ERIC Number: ED494672
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 120
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Governing Urban School Districts: Efforts in Los Angeles to Effect Change
Augustine, Catherine H.; Epstein, Diana; Vuollo, Mirka
RAND Corporation
Many urban school district students are dropping out and few of the remaining ones reach state or district achievement goals. These problems make governing urban schools both difficult and important. In 2005-06, the governance structure of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was examined, debated, criticized, and praised by several different constituencies, including the mayor, who sought to take over the district. This report chronicles education and public officials' efforts to change the Los Angeles Unified School District's governance structure. It focuses on the bid for mayoral control of LAUSD and the competing efforts on behalf of various stakeholders. It sets the struggles that took place in Los Angeles in a national context, drawing on the literature on educational governance to analyze the political process and the resulting policy change. New legislation ushers in an untried governance system with the potential to both improve and worsen the governance of the district. The legislation allows the mayor to develop new approaches to schooling in three high schools and their feeder schools. If this cluster management project demonstrates improvements, the approaches he employs could be applied to other schools in the district. Evaluating this endeavor and determining its effects on student outcomes is vital. The report commences with a preface, summary, and an introduction. Chapter 2 presents the state, city, and district context of LAUSD. Chapter 3 chronicles the process of modifying the LAUSD governance structure. Chapter 4 analyzes the various policy options proposed over the past year. Chapter 5 concludes this report with a discussion on the potential effects of the LAUSD governance change along with next steps. (Contains 1 table.) [The research described in this report was conducted within RAND Education for the Presidents' Joint Commission on LAUSD Governance.]
Descriptors: Educational Change, Public Officials, School Districts, Governance, Urban Schools, Elementary Secondary Education, Academic Achievement, Educational Objectives, Educational Policy, Educational Administration
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Publication Type: Information Analyses; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers; Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Rand Corp., Santa Monica, CA.
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A