Workgroup Updates

LAUSD Community Schools Steering Committee

• Steering Committee selected 19 schools to participate in Cohort 1 of the LAUSD Community Schools Pilot in 2019-20 school year. 
• Each school will be receiving $150,000 this year to hire a Community Schools Coordinator and to facilitate a needs assessment and planning process.
• Schools will be implementing four pillars of the Community School’s evidence-based school improvement framework:
  • Integrated student supports
  • Expanded learning time and opportunities
  • Family & community engagement
  • Collaborative leadership and practice
• The Community Schools Professional Development Committee is beginning to plan an orientation for the community school teams this fall as well as develop a learning syllabus for ongoing professional development throughout the year.

Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) Collaborative

-Los Angeles Educator Pathways Partnership (LAEPP) 

• Met with LAUSD Human Resources leadership for an update and discussion of the LAEPP. The Director of Certificated Workforce Management has joined the LAEPP, doubling LAUSD’s representation. 
• Partners from LAUSD and local university teacher training programs have renewed 3 of the bilateral MOUs for new phases of data sharing. 
• We are moving forward with the logistics of sharing IHE data on teachers trained in STEM.  
• We are engaging in discussions on how best to support the IHE and LAUSD partners in leveraging the research findings for improvements in teacher training and retention. 

-Student Success Workgroup

• The Student Success Workgroup members met for the annual planning meeting in August to review the 2018-19 year and set goals for the upcoming 2019-20 year.
• The 2018-19 Year in Review can be viewed at this link. 
• Goals for the 2019-20 year include addressing holistic student needs, regional enrollment management, and scaling reverse transfer.
• Quarterly meetings will resume in November. 

-CSUN Connections

• The CSUN Connections planning team met on Aug. 20 at L.A. Valley College to continue progress on our quarter 3 priorities. These priorities include developing our data outcomes template, identifying first-time freshmen who qualify for the Reroute to Success pathway, and initiating email, mail and phone outreach to these students.
• The planning team will next convene on September 17th and select representatives will participate in a national Learning Lab facilitated by the Lumina Foundation in Los Angeles from Sept. 25-27. 

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment

• Over the summer, local school districts participating in the Early Development Instrument (EDI) pilot received a comprehensive summary of their EDI data, which provides a snapshot of children’s well-being and readiness for school. In fall, school districts will start developing a strategy for how to share the results with administrators, teachers and parents. The ultimate goal is to use the EDI data to inform local policies and practices aimed at improving early childhood outcomes.
• Meanwhile, UNITE-LA and First 5 LA have spent the summer months planning for the launch of L.A. Compact Early Childhood Stewardship Group, which will focus on ensuring all children in Los Angeles County are healthy and ready to succeed in school. As part of the planning process, UNITE-LA and First 5 LA staff met with key early childhood partners to better understand how this group could support and build upon existing efforts. The group may even have a new name. Stay tuned for more information on the launch of the group.
• First 5 LA and First 5 Orange County co-hosted the 2019 Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow Summit. The summit brought together a diverse group of stakeholders interested in learning about the groundbreaking Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a comprehensive measure of school readiness and child well-being. Speaker Anthony Rendon kicked off the summit by elevating the important role that the first five years has in shaping a child’s readiness for school and future well-being and economic success. School districts who have collected EDI data have been able to use the data to advocate for changes in policies and stronger investments in early childhood services and programs. Los Angeles County could benefit from having a countywide, population level measure of school readiness and child well-being. The data could be used to help us strengthen the coordination of early childhood services and improve alignment between early education and the K-12 system. Following the summit, Senator Lena Gonzalez (Senate District 33) hosted a reception for local business and community leaders to learn more about how investing in early childhood can boost a business’ bottom line.

L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative, convened by the Alliance for Children’s Rights

• The OYC Strategic Planning Operations Group met several times in July and August to refine the collaborative’s new strategic plan and governance structure.

-Fostering Careers L.A., convened by UNITE-LA & Alliance for Children’s Rights: 

• UNITE-LA is working on the development of a case study on the foster youth universal referral process which launched in April. We began interviews with project partners and developed a draft online survey to distribute to youth who participated in the referral process.
• As of July, 75 foster youth referred to workforce services through the DCFS universal referral form were confirmed enrolled in a workforce program.
• In FY 18-19, a total of 757 foster youth participated in a paid work experience, 709 foster youth completed job skills training, and 290 foster youth completed at least 100 hours of work experience.
• The group is continuing to develop the Foster Youth Career Readiness Guide.

-OYC Foster Youth College Advancement Project

• Our Executive Advisory Committee held its final strategy planning session in July. 
• An external evaluator is currently assessing the effectiveness of the higher education training developed for LA County Resource Parents 
• DCFS has given us approval for our case study evaluation of our College Bound Antelope Valley Project. 
• The California Student Aid Commission released an update, announcing implementation of the two remaining provisions of the Cal Grant eligibility expansion for current and former foster youth students

L.A. Workforce Systems Collaborative

• During the Aug. 13 meeting the LAWSC members had an open facilitated discussion on apprenticeship development in the LA region and the funding that is available to support this effort. The group wants to strategically develop programs in non-traditional sectors (outside of construction and building trades) due to federal funding and state emphasis.  
• Regina Cash, Associate Dean of Programs and Academic Innovation at CSULA was invited to share how CSULA’s partnership with the South East Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board (SELACO) has helped to create programs to develop a strong workforce within academic institutions.  
• The LAWSC members will be submitting an advocacy letter to state how the implementation of the State Longitudinal Data can better support the LA Region. The need to voice the region's concern was further guided by the lack of data sharing coordination from certain institutions. For example, the Corrections Department data of people’s education is often not being shared with education systems and institutions after their release from custody  -- Probation, LAUSD DACE, LAOCRC/LACCD, CSU Systems. 

Health Care Systems Collaborative

• During the July 23 meeting, the HSC learned more about Credential Engine’s national work on health care credentials and discussed how to support HSC’s goal to make health care career and education pathways more navigable to students and workers in the Los Angeles region.
• Lisa Mitchell, Program Manager of Workforce Development at the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and standing member of the HSC group led a discussion on how HASC is addressing the behavioral health worker pipeline and what role the rest of the HSC members play in finding a sustainable solution. This topic will be covered more in-depth in upcoming HSC meetings. 
• The success of the LAUSD School Nurse Interview Day resulted in 19 signed contracts from the 65 interviews conducted during the event on Tuesday, July 9. LAUSD’s HR and Nurse Hiring team were invited to join the HSC meeting to further discuss and brainstorm short-, medium - and long-term solutions to support the immediate need for school nurses and how to create a better-aligned system for the school nurse pipeline in the future.