LAUSD decision could mean end of Locke school’s Green Dot charter era

A major education experiment lasting a generation is on the brink of a controversial ending as Los Angeles school district officials intend to shut down Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy and take back the Watts campus from its private operators.

Green Dot Public Schools, the charter group that has managed Locke for nearly two decades, is mounting a last-ditch appeal of the L.A. Unified decision before the board of the county Office of Education, whose staff has also recommended closure.

At issue is whether about 1,000 students would fare better academically if Locke were run instead by the school district. L.A. Unified officials have concluded that Locke is “chronically underperforming.”

They point, essentially, to test scores that are lower than the state average, lower than other charters and lower than nearby district-operated “comparison” schools. The district defends its approach in evaluating charters as consistent and fair and based on rules set out by the state and district policy.

But Locke and its community supporters — including an array of elected officials and Tanya Ortiz Franklin, the L.A. school board member for that area — are pushing back. They say much has improved since Green Dot took over the beleaguered campus in 2008, an unprecedented move for the nation’s second-largest school system: It was the first time that L.A. Unified turned over a high school and all its students to an outside organization.

It also was the first time that a local charter organization accepted the mission of a neighborhood public school — taking in every student who showed up.

For district critics, families in the core of urban L.A. suddenly had an education lifeline. But for charter critics, L.A. Unified had unfathomably surrendered a prize to the enemy.

Privately operated charters have been perceived as adversaries because the movement was funded in part by mega-donors who wanted to weaken the influence of unions through non-union charter schools, while also redirecting public school funds to these newly created charters.

Green Dot founder Steve Barr had stipulated that his group’s schools would be union represented — but that pledge satisfied only a small number of opponents.

Locke supporters speak out

The Los Angeles school board voted 4 to 3 in March to deny the charter renewal, which set up the pending appeal before the county agency.

Charter supporters cite progress in the years since, including markers of academic growth, vastly improved graduation rates and a more secure and attractive campus. They plan to speak out against the L.A. Unified decision in a Thursday news conference and rally, urging county education officials to renew Locke’s charter.

Letters of support include one from the family of James B. Taylor, Locke’s first principal when the school opened in 1967. Taylor lived long enough to see the first seven years of the charter’s efforts and became a Green Dot enthusiast, according to a letter signed by 11 family members.

Taylor “witnessed Locke transform into the kind of school he tried to create and always believed it could be — a place where teachers lead with kindness and high expectations, where families are respected partners, where students strive to reach their full potential, and where leaders are courageous enough to do what is right for students. In short, a school rooted in excellence, consistency and care.”

Green Dot contends that the school district opted for a narrowly bureaucratic perspective to conclude incorrectly that Locke has fallen fatally short of the mark under Green Dot.

Underlying the debate is an intense competition for public school students, which has become an existential threat in an era of sharply declining enrollment, especially given the reality that school districts are funded based on enrollment.

The argument for shutting down the charter

In the analysis of L.A. Unified staff, the charter “failed to meet or make sufficient progress toward meeting standards that provide a benefit to the pupils.”

It found that the charter “is not demonstrating the clear and convincing evidence necessary to justify renewal of a chronically underperforming school, and that students currently enrolled at the Charter School would be better served if the Charter School were closed and enrolled in schools with higher levels of pupil academic achievement.”

The last time L.A. Unified was in control the picture was worse.

In the 2007-08 school year — the final year under district operation — about 12% of students tested as proficient in English Language Arts, and about 3% in math. That year also included a violent mass melee among students on campus.

Last year, under Green Dot, the proficiency numbers were 28.1% for English and 9.5% for math.

Even though the current test is notably more difficult, the results, though improved, remain poor in absolute terms.

After 17 years, there’s not been enough progress, L.A. Unified officials concluded.

The counter case: markers of progress

That evaluation, however, overlooks a crucial factor, charter supporters say. Green Dot has been handed a new group of far-behind students every single year. And these students fell behind or were not brought up to grade level standards while attending schools operated by L.A. Unified. Meanwhile at Locke, documentation shows that the typical student is achieving a year or more of learning every school year, Green Dot says.

The Locke student population is especially challenging.

According to Green Dot, in California “Locke is the only school that has a student population that is comprised of more than 25% English learners; more than 8% homeless students; more than 20% students with disabilities; more than 90% socioeconomically disadvantaged; and has a non-stability rate of more than 30%.”

Non-stability refers to the percentage of students who are enrolled at the school for less than the full school year. Locke has a high transiency rate — as it also did before Green Dot was in charge.

Green Dot says it can document that the longer a student is enrolled, the more that student thrives academically.

What county educators say

County analysts were not impressed and turned Green Dot’s evidence against it. They countered that Green Dot was underperforming by failing to fully meet the needs of recent arrivals or students who were in and out of the school.

The state testing system — on which the charter evaluation is based — gives no credit at the high school level for how much students have improved since starting at Locke. Instead, the metric is where they stand in absolute terms — based mostly on testing conducted in the 11th grade.

County analysts noted that, based on this annual data for 11th grade, nearly all the surrounding schools improved more than Locke in the last three years.

That’s true. But it’s also true that the last three years have coincided with a period of rapid test score rises in L.A. schools under the administration of Supt. Alberto Carvalho.

Locke has improved as well over that time.

Franklin, the school board member who represents the area, voted against closing the charter in April.

“I have seen firsthand the strengths of its instructional program, comprehensive extracurricular offerings, deeply committed alumni network and robust mental health and social emotional support,” she wrote in a letter to the county.

“Locke has demonstrated, through clear and measurable evidence, sufficient academic progress to meet the criteria for renewal, and Green Dot’s continued operation of Locke is in the best interest of the students and community it serves.”