Convened by LAUSD, UTLA, AALA, LA Area Chamber of Commerce, and UNITE-LA
Launched as a strategic initiative of the L.A. Compact, LASDI was a collaboration between LAUSD, United Teachers Los Angeles, and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles to provide capacity-building support to internal Public School Choice (PSC) implementation teams in accordance with the 2009 Public Choice Resolution. LASDI offered personalized and differentiated services to school teams by employing retired teachers and administrators to provide intensive coaching services to schools participating in Public School Choice.
LASDI was one of the first opportunities for L.A. Compact partners to demonstrate the impact of cross-sector collaboration on school transformation and student achievement. The L.A. Compact’s collaborative work has since propelled several new cross-sector partnerships, initiatives, and working groups, which continue to expand the L.A. Compact’s scope and influence today.
Over the years, LASDI provided nearly 20,000 hours of school-site coaching to 112 school teams focused on transformative practices.
LASDI launched a pilot program in 2013 called the LASDI Leadership Institute, following the success of over 100 individual schools through the PSC process. Two thousand hours of personalized coaching support to develop transition plans with identified key school leaders responsible for PSC implementation was delivered.
While LASDI’s early years were focused on helping internal school teams through the plan-writing process of the PSC competition, by PSC 4.0, it was clear that many schools were struggling to prioritize implementation. As such, during the 2013-14 school year, LASDI identified 11 new PSC schools, and delivered more than four thousand hours of personalized coaching support for building leadership capacity. The schools also received up to 50 hours of monthly coaching support to develop transition plans and to identify key school leaders responsible for PSC implementation.
The PSC initiative was eventually halted, but LAUSD and L.A. Compact partners continue to utilize the lessons learned through this initiative to inform strategies for supporting struggling schools. The PSC catalyzed community discussion and action to address student achievement at LAUSD’s lowest performing schools, building bridges across educational organizations and has significantly shifted practices, power dynamics, and relationships/connections as they helped LAUSD educators reach their student achievement goals. The PSC changed the landscape for education reform in Los Angeles, representing the power of collaboration in efforts to support sustainable school turnaround.