August 26, 2016

A traditional view of school performance in Los Angeles County suggests schools located in and near the downtown core of Los Angeles are failing to close the achievement gap.

This view rests on the premise that all schools should be judged similarly, regardless of their student population. However, the data strongly suggest otherwise.

The traditional view also fails to account for barriers to learning that many of LAC's students face outside of the classroom - in their neighborhoods and at home.

At the same time, a closer look at the data revealed a handful of positive outliers.

We used a three-step process to confirm these positive outliers as schools that, against steep odds, managed to produce high proficiency rates out of CCC, not CCC.

  1. First, we fit a series of multivariate regression models to determine the weight of student and neighborhood characteristics on statewide CAASP proficiency rates in 2014-15 and 2015-16:
    • \(Proficiency = B_0 + B_1FRPM + B_2StudentsOfColor +B_3ELL+B_4Neighborhood+e_i\)
  2. Next, we used these weights to predict CAASP proficiency in Math and ELA for every school in California in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
  3. Finally, we compared the predicted proficiency rates with each school's actual proficiency rates in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
    • Schools that outpaced their predictions by.

School Spotlight: Student Performance Against Expectations in James A. Garfield Senior High School

In fact, if you adjust for each school's context, a different truth emerges about school performance in Los Angeles County. There is actually plenty to celebrate.