Cal Poly Pomona (CPP), a member of the Student Success Workgroup, launched a virtual resource and information hub called Safer Returns: Our Plan for Fall 2020, to help returning students transition back to college and to help new students adjust to their new college environment in the middle of the pandemic. The hub outlines CPP’s plans for fall 2020 and the necessary changes on and off campus that students, parents, faculty, staff and visitors need to know about.

California’s Cradle-to-Career Data System is a new, innovative statewide initiative that will connect education, social service and workforce data. It will include easy-to use visuals and sophisticated search tools to help answer important questions and inform equitable and actionable policy decisions that open pathways for all Californians to thrive. Tune into the Cradle-to-Career Data System webinars in October to learn more about the proposed education data system and to provide feedback.

On Sept. 9, the Los Angeles Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) Young Leaders led and participated in the Young Adults, Past Trauma, and Foster Care Town Hall. Their conversation centered on ways young people are coping with school, work and personal relationships in the midst of a pandemic and social unrest. The OYC Young Leaders have already expressed interest in holding additional virtual conversations between young people and professionals. Click here to access the audio recording and partner resources.

The Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT), awarded by the California Community Colleges, provides a guaranteed pathway for students to transfer to a four-year university in a specific major. Since 2018, The L.A. Compact Student Success Workgroup (SSWG) has been involved in developing a study using their own institutional data to evaluate the effectiveness of the ADT.

A population measure of child well-being, the Early Development Instrument (EDI) is currently being used in over 25 countries. Since 2009, the use of the instrument has grown steadily in the U.S., especially in Southern California. However, there has been no research to date that looks at the EDI’s utility in predicting future school performance among U.S. children. Our partners at UCLA, along with researchers at UCI and Purdue University, conducted a study to fill this gap, showing that the EDI is a strong predictor of children’s third grade proficiency in math and reading.

On July 21, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors made clear that inaction is no longer an option. They unanimously approved a motion introduced by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas to establish an antiracist policy agenda for the County. The motion calls for the County to confront and address explicit institutional racism by evaluating how County policies, practices, operations and programs are holding back the advancement of Black Angelenos. At last Tuesday’s board meeting, leaders representing various County departments also expressed their support for the motion and pledged to advance racial and social equity within their own departments.

A member of the Health Sector Collaborative, Charles R. Drew University (CDU) is providing free COVID-19 testing to Los Angeles County residents. The work is being done in collaboration with the City and County of Los Angeles and Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center (MLK OPC). “As the statistics are now showing, under-resourced communities of color are being disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus. However, there have been very few, if any, COVID-19 testing sites in these communities,” said Charles Drew University President and CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle. 

UNITE-LA is conducting a survey of students to better understand how they make decisions about their education. This will be part of a project to make information about available credentials transparent and easily accessible through technology. Working in partnership with Credential Engine, the project aims to build an open-source online registry of all degrees, certificates, certifications, licenses, badges, apprenticeships and other types of educational and occupation-related credentials.

30,000 L.A. Unified graduating seniors had to return their district-issued laptops on June 12. Many of these students have every intention of starting college in the fall, but without a computer or internet, they may struggle to participate in critical summer bridge activities. UNITE-LA worked with L.A. Unified, L.A. City Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office and the California Community Foundation to develop a survey to assess the need for personal computing devices amongst recent L.A. Unified graduates. Since early July, over 2,000 L.A. Unified class of 2020 graduates have responded.

UNITE-LA launched the new L.A. Educator Pathways Partnership (LAEPP) Policy Advisory Group in June. Our 18th L.A. Compact workgroup is a spin-off of the LAEPP —a longstanding data sharing and research collaboration between L.A. Unified and the region’s primary teacher training programs. The new LAEPP Policy Advisory Group will develop recommendations around teacher and teacher candidate recruitment, preparation, certification and effectiveness, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic; persistent, systemic racism and inequity; and other evolving conditions.