L.A. school district to model pilot program after Boston system

by greg st. martin / metro boston

AUG 8, 2006

BOSTON — A troubled Los Angeles school district, struggling with overcrowding, violence and high dropout rates, has chosen to model its new pilot school program after Boston’s unique system.

Over the next five years, the Belmont district of Los Angeles plans to open five to 10 pilot schools, with the first opening in September 2007 — all based upon a model that began in Boston, which has generally smaller schools and greater control over everything from curriculum and budget to staffing and setting its academic calendar.

“We knew that it was not good enough to have high standards if there weren’t the right conditions ... and the best model we knew of was in Boston,” said Cris Gutierrez, director of the Civitas School of Learning in Los Angeles.

Discussions began about two years ago with California officials, who were looking nationwide for a proven model, according to Dan French, executive director of the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE).

In January, the CCE released a study that found pilot school students performed better than the district averages across every indicator of student engagement and performance.

In the next year, Los Angeles school officials will continue to travel to the Hub to monitor the city’s pilot program, which will include weeks of intensive training.

Through the Boston Pilot Schools, which operate much like charter schools, the teachers remain part of the union, but don’t work under union working conditions. However, the schools are still held to state standards, such as MCAS testing, French said.

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Pilot schools

• There are currently 19 pilot schools spanning PreK-12, and enrolling approximately 5,900 students, or about 10 percent of the district’s student enrollment.