Federal

Los Angeles District, Ed. Dept., Resolve Civil Rights Probe

By Katie Ash — October 18, 2011 3 min read
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Russlyn Ali, right, assistant secretary for civil rights, were on hand at a meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District's board. The federal Education Department has resolved a civil rights investigation involving services provided to English-language learners and African-American students.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

English-language learners will be promised adequate school system support, and black students will receive more resources, under an agreement announced last week by Los Angeles school officials and the U.S. Department of Education.

The department’s office for civil rights began an investigation in March 2010 into the services the Los Angeles Unified School District provided to ELLs and, after prompting from civil rights groups such as the Los Angeles NAACP, later expanded it to include resource comparability for African-American students.

“We didn’t understand how you could separate the issues involving African-American students,” said Leon Jenkins, the president of the local NAACP chapter. “The African-American student suffers from the same lack of resources and good teachers [as ELLs],” he said.

Under the resolution announced Oct. 11, the district is charged with creating a new master plan for English-learner services that details the goals for students in English-language classes, as well as how the program, to be put into place during the 2012-13 school year, is to be implemented and evaluated.

Curriculum, Language Focus

The new plan is intended to ensure that all students, including English-learners and black and special education students, will have equal access to the core curriculum they need to be on track to graduate, with materials targeted to their level of English proficiency. It also will specifically address the language needs of African-American students, starting in elementary school.

“This resolution is specific to Los Angeles, so it is designed to meet the needs of students [in this district],” said Russlynn H. Ali, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, in a conference call from Los Angeles with reporters. The resolution is intended to be “a model for the country and will have great impact that exceeds the borders of Los Angeles,” she said.

Jane Hannaway, a vice president and the director of the National Center for Analysis of Longitudnal Data in Education Research at the Washington-based American Institutes of Research, added, “Without a doubt, we have terrible performance gaps among ethnic and racial groups in the U.S.”

But the Los Angeles district has the advantage of strong leadership when it comes to equity in schools, she said.

“What I can say about L.A. is they have a superintendent who is not one to shy away from tough problems, so I think it will be instructive for a lot of districts to observe how [Superintendent] John Deasy deals with this,” said Ms. Hannaway.

Comprehensive Plan

Terms of the agreement require that the Los Angeles district put together a comprehensive, districtwide plan to assuage disproportionate participation of African-American and Hispanic students in the district’s gifted and talented education, or GATE, program. Schools that currently fall into that category are expected to implement steps immediately to identify students eligible for GATE by providing more professional development to teachers and administrators to help them identify such students. They also must set up informational meetings for parents and guardians of students in the affected schools.

Funding is being set aside for more technology and library resources to achieve comparability among all schools. The district also will re-evaluate its disciplinary policies and procedures in light of what the Education Department said is a disproportionate number of African-American students disciplined.

‘Stay Diligent’

The NAACP’s Mr. Jenkins said his group is pleased with the terms of the resolution, but noted that it is even more important to make sure it is implemented as outlined.

“We have to stay diligent,” he said. “The parents and community groups have to do their due diligence and stay on the U.S. Department of Education in terms of funding.”

After the final plan is approved by the LAUSD and the civil rights office, the district will be responsible for providing professional development to help implement it. The OCR will oversee the monitoring of the resolution.

A version of this article appeared in the October 19, 2011 edition of Education Week as Resolution Announced in Civil Rights Probe Involving L.A. District

Events

Budget & Finance Webinar Leverage New Funding Sources with Data-Informed Practices
Address the whole child using data-informed practices, gain valuable insights, and learn strategies that can benefit your district.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
ChatGPT & Education: 8 Ways AI Improves Student Outcomes
Revolutionize student success! Don't miss our expert-led webinar demonstrating practical ways AI tools will elevate learning experiences.
Content provided by Inzata
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Tech Is Everywhere. But Is It Making Schools Better?
Join us for a lively discussion about the ways that technology is being used to improve schools and how it is falling short.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Ron DeSantis Is Running for President. What Will That Mean for K-12 Schools?
DeSantis has solidified himself as a force on school policy. His campaign will likely influence the role education plays in the election.
6 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during convocation at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., on April 14, 2023.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during convocation at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, Va., on April 14, 2023.
Paige Dingler/The News & Advance via AP
Federal Cardona Defends Biden's Education Budget and Proposals on Student Debt and Trans Athletes
House Republicans accused Education Secretary Miguel Cardona of indoctrinating students and causing drops in test scores.
4 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a ceremony honoring the Council of Chief State School Officers' 2023 Teachers of the Year in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 24, 2023, in Washington.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a ceremony honoring the 2023 Teachers of the Year at the White House on April 24, 2023. He appeared before a U.S. House committee May 16, 2023, to defend the Biden administration's proposed education budget and other policies.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Federal Book Bans and Divisive Concepts Laws Will Hold U.S. Students Back, Secretary Cardona Says
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participated in a summit this week that drew international education leaders to the nation's capital.
6 min read
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona answers questions during an interview in his office in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona answers questions during an interview in his office in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Alyssa Schukar for Education Week
Federal Opinion The Lies America Tells Itself About Black Education
'A Nation at Risk' created a faux crisis to usher in the right's education agenda, argues Bettina L. Love.
4 min read
President Ronald Reagan is flanked by Education Secretary Terrel Bell, left, White House Policy director, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room in Washington, Feb. 23, 1984 where they discussed school discipline.
President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell, left, during a meeting in the Cabinet Room, Feb. 23, 1984, where they discussed school discipline.
AP