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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Questions about Emerson and Uni HS

Goals

Strategy for change

Questions about Emerson and Uni HS

What are the enrollment and capacity and Emerson? ^top

Emerson’s expected enrollment for 2007/2008 is expected to be 1275. Capacity is 1600 students.

What are CAP students and why is their enrollment at Emerson declining? ^top

CAP (Capacity Adjustment Program) students come to schools like Emerson because other L.A. neighborhoods schools have been overcrowded. CAP students will no longer be coming to Emerson in the next year or so because of expanded capacity from the recent opening of new schools in other neighborhoods. The decline in enrollment at Emerson has mainly occurred because of a decrease in CAP student enrollment. Enrollment from Westwood, Fairburn and Warner has been fairly steady over the past 3 years.

What is GATE, SAS and IHP and how what is their academic performance? ^top

As presented on February 12 at the Geffen Meeting, the School for Advanced Studies (SAS) and Individualized Honors Program (IHP) are performing near or above the 80th percentile when compared to other students in California. Children in the Gifted and Talented Education Program (GATE) score similarly to the SAS and IHP. These children currently account for about 25% of the student population at Emerson.

If neighborhood students go to Emerson, will children still be "bussed in"? ^top

There are 2 reasons students arrive to Emerson by bus – either they are part of the CAP (Capacity Adjustment Program) in which children from neighborhoods with overcrowded schools choose to come to Emerson, or, they are in schools that have Emerson as their “home” middle school but they live far enough away that they qualify for transportation to be provided by LAUSD. Emerson is home middle school to the following elementary schools: Warner, Westwood, Fairburn, as well as Carthay Circle (Crescent Heights and Olympic), and Wilshire Crest (La Brea and Olympic). Some students from Overland and Roscomare also feed Emerson. There are also some children from Brockton, Richland and Nora Sterry Elementary Schools that can choose between Emerson or Webster as their home middle school. Warner, Westwood and Fairburn – as the nearby “walking” schools, do not graduate enough children from the 5th grade each year to fill Emerson.

Emerson has capacity for 1600 students. Therefore, it is likely that children will continue to come to Emerson from elementary schools that are not as close to Emerson. Regardless of how many local kids go to Emerson, the CAP students will no longer be coming to Emerson in the next year or so because of expanded capacity from the recent opening of new schools in other neighborhoods.

Goals

I don’t want my kids going to school where they just “teach to the test.” Is the only goal to raise test scores? ^top

The goal of Act4Education is to bring outstanding public education to West Los Angeles. We seek to create an environment in which teachers meet each student’s needs and encourage achievement, promote curiosity and motivate learning. Outstanding academic success cannot be achieved otherwise. From speaking with numerous education experts and reviewing a ton of data, we are convinced that academic excellence – the classroom experience for the student – needs to be the first and foremost priority. We have focused on scores only as a way of framing the current issue of academic performance and because they can be a good indicator of short-term transformation. We expect to continue to monitor scores as a way of measuring success, along with other important measures, such as student and teacher absentee rates, attrition, and ultimately, the more distal outcomes of high school and college attendance.

How do we keep the “social” and “emotional” education from getting lost in the mix of academic requirements? ^top

The goal of Act4Education is to bring outstanding public education to West Los Angeles. Outstanding academic performance is our first priority because that is essential and will also bring our neighborhood back into our public middle and high schools. That being said, we believe that strong academic success cannot be achieved simply by “teaching to the test” (See question 17 below) nor can students succeed if they do not receive the needed social and emotional support from our schools. Thus, we believe in promoting a culture in which each student’s needs are supported. We can achieve this by ensuring that teachers and staff truly know each of their students. Strategies to achieve this include decreasing class size, reducing total student load (the total number of students that each teacher is responsible for), creating small learning communities, and recruiting and maintaining teachers and counselors who care about the students and are given the support they need to be able to address their students’ needs.

Can you assure us that if our kids go to Emerson they will be safe? ^top

First, we recommend that if you are concerned about the safety at Emerson, that you go visit the school and speak first-hand with the many Emerson parents who have offered to speak with prospective parents.

Will my child get lost at Emerson? Who will really know my child? ^top

We agree that it is important that each student’s needs are met and that the only way to ensure that is to have a counselors and teachers who know and care about the students. We strive to achieve this not only be recruiting and retaining only the best teachers and counselors, but also by decreasing class size, reducing total student load (the total number of students that each teacher is responsible for), creating small learning communities. One other possible way to improve the relationships between teachers and students is to implement “block scheduling,” in which each student has fewer teachers in the course of a semester. These issues are most critical for 6th graders who must make the sometimes difficult transition from elementary schools. We could start by creating a separate 6th grade community that has separate classroom space, recess and lunch periods. All of these possibilities are on the table and we look forward to supporting a new principal who has the creative vision and authority to make the changes needed to make Emerson Middle School more personal.

Strategy for change

Can change happen? Are there examples? ^top

There are a number of examples of schools that have improved dramatically. Within our neighborhood, Fairburn, Westwood and Warner have all seen dramatic improvements in the last 10 years – it was not so long ago that these schools were not doing so well. We discussed in our meeting the dramatic turnaround of Bunche Elementary in Compton. Canfield Elementary is another good example.

How does a group of parents have any power enact change? ^top

Parents, one at a time, don’t have a lot of power to effect change. However, when working together, the parents and community have a lot of power. Act4Education is focused on creating change by harnessing the power of the community. We have been working hard with all constituents to identify the needs for the school, and believe that with the numbers of the community behind us, we can create change. The turn around of Westwood Charter and Canfield Elementary Schools are 2 local examples of how the community got involved and made a difference. While the teachers union has certain powers, as involved parents we can set expectations within our schools, and hold our teachers accountable to meeting those expectations. However, this won’t happen unless we commit to being involved with our children’s schools.

What would be involved in turning Emerson into a charter? Shouldn’t that be the way to go? ^top

It is true that charter needs to be seriously considered – we have certainly seen the success of Westwood Charter here in our local community. Converting Emerson into a charter requires a principal who wants this as well a majority of the current tenured teachers to support the conversion. It is important to keep in mind that there are many models of success for turning around a school and while many charter schools are successful, many are not. A school loses a lot of money when it converts to charter status. This process also takes a lot of time and money. Ultimately, based on our research and numerous meetings with education experts, we believe the most important key to a successful charter is no different than the key to a successful non-charter school—a strong principal with creative vision for transformation. Therefore, at this point, Act4Education is focusing its efforts on influencing the principal search so that the next principal is someone who wants to lead Emerson through its transformation to a top-rated local neighborhood school. While we believe that this should be able to be done without conversion to charter status, Act4Education will continue to seriously consider converting Emerson into a charter or even establishing a new charter if it seems that that would provide us the best opportunity to create an outstanding middle school.

Is there an interest among current Emerson stakeholders (teachers, administrators, parents) to become a charter? ^top

Some stakeholders are certainly interested in this potential option if it becomes evident that that this will be the best way to make Emerson an outstanding middle school.

How can we improve the teachers and the teaching at Emerson and Uni HS? ^top

We understand from discussions with principals, educators, and education specialists that the best way to have bright and engaged teachers within a school is by setting high expectations, and holding staff accountable to those expectations. In addition to strong principal leadership, a key part of expectation-setting and accountability includes having a strong base of engaged parents who support the principal in holding teachers accountable (you see this in action currently at Westwood, Fairburn, and Warner Elementary Schools). Parents at the transformed Emerson will be very involved at the school and will work with the principal to support high expectations and accountability. This will include visiting and/or volunteering in the classrooms so that we are accountable to our school and our school is accountable to the community.

What about creating a K-8 school (e.g. El Rodeo, N.Y. City schools)? ^top

We agree this is an interesting model. None of our 3 local elementary schools (Westwood, Fairburn, Warner) have the physical capacity to convert to K-8.

Can we organize neighborhood kids to Emerson only as opposed to Revere or other public schools? ^top

Act4Education has been talking to many of the parents who have sent their children to Paul Revere and the Beverly Hills schools. The good news is that many parents in our community still believe in public school! Our impression is that 100% of these parents would send their kids to Emerson if they believed it was the outstanding academic experience we believe it can become.

When can we realistically see significant change? ^top

Act4Education’s strategy is centered around dramatic restructuring of Emerson, not just incremental changes. With a new principal slated to be hired for the 2007/2008 school year and a partnership with the Westwood community, we believe that significant change can occur within a two-year timeframe. This timeframe is based on the experience of other schools and communities that have sought similar changes. In the meantime, the SAS and IHP programs continue to deliver high performance and we encourage parents to go to Emerson and see for yourself if it will work for your family now so you can be a part of the transformation from the inside.