will Garfield High (LHS as well ?) go Green Dot ?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/garfield-high-which-became-nationally-known-as-the-real-life-setting-for-the-film-stand-and-deliver-will-be-among-the.html

the Eastsider L.A. blog. sorry for the broken link above

http://www.theeastsiderla.com/

What's surprising is that it was really pushed by Monica Garcia at one time. She was big on public ed, but now... we'll see. Also, Inner City Struggle seemed to have cozied up to the Villaraigosa / Green Dot crowd, too. Now it sounds like they're backing off and proposing a revised public school.

Yolie Flores Aguilar, you already figured she'd do this privatization thing.

Here's what is really pathetic. Villaraigosa's takeover of Roosevelt failed. The Catholic School graduate couldn't get the public school to magically get better through faith healing. So now he pushes for libertarian Green Dot?

GD hasn't made great gains except for the Oscar De La Hoya school, which is doing great. The rest of them are not kicking ass as expected.

Other charters are doing worse than average. They talk a good talk, but fail to deliver on promises.

You want to know why ODLH school is doing well? It's because it has no athletics, so, there aren't any choices about what to do after school, except study. The school also has a rep of giving a lot of homework. So the school attracts students and parents who want a school focused on academics.

Garfield's scores are rising because they focused on academics. I understand that the focus was lost in the post-Escalante era, leading to a decline in academic performance. So it's back now.

What schools need to do, to succeed, is develop an academic cluster of classes, and then actively recruit for them in the middle school grades. Get them aware in 7th and 8th grades, and focused by the 9th grade.

Some administrators and teachers assume the smart kids will do okay on their own - but that is not how it works. (They don't know, because so many in the teaching profession were mediocre students.) Academic students, especially poor and working class talents, need resources and guidance. They need advanced textbooks, magazine subscriptions, the LA Times and New York Times, the internet at home, and books.

It doesn't matter if the system is public school, or semi-public semi-private charter school. The needs are the same, and they needs are not being met.