2008 Campus-Community Partnerships

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Turning the Tide on South Los Angeles Student Dropout

Abstract:

A South LA-based parent organization, Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE), and John Rogers, Co-Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (UCLA IDEA), have partnered to increase the capacity of low-income parents of color as difference makers in the quest for educational equity in our schools. The central participants and beneficiaries of this project are African American and Latino parents/caregivers (“parents”) whose children attend schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), especially in South LA. Building on CADRE’s achievement two years ago of influencing LAUSD to adopt the most comprehensive and progressive district-wide discipline policy in the nation, this project will support the training and empowerment of an increased number of South LA grassroots parents as researchers in this policy’s implementation in some of the most challenged South LA schools. Evaluating the policy’s implementation and effectiveness will identify new opportunities for parent leadership to turn the tide of persistently high dropout rates in South LA. The project results and lessons learned will comprise a policy brief that will be shared with local education policymakers and community organizations.

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