 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Urban Public School Districts Initiative |
|
|
|
Urban schools face a plethora of challenges, from scarce resources and overburdened staff to socioeconomic issues affecting students and their families. To help Southern California public schools provide rich learning opportunities for students, Weingart Foundation launched the Urban Public School Districts Initiative in 2006, with an objective of supporting targeted reform efforts within districts with effective plans for change. Accordingly, the goal of the Initiative is to positively impact education by supporting sustainable reforms in districts educating high numbers of low-income students.
The Initiative was informed by research conducted by the Center on Educational Governance at the Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California (USC). Center researchers used an interdisciplinary approach to studying the educational issues posed by diverse urban communities.
With a focus on Southern California public school districts that have enrollments of less than 35,000 students, the Urban Public School Districts Initiative commenced with the identification of four districts serving economically disadvantaged students including: Desert Sands Unified School District; Inglewood Unified School District; Lennox School District; and Pomona Unified School District. Each of these districts, already engaged in promising academic improvement efforts, were awarded implementation grants for specific projects related to their overall reform plans.
Additionally, the Initiative sponsors a collaborative learning community among the four districts, facilitated by USC, as well as various evaluation activities intended to elicit lessons learned by each and across the Initiative as a whole.
|
|
|
|
|
|
