teachers to create lessons tailored to each student’s individualized needs and academic needs. Our Social Studies Department uses Stanford Historical Education Group (SHEG) lessons.

Our academies engage students in college and career readiness activities by providing different learning opportunities. For example, students are required to produce writing that follows MLA formatting with an annotated bibliography. Teachers provide students ample opportunity to access complex texts while introducing strategies that help students evaluate and distinguish reputable sources from non-reputable sources. Students learn how to access databases via the Internet, evaluate the author’s credibility, and determine whether the data supports or refutes their claims.

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Student-Parent-Staff Collaboration

Indicator: Parents, students, and staff collaborate in developing and monitoring a student’s personal learning plan, and their college and career and/or other educational goals. (This includes the evaluation of whether online instruction matches the student’s learning style.)

Prompt: Evaluate to what extent parents, students, and staff collaborate in developing and monitoring a student’s personal learning plan, and their college and career and/or other educational goals.Findings Supporting Evidence

Parents, students, and teachers contribute to the development of Individual Graduation Plans (IGPs) and Individual Transition Plans (for Special Education students) along with counselors and administrators to review and monitor students’ personal and professional growth.

Parents are involved in the DEFCON process, which has been instituted in the academies as an intervention with the intent of reversing negative student behavior, be it with regard to academics or comportment. Parents work with teachers in student-led parent conferences and, as a team, they agree on a plan for improving the performance of each student brought before the DEFCON committee.

Parents are involved in the development of Academy portfolios and e-portfolios, and in establishing effective steering committees within the academies. The portfolios document many months of student work toward solving a particular problem, which is a skill transferable to the workplace and to future study in graduate school. Though parents are involved in the process, with a greater level of parent support, these efforts could be even stronger and more effective than the already are.

Additional planning input from the parents is routinely sought by the academies from the Family Center, the Parent Volunteer Program, and the PTSO.

IGP plans

ITP plans

Academy portfolios

Academy e-portfolios

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Monitoring/Changing Student Plans

Indicator: The school implements processes for monitoring and making appropriate changes in students’ personal learning plans (e.g., classes and programs) and regularly evaluates them.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the ways the school ensures that processes are utilized for monitoring and making appropriate changes in students' personal learning plans (e.g., classes and programs).Findings Supporting Evidence

Our counselors work to monitor student learning plans on a regular basis. In keeping with our Vision Statement, it is our goal to promote critical and creative thinking, reach goals through collaboration, inspire lifelong learning, develop meaningful community and global contributions, and engage in effective communication. Our counselors work to ensure that the Vision Statement guides all of our students in creating a four-year plan outlining coursework that will help prepare them to meet the A-G requirements.

The high school’s small community of roughly 800 students allows a unique opportunity for counselors, teachers, students, and parents to communicate as often as is required to make adjustments in students’ learning plans and schedules to accommodate changes in scheduling and academic or career paths. School staff are able to cater to each student’s evolving career aspirations and the inevitable changes that occur along their respective academic paths.

Counseling staff meet weekly to discuss policies and procedures, but also to compare notes on individual students who have requested course changes or, in some cases, who wish to switch academies. These accommodations require specially tailored modifications to the students’ personal learning plans and subsequent course selections. All of these modifications must adhere to State and District policies, and also must reflect the best possible long-term planning for those students.

Vision Statement

UC/CSU A-G requirements

Student learning plans

Student schedules

Counseling Department meeting notes

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Post High School Transitions

Indicator: The school implements strategies and programs to facilitate transitions to college, career, and other postsecondary high school options and regularly evaluates their effectiveness.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies and programs to facilitate transitions to college, career, and other postsecondary high school options.Findings Supporting Evidence

The focus of curricular planning and daily teaching in both academies is focused on developing career skills and college preparedness in each student. The school prides itself on it its “college-going” culture, and everything we do as a high school is rooted in this culture. Monthly academy faculty meetings emphasize the preeminence of college admissions as the key focal point in guiding our instruction. We are realistic in acknowledging, however, that students are more motivated to pursue a university degree if they have a set of basic career skills to entice them into further study.

The Health Academy and Infotech Academy curricula are specifically designed with a dual purpose: to provide students with hands-on career training that can secure gainful employment upon graduation, and to prepare them for further academic study at the university level. Health Academy and Infotech Academy graduates receive both a high school diploma and an academy certificate, the latter being contingent on having completed all the academy requirements along with high school graduation requirements.

Both academies maintain data bases of graduates, whom faculty may call upon as guest speakers for classes and as expert advisors for curriculum development.

College and career counselors

ELC Alumni Association

Career Day

Tech Academy curriculum

Health Academy curriculum

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B3. Preparation for Career and College CriterionUpon completion of the high school program, students have met all the requirements of graduation and are prepared with success in college, career, and life.


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Real World Applications — Curriculum

Indicator: All students have access to rigorous and relevant curriculum that includes real world applications that will prepare students for success in college, career, and life.

Prompt: Evaluate ways the school ensures that all students have access to a rigorous and relevant curriculum that includes real world applications that will prepare them for success in college, career, and life.Findings Supporting Evidence

The Health and Information Technology Academies embody preparation for career and College. Both our Health and Technology Academies are part of the California Partnership Academy, which is a three-year program, grades 10 through 12, structured as a school-within-a school. Academies incorporate many features of the high school reform movement that includes creating a close, family-like atmosphere, integrating academic and career technical education, and establishing viable business partnerships. Emphasis is also placed on student achievement and positive postsecondary outcomes. Academies have been carefully evaluated and shown to have positive impacts on school performance. Key components of the Academy model are:

Curriculum focused on a career theme and coordinated with related academic classes.

Voluntary student selection process that identifies interested ninth graders.

Team of teachers who work together to plan and implement the program.

Motivational activities with private sector involvement to encourage academic and occupational preparation, such as integrated and project-based curriculum, mentor program, classroom speakers, field trips, and exploration of postsecondary and career options.

Workplace learning opportunities, such as job shadowing, student internships, and work experience.

In the Information Technology classes, students enroll in Exploring Computer Science, where they learn programming logic, electronics, web design, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Sketchup, and robotics. In their junior year they take Game Programming, where they learn to program in such web-based software as HTML, CSS, Java Script, PHP, and Game Development. In their senior year, they take Virtual Enterprise, where they apply their two years of computer skills in creating and running a “virtual” business.

Student-produced programs in HTML, CSS, Java Script, and PHP

Health Academy portfolios

Infotech Academy portfolios

Four-year reflections

Infotech and Health student five-year plans

Student resumes

Student work samples

Letters of recommendation

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Virtual Business is the capstone course to the academy.

During their senior year, both Technology and Health Academy students produce an academy portfolio. Students are expected to create resumes, cover letters, work samples, job applications, personal statements, career research papers, five-year plans, and four-year reflections, and gather at least two letters of recommendation to prepare them to enter the world of work.

Health academy students take Exploring Health Careers I and II. Topics learned in this course are first aid, medical terminology, basic computer skills, and physiology as they relate to particular body systems. Junior year they take Health Careers A and then Medical Terminology, where they complete a college-level medical terminology class. In their senior year they take Medical Lab where they apply knowledge from the first two years to develop diagnostic skills in a clinical laboratory setting.

Both academies have Career Technical Student Organizations, HOSA and DECA. Students participate in local, regional, and state competitions, utilizing and applying the knowledge they gain from the academies. These organizations also promote leadership among students and instill civic consciousness with community service projects. The CTSOs facilitate interaction and networking with peers with similar career interests and mentors from various professions at many of the organizations’ functions.

Health and Technology Academy teachers attend workshops hosted by professional organizations such as CTE (Career and Technical Education) and the CSTA (Computer Science Teacher Association), which encourage teachers to develop curricula and train teachers in newly adopted curricula.

AP Environmental Science and AP Biology students utilize the Elizabeth Learning Center Habitat Gardens as outdoor labs to engage in data collection, habitat restoration, and phenology. Students maintain the Gardens as National Wildlife Federation schoolyard habitats by caring for the threatened and endangered flora & fauna found within them. For example, students apply their knowledge of pedology, geology, biology, and ecology to work out problems of topography and hydrology when constructing a vernal pool

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habitat. These skills translate to real-world applications from paid college internships to native plant landscaping opportunities brought about by the continuing California drought. Students also learn about the economic consequences of invasive species and the problems associated with their eradication or control.

Students involved with the Academic Decathlon team are immersed in college-level study materials in ten different subjects: Art, Science, Language & Literature, Economics, Music, Social Science, Mathematics, Impromptu and Prepared Speeches, an Interview, and an Essay written on either a Social Science, Science, or Language & Literature prompt. Students are taught how to engage in effective time management skills because they are adding ten additional subjects to what they are already taking. The additional work of competing in the Academic Decathlon prepares the Decathletes for the rigors of college-level expectations and workloads.

Meeting Graduation Requirements

Indicator: The school implements academic, college- and career-readiness support programs to ensure students are meeting all requirements, including the CAHSEE.

Prompt: Comment on the effectiveness of the academic, college- and career-readiness support programs to ensure students are meeting all requirements, including the CAHSEE.Findings Supporting Evidence

A short list of achievements by our Health Academy, Infotech Academy, and counselors attests to our ability to prepare our students for life after high school. Our graduation rate for 2014-2015 was 93 percent, one of the highest such rates in LAUSD; our college placement rate is one of the highest in the region, and our most recent CAHSEE passage rate, which has been placed on hold statewide, traditionally has stayed well above 80 percent, one of the highest rates in the District.

Teachers, students, and parents of both academies communicate frequently regarding students’ course selections, college plans, and career aspirations. Counselors meet frequently with students, members of the local professional community speak to classes, and students receive hands-on career training in addition to their college prep coursework. This close communication within a small school community

Graduation rates

College Placement rate records

CAHSEE passage rates

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fosters a sense of trust among all parties, and contributes, year after year, to the ongoing successes of our students and graduates.

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ACS WASC Category B. Standards-based Student Learning: Curriculum

Summary, Strengths, and Growth Needs Review all the findings and supporting evidence and summarize the degree to which the criteria in Category B are being met. Include comments about the degree to which these criteria impact the school’s ability to address one or more of the identified critical learner needs. Summary:

Elizabeth Learning Center utilizes current educational research to maintain a viable and meaningful instructional program for students through professional learning communities, small schools, and schoolwide professional development.

The teachers and high school counselors work diligently to promote college and career preparedness in each student in the two academies.

The two academies incorporate many features of the high school reform movement that include creating a close, family-like atmosphere, integrating academic and career technical education, and establishing viable business partnerships.

Prioritize the strengths and areas of growth for Category B.Category B: Standards-based Student Learning: Curriculum: Areas of Strength

Curriculum in the two academies is heavily project-based, either rooted in scientific research or drawn from real-world scenarios from industry.

Curriculum development is both systematic and organic, planned in meetings among faculty in the two academies yet drawing from a multitude of sources, including students, parents, and industry.

Category B: Standards-based Student Learning: Curriculum: Areas of Growth

The school’s curriculum development process should do more to address the career learning needs of English learners and special education students.

Curriculum development should try to address ways to reduce the college dropout rate among ELC graduates.

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Category C: Standards-based Student Learning: Instruction

C1. Challenging and Relevant Learning Experiences CriterionTo achieve the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes, all students are involved in challenging and relevant learning experiences.


Results of Student Observations and Examining Work

Indicator: The school’s observations of students working and the examining of student work provide information on the degree to which all students are engaged in challenging and relevant learning to assist them in achieving the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. The school, particularly, has evaluated the degree of involvement in the learning of students with diverse backgrounds and abilities and modified approaches based on findings.Prompt: Comment on the degree to which all students are involved in challenging learning to achieve the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. Include how observing students working and examining student work have informed this understanding.Findings Supporting Evidence

Teachers implement and utilize various learning strategies, modifying and scaffolding strategies in their daily lessons to meet the needs of diverse learners in their classes. To ensure that all students have access to the learning standards and successfully meet them, teachers participate in various professional development opportunities and teacher training both on and off site.

Students are involved in various levels of research activity in all subjects. Research may involve online searches for information on history, English, Social Science, and the physical sciences, but it can also involve focusing on the scientific method in math and science. In Math, students are required to justify, in writing, their steps in solving problems, which is the foundation of conducting and documenting empirical research. In their Science classes as well, students must follow the scientific method, documenting each step in analyzing chemical or biological material and recording their observations.

In History and Economics, students study an array of primary

CAHSEE and CELDT scores

Notes, minutes, emails and agendas

WASC leadership group minutes, notes and emails

Newsletters to parents andstakeholders often include theVision, Mission and SLOs.

Student leadership documents

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and secondary sources and write papers on questions regarding important historical and economic events and trends. Students must evaluate the salience and credibility of their sources, and draw logical conclusions based on their research. In English Language Arts, students read a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and informational text while learning how to distinguish relevant facts from distracting diversions in their assigned materials. In their writing, they are required to argue a position they have taken regarding some aspect of the literature they have analyzed. Their ELA studies bolster their ability to conduct research, formulate informed opinions on they have read or observed, and produce viable arguments, which undergirds their ability to conduct research in all academic fields.

At the beginning of each lesson, teachers briefly explain the relevant Common Core Standard and the purpose of the lesson. Teachers briefly check for understanding of the lesson purpose by asking students to share out how the lesson may apply to a real-world scenario. This creates buy-in among students and helps to ensure that students at every learning level understand the purpose of the lesson.

Secondary counselors work individually with students to identify specific learning needs and, when necessary, share this information with teachers so that lessons can be modified for these students accordingly. Teachers also refer back to the CCSS and the lesson objectives in the classroom and check for understanding as needed to make sure every student in the classroom understands teachers’ expectations.

Students in both the Health and Info Tech academies understand the career readiness standards that they must meet in their CTE courses. Students are involved in hands-on experiences, whether they are programming software; learning to design, build, and program robots; administering eye exams and writing eyeglass prescriptions for members of the community; or learning to take vital signs when preparing school staff and students for the Annual Blood Drive.

Additional Online Instruction Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of timelines and pacing guides for completing coursework for asynchronous online instruction.Findings Supporting Evidence

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Our students are involved in asynchronous learning in many classes across all disciplines, but this varies

among teachers and specific classes. This student-centered approach, used in both academies, emphasizes interaction among students and with resources beyond the traditional school setting. Examples include email, social media, and other resources within their asynchronous learning networks. However, because LAUSD places strict limits on access to social media and YouTube in order to protect students from exposure to inappropriate materials, access is limited to approved sites while using the school’s network. Furthermore, many low-income students have no Internet access at home, so requiring students to conduct Internet research and social media communication outside of school hours is impossible to enforce equitably.

At school, online communication and learning in the classroom have included coordinating Visual Business tasks, conducting research for assigned papers, communicating with peers and teachers through school email accounts to plan activities, and submitting online admissions materials to universities. In addition, students have access to Codecademy training to earn online certification “badges” in numerous web-based programming languages, including HTML, CSS, Java Script, jQuery, PHP, Python, and others. The teacher in Exploring Computer Science (10th grade) and Programming & Game Design (11th grade) includes this training in his syllabi and establishes deadlines and pacing guides to assist students in completing their online lessons.

Course syllabi


Computer lab observations

LAUSD online policies

Student programming work

Codecademy badges

Student Understanding of Learning Expectations

Indicator: The students know the standards/expected performance levels for each area of study.Prompt: Examine and evaluate the extent to which students know the standards/expected performance levels before beginning a new area of study; an example of online instruction is the use of pacing guides.Findings Supporting Evidence

Students learn about the applicable Common Core Standards and expected levels of performance in their classes primarily from the information provided them by each teacher. Teachers review the relevant CCSS and explain the rubric for each lesson before allowing students to embark on the assigned task. Students are encouraged to ask questions about

Anchor papers

Posted CCSS in classroomsPosted student papers with corrections

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the Standards and rubric before and during their work, and are permitted to share information with their peers. This process of inter-communication among students and teachers ensures a shared understanding of the overall learning goals for each class, plus a greater level of success among ELC students.

Teachers share anchor papers with students to give them a tangible idea of what is expected of them to achieve a satisfactory mark on their writing. Anchor papers also serve another function: providing a model for students to write their own papers, particularly if they are having difficulty getting started. Seeing how ideas flow in a fellow student’s work is an effective way for a student to break through “writer’s block.”

A prime example of this process is the writing of an argumentative essay in English 9. The teacher writes the appropriate Common Core Standard on the board, along with the assigned task. The teacher also posts and distributes the rubric and shares an anchor paper, and then reviews the materials with the class so that each student knows what is required in the paper’s structure, its depth of analysis, and the variety of evidence that may enter into supporting the argument. Students meet in purposeful groups to discuss the relevant Standards and to share their thoughts on writing strategies and ways to apply evidence.

Students follow up their writing by comparing their performance to the CCSS and the rubric, again sharing their questions regarding format, content, and style with their groups. Before students move on to their final drafts, the teacher reviews the Standards and rubric, clarifying any questions that students may have. Students have an opportunity to pose questions on any last points they need explained regarding the requirements before completing and submitting the final draft of their work.

Posted rubrics

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Differentiation of Instruction

Indicator: The school’s instructional staff members differentiate instruction, including integrating multimedia and technology, and evaluate its impact on student learning.Prompt: How effectively do instructional staff members differentiate instruction, such as integrating multimedia and technology? Evaluate the impact of this on student learning.Findings Supporting Evidence

Differentiating instruction at ELC is ongoing and dynamic, reflecting the nature of the learning process itself. Scaffolding strategies range from traditional pencil-paper graphic organizers to sophisticated, instructor-presented multimedia technology platforms used for modeling expected outcomes of student-produced projects. Through PLC collaboration teachers develop differentiation strategies that are predicated on good first instruction.

Special education students receive differentiated instruction that is outlined in their IEPs. An IEP team consisting of regular and special education teachers, parents, students, paraprofessionals, and other support staff collaboratively develops specific accommodations, modifications, and goals. During PLC time, resource teachers collaborate with content teachers to develop differentiation strategies to address the IEPs.

Classroom technology for teacher-use (laptops, iPads, projectors, document readers) and/or student-use (computers and iPads) enhances learning. Rolling laptop carts and iPad carts are available for teachers to check out on a period-by-period basis. This technology supports student learning by enhancing creativity, research, reading, and writing across the curriculum. For writing papers, students have access to Google Drive where they have access to Docs, Forms, and Spreadsheets in order to complete assigned tasks.

Some teachers use graphic organizers and thinking maps to facilitate the organization of ideas and thinking. Students’ skills and knowledge expand with collaboration, reciprocal teaching, and academic conversations. These strategies acknowledge individual learning styles (VAK: visual, auditory, kinesthetic), multiple intelligences, and support differentiation in lesson planning. Teachers and PLCs use the results of formative assessments to create lesson plans to address the needs of particular students.


Individualized Education Plans

Lesson plans

Laptop carts

iPad carts

Student online work

Formative assessment results

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Utilizing online resources and digital hardware for instruction yields several positive outcomes for ELC’s students:

Use of technology allows for whole class and individual learning.

Students learn at a comfortable pace. Subject content is available at three different lexiles to

accommodate different reading levels. Some digital databases have a translation feature. Audiovisual digital content enriches and enhances

learning. Library resources are available at home through

remote access.

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C2. Student Engagement CriterionAll teachers use a variety of strategies and resources, including technology and experiences beyond the textbook and the classroom that actively engage students, emphasize higher order thinking skills, and help them succeed at high levels.


Current Knowledge

Indicator: Teachers are current in the instructional content taught and research-based instructional methodology, including the integrated use of multimedia and technology.Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which teachers effectively use a variety of strategies including multimedia and other technology in the delivery of the curriculum.Findings Supporting Evidence

Teachers at Elizabeth Learning Center (ELC) utilize research-based instructional methodologies and integrate multimedia/technology in delivering their lessons while accommodating the diverse learning needs of individual students. Teaching staff apply research-based best practices and instructional strategies to best serve students in all content areas. In Tech Academy classes, students create blogs and write reactions to various topics of concern in the computer science industry. Blog topics include the use of robots and drones in our society; what is spying and how does technology facilitate its dissemination?; forgery and computer repro-graphics (the never-ending cat and mouse game); and other topical subjects. In class we combine graphics with text to create posters, and in the game programming class we create web pages, including online tutorials and instructions for the games being created. Tenth graders and 11th graders also create research projects that utilize skills ranging from online search techniques to the creation of full-featured web pages with embedded original content. Writing is fully integrated into the curricula of both Exploring Computer Science and Game Programming.

Students in Science classes have access to laptops and the internet in order to engage in things like research, on-line labs, tests, quizzes, projects and data entry. We use microscopes (both stereoscopic and compound) to penetrate the invisible realm that exists all around (and in) us. Monitors, DVD and VHS players are used to show video clips and programs relevant to the academic content being addressed in the class.

Posted student work



Science lab observations

Student blogs

Teacher peer observations

SMARTboard lessons

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There are printers available to Science teachers and students to print important documents or graphics. Some teachers ask our students produce PowerPoint presentations to peer-teach in the classroom. Students get technological support for through core Academy classes where presentation skills are practiced and implemented. Depending on the assigned tasks in each class, students get to apply these new skills in their work. The Science faculty meet regularly to address areas for improvement in their technological expertise by meeting for informal seminars or exercises to focus on such skills as Internet research, laboratory procedures, and the proper methods for formatting various types of student papers and lab reports.

Social studies teachers often use PowerPoints and video presentations when instructing their students. Computers on campus give teachers the opportunity to use a variety of programs like Word and Excel with their teaching. Also, both academies have projects that have a technology component. Students are also instructed in how to use primary and secondary sources. This instruction comes from the librarian and/or the instructor. One example of a teacher using technology in the Social Science classroom is in our Economics class. Students assume roles as economic advisors and have to create a report for the CEO so that she can create a plan for monetary, supply-side, and fiscal policy for four months. The students choose between a podcast and a music video to assist them in presenting their information to the CEO. This presentation is in addition to a written paper that includes graphs and fiscal analysis.

Peer observations enable teachers to reinforce expertise and acquire new strategies for enhancing student learning with technology. Teachers inform each other of the latest technological trends and educational software, and make recommendations for purchasing software in order to support the academic program.

Additional Online Instruction Prompt: Evaluate how teacher technology competencies are assessed during online instruction.

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Assessment of teacher technology competency begins the moment an individual applies for employment with LAUSD. The entire initial phase of the application process doubles as a test of the applicant’s ability to write a timed essay online and submit all other initial application materials by uploading text files onto the District’s site. The District’s policy is clear: all successful applicants for teaching positions must prove computer and Internet competency before being permitted to proceed to the next phase of the application process.

In the classroom at ELC, all teachers use laptops to report grades and a variety of technology to aid in the delivery of learning material to their students. Most teachers use LED projectors to display graphic organizers, PowerPoint presentations, educational videos, and sample essays. Others use DVD players, SMARTboards, iPads, and laptop computers to help students gain access to new learning material.

In Infotech classes, students receive specific instruction in how to use Internet tools and web-based programming languages to design websites. These students communicate with their teachers and their peers via blogs, email, and video. In Health classes, students use microscopes, optical testing devices, and other lab equipment to practice checking vital signs on fellow students.

Teacher competencies in all of these technology-driven activities are assessed through the successes of their individual students. Students, parents, administrators, and employers of our graduates provide ongoing feedback to our teachers regarding the competency of their students, which is a direct indicator of the caliber of their teachers’ technological competence.

Computer lab observation

Classroom observation

Word processed student papers

Student-designed websites

Student videos

Student lab procedures

SMARTboard lessons

Employer feedback

Parent feedback

Student feedback

Teachers as Coaches

Indicator: Teachers work as coaches to facilitate learning for all students.Prompt: Evaluate and comment on the extent to which teachers work as coaches to facilitate learning for all students. Provide examples.Findings Supporting Evidence

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The coaching protocol and collaborative strategies are modeled during Professional Development sessions to improve instructional practices. Teachers allow for student learning by prompting inquiry, questioning, and allowing for wait time. Students access content area knowledge and reinforce independence through scaffolding questioning techniques, including open-ended versus closed questions. Teachers use leading questions to engage student thinking. Students work in collaborative groups on projects, and the teacher monitors the groups, providing necessary guidance as needed but allowing students the freedom to formulate their own ideas through inquiry-based learning.

Teachers review student evidence to guide instruction. Students are asked to complete reflections. For the past three years our high school and middle school departments have been involved in lesson studies. Teachers are encouraged to observe colleagues and look for specific strategies utilized. Teachers pick a strategy that they can use in their own classroom. This year teachers are taking part in peer observations across grade levels in order to provide constructive feedback and to learn innovative approaches to delivering learning material. Our high school teachers will observe elementary classrooms through the use of the observational tool.

During classroom observations, classroom scenarios of students may include the following:

Students are presented with a definition of a rhetorical strategy to examine in their reading and develop in their written analysis of a text following writing

Students exchange ideas and critique with peers Teacher offers questions for students to consider Students develop responses independently and as a

group, similar to Socratic seminar methods.

Collaborative coaching has been a part of the teachers’ training repertoire for several years at ELC, and the effects of coaching have a palpable effect on student learning. By observing each other’s work in the classroom, teachers have sharpened their skills in fostering student learning with wait time, active listening, reflecting, objective observation, and feedback for improvement or change. The role of teachers as peer coaches emphasizes guidance to develop independence and autonomy rather than a top-down approach that confines



Science lab observations

Posted student workLesson plans

Collaborative coaching

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teachers and students to limited growth.

Evidence: Student work Questioning Student reflections Classroom observations

Examination of Student Work

Indicator: Representative samples of student work demonstrate: a) structured learning so that students organize, access, and apply knowledge they already have acquired; b) that students have the tools to gather and create knowledge and have opportunities to use these tools to research, inquire, gather, discover, and invent knowledge on their own and communicate this.Prompt: Evaluate and comment on the ways in which student work demonstrates a) structured learning so that students organize, access, and apply knowledge they already have acquired; b) that students have the tools to gather and create knowledge and have opportunities to use these tools to research, inquire, gather, discover, and invent knowledge on their own and communicate this.Findings Supporting Evidence

In keeping with the objectives of the CCSS, ELC’s teachers have worked on creating learning environments that require student work to reflect a high level of synthesis, creativity, and applicability to the real world. Though this is evident in many classes, yet some students and classes appear to engage in this type of learning more than others. Generally, students are encouraged to draw form their own fund of general knowledge as well as on classroom instruction to organize, access, and apply the knowledge they have acquired. Other students use their general knowledge to facilitate the learning of new concepts through the interweaving of their knowledge with lessons and assignments. Teachers in all disciplines model the process of research and writing to immerse students in a level of analytical thinking that will carry them through college and into their professional careers.

Students are able to organize, access, and apply their learning with the help of graphic organizers, such as KWL charts for introducing new topics, Venn diagrams for comparing and contrasting complex concepts, foldables and Scientific Argumentation for teaching science, and teacher-constructed organizers to help students map out argumentative papers and research reports. These tools ultimately aid students in organizing their thinking and ideas, which in turn will assist

Posted student work with teacher comments

KWL charts

Foldables

Venn diagrams

Teacher-designed essay organizers

Thinking Maps

Student essays

Purposeful student groups

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them in creating new knowledge. Great strides taken by teachers, and it students continue to have more opportunities to research, inquire, gather, develop, and invent knowledge on their own.

ELC has been developing its Writing Across the Curriculum campaign for several years, well before the advent of Common Core, and has been promoting this as a way for students to develop academic literacy and gain a deeper, more analytical understanding of mathematical applications, scientific inquiry, historical trends, and literary analysis. Teachers and students have embraced the new CCSS and have formalized this method of teaching and learning through argumentative, informational, and narrative writing in most classes. As a result, students use writing as a vehicle for learning, and through this process they create and invent new knowledge by synthesizing their background knowledge with new learning.

Additional Online Instruction Prompt: Evaluate and comment on the effectiveness of reviewing student work online and online communications to determine the degree to which students are analyzing, comprehending, and conducting effective research.Findings Supporting Evidence

Student online work has been observed in documented form and through personal observation, demonstrating their varying levels of growth in the use of websites and programmable software to achieve their learning goals. In one scenario, science teachers select websites where students form self-constructed responses to problems regarding plate tectonics, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Another example is a history teacher who uses the Internet for guiding classes through a culminating project on ancient artifacts, with students answering constructed responses regarding their conclusions about the origins and purposes of these objects.

In the Tech Academy’s Virtual Business class, students form businesses, developing their own websites to manage marketing, ordering, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, and personnel, using the same processes as a genuinely established corporation. Visitors to their annual Virtual Business fair experience the whole process in real time by ordering from a list of products and then going through the online process of purchasing and having the order processed immediately. This is a fun, exciting experience for

Student online activity

Virtual Business Fair

Website citations in student essay bibliographies

Codeacademy badges/web-based programming language certifications

LAUSD student email address list

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guests, including students, parents, and faculty. Most importantly, Virtual Business students walk away with skills that are immediately applicable to the contemporary, digital workplace.

Students have access to the LAUSD Digital Library, which has 18 databases with links to thousands of educational sources, including scholarly papers, primary source documents, secondary sources, e-books, images, illustrations, maps, audio files, and videos highlighting articles and search terms. All high school students have their own LAUSD email accounts and sign-ons for accessing district online research materials. The goal of the District and ELC is to offer the widest possible access to learning materials while protecting students from harmful or inappropriate Internet sites.

Indicator: Representative samples of student work demonstrate that students are able to think, reason, and problem solve in group and individual activities, projects, discussions and debates, and inquiries related to investigation.Prompt: Evaluate and comment on how well the representative samples of student work demonstrate that students are able to think, reason, and problem solve in group and individual activities, projects, discussions and debates, and inquiries related to investigation.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC students demonstrate their ability to think, reason, and problem solve individually and in purposeful groups through a variety of observable activities and assigned tasks. In both the Infotech and Health academies, students use technology on their junior and senior projects, which are the synthesis of what they have learned throughout the year. Juniors prepare a website and MLA research paper after Internet and traditional research, and Seniors prepare a digital portfolio and research paper, also incorporating traditional and Internet-based research resources. In addition, juniors complete interim and Common Core assessments using computers and incorporate online research with their interim assessments.

Students learn how to format scholarly papers using MLA format, which is also performed online through such sites as EasyBib.com. Film-making students employ technology daily in using camcorders, computer editing software, lighting, and sound systems. Students learn and apply iMovie and Movie-maker, and have access to the Premier Pro Suite from Adobe, which includes audio, special effects, image manipulation,

Purposeful groups

Classroom discussions and debates

Digital portfolios

Research papers

Junior projects

Senior projects

Student-produced videos

Physics experiments

Science lab research

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animation, etc. Students work in small groups to create, produce, and direct their own movies, recruiting their own team for each project.

In Science classes, students use laptops and iPads to conduct research. In one interesting task, students used iPads to investigate how to build balloon and mouse trap powered cars for a competition in 8th grade Physical Science. They used the iPads to investigate designs and to find out which designs were the most successful. This method was used to develop ideas about how they could construct their own cars. The project goal was to have a car go as far as possible with the smallest deviation from a straight path. So engineering, design, testing, and correction of design were all integrated into the design project.

Laptops are used often to research topics and to run simulations of Newton’s laws of motion (an example students used recently). The students ran videos of the laws from a teacher-chosen website to understand better what each law teaches. This led to a stronger understanding of Newton’s laws of motion. Later, students ran simulations of planetary motion to understand how ellipses move and how planets speed up and slow down, and how distance varies in their orbits around the sun.

In Special Education History classes, some teachers use Google Classroom in order to assign work or share links in order for students to observe and comment on the Google platform (similar to Edmodo, which is another effective program used with students. As an extension to learning about the Constitution, students have researched the field of current candidates, their platforms, polling results, and written about as to with whom they agreed most, and why. For this, students have been permitted to use their electronic devices and utilize different websites. Though they have worked in groups, individual work is expected.

Other forms of technology have aided in opening up the world of research for our Special Education students:

Electronic Talking Dictionaries (for hearing unknown words)

Electronic Talking Pens (for hearing unknown words) Electronic Talking Photo Albums (for rehearsing

unknown words with auditory feedback)

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All three of the above items are lent to students to enable them to complete their homework and long-term projects independently while improving their reading and writing skills.

Further complementing the technology available for Special Ed students, five computer terminals in the classroom are used for vocabulary development. For example, students access the California DMV booklet online for the purpose of not only passing the written driving test but to expand their vocabularies by notating every word they cannot read, going to Dictionary.Com to hear the word pronounced, and then notating the definition and the phonics markings to practice the word later. Students also go to Google Images to help them remember their new vocabulary words by viewing visual images. Several students increased their reading level by one to two grade levels last year.

DVD players and television are used for viewing films in tandem with the reading of novels of the same titles. Students’ interest and reading levels are increased by first showing parts of a film and then going back and reading that portion. It helps students to have a strong visual representation in their mind before reading so that the reading makes more sense and becomes a much more fluent experience.

Indicator: Representative samples of student work demonstrate that students use technology to assist them in achieving the academic standards and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which representative samples of student work demonstrate that students use technology to assist them in achieving the academic standards and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC students integrate multimedia/technology in completing their assigned tasks in all subject areas. Observations of completed student work, along with classroom observations of student learning activities, reveal a high level of computer and Internet resources being woven into everyday learning activities. Obviously, this is more apparent in classes that focus specifically on technology, such as the CTE courses in both the Health and Infotech academies. However, the application of computer and online technology is also seen in general education classes, where Internet research forms a





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large portion of the research activity for English language Arts, Math, Social Science, and Physical Education.

While traditional library research is also encouraged, students can draw from online research without leaving the classroom. This allows them to spend greater lengths of time researching their assigned topics, outlining their constructed responses, drafting their responses according to the posted rubric, and finally, using online resources to help edit their final work and write out their lists of resources according to MLA citation standards. While students show varying levels of proficiency in all of these activities, it is clearly evident that students are engaged in these activities throughout the academic year in all disciplines.

Examples of technology-driven student learning:

Research papers in ELA and Social Science classes Summaries of Health Academy patient records using

cloud technology Lab summaries from student-derived data analysis Sketches of observed results from tissue samples

under microscope Recording and use of measurements in scientific

calculations Use of scientific calculators to solve complex

problems Measurement of chemicals with graduated cylinders

and digital scales Programming classes and use of file outputs to

demonstrate successful completion or “debugging” of a programming task


Use of scientific calculators

Measurement of chemicals with graduate cylinders and digital scales

Lessons in debugging programs

Use of ophthalmological test equipment

Indicator: Representative samples of student work demonstrate student use of materials and resources beyond the textbook, such as use and availability of library/multimedia resources and services; availability of and opportunities to access data-based, original source documents and computer information networks; and experiences, activities and resources which link students to the real world.

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Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which representative samples of student work demonstrate student use of materials and resources beyond the textbook; availability of and opportunities to access data-based, original source documents and computer information networks; and experiences, activities and resources which link students to the real world.Findings Supporting Evidence

Students access online library tools to incorporate technology and integrate multimedia into their learning process, and a review of work by students over time has demonstrated the advantages of technology in enhancing student learning. Students use online public access catalogs to access online programs such as Destiny, Destiny Quest, and One search to locate fiction and nonfiction reading materials. Students also engage in video conferencing sessions through California State Parks where they interact with state park rangers to ask questions regarding their academic content standard subject areas in the content areas of History/Social Science, Life Science and Physical Science.

Our History/Social Science Department utilizes online document-based curriculum devised by the Stanford History Education Group. Students have written well-researched papers, drawing from primary and secondary sources in history to build historical thinking skills. At the same time, students enhance their skills in close reading, sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating when accessing primary sources.

In both the Health and Information Technology academies, students are exposed to hands-on job training and career choices through various field trips to different organizations, such as Kaiser Permanente, St. Francis Hospital, CSU Long Beach School of Health Sciences, Mattel, and Boeing Aircraft. In the Virtual Business course offered through the Technology Academy, students work in groups to create and set up virtual businesses with a structured corporate model. Students manage all of the major divisions of any large corporation, including marketing, sales, financial management, payroll, and personnel on websites they design specifically for this task. Students and their businesses engage in various competitions locally, district-wide, and state-wide.

Students in the Health Academy have opportunities to demonstrate their learning through job training and in their classes in their Optic Health classes. Students learn how to operate eye examination equipment as well as produce


Interview citations in student essay bibliographies

Health Academy field trips to local hospitals

Infotech field trips to manufacturing sites

Student-designed websites in Virtual Business

Student-produced optical prescriptions

Student-refurbished eyewear

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diagnoses of various visual impairments. Students are also taught to prescribe and install eyeglass lenses, producing free eyewear for low-income members of the local community.

Real World Experiences

Indicator: All students have access to career awareness, exploration and preparation that may include such activities such as job shadowing, internships, apprenticeship programs, regional occupational programs, on-the-job training programs, community projects and other real world experiences and applications.Prompt: Evaluate the degree to which the opportunities for access and involvement in a variety of real world experiences are available and effective.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC’s Health and Infotech academy CTE courses offer career-based skills and activities, including career visits to major regional employers, community projects, and other real-world, career-related experiences for our students.

In the Health Academy, career experiences include diagnostic patient procedures in clinical situations in a classroom setting, plus exposure to actual medical settings outside the school. On-campus clinical work involves diagnostic procedures for entire classrooms and medical procedures involving every student in the high school student body.

On-campus clinical screening demonstration days involve repeated diagnostic procedures as would occur in a medical practice. The procedures are hands-on, using medical equipment identical that found in a hospital or a physician’s office. Diagnostic and record-keeping procedures include:

Computerized and hard copy patient records Standard blood pressure and weight and height BMI

procedures for each student Tonometer glaucoma readings Phoropter and Visual acuity screening Slit Lamp examination Dispensing optical devices Lensometer neutralization Otoscopic screening

In addition, Health Academy students assist in the annual Blood Drive provided by a mobile American Red Cross facility. Students take blood pressure, advise blood donors,

Health Academy field trips to local hospitals

Infotech field trips to business and manufacturing sites

Student-designed websites in Virtual Business



Use of scientific calculators

Measurement of chemicals with graduate cylinders and digital scales

Lessons in debugging programs

Student-produced optical prescriptions

Use of ophthalmological test equipment

Student-refurbished eyewear

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ensure patient safety, and keep records. As seniors approach graduation day, they may sit for State license testing to become licensed Opthalmic Technicians. ELC is an official California Opthalmic License Testing Center.

Infotech CTE classes prepare for real-world work settings by emphasizing computer skills, marketing, product design, and management, and reinforcing all of these skill areas with mentoring field trips to Mattel, AT&T, Jet Propulsion Laboratories, the Federal Reserve, and Southern California Gas Company.

Infotech students who wish to add certifications to their resumes in anticipation of graduating and seeking employment are encouraged to earn Codecademy Badges in web-based programming languages, including jQuery, Java Script, HTML, CSS, PHP, Python, and others. Students receive specific instruction in these languages in their Infotech computer classes.

Students with IEPs receive community-based job training through the Workability Program. These students also participate in field trips to Job Corps, occupational schools, and trade schools.

Additional Online Instruction Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of opportunities within online instruction for real world experiences and applications for the students. Findings Supporting Evidence

In both the Health and Infotech academies, opportunities abound for online learning, which offers exposure to modern business practices and high-tech medical procedures in today’s health industry. Students in both academies learn how to conduct Internet research in the writing of papers for their career classes as well as general education coursework. They also have access to such research aids as EasyBib.com, which helps them write lists of references according to MLA requirements. In Infoech Academy classes, students create blogs and write reactions to various topics of concern in the computer science industry. Blog topics include the use of robots and drones in our society, the concern for spying and viruses, and other concerns regarding website maintenance. Students combine web-sourced graphics with text to create posters, and in game programming they create web pages, including online tutorials and instructions for the games being






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created. Tenth graders and 11th graders also create research projects that utilize skills ranging from online search techniques to the creation of full-featured web pages with embedded original content. Writing is fully integrated into the curricula of both Exploring Computer Science and Game Programming. In addition, Infotech students learn a variety web-based programming languages leading to Codecademy badge certifications that can be used to secure employment upon graduation.

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ACS WASC Category C. Standards-based Student Learning: Instruction:

Summary, Strengths, and Growth Needs Review all the findings and supporting evidence and summarize the degree to which the criteria in Category C are being met. Include comments about the degree to which these criteria impact the school’s ability to address one or more of the identified critical learner needs. Summary:

Students are involved in various levels of research activity in all subjects. Research may involve online searches for information on history, English, Social Science, and the physical sciences, but it can also involve focusing on the scientific method in math and science.

Teachers at Elizabeth Learning Center (ELC) utilize research-based instructional methodologies and integrate multimedia/technology in delivering their lessons while accommodating the diverse learning needs of individual students.

Prioritize the strengths and areas of growth for Category C.Category C: Standards-based Student Learning: Instruction: Areas of Strength

High school instruction at ELC is of high quality, involving students in real-world applications and preparing them for both college study and the professional career world.

Teachers in both academies are highly experienced and well prepared, and the CTE teachers draw from their many years of industry experience to prepare their students with work-ready skills.

Category C: Standards-based Student Learning: Instruction: Areas of Growth

The ELC community needs to study ways to raise the passing rate among high school students, particularly ninth graders who often must forgo their CTE classes to catch up on their general education credits.

More help should be made available for English learners and students with disabilities who often experience difficulty in gaining access to the Common Core Standards and the Career & College Readiness Standards.

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Category D: Standards-based Student Learning: Assessment and Accountability

D1. Using Assessment to Analyze Monitoring and Report Student Progress Criterion

The school staff uses a professionally acceptable assessment process to collect, disaggregate, analyze, and report student performance data to the school staff, students, parents, and other stakeholders.


Professionally Acceptable Assessment Process

Indicator: The school staff uses effective assessment processes to collect, disaggregate, analyze, and report student performance data to all stakeholders. Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the assessment processes.Findings Supporting Evidence

Interim Assessments are analyzed within each department. For example, CST scores for the Science Department are analyzed and monitored to inform instruction within that department, and the Social Science Department looks at criteria for rubrics for the purpose of creating cohesive department-wide rubrics. Due to the unique structure of our school, efforts are being made to get the middle school to contribute with rubric and criteria creation in various departments. Interim science assessment, which are based on NGSS and CCSS, are also analyzed by the department to inform instruction.

Outside of regular classroom instruction, school counselors review transcripts to ensure students are progressing towards graduation. Within the academies, projects are designed to enhance skills for the students to attain college readiness and basic industry requirements. These assessments are also requirements to attain CTE certificates as a culminating achievement in the school’s academies.

Formative assessments

Interim assessments

Summative assessments

Department meetings

Academy meetings

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Monitoring and Reporting Student Progress

Indicator: There are effective processes to keep district, board, parents, and the business and industry community informed about student progress toward achieving the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the processes that inform appropriate stakeholders (governing board members, teachers, students, parents, business/industry community) about student achievement of the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

Stakeholders within the ELC community are kept abreast of student achievement on the CCSS, CCRS, and SLOs through multiple channels. Coffee With the Principal is held monthly to inform parents about academic standards and about what we do at ELC regarding College and Career Readiness, and to discuss the SLOs. Regular grade reports with comments from teachers are mailed home every five weeks to inform parents of their children’s progress in meeting the school’s SLOs, the CCSS, and for career planning, the CCRS.

Counselors conduct Individual Graduation Plans for students in 9th to 12th grade in class and send parents letters regarding current academic standings and graduation requirements. IEP meetings keep parents of special needs students informed of their children’s progress in accessing the standards and of the teaching and learning strategies being employed to keep these students on-track for graduation and career readiness.

College presentations, fieldtrips to universities, workshops on college entrance requirements, and ELC alumni presentations inform students of what lies ahead of them after graduation in terms of college requirements and career preparedness.

Various statistical and narrative sources are available online or on campus to inform all ELC stakeholders of the school’s overall performance. These include the following:

School Report Card School Accountability Report Card (SARC) CDE School Quality Snapshot Performance Meter—Data Summary Sheet MiSiS (LAUSD data base) MyData Elizabeth Learning Center Three-Year Term Progress

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Report 2013 Elizabeth Learning Center Self-Study Report February

2010

Parent/Community and Student Achievement

Indicator: The school ensures that the parents and school community understand student achievement of the academic standards/schoolwide learner outcomes through the curricular/co-curricular program.

Prompt: Determine the adequacy and effectiveness of the school’s strategies to ensure that parents and school community understand student achievement of the academic standards/schoolwide learner outcomes through the curricular/co-curricular program.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC takes great strides to keep parents and the school community informed of student progress toward meeting the CCSS and other applicable standards. Counselors furnish parents with students’ IGPs in both English and Spanish and conduct bilingual meetings with parents as needed in order to ensure they fully understand what is required of their children and what the stakes are in terms of college and career readiness.

The annual Ninth Grade Orientation informs parents and students of how instruction in ninth grade and subsequently in the academies ties into the SLOs, the CCSS, and the CCRS. Also, expectations regarding coursework, study habits, attendance, and professional dress Wednesdays are explained in detail in an attempt to guarantee full compliance and buy-in from students and parents alike.

Other formal methods of informing parents are back to School Night, Parent Teacher Conferences, Open House, weekly behavior report slips, telephone calls to parents via Connect Ed, and the school’s website, which features email access to individual teachers.

The recent formation of the Parent Teacher Organization is another step toward involving parents in the education of their children. Many parents frequently participate in educational activities at the Family Center, and others are elected to the School Site Council, School Management Council, and the English Language Acquisition Council. Not only do these school organizations keep parents informed of current

Individual Graduation Plans

Back to School Night

Parent Teacher Conferences

Open House

Weekly behavioral report slips

Connect Ed telephone calls

School website

Parent Teacher Organization

Family Center

School Site Council

School Management Council

English Language Acquisition Council

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strategies to help student gain access to the standards and SLOs, but they also give these parents a voice in many of the decisions governing their children’s education.

Monitoring of Student Growth

Indicator: The school has an effective system to monitor all students’ progress toward meeting the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.

Prompt: Evaluate the system used to monitor the progress of all students toward meeting the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

The high school counselors meet with students in their respective classrooms at the beginning of the school year to explain in detail the requirements for graduating with a high school diploma and an academy certificate. The counselors periodically inform parents by mail of their children’s progress, detailed in their Individualized Graduation Plan, toward meeting the college admission requirements and Career & College Readiness Standards. Counselors also invite parents to meet with them in the Counseling Center if there are lingering questions about their children’s progress. Student grade reports, posted and mailed every five weeks, give parents an opportunity to review progress toward fulfilling the SLOs and individualized comments from teachers regarding student behavior and study habits.

Additionally, each academy monitors students for progress toward meeting requirements for the academy certificate and arranges, as needed, DEFCON meetings with peers in order to help struggling students get back on track toward graduating and completing academy certificate requirements. Academy leads, teachers, and student leaders constantly remind fellow students of where they stand with regard to progress on major projects, professional dress compliance, assignments due, and other details that can affect students’ ability to meet the CCSS and CCRS to fulfill the requirements for a high school diploma and academy certificate.

Five-week grade reports

Individualized Graduation Plan

DEFCON meetings

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Basis for Determination of Performance Levels

Indicator: The school staff has determined the basis upon which students’ grades and their growth and performance levels are determined and uses that information to strengthen high achievement of all students.

Prompt: Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the basis for which students’ grades, their growth, and performance levels are determined.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC teachers in general apply traditional grading techniques in assessing student progress toward meeting the relevant standards in each class and the school’s SLOs. While they enjoy a great deal of latitude in establishing grading scales and requirements within their respective classes, teachers are instructed to develop rubrics for assessing student work and assigning grades. Rubrics are expected to be posted alongside samples of completed work in all classes so that visitors can evaluate the teachers’ work in addition to students’ work.

Academic department meetings offer a forum for teachers to discuss and review grading rubrics. The English Department, for example, periodically engages in calibration sessions, wherein teachers at each grade level evaluate an identical set of student essays to compare grades. Marks falling outside the majority are analyzed and discussed in order to clarify the reason for the differences and to ensure a final consensus. This contributes to a culture of academic honesty and openness and helps to guarantee fairness in the grading of each student.

The high school Math teachers follow best practices as detailed in Access and Equity in Mathematics Education, published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), which states:

“Achieving access and equity requires that all stakeholdersensure that all students have access to a challenging mathematics curriculum, taught by skilled and effective teachers who differentiate instruction as needed;monitor student progress and make needed accommodations; and offer remediation or additional challenges when appropriate.”

Math teachers meet regularly in department meetings to evaluate their methods of evaluating student work and to

Academic department meetings

Calibration of essay grading

Rubrics posted next to student work

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discuss methods of making mathematics learning more accessible to all students.

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D2. Using Assessment to Monitor and Modify Learning in the Classroom CriterionTeachers employ a variety of appropriate formative and summative assessment strategies to evaluate student learning. Students and teachers use these findings to modify the learning/teaching practices to improve student learning.


Appropriate Assessment Strategies

Indicator: Teachers use appropriate formative and summative strategies to measure student progress toward acquiring a specific body of knowledge or skills such as essays, portfolios, individual or group projects, tests, etc.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of the assessment strategies selected based on the programmatic goals and standards to determine student achievement. Evaluate the selection of and the use of proctors, the security systems for test documents, and the means to maintain the integrity of the assessments.Findings Supporting Evidence

Each academic department practices its own set of assessment strategies tailored to the specific discipline and its standards under the CCSS and, if applicable, the CCRS.

The Physical Education Department collaboratively monitor student performance data and FITNESSGRAM data. Teachers in other disciplines use a variety of assessment strategies to evaluate student learning, such as essays, student portfolios, individual and group projects, and tests. Performance–based assessments vary by department and include developing rubrics tailored to individual tasks. As a school, we also implement District-approved performance-based interim assessments to gauge student progress toward accessing the applicable standards and school SLOs.

The Health Academy utilizes checklists for assessing student progress on short-term and long-term projects. They also use informal and reflective components in three modes: student-to-student, teacher-to-student, and student-to-teacher. Additionally, student reflections on projects allow modifying instruction and future projects based on student feedback. Student feedback is incorporated in both formative and summative grading.

The History department uses the District-approved common rubrics and engages in discussions on calibration for reading, writing, listening, and speaking in accordance with the

FITNESSGRAM data

Common rubrics

Teacher-designed rubrics

Smarter Balanced testing

Test proctor training

College Board AP testing protocols

Turnitin.com

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Anchor Standards for the Common Core State Standards. The History Department also uses the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) guidelines. Students engage in specific strategies that focus on historical thinking skills. The Science Department also uses Chemical Safety rubrics, laboratory experiment rubrics, and common rubrics for written responses on interim assessments.

In order to assist students who are behind in credits, the school has offered credit recovery using APEX an on-line credit recovery for students to graduate on time; however, future use of this program is currently under review. In addition, the school offers bell-to-bell intervention for students struggling in Algebra. Those students attend an Algebra Tutorial Lab where they use the ALEKS program. Assessment strategies include abiding by all IEP modifications and recommendations along with the RSP lab for all students with disabilities. San Diego Quick Assessment of Reading is a grade-level reading assessment used to place students in pairs in special day class; all affected students are assessed during the first three days of school. Regular education teachers collaborate with RSP teachers to make modifications and accommodations for RSP students. For our limited English proficient (LEP) students, we offer CELDT boot camp and LTEL monitoring with the assistance of our Title III Instructional Coach.

Test proctors are selected based on the type of assessment that is being administered. For the CAHSEE (now on hold) and the new Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium tests, administrators, counselors, teachers, and out-of-classroom teachers serve as proctors. Individual cardboard shields are placed at each student seat in order to maintain the integrity of assessments.

Prior to the administration of any high-stakes assessment, all stakeholders involved in any aspect of the assessment receive training in the handling, distribution, and proctoring of the assessment and sign affidavits to ensure security compliance. All proctors must follow the established protocol found in the administrator’s manuals and instructions. All high-stakes assessments, including the SBAC and AP tests, are administered on the pre-established date and time stated on the administrator’s manuals and instructions. For all District-mandated assessments, we administer according to the

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District-adopted testing calendar. College Board AP exams are given on the approved date and time, and AP teachers are not permitted within the AP testing environment. High school counselors serve as proctors and administrators of the exams, and they abide by all written protocols as stipulated by the College Board.

In the order to maintain the integrity of school-based written assessments, all teachers are now using turnitin.com, a web-based program designed to reduce plagiarizing. Teacher-created written assessments are also multi-layered and administered in different versions to curtail cheating.

Demonstration of Student Achievement

Indicator: A range of examples of student work and other assessments demonstrate student achievement of the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes, including those students with special needs.

Prompt: Evaluate how student work and other assessments demonstrate student achievement of the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes.Findings Supporting Evidence

Student work may be diagnostic, formative, or summative, the last two forms indicating growth during and after instruction. The types of student work range from handwritten or typed essays to web-based computer programming, science experiments and documentation of results, speeches, mathematical calculations, and other media. In the Infotech Academy, students are required to produce digital portfolios of their work.

Each of these wide-ranging forms of student assessment demonstrates growth on a distinct set of skills and hence a different set of standards and grading protocols. In Science classes, students compile binders of work to be assessed by the teacher. Each binder reflects the acquisition of skills over a period of several months, indicating the net gain of learning from the point where the student began the set of work.

Graphic organizers in Science, Social Science, English, and other general education classes give a quick snapshot of how well students are grasping new learning material and double

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as a tool for completing remaining steps in a larger assigned task, typically a research paper. The final paper itself reveals how well the student is able to research a topic, distinguish between hard facts and opinions, and apply research material toward drawing well-informed conclusions on the given topic. In math, students are required to explain how they arrived at a particular solution to a problem and to defend each step taken to arrive at the solution. These processes give deep insight into how well students are moving toward accessing the CCSS, CCRS, and school SLOs.

Results from Advanced Placement testing, Smarter Balanced tests, and the PSAT provide information on college readiness, which allow counselors and teachers to pinpoint the specific strategies each student must follow to meet, in particular, the CCRS. The PSAT allows students to create a College Board account, which gives them access to college and university information. The College Board also shares test results with colleges and universities selected by the student in order to initiate admissions-related communication with the higher education institution.

Curriculum-Embedded Assessments

Indicator: The school regularly examines standards-based curriculum-embedded assessments in English language and math, including performance examination of students whose primary language is not English, and uses that information to modify the teaching/learning process.

Prompt: How effective are the standards-based curriculum-embedded assessments in English language and math and all other curricular areas as students apply their knowledge?Findings Supporting Evidence

Assessments in the core subjects are based on curricula grounded in the CCSS, or in the case of Science classes, in the California Standards. Assessments in CTE classes are based on curricula built around the California Career & College Readiness Standards (CCRS).

Assessments may take on many forms, from informal oral quizzing to graphic organizers, journal entries, rough drafts, completed research papers, artwork, computer programs, and physical endurance tests, depending on the curricular competence being measured. All of these assessments at ELC are embedded in curricula drawn from their respective

Interim Assessments

Journal entries

Student papers

Student-produced computer programs

Artwork

Lab notes and reports

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standards.

Interim Assessments are administered at benchmark dates set by the District. PLCs meet to create standards-based (content and Common Core) lessons in all subject areas. PLC members share best practices, analyze previous results, and make revisions to lessons for improved student achievement. PLCs also work to establish common academic language to use across all related teaching subjects. Additionally, PD is designed with feedback from teachers, administrators, and coordinators and addresses standards-based learning (content and Common Core) and assessments.

Agendas

Sign-Ins

Student Feedback

Indicator: Student feedback is an important part of monitoring student progress over time based on the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. Interviews and dialogue with representative students inform the degree to which learning experiences are relevant in preparing students for college, career, and life.

Prompt: Using interviews and dialogue with students, evaluate the extent to which students understand the expected level of performance based on the standards and the schoolwide learner outcomes in relation to preparation for college, career, and life. Evaluate the effectiveness of the student-teacher interaction and monitoring of student progress based on student feedback.Findings Supporting Evidence

Both of the academies have established procedures for eliciting feedback on curricular planning and instruction from students. In recent years, the Health and Infotech academies have aligned their projects and student reflection prompts in order to produce an organized system of tracking progress between the two academies. This provides faculty a measure of the degree to which students understand the relevant standards and the school’s SLOs as they relate to assigned tasks.

In the ninth and 10th grades, students are asked to provide feedback on instruction through journal writing and in their meetings with counselors. This information is passed on to members of the Instructional Leadership Team, who apply the feedback in PD planning and other areas of instructional support.

Informal conversations with students

Freshman journal entries

Sophomore journal entries and reflections

Junior final projects with reflections

Senior four-year reflections

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In their Junior year, the feedback system becomes more formalized, with students being asked to write one to two pages of reflection on instruction and personal growth as part of their Junior Projects. Seniors write a four-year reflection taking into account intellectual growth, teachers who have influenced their learning and career paths, and the importance of their projects with respect to their long-term educational and career goals. Students also provide work samples with in-depth commentary about why they chose their projects and how they will connect with their career plans.

This series of feedback, from early journal writing and casual conversation to formalized feedback mechanisms, is a key to the continuing success of both academies. Our students are our customers, and their feedback is vital to the educational products we provide them.

Modification of the Learning/Teaching Process

Indicator: Assessment data is collected, analyzed, and used as the basis to make decisions and changes in the curricular and instructional approaches to ensure students are prepared for success in college, career, and life.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of how assessment data is collected, analyzed, and used as the basis to make decisions and changes in the curricular and instructional approaches.Findings Supporting Evidence

Assessment data from standardized tests, interim assessments, and teacher-written quizzes and tests are reviewed in academic department meetings, counseling meetings, and meetings of the Instructional Leadership Team. The data Standardized test data are released on prescribed dates, and the ILT and counselors prepare for these releases by informing parents and students of the significance of the data before distributing the results to students. Results of the data are an integral part of curriculum and lesson planning.

The AP results are released at the end of June and are shared with students, parents, and other faculty members the following school year. Students, teachers, and administrators have access to the results prior to the beginning of a new school year and can plan additional AP courses accordingly.The CELDT test assists the school in determining the language acquisition of a student for English placement and monitors the growth of the academic acquisition of English

AP Test Scores

CELDT Test Scores

CAHSEE Data

Counseling Progress-Monitoring

Smart Balanced Testing

Counseling Department meetings

ILT meetings

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for ELs. Through the test results or data, the TSP Coordinator ensures the proper placement of students in regular English classes or intervention classes (ELD, LTEL) according to student scores. Students are continually monitored until the student obtains a passing score of 4 or 5, as it is one of the criteria to reclassify as Reclassified Fluent English Speakers (RFEP). Some teachers use the CELDT data to plan, revise, and deliver the lessons according to the student’s results and needs.

Students who are not successful the first time in passing theCAHSEE (now on hold) are enrolled in additional intervention classes and are given additional opportunities to pass. Intervention classes are held during the school day, afterschool, and on Saturdays.

Counselors monitor and evaluate students’ progress throughout the year to promote them to the next grade level or determine if intervention is needed. The CST exam has been replaced by the new Smarter Balanced Assessment. Students sat for a preliminary administration of the Smarter Balanced Assessment in the spring of 2015, and they will be evaluated in 2016 with scores that will become part of their permanent record.

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D3. Using Assessment to Monitor and Modify the Program Schoolwide CriterionThe school, with the support of the district and community, has an assessment and monitoring system to determine student progress toward achievement of the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. The system drives the school’s program to continually improve and to allocate resources to effectively meet student needs.


Assessment and Monitoring Process

Indicator: The following stakeholders are involved in the assessment and monitoring process of student progress: district, board, staff, students, parents, and the business and industry community.

Prompt: Evaluate the impact of stakeholder involvement in assessing and monitoring student progress. Include district, board, staff, students, parents, and the business and industry community.Findings Supporting Evidence

The process of monitoring our students’ progress toward meeting the CCSS, CCRS, and school SLOs encompasses a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including the District, the LAUSD Board of Education, school staff, students, parents, and representatives from the business and industry community.

Starting at the school level, PLCs use common formative and common summative assessments to inform and guide instruction and look at student work. Teachers reflect on strategies used and make necessary changes to improve the learning results for future instruction. Within each academic department and PLC, teachers share best practices. They also analyze periodic writing assessments and establish common rubrics to score them. This informs teachers of students’ writing needs. The District assesses and monitors student progress by creating a School Report Card distributed to all shareholders which includes parents, teachers, and students. Other forms of formal feedback include the School Accountability Report Card (SARC), the School Quality Snapshot, the Performance Meter, MiSiS (LAUSD data base), and MyData, which tracks student progress in their individual classes and on standardized tests.

Parents monitor report cards that are sent home every five weeks. They also attend IEP meetings to discuss their child’s

Assessment reports

Progress reports

Report cards

MiSiS

MyData

Parent workshops

Parent-teacher conferences

Industry feedback

Newsletters

Awards nights

Open House

Parent Center

Elizabethlc.org

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progress within the Special Education program. Parents are invited to attend Back to School Night, Parent-Teacher Conferences, and Open House.

Students utilize progress reports to assess their own progress.Many teachers give grade print-outs on a regular basis or post students’ grades which informs them of their progress.Students become more accountable for their own learning because they always know where they can improve. Inaddition, the PSA Counselor tracks daily attendance to support of at-risk students.

At ELC, in both the Health and Technology academies, students are required to complete a Community Service component. The required annual community service consists of 50 hours, and the students work with different businesses and industries in and out of the community, which provide informal feedback regarding our students’ level of career preparedness.

Schoolwide Modifications Based on Assessment Results

Indicator: The school uses assessment results to make changes in the school program, professional development activities, and resource allocations demonstrating a results-driven continuous process.

Prompt: Comment on the overall effectiveness of how assessment results have caused changes in the school program, professional development activities, and/or resource allocations, demonstrating a results-driven continuous process. Examine examples and comment on the overall effectiveness of changes in the online opportunities, professional development of the staff, and the resource allocations to support student achievement and their needs.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC uses assessment results to directly inform the school’s academic program using multiple measures. Modifications to curricula are made as indicated by student performance on standardized tests, semester grades, and a variety of formal and informal classroom-based assessments in order to ensure that students are working toward meeting the applicable standards and the school’s SLOs.

Assessment results have been analyzed, resulting in changes to the school’s Professional Development plan, and greater emphasis has been placed on PLCs to plan instruction around CCSS and Content Based Standards. Since our last WASC

CELDT Test Scores

Master Schedule

SIG Plan

Class Matrix

PLC Cycles

CAHSEE Intervention

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visit in 2013, more PLC time has been used to allow teachers to design lesson plans and units that meet the needs of students at all levels of achievement.

Based on CELDT results, students may be placed in double-blocked-English, consisting of regular English plus ELD. English fluent students who score low on interim assessments or on their class grades receive assistance through classroom-based intervention plans designed by their respective teachers with input from counselors, parents, and the students themselves. Ninth-grade students who have received less than a “C” in 8th-grade math is automatically scheduled for Math Lab for additional support in addition to the standard Algebra 1 class.

Saturday CAHSEE Boot Camp is offered for 10th grade students who have been identified by teachers and counselors through grades and interim assessments. Also, students may sign up for CAHSEE Boot Camp voluntarily.

CAHSEE Boot Camp

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ACS WASC Category D. Standards-based Student Learning: Assessment and Accountability:

Summary, Strengths, and Growth NeedsReview all the findings and supporting evidence and summarize the degree to which the criteria in Category D are being met. Include comments about the degree to which these criteria impact the school’s ability to address one or more of the identified critical learner needs. Summary:

Stakeholders within the ELC community are kept abreast of student achievement on the CCSS, CCRS, and SLOs through multiple channels.

Each academic department practices its own set of assessment strategies tailored to the specific discipline and its standards under the CCSS and, if applicable, the CCRS.

The process of monitoring our students’ progress toward meeting the CCSS, CCRS, and school SLOs encompasses a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including the District, the LAUSD Board of Education, school staff, students, parents, and representatives from the business and industry community.

Prioritize the strengths and areas of growth for Category D.Category D: Standards-based Student Learning: Assessment and Accountability: Areas of Strength

ELC assesses its students with a robust variety of formal and informal instruments and shares the results effectively and strategically in its efforts to improve teaching and learning.

Feedback from parents, graduates, and members of the business community contribute to the ongoing evolution of the school’s assessment process in meeting the Common Core Standards, the Career & College Readiness Standards, and ELC’s Schoolwide Learning Outcomes.

Category D: Standards-based Student Learning: Assessment and Accountability: Areas of Growth

The learning needs of entering ninth graders who have been identified as struggling in English language arts and math need to be addressed with greater emphasis if they are to meet the applicable standards and the school’s SLOs.

A greater level of parent input into the process of developing and analyzing assessments would help generate formal and informal assessments that respond more genuinely to the needs of the immediate surrounding community.

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Category E: School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth

E1. Parent and Community Engagement CriterionThe school leadership employs a wide range of strategies to encourage family, business, industry, and community involvement, especially with the learning/teaching process.


Regular Parent Involvement

Indicator: The school implements strategies and processes for the regular involvement of family, business, industry, and the community, including being active partners in the learning/teaching process for all programs. The school involves parents of non-English speaking, special needs and online students.

Prompt: Evaluate the strategies and processes for the regular involvement of the family, business, industry, and the community, including being active partners in the learning/teaching process. Comment on the effectiveness of involving parents of non-English speaking, special needs and online students.Findings Supporting Evidence

Elizabeth Learning Center is always seeking ways to improve upon the evaluation of strategies and processes that encourage parental, familial, industrial, and community involvement. Since we understand how vital each is to our school, we continuously develop our strategies and processes for working with these partnerships.

ELC shareholders communicate with parents of non-English speaking, special needs, and general education students through different means. The “Remind” website “text-app” (https://www.remind.com), Jupiter Grades (jupitered.com), and Blackboard-ConnectEd (https://teacher.blackboardconnected.com) are employed by administrators as well as classroom teachers to inform, involve, and connect with parents and guardians through the telephone in their home language. Reminders, intervention notifications, and regular communication are done via the teacher in a regular and timely fashion. Similarly, teachers regularly use office phones to make calls home for addressing teacher concerns regarding students. Phone/communication logs are documented on MiSiS to ensure continuous support for students.

SSC

SMC

Coffee with the Principal

Parent Teacher Student Association

Family Center

Wellness Center

ELAC

Parent Center

Agendas/Workshops

MISIS

Connect Ed

Remind App

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https://teacher.blackboardconnected.com/

https://www.remind.com/


Furthermore, letters to parents/guardians are sent regularly to communicate attendance, academic, and behavioral concerns, and as well as to notify parents of community and school events (ELAC, SSC, SMC, Coffee with the Principal, etc.). Report cards are also mailed home every five weeks to keep parents abreast of students’ academic progress.

The Family Center at ELC encourages parental involvement by offering a variety of Parent Educational workshops. These workshops include the JADE Project, which focuses on drug and alcohol intervention and education for students and parents. Other types of classes offered through the Family Center include classes for parents to improve their English language skills with the Family Latino Literacy Project and English Language Learners (ELL) workshops.

Parents also have the opportunity to participate in Coffee with the Principal and our Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). During these meetings, parents are given relevant information about the school community and are able to voice questions, concerns, and opinions regarding school policies and procedures. Parent participation and leadership in the PTSA allow for enriching activities to occur in our school.

The Wellness Center at Elizabeth Learning Center additionally provides mental health services to students and parents. Licensed clinicians and supervised interns meet with students, parents, and community members to provide a variety of counseling services.

The Long-Term English Learner (LTEL) goal sheet informs parents of students’ language program placement levels as well as CELDT and SRI test scores. It additionally assists parents in understanding the criterion needed for language re-classification.

ELC currently includes parents through participation in school governance committees, such as the School Site Council (SSC) and the Site Management Council (SMC). Parents are able to participate in these councils not only by being a direct council member, but also by being a member of

Jupiter Grades

Report Cards

Wellness Center

Parent Conference/Open House sign ins

Defcon Mtg Logs

Counselor Communication

Logs/IGP’s

Student Daily

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the English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC). The focus of ELAC is to ensure that the needs of the English learning students are being met. ELAC additionally provides parents with an opportunity to attend parent trainings and conferences. ELAC is responsible for various school budgets, expenditures, disciplinary issues, etc. Parents also have an opportunity to be involved with volunteer work through the Family Center.

In addition to progress report cards, parent conferences and open house, ELC communicates the progress, accomplishments, and needs of their students through DEFCON. DEFCON is a method of intervention used by both academies to assist parents of failing or at-risk students in order to devise a plan to improve grades, attendance, or behavior. Dailies are another method parents may use to monitor progress and attendance.

Additionally, our counselors are in constant communication with our families about the progress of our students. Communication ranges from phone calls, letters, and parent meetings. During this time, parents are given an opportunity to review their child’s individual graduation plan (IGP) and make decisions about what next steps are in the best interest of the student.

Use of Community Resources

Indicator: The school uses business, industry, and community resources to support students, such as professional services, business partnerships, guest speakers, job fairs, field trips to local employers, and evaluation of student projects and classroom presentations.

Prompt: How effective is the school use of community resources to support students?Findings Supporting Evidence

Elizabeth Learning Center makes great use of outside resources that support the education of our students. Through the use of these resources, we are able to enrich our students’ learning experiences at school and offer our students opportunities for real-life career experiences.

ELC has partnerships with many businesses. These include partnerships with the American Red Cross, American Society

Career Day

Red Cross/Health Academy Blood Drive

Student tours of local industries

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for Clinical Pathology, California State University of Long Beach, California State University of Los Angeles, LA Trust, North-East Community Clinic (NECC). Each one of these organizations offers its own brand of support to ELC, whether it be sharing guest speakers for Career Day, offering tours of facilities, or providing opportunities for student internships.

Every year, the academies sponsor fairs that invite potential employers, parents, and other community members to provide feedback on ELC’s instructional programs.

Virtual Business

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E2. School Environment CriterionThe school is a) a safe, clean, and orderly place that nurtures learning and b) has a culture that is characterized by trust, professionalism, high expectations for all students, and a focus on continuous school improvement.


Safe, Clean, and Orderly Environment

Indicator: The school has existing policies and regulations and uses its resources to ensure a safe, clean, and orderly place that nurtures learning, including internet safety.

Prompt: Comment on the effectiveness of a) the existing policies and use of resources to ensure a safe, clean, and orderly place that nurtures learning and b) all aspects of the school with respect to safety regulations including effective operating procedures for internet safety.Findings Supporting Evidence

Through the use of our discipline policy, safety plan and emergency plan, Elizabeth Learning Center carries out practices that consistently maintain a safe, clean, and nurturing leaning environment. ELC’s discipline policy is modeled after LAUSD’s suspension matrix. Based on that matrix, we follow the District’s guidelines for disciplining a student. Under the restorative justice model, we find alternative consequences for student misbehavior. This form of positive behavior support allows us to demonstrate a proactive versus reactive discipline model. Students at ELC understand what is expected of them because it is communicated and reinforced in various fashions. In addition to providing a copy of the Parent-Student Handbook, which addresses all policies and procedures set in place by the District, our beginning-of-the-year student orientation and School Behavior Expectations Assembly informs our students what is expected of them. These presentations, while presenting rules and expectations, reinforce modeling positive behavior.

Reinforcing positive behavior is a main focus for all students at ELC. For that reason, they are given information and incentives that encourage that behavior. This includes our anti-bullying assemblies, Internet use policy presentation, stress-free week activities run by our Leadership class and Wellness Center, and leadership assemblies and monthly activities encouraging our students to show their class spirit and model proper behavior. In addition to assemblies and activities, ELC provides incentives for those who model proper behavior. “Caught Being Good” is an incentive-based program that allows for teachers to refer students who have

Restorative justice model

Parent –Student Handbook

Discipline and expectations assembly

Anti-Bullying Documents

Leadership activities

Wellness Center Posters

Caught Being Good

Hazard PowerPoints

Parent Center Volunteer Logs

Expectations outlined through Classroom Syllabi

Agenda planners

LAUSD Code of Conduct

Acceptable Use Policy

Library training Logs

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modeled proper behavior to participate in a raffle. The purpose of this program is to encourage students to build positive relationships with their classmates and peers.

In regard to the safety of our campus, a team at the beginning of the school year completes a School Safety Plan in order to address the needs and concerns of our school. This team is comprised of administrators, teachers, out-of-classroom personnel, and the campus police officer. Once established, meetings are set up at a later date to revisit those needs and to determine if they have been resolved or require further attention.

In addition to a safety school plan, ELC also has plans for unforeseen emergencies such as fire drills, earthquakes, and lockdowns. At the beginning of the year, a protocol for these emergencies is presented to the faculty. Following the review of these protocols, practice drills are set in place in order to help our students understand what to do in case of real-life emergencies. After a drill is practiced, administration provides a feedback form where faculty is encouraged to give their opinion about what worked and what needs improvement. Based on these feedback forms and administration debriefing, we are able to make improvements to our emergency plans. Another form of maintaining safety within our campus is the yearly presentations made by our administration, school nurse, and science teacher. These presentations including blood-borne pathogens, injury and illness prevention, chemical safety awareness, employee code of conduct, and others to ensure that our school staff is aware of all the things that can pose a safety hazard to us and our students.

Students, teachers, out-of-classroom personnel, and custodial staff all know they play an important role in maintaining a clean learning environment. With the shortage of custodial staff come responsibilities on behalf of the classroom teacher to put on the students. Without their help, there are some areas of the class that may not be as clean as one would like. Take, for example, the implementation of Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC). If a classroom teacher does not set expectations for how this is carried out, it could lead to unnecessary disruption. However, because we all work together, our students know how to dispose of their food properly, and our custodial staff is able to collect it properly. Additionally, students know how to dispose of other trash

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because these policies and procedures are explained and modeled for them. Students know that they should be disposing of their trash in the trashcan while at lunch because we have staff and parent volunteers who model the same behavior and remind them of it. Our support from our Parent Center is exceptional. They help our students maintain a clean campus both in the class and outside of it.

An orderly campus can be observed at ELC because we have clear rules and expectations. Every year students go through an orientation process where they receive important information about student conduct. Among other things, we provide positive examples of how students should be behaving inside of the class, outside of the class, and towards their peers and teachers. Teachers similarly demonstrate these expectations through the implementation of their course syllabi. In it, students will find behaviors that are expected from them and consequences that could come about as a result of not abiding by them. Likewise, a letter is sent home reminding parents of the same expectations so that these may be reinforced at home. As members of the school community, we want our parents to encourage their children to model appropriate behavior. Additionally, agenda planners are distributed at the beginning of every school year in order to provide students an opportunity to maintain an orderly structure with regards to planning and classroom organization. ELC is able to communicate and maintain Internet safety by clearly delineating LAUSD’s and ELC’s code of conduct with respect to Internet use. Every year students are expected to submit a signed Acceptable Use Policy form (AUP). This form provides our parents and students District policies and guidelines regarding Internet safety. Students who do not submit these forms are denied Internet access until one is submitted. Additionally, our Dean of Students provides all students a presentation about proper Internet use and the consequences that result from violating these expectations. In like fashion, classroom teachers communicate the same expectation by ensuring that these policies are reviewed and carried out throughout the course of the school day. One example of doing this is thorough our comprehensive library program, which services grades K-12.

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High Expectations/Concern for Students

Indicator: The school demonstrates caring, concern, and high expectations for students in an environment that honors individual differences and is conducive to learning.

Prompt: Evaluate the school’s work to ensure the effectiveness of an atmosphere of caring, concern, and high expectations for students in an environment that honors individual differences and is conducive to learning.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC is constantly working to ensure that it provides an atmosphere of caring, concern, and high expectations for all students. As demonstrated through our Mission and Vision statements, we strive to provide an atmosphere of rigorous learning and positive outcomes. Furthermore, the practice of Professional Development for the purpose of collaborating and learning ensures that we are equipped with the proper tools to help support our students. The same can be said about our staff participation in the end-of-the-year retreat, which allows for teachers to reflect on their practices and develop plans for the following school year. In addition to creating an atmosphere of care among faculty, this retreat invites teachers to gather in a relaxed setting and communicate about their students and how they are supported in their classes. Students at ELC understand and value the relative smallness of their school because it allows them to develop close, trusting relationships with their teachers and support staff. Additionally, the grouping of our academies, Health and Infotech, allows for our students to build close bonds with their mentor teachers and classmates.

Mission Statement

Vision Statement

Professional Development agendas

Retreat docs

Academy projects

Atmosphere of Trust, Respect, and Professionalism

Indicator: The school has an atmosphere of trust, respect, and professionalism.

Prompt: To what degree is there evidence of an atmosphere of trust, respect, and professionalism?Findings Supporting Evidence

All members of Elizabeth Learning Center are invested in creating an atmosphere of trust, respect, and professionalism. As a staff, we have built upon this atmosphere by engaging in activities and professional development that are conducive of these behaviors. This includes the yearly training on ethical

School trainings on code of conduct, bullying, child abuse

Peer observation protocol

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code of conduct, child abuse, bullying, discrimination, and harassment. We also partake in professional development, wherein teachers participate in peer observations. These observations help guide our practices and provide an opportunity for us to learn from one another. Additionally, we participate in social events that build on our trust and camaraderie.

Because we are a relatively small school, all of our students feel comfortable approaching their teachers and other support staff on campus. Teachers and staff have been able to build upon this rapport by investing time in our students. Many of our teachers dedicate time outside of class hours to building trusting relationships with their students. Whether it is in the form of an after-school club, working on a project, supporting them with their classes, or merely being available to speak to them in a trusting manner, our teachers have worked arduously to show our students how much they mean to us. Additionally, we model professionalism by conducting ourselves in that manner and expecting the same from them. As part of an academy requisite, our students at ELC have professional dress days on Wednesdays. The purpose of this requirement is to allow for our students to prepare for a professional environment.

Creating an atmosphere of trust, respect, and professionalism is a high priority with our parents and members of the community. One way of doing this is by maintaining open, ongoing communication with them. This is demonstrated through our Parent Conference night, Open House, Back to School night, meetings set up by our counselors and teachers, and events hosted by our students. Through their active involvement, parents and members of the community show that we are all a part of the equation in creating a positive learning environment for our students.

School clubs

Academy professional dress day

Parent conference night/open house/back to school night logs

School hosted events (9th Grade Parent Orientation Meetings; IGP Meetings; Senior Parent Night; Academy Fairs; Harvest Festival)

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E3. Personal and Academic Support CriterionAll students receive appropriate academic support and intervention to help ensure school, college, and career success. Students with special talents and/or needs have access to a system of personal support services, activities, and opportunities at the school. These are enhanced by business, industry, and the community.


Adequate Personalized Support

Indicator: The school has available adequate services, including referral services, to support students in such areas as health, career, and personal counseling and academic assistance, including an individualized learning plan.

Prompt: Evaluate the availability and the adequacy of services, including referral services, to support students in such areas as health, career, and personal counseling and academic assistance, including an individualized learning plan.Findings Supporting Evidence

At Elizabeth Learning Center there is evidence of ample services to support students in the areas of health, careers, personal counseling, and academic assistance. In regards to health, students benefit from the assistance of a full-time nurse who is available to them for medical purposes. In addition to supporting our students with their medical needs, she supports our athletes and students with disabilities.

Maintaining good health is a big priority for our campus. For that reason, we make great use of our resources. One important source of support for our staff, students, and parents is our Wellness Center. This center is the central location for our students and parents to receive more individualized support. At the center, our Psychiatric Social Worker (PSW) provides referrals and interventions for students who might need it. To help in her efforts, our PSW makes use of her interns who also help in providing mental health support for our students. Students requiring social-emotional support can also be referred through our schools’ Consolidated Case Review Panel (CCRP).

In addition to the support from our PSW, students also benefit from a Pupil Services and Attendance Counselor (PSA). Her primary role at our school is to ensure that our students are attending every day, and if they are not, that they receive the support necessary to improve their attendance. During the course of the day, she confers with parents and students, makes home visits, and seeks other alternatives for ensuring

Wellness Center

Psychiatric Social Worker

Consolidated Case Review Panel

Pupil Services and Attendance Counselor

Target Student Population Coordinator

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that our students get the education they require. At times, this may be in the form of a referral to an outside agency for school attendance completion.

While all members of our school play a critical role in the educational success of our students, our academic counselors and their interns work closely with them to ensure they are meeting all the requirements needed in order to successfully graduate from high school. Our academic counselors and Target Student Population (TSP) Coordinator work together to ensure that our students are properly placed in the right classes. Additionally, they work hand in hand with our Special Education teachers and administrator over Special Education to properly place those students. Proper placement is an essential strategy for the completion of a high school diploma. For further academic support, our counselors gather and analyze data, schedule student conferences, conduct annualized graduation plans, and monitor as needed. When students require more personalized guidance, parents are invited to discuss options. Whether it is personal, physical, social, mental, or academic, there is a wide array of support services available to our students.

Direct Connections

Indicator: The school demonstrates direct connections between academic standards, college- and career-readiness standards, and schoolwide learner outcomes, and the allocation of resources to student support services, such as counseling/advisory services, articulation services, and psychological and health services, or referral services.

Prompt: Evaluate the ways that there are direct connections between academic standards, college- and career-readiness standards, and schoolwide learner outcomes and the allocation of resources to student support services, such as counseling/advisory services, articulation services, and psychological and health services, or referral services.Findings Supporting Evidence

Elizabeth Learning Center maintains direct connections among the CCSS, the College & Career Readiness Standards, and its SLOs. Students at ELC are all expected to successfully graduate from high school by demonstrating comprehension and mastery of the standards. One way of doing this is through the guidance and leadership of our counselors. Through their efforts with Individual Graduation Plans, our students know exactly what classes they need to take.

Wellness Center information and patient logs

Counselor meetings with students

Weekly support staff meetings

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Counselors meet with students during their freshman year and review their IGPs in order to assure graduation will be met in four years. Moreover, the IGP seeks to ensure that each student meets his or her A-G requirements. Subsequent to that initial planning session, counselors schedule annual meetings for each student to review and update the IGP. At that time, counselors offer suggestions, if necessary, to assist students who may have class deficits or are in need of credit recovery to graduate. Thereafter, a plan of action is completed and followed. Another way of connecting academic standards to college and career ready standards is by encouraging more of our students to enroll in AP courses. Over the course of the years, we have made a concerted effort to not only have students take these courses but to actually pass the AP exams so that they may earn college credits.

To promote student growth and broaden students’ understanding of opportunities available to them, our counselors invite representatives from numerous local colleges and universities, along with potential employers, to our campus. College and Career Day informs and encourages our students to become interested in different fields and to pursue postsecondary education. Furthermore, our school offers a variety of college field trips designed to match students’ interests and aptitudes.

Students with special needs receive services through the Division of Transition Services (DOTS). The DOTS team assures that all students with Individualized Education Plans at ELC visit and have access to occupational centers and other vocational programs in addition to visiting colleges with their peers.

ELC also allocates resources to guarantee the availability of such support services as counseling/advisory services, articulation services, and psychological and health services, and referral services. Every year, a needs assessment survey is completed in order to determine the needs of our school in relation to the services we provide. On a yearly basis, we allocate funding such for positions as our PSA, PSW, dean, school, nurse, and psychologist. These positions play a vital role in the overall support structure we provide for our students.

PSA SARB evidence

Individual graduation plans

College and Career Day

DOTS Team

Annual needs assessment survey

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Support and Intervention Strategies Used for Student Growth/Development

Indicator: Strategies are used by the school leadership and staff to develop and implement personalized approaches to learning and alternative instructional options which allow access to and progress in the rigorous standards-based curriculum. Examples of strategies include: level of teacher involvement with all students, a curriculum that promotes inclusion, processes for regular review of student and schoolwide profiles, and processes and procedures for interventions that address retention and redirection.

Prompt: Evaluate the effectiveness of the types of strategies used by the school leadership and staff to develop and implement personalized approaches to learning and alternative instructional options which allow access to and progress in the rigorous standards-based curriculum.Findings Supporting Evidence

All students are provided strategies for achievement based on their specific needs. For example, students’ current levels and needs drive the implementation of accommodations for students with IEPs. Special education teachers and assistants support students with special needs in accessing the general education curriculum. Faculty and staff practice differentiated instruction and teaching tools such as graphic organizers and mind-maps supported through professional development trainings.

All students have access to after-school tutoring and computer-based instruction to provide further chances of academic advancement or credit recovery based on individual needs. AP Test results are used to evaluate the rigor of student courses. In addition, teachers offer various options for assessing student achievement according to students’ learning styles. Both Tech and Health Academies utilize individualized portfolios, which include resumes, letters of recommendations, work samples, test scores, and earned certificates.

During classroom instruction, teachers accommodate different learning styles and modalities through the use of individualized graphic organizers, word walls, flow charts, and diagrams, depending on the needs of individual students. For English learners, teachers use SDAIE techniques, such as Spanish cognates and word lists to bring these students closer to realizing the school’s SLOs.

Individual Education Plans

AP test results

Student work samples

Student portfolios

Graphic organizers

Flow charts

SDAIE techniques

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Support Services and Learning

Indicator: The school leadership and staff ensure that the support services and related activities have a direct relationship to student involvement in learning, e.g., within and outside the classroom, for all students, including the EL, GATE, special education, and other programs.

Prompt: Evaluate the extent to which the school leadership and staff ensure that the support services and related activities have a direct relationship to student involvement in learning, e.g., within and outside the classroom. Evaluate the processes that are used to identify under-performing or struggling students and the interventions to address these identified student learning needs.Findings Supporting Evidence

Elizabeth Learning Center offers support services to assist students with learning inside and outside of the classroom. Each support professional has a different role with the assistance that they provide. Counselors and teachers monitor students’ progress reports and identify students that need intervention, such as tutoring, extensions, and credit recovery options. For those who fall extensively behind, we also offer alternative programs that support them, such as Opportunities for Learning (OFL) and adult school. Our Dean provides intervention in the area of behavioral support while our PSA works to support our students in the area of attendance. Likewise, our PSW, psychologist, and interns help support our students with mental and family services.

Our TSP Coordinator and Title III Coach work to actively support out LTEL population and their needs for reclassification while the Title I Coordinator works to ensure that funds are appropriately used and that the proper support structures are set in place. Our DOTS Coordinator works to ensure that our special education population receives services for goal setting and planning for their future. All ELC support professionals understand their roles and are active members of the school community.

Hiring of Service Providers: PSA, PSW, Psychologist, Nurse, TSP, Title 1, Title III, Officer, DOTS, Dean

Partnerships with OFL

Intervention classes

Credit recovery classes

Tutoring

SSTs

Equitable Support to Enable All Students Access to a Rigorous Curriculum

Indicator: Through the use of equitable support all students have access to a challenging, relevant, and coherent curriculum. Schools regularly examine the demographics and distribution of students throughout the class offerings (e.g., master class schedule and class enrollments) and the availability of additional support such as extra class time, tutoring, or types of alternative schedules available for repeat or accelerated classes (e.g., summer, class periods beyond the traditional school day).

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Prompt: After studying the accessibility of a challenging, relevant, and coherent curriculum and from examining the demographics and distribution of students throughout the class offerings (e.g., master class schedule and class enrollments), evaluate the impact of the types of alternative schedules available for repeat or accelerated classes (e.g., summer, class periods beyond the traditional school day) on student achievement.Findings Supporting Evidence

ELC’s accessibility of a challenging, relevant, and coherent curriculum is demonstrated in many ways. The development of the master schedule involves collaboration with department chairpersons, UTLA chair, administrators, counselors, Advanced Placement teachers and coordinators to ensure sufficient availability and accessibility of courses required for graduation, college, and career. Advanced Placement courses are spread throughout the day to provide students with the opportunity to take multiple courses if desired.

Students have had the opportunity for credit recovery during summer school since the 2013-2014 school year. In addition, students have been given opportunities to add a Zero period in the morning or APEX and/or Edgenuity online courses to meet the graduation requirements; however, due to funding limitations, the zero period has been removed from the schedule. Opportunities for Learning and Adult School courses have also given students the opportunity to recover credits.

As a result of a well-developed master schedule, along with several opportunities for credit recovery and a close-knit school community, ELC’s graduation rate has ranged from 89%-95%, far above the District average, over the last six years. In addition, the number of students taking AP courses has increased from 23% to 28% over the last three years.

Master Schedule

AP courses

APEX

Edgenuity

Summer school

Zero period

Co-Curricular Activities

Indicator: School leadership and staff link curricular and co-curricular activities to the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes along with an effective process for regularly evaluating the level of student involvement in curricular/co-curricular activities and student use of support services.

Prompt: Evaluate the extent of the availability and link of curricular and co-curricular activities for all students to the academic standards, the college- and career-readiness standards, and the schoolwide learner outcomes. How effective are these efforts?Findings Supporting Evidence

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There is great deal of student involvement in curricular and co-curricular activities at ELC. Our students are able to see a connection between the schoolwork and their extracurricular activities because they must maintain a 2.O GPA and earn zero “F’s” to be a part of these clubs. Likewise, those who participate in a specific club or sport see the connection it has to college and career readiness because it prepares them for future endeavors, such as college and careers. Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA), Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Debate, Virtual Business, Academic Decathlon, Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Club, Leadership, and Yearbook Staff are examples of educational clubs offered on our campus.

In terms of school-wide outcomes, our clubs and sports are supported by our student Code of Conduct. Any ELC student who participates in our clubs and sports has a moral and ethical responsibility to uphold. As a member of the ELC school community, they know their participation in these clubs is a reflection of our school and who we are. For that reason, they are expected to behave as they would in the classroom and school setting.

HOSA

DECA

Academic Decathlon

STEM

Virtual Business

Leadership

Yearbook Staff

Sports teams

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ACS WASC Category E. School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth:

Summary, Strengths, and Growth NeedsReview all the findings and supporting evidence and summarize the degree to which the criteria in Category E are being met. Include comments about the degree to which these criteria impact the school’s ability to address one or more of the identified critical learner needs. Summary:

Elizabeth Learning Center is always seeking ways to improve upon the evaluation of strategies and processes that encourage parental, familial, industrial, and community involvement.

Through the use of our discipline policy, safety plan and emergency plan, Elizabeth Learning Center carries out practices that consistently maintain a safe, clean, and nurturing leaning environment.

At Elizabeth Learning Center there is evidence of ample services to support students in the areas of health, careers, personal counseling, and academic assistance.

Prioritize the strengths and areas of growth for Category E.Category E: School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth: Areas of Strength

Elizabeth Learning Center offers students a warm, close-knit community environment with ample support systems in place for promoting student academic and personal growth.

ELC provides all the services possible within its budgetary limits to ensure students have access to the Common Core Standards, the Career & College Readiness Standards, and the school’s Student Learning Outcomes.

Category E: School Culture and Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth: Areas of Growth

Despite all the supports offered to students, a return to on-demand tutoring services would help to ensure student success toward reaching the applicable standards and the school’s SLOs.

The school could further strengthen the quality of support services it provides through a greater level of feedback from parents and the surrounding community.

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Prioritized Areas of Growth Needs from Categories A through E

Prioritize the growth areas from the five categories.

The ELC community needs to study ways to raise the passing rate among high school students, particularly ninth graders who often must forgo their CTE classes to catch up on their general education credits.

The learning needs of entering ninth graders who have been identified as struggling in English language arts and math need to be addressed with greater emphasis if they are to meet the applicable standards and the school’s SLOs.

Despite all the supports offered to students, a return to on-demand tutoring services would help to ensure student success toward reaching the applicable standards and the school’s SLOs.

The school’s curriculum development process should do more to address the career learning needs of English learners and special education students.

Find ways to elicit greater parent participation in school’s decision-making.

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Chapter V: Schoolwide Action Plan

Goal 1: Elizabeth Learning Center will continue to implement intervention opportunities both during the school day and outside regularly scheduled school hours. Rationale: Parents, students, teachers, and administrators all have identified classroom interventions during and after the school day as a prime way to enhance achievement on all measures among our high school students. Since the interventions currently in place have shown positive results, we plan to continue ensuring these same opportunities for student success. The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) encourages schools to ensure that “all students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers,” and ELC’s Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) calls for reducing the number of Long-Term English Learners (LTELs) by a significant percentage each year.

Action Items PersonnelResponsible

Resources Assessment Timeline

Analyze intervention goals, strategies, and program evaluation criteria with stakeholders.

Instructional Leadership Team, department chairs, teachers, and parents

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetBeyond the Bell

Preliminary review of intervention plans

Fall 2016

Develop professional development aligned to intervention goals.

ILTPD CommitteeDepartment chairsFaculty leaders

Scheduled PD time and banked time

Evaluations of PD by teachers and presenters

Spring 2017

Implement interventions that are aligned with the schoolwide instructional foci.

AdministratorsDepartment chairsTeachers

Day-to-Day Subs for teachers and dept. chairs

Feedback from administrators and fellow teachers

Fall 2017 through Spring 2022

Refine intervention plan by analyzing student grades and other achievement data.

Admin TeamILTPD CommitteeSchool Site Council

Scheduled PD time and banked time

Spring 2018 grades and SBAC results; A-G pass rates; EL redesignation rates; API

Spring 2018-ongoing

Goal 2: ELC needs to enhance its efforts to seek authentic participation from parents and other community members.

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Rationale: Our current SPSA indicates we must increase parental opportunities, as measured by the Parent Experience Survey. In the 2014-2015 ELC School Report Card, 63% of parents responded, “This school encourages me to participate in organized parent groups.” Of staff members, 81% agreed that “I get the help I need to communicate with parents.” Given these numbers, we as a school can still do more to include parents in our decision-making and curricular planning. This is also a continuation and broadening of Goal #5 in Chapter 5 of the ELC 2010 WASC Self-Study, which cited the need to “Develop and implement a plan to increase in quantity and quality of the level of parent involvement in curricular and co-curricular activities.” In order to increase our collaboration between the school and community, we should also offer multiple opportunities for parents to attend trainings on CCSS and the new ELD Standards, in addition to other regularly scheduled parent events.



Meet with parents at Coffee With the Principal, SSC, SMC, and ELAC; students in small discussion groups; and teachers in PD to identify and analyze ways to enhance parent participation and engagement.

PrincipalTitle I OfficeCommunity repsParent repsTSP Advisor

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetScheduled PDLocal PACE Office

Evaluation form to be completed by all stakeholders.

Spring 2016

Establish a plan to increase parent participation and parent engagement.

Principal, Title I Office, TSP Advisor, Community Reps, Parent Reps

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetLocal PACE Office

Review of agendas and minutes of meetings, and of the feasibility of the parent participation plan.

Fall 2016

Implement events and strategies to increase parent involvement and collaboration.

PrincipalTitle I OfficeCommunity repsParent repsTSP Advisor

Title I BudgetTitle III CoachTSP Budget

School Report Card; parent attendance rates at school functions; informal feed-back

Fall 2016-ongoing

Refine parent participation strategies based on School

PrincipalTitle I OfficeCommunity reps

Title I BudgetTitle III CoachTSP Budget

School Report Card; parent attendance rates

Fall 2016-ongoing

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Report Card Data and parent attendance rates at school functions.

Parent repsTSP Advisor

at school functions; informal feed-back

Goal 3: ELC must continue to provide targeted support for EL students and students with disabilities to close the achievement gap.

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Rationale: English learners, students with special needs, and students from low-SES communities comprise a large portion of those identified as “at-risk” of not graduating from high school. The LCAP directs us to guarantee we are “Ensuring all students have access to classes that prepare them for college and careers, regardless of what school they attend or where they live.” ELC’s student achievement data make it clear that English learners and students with disabilities are at heightened risk for non-completion of high school graduation requirements. Furthermore, ELC's SPSA calls for reducing the number of LTELs by a significant percentage each year.



Analyze achievement data and population subgroups to identify those students in greatest need of support.

Counseling staffTitle I OfficeTitle III OfficeELAC, SSC

Title I BudgetTitle III BudgetTitle III Coach

SRI, student grades, CELDT scores, SBAC,CAPA, LTEL goal sheets, ELD profile, IGP

Spring 2016

Review teaching strategies currently in place and identify which strategies need to be refined or replaced for best service to targeted students.

Admin staff, ILT,TSP Advisor, Title III Instructional Coach, teachers, ELAC, SSC

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetTitle III coach

Verify congruence with SLOs and all available data sources: MiSiS, MyData, SARC, Reclassification rates.

Fall 2016

Develop a plan to narrow the achievement gap for ELs and SWDs, using targeted interventions as a means of academic support.

Admin staff, ILT,TSP Advisor, Title III Instructional Coach, teachers, ELAC, SSC

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetTitle III Coach

Monitor alignment with: CCSS, CELDs, IEPs, and LAUSD Teaching and Learning Framework

Fall 2016-ongoing

Implement the developed targeted intervention plan, ensuring it is aligned

Admin staff, ILT,TSP Advisor, Title III


Classroom visits, teacher feed-back, student work, and

Fall 2016-ongoing

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with schoolwide instructional foci.

Instructional Coach, teachers, ELAC, SSC

grades.

Refine the implementation of the intervention plan and its alignment to the schoolwide instructional foci, based on the analysis of results.

Admin staff, ILT,TSP Advisor, Title III Instructional Coach, teachers


Classroom observations, MiSiS, MyData, SARC, reclas-sification rates

Fall 2016-ongoing

Goal 4: ELC should increase the opportunities for articulation among our high school and middle school students.

Rationale: ELC’s SPSA calls on the school to “Develop and implement a plan to increase the success of vertical planning and articulation to improve student achievement and support.” In

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order to better align our curriculum among grade levels in accordance with intent of the CCSS, we will fully reinstitute our Articulation Committee. While the committee has helped the school become more aware of the need for articulation, we still need to enhance this effort across all academic subject areas. Being that we are a K-12 span school, we fully recognize that vertical articulation is a vital component of student academic achievement. We are dedicated to ensuring that the Articulation Committee is actively engaged in this process and that it is representative of all stakeholders. This goal is also supported by one of the LCAP’s eight priorities, which is “Improving student achievement and outcomes along multiple measures, including test scores, English proficiency, and college and career preparedness.”



Analyze 8th-grade SBAC results, 9th-12th grade student work, grades, ELD progress, sophomore projects, and junior and senior portfolios. Continue to implement the school’s instructional foci to ensure vertical and horizontal alignment to the CCSS Literacy Standards.

Principal, academy leads, department chairs, Articulation Committee, and counselors

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetMiSiS MyData Reclassification rates

Ensure alignment with SLOs and all available data sources:

Fall 2016-ongoing

Develop an articulation plan that facilitates ongoing communication centered around our instructional foci, guaranteeing vertical and horizontal articulation across all grade levels.


Title I BudgetTSP Budget

Verify alignment with CCSS and LAUSD Teaching and Learning Frame-work

Spring 2017

Implement a schedule for the Articulation Committee to meet bimonthly. Ensure that effective communi-

Principal, academy leads, department chairs, Articulation

Title I BudgetTSP BudgetMyData

Compare Spring 2018 SBAC results with 2017 data to identify trends.

Fall 2016

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cation occurs between the Articulation Committee and all stakeholders, promoting implementation within the classroom. Assign a counselor to work specifically with the articulation between middle school and high school.

Committee, and counselors

Refine articulation plan, ensuring that it meets the CCSS, the instructional foci, and the needs for full horizontal and vertical curricular planning.


Title I BudgetTSP Budget

Verify alignment with CCSS and LAUSD Teaching and Learning Frame-work

Fall 2017

Appendix

Elizabeth Learning CenterWASC Meetings

Date Location Purpose

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10-14-14 PCR Establish calendar for WASC meetings. Discuss overview or self-study process.

11-12-14 PCR SMART goals and how they relate to our progress with regards to WASC

12-8-14 PCR Overview of Chapter 4 of WASC report. Possible ways to divide up the work.

1-26-15 Room 38 WASC time-task calendar

2-9-15 Room 38 Review of 2010 Self-Study

3-2-15 Room 38 WASC meeting: finalized time-task calendar; review of Chapter 1

4-20-15 Room 38 Status update on Chapter 1

5-26-15 Room 38 Review of potential data sources

6-12-15 Room 38 Compiling of notes and data for Chapter 1

8-26-15 Room Q Instructional Leadership Team meeting to discuss task calendar leading up to WASC visit

8-28-15 Auditorium WASC meeting with faculty: overview of process and report on work done so far

9-8-15 Auditorium; Rms. A-E

Overview of drafting of WASC Chapter 4; meeting of Focus Groups in bungalows to begin writing Chapter 4

10-6-15 Rms. A-E Gallery walk by Focus Groups to view each other’s initial work; continued writing

10-20-15 Rms. A-E Focus Group writing of Chapter 4

10-23-15 Rms. A-E Focus Group writing of Chapter 4

11-7-15 Pepperdine University

WASC Self-Study training: Mr. Lenon, Mr. Tejada, and Dr. Morris

11-14-15 PCR Saturday morning WASC writing: Mr. Lenon, Mr. Tejada, and Dr. Morris

11-3-15 Rms. A-E Wrap up Focus Group writing of Chapter 4

1-12-16 Auditorium Overview of WASC Self-Study draft with Focus Groups

1-25-16 Title I Office Meeting with Mr. Lenon, Mr. Tejada, Dr. Morris, and Ms. Prieto regarding final notes on submission of draft

Elizabeth Learning CenterHealth Academy & Information Technology Academy

Approved Advanced Placement Classes

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AP Government and Politics of the United States

AP United States History

AP English Language and Composition

AP English Literature and Composition

AP Calculus

AP Biology

AP Environmental Science

AP Spanish Language and Culture

AP Spanish Literature and Culture

AP Art History

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