The changes are key elements of the District’s 2017-20 Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), unanimously adopted Tuesday, June 27 by the Board of Education.
Developed over the last year in consultation with parents, students, staff and community members, the LCAP guides Baldwin Park Unified’s efforts to improve student outcomes, especially for high-needs students who come from low-income homes or are English learners or foster children.
At Baldwin Park Unified, 86 percent of about 13,600 students are socio-economically disadvantaged and 24 percent are English learners.
In all, the plan identifies $33.9 million in spending on high-needs students as part of a $139.6 million 2017-18 budget, also adopted by the Board of Education on Tuesday.
“Our LCAP and budget together represent a strengthening of Baldwin Park Unified’s commitment to ensuring that all of our students receive every opportunity possible as they pursue their educational dreams,” Board President Cristina Lucero said. “There is nothing more important.”
For example, the District boasts a strong graduation rate at 94.2 percent, but District officials would like to see it become even stronger, with more graduates qualifying for acceptance by the University of California and California State University.
In response, the LCAP includes funds to expand Advanced Placement instruction, add science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes, extend the school year for at-risk students, fund services such as the PSAT for students who can’t afford them, hold a boot camp to assist students working on college applications, and establish agreements with local community colleges so more students can take college classes during high school.
The District will also train its second cohort of classroom teachers in integrating technology into the classroom. Fifty-eight teachers took the training in 2016-17. This year, the District plans to create a team of 16 coaches and 32 apprentices.
A separate group of curriculum, technology and intervention coaches will form a team to model instructional strategies for classroom teachers and implement a multi-tiered approach to interventions to help struggling students.
Meanwhile, the addition of assistant principals will free elementary school principals to serve as instructional leaders and allow them to focus on crafting strategies that will boost student achievement.
“All of these strategies, developed in close consultation with our community, come together to achieve a single purpose, one that is represented by our District mission to ‘Ensure High Achievement for ALL Learners,’ ” Superintendent Dr. Froilan N. Mendoza said. “I’m excited to see what our teams of talented and dedicated educators can accomplish.”