'Shadow' L.A. District Idea in the Works

By Caroline Hendrie

Frustrated by the results of their past campaigns to change how the Los Angeles school system does business, leaders of the city's school improvement elite are aiming to create a brand-name network of high-quality charter schools that could become a "shadow" public school system in the nation's second-largest district.

The Los Angeles Alliance for Student Achievement, the successor organization to two groups that mounted major education reform efforts in the 1990s, is hoping to open about 100 charter schools serving some 50,000 students over the next five years, alliance leaders say.

Plans are for the 2-year-old nonprofit alliance to apply for charters, hire principals, and then run "families" of elementary, middle, and high schools that together would strive to foster college-going cultures in disadvantaged communities. While details of the plan are still being worked out, its ultimate goal will be to leverage higher student achievement in the broader public system, chiefly in the 737,000-student Los...