Thirty-nine Los Angeles schools -- a group larger than the entire Glendale school system -- identified as "failing" under federal standards became eligible Tuesday for takeover under a recent Board of Education policy.
These schools bring the number of Los Angeles Unified School District campuses eligible for takeover to 252. Bidders from inside or outside the nation's second-largest school system could submit proposals to run such schools. The bidding process also applies to 51 new schools set to open over the next four years.
Under the policy adopted last month, existing schools become eligible for takeover when they reach their third year in "Program Improvement." A school receives this label after persistently failing a federal standard, called Adequate Yearly Progress, that measures whether a school has the required percentage of proficient students. This percentage is rising sharply every year, and, as a result, more schools are annually judged as failing.
The state's evaluation system, by contrast, shows broad, incremental improvement both statewide and locally, with 42% of California schools scoring at or above the target of 800 on the Academic Performance Index, up six percentage points from last year. The API rates schools on a scale of 200 to 1,000; if all students at a school were proficient, its score would be 875.
The state yardstick suggests that even within beleaguered L.A. Unified, there are places where labeling campuses as failures may not tell the whole story:
* Venice High became eligible for takeover under the board policy. It fell short on two of 18 federal targets: Its math scores were too low for Latino students and English learners. And yet the school registered a second consecutive year of overall improvement by more than 10 points on the state's index.
* Belmont High, west of downtown, remained mired with the lowest federal ranking. It missed seven of 18 federal targets -- evidence that the school has far to go. Yet its API rose 16 points last year and a massive 78 points this year.
* 112th Street Elementary in Watts gained 126 points over three years, blowing past state-issued improvement targets totaling 23 points. The school missed only one of 21 goals this year but its federal rating remains at the bottom.
