Washington Prep’s $8.5 million approach to student learning
Joe Piasecki | 12-29-2009 | Comments |
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Last year, in another sign of flagging student achievement, only 20 percent of George Washington Preparatory High School’s more than 2,600 students met the graduation requirements of the California High School Exit Exam, according to its School Accountability Report Card. But the need to improve student achievement at the South Los Angeles campus, one of LAUSD’s lowest-performing high schools, has some educators thinking outside the box — or, in this case, the classroom.
Washington Prep and nearby middle and elementary schools are the target of a four-year, $8.5 million federally funded grant program that focuses not on inside-the-classroom issues, but on curbing violence, drug use and other barriers to learning.
The Safe Schools / Healthy Students Initiative is an exercise in problem solving and social services networking, explained LAUSD Project Director Myrna Brutti. The need, she said, was that “kids would fall through the cracks not because services weren’t available, but because students wouldn’t know they were there for them.”
The program utilizes eight wellness facilitators hired at the beginning of the school year who, similar to social workers, evaluate the needs of troubled students and refer them to mental health, substance abuse, mentorship and other community-based services — and unlike past efforts, follow up regularly to make sure students are actually getting the help they need. Wellness facilitators will notify the school if a contracted provider is not delivering services and work to contract with a different agency.
Removing barriers to learning
“The goal is to identify issues that are blocking students from learning and refer them to services that will help them be ready to learn again,” said Vivien Villaverde, a licensed clinical social worker who serves as wellness coordinator for Washington Prep and the nearby Duke Ellington Continuation High School.
In addition to wellness facilitators, the program plans to hire a mental health services coordinator and currently employs two additional county youth probation officers, hoping they can intercept truancy and violent behavior before it becomes a discipline issue — or worse.
Violence is perhaps the most pernicious problem in and around Washington Prep.In August, a student was shot to death a block from campus, and a few weeks later a 12-year-old girl and 19-year-old former student were wounded by gunfire at a football game, according to published reports. In 2007, one student stabbed another to death during a gang-related campus brawl in the school’s outdoor quad. A few years earlier, that same spot had been the scene of a near-riot in which several hundred students pelted police with rocks and bottles as they tried to stop a fistfight.
A spring 2009 survey of students in the 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th grades at Washington Prep or feeder schools found that personal safety to be of continuing concern among students.
An alarming 75 percent of Washington Prep 9th graders and more than 60 percent of others who participated in the California Healthy Kids Survey reported feeling unsafe at school or on the way to and from campus. More than one-third of 7th, 9th and 11th graders had seen a weapon at school in the past year, and similar numbers reported being the victim of bullying and harassment. Nearly 20 percent of 5th graders and high school freshman skipped at least one day of school for fear of violence.
In addition to hiring the additional probation officers, the Safe Schools / Healthy Students program coordinates with local law enforcement to increase patrols at sporting events and with the neighborhood Safe Passages coalition to address day-to-day safety issues. Earlier this year, said Brutti, the Safe Passages and Safe Schools programs worked with the Los Angeles MTA to relocate a bus stop where students were being harassed and to increase the number of buses available after school to prevent loitering around campus.
Meanwhile, more than half of Washington Prep students who participate in the Healthy Kids survey reported that alcohol and marijuana were readily available on campus, and more than one third reported “frequent sad or hopeless feelings” that could be a sign of mental health conditions.
Also among high school students, only half said there was an adult in their lives who held them to high standards, but fewer identified these relationships as “caring,” and only 36 percent of 9th graders reported meaningful participation in school or community activities.
Schools connect with public agencies
Washington Prep ranks fourth among L.A. public high schools in the number of probation youth enrolled and serves more foster children than any other LAUSD school, according to a report by the Los Angeles County Education Coordinating Council, a study group that reports to the county Board of Supervisors.
Students in need of services can be referred to the wellness facilitators by teachers, counselors, law enforcement and even their parents, but it’s not unusual for them to walk in and ask for help without any prodding.
“The idea is to have a place on campus that’s consistently open to them, and you’d be surprised by how open they are to it. They really want to connect,” said Brutti, formerly an assistant principal at Stephen White Middle School in Carson.
The Safe Schools / Healthy Students grant program and its multi-faceted approach was initiated in 1999 by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Grants are funded by the Departments of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services, which provide as much as $80 million per year for dozens of school districts around the country.
All grant applicants must design programs that simultaneously prevent violence in and around campuses, curb youth alcohol and drug use and refer students for mental health serves and other social and emotional supports, but programs vary according to local needs.
“What we’re really talking about is improving community involvement around not just learning but healthy development, safer schools and a better community environment. It’s all a part of it,” said U.S. Department of Education Program analyst Karen Dorsey.
In each case, said Dorsey, school districts are meant to connect with a broad range of government and community partners. In the Washington Prep neighborhood, these include L.A. County Departments of Mental Health Services, Children and Family Services, Probation and Public Health as well as the Cedars Sinai Psychological Trauma Center and Catholic Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
More help for more students
While it’s too soon to measure the results of the Washington Prep program, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported in November that schools receiving Safe Schools / Healthy Students grants reduced violent incidents by an average of 15 percent.
Most participating schools have also increased the numbers of students who receive school-initiated mental health treatment and counseling — in some cases doubling the amount of students served.
“This is important, especially given some of the economic conditions in our communities, because many state and local agencies are experiencing real budgetary issues that will impact services delivery,” said Dorsey.
One of the Washington Prep program’s first goals was to reduce mental health services wait times for students, which in some cases were backlogged more than a month, said Brutti.
She hopes the program will help launch a small community health clinic adjacent to the school by 2011.
Tags: california high school exit exam los angeles unified school district safe schools healthy students initiative south los angeles washington preparatory high school