EveryoneOn is a national nonprofit founded in 2012 that is focused on creating social and economic opportunity by connecting everyone to the internet. With more than 75 million people in the United States not connected to the internet, 70% of teachers assigning homework that requires access to the internet, and 90% of people using online tools and resources to apply for jobs, the means of advancement are digital.

By employing a digital platform that facilitates access to low-cost internet service, discounted devices, and digital literacy training, EveryoneOn is working to connect one million people in the U.S. by 2020. EveryoneOn’s offer locator tool allow users to search for low-cost internet service, discounted devices such as computers and tablets, and digital literacy training by entering a zip code and answering an eligibility question. People and organizations can visit www.everyoneon.org, text “connect” to 215-45, call (877) 947-4321, or download the EveryoneOn app to find low-cost internet service and devices in their community.

To scale our work and reach our goal of connecting one million people by 2020, we are crafting innovative ways to reach low-income people, including engaging with professionals and paraprofessionals who work with them. The Digital Equity Champion Movement is one example of several initiatives EveryoneOn is undertaking.

Digital Equity Champions are organizations, agencies, and other groups that work directly with low-income people and have committed to provide information about low-cost Internet service, devices, and digital literacy resources as part of their service offerings. Since launching this initiative in 2016, EveryoneOn has enrolled 35 organizations across the as Digital Equity Champions. These champions include community colleges, public housing authorities, and school districts.

How One Innovative School District Has Closed
Gaps on Harder Common Core Tests

(Hechinger Report – Emmanuel Felton – June 7, 2016)
With testing season starting up again, here’s a reminder of last year’s demoralizing news: Every California district and demographic group fared worse on the national Smarter Balanced tests, and the state’s already large test score gaps grew.

The results from those new Common Core tests – designed explicitly to look for the skills kids need in college, namely critical thinking, problem solving and analytical writing skills – have been held up as proof of the persistence of deep-seated disparities in the education provided to poor students and children of color.

But bright spots across the state could provide lessons for how California might do better in the future.

Wiseburn Unified School District in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, for example, did a particularly good job preparing its low-income black students to compete with more affluent kids across the state. And its poor Hispanic students and students still learning English performed much better than similar kids statewide.
(Read more…)

Report: California Public Colleges Not Producing Enough STEM Degrees

(EdSource – Fermin Leal – June 13, 2016)  California’s public colleges and universities are failing to graduate enough students with degrees in health fields and the so-called STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — to meet the state’s growing job demands, according to a new report.

The report by The Campaign for College Opportunity said California ranks near the bottom nationally in the rate of bachelor and associate degrees in those subjects at a time that it has far more STEM entry-level jobs than any other state.

“What’s pretty striking is that in spite of having the largest college and university systems in the nation, California is so far behind,” said Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on higher education. “This is the same state that invented the iPhone, and is home to Silicon Valley.”
(Read more…)

More than 150 Local Measures on June 7 Ballot

(League of CA Cities)  Based on election night counts with 100 percent of all precincts reporting, 70 of the 89 tax and bond measures have passed. Several others are too close to call. All majority vote city tax proposals passed except perhaps one: a one percent sales tax measure in Compton that currently is too close to call at 49.5 percent yes.

All seven school parcel tax measures passed and 41 out of 46 school bonds were approved. 

Free Year of College for LAUSD Grads

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti recently announced a partnership between the City, LAUSD and the LA Community College District to provide a free year of community college for all LAUSD high school grads. The idea – an off-shoot of President Obama’s College Promise – will be funded by money the Mayor will raise along with support from an endowment LACCD will raise. More about the proposal here.

Community Colleges are increasingly becoming a first option for thousands of Latino high school graduates who either didn’t get into the UC or CSU system or can’t afford their tuition even if they got accepted. LACCD’s enrollment is more than 82% Latino, African-American or Asian.

Norwalk Councilman Leaves Post to Run Contract Cities

Big changes at Contract Cities Association – Sam Olivito, who’s run the organization for 34 years is stepping down and is already grooming the next executive director.

Marcel Rodarte, who’s served on the Norwalk City Council since 2011, announced in early April he’s stepping in down from the Council to replace Olivito.

Contract Cities Association represents nearly 70 cities in the state who technically “contract out” their police and fire services.

Under state election laws, the Norwalk council has 60 days to decide whether to appoint a replacement for Rodarte, conduct a special election, or go with four officials until the next regular election, which is next March. More on this story here.

Letter to the Governor: Close the Achievement Gap

Ed-Trust West Executive Director Ryan Smith released an open letter to the Governor taking him to task for comments he made which appeared – certainly to Smith – to indicate the Governor is backing away from trying to make any progress on the growing educational achievement gap between white students and students of color. Smith writes:

“…you seem to provide a justification for the need for these gaps to exist. When asked about the goal to prepare all students for college and career, you remarked, “[do] you mean a career as a waiter? Do you mean a career as a window washer? Or do you mean something more elevated? Then who’s going to do all that other work that’s not elevated? Who does that? Or do we get robots for that?”

Brown’s comments were initially reported on a state news blog. He says closing the achievement gap wasn’t a goal of the Local Control Funding Formula (LACFF) initiative which dramatically changed how school districts are funded putting the onus on local school boards to decide how to spend their dollars.

Smith’s letter was published by EdSource. Read it here.

By Erika Maldonado

Aura Xec was 10 years old when she started school in the United States. English was as foreign to her as Los Angeles’ urban landscape. She was reunited with her parents who were in the States for three years and her last home was in a rural village in Guatemala where she lived with abusive relatives. She hadn’t been in a classroom for the past year. In order to help her connect with her new country, she turned to technology and spent hours watching English tutorial videos on YouTube.

“In Guate, we didn’t have anything,” Xec said. “Here technology is everywhere. I can practice my writing and look up a word I don’t know. It’s so much easier.”

Xec, who is now 18, knew that the way to improve herself was to focus on her education. She has met her requirements for graduation at Youthbuild Charter School in Los Angeles a semester early and will attend her commencement ceremony in spring. Her tech teacher Julia Mijango invited her and a few students to participate in a five-week coding class earlier this year, which sparked an interest for web development. She attended her first hackathon, WeHack/Southeast Cities, in January to learn more about ways to use coding to positively impact her community.

She wants to empower others to share their stories with personal websites.

“By sharing your story, you help others realize that they’re not alone,” Xec said. “And that they have the power to change their situations.”

The Southern California Latino Policy Center and developer program, Sabio partnered with East LA College and surrounding cities to address issues such as affordable child care, lack of open space, health and public transportation that are plaguing the area.

“Sabio wants to expose Latinos, like Aura, to the vibrant world of tech because it is dynamic and fun,” said Sabio co-founder Liliana Monge. “Our Latino community must participate in this tech revolution to ensure its success.”

Attending hackathons geared for people like herself is the first step, Xec said. Her mission is to help people and the ever-changing landscape of the tech sector is what drew her to it. With a high school diploma just in reach, she looks to a future with endless possibilities. The mental and physical abuse by relatives who should have looked after her while her parents were in the U.S., she said, serve as a reminder that she proved them wrong.

“We cannot do anything about the past,” Xec said. “It’s up to us to change how we want to live. We can do anything if we try our best.”

With so much emphasis lately on test scores and teaching methods – it’s a good time to remind school officials there’s still one strategy for student academic success that has never failed – simply making sure kids get to school.

On a recent school day in Dianne Taylor’s fourth grade class at Compton Unified School Districts’s (CUSD) Foster Elementary, she engaged students on a conversation about their health, specifically, staying healthy when cold and flu season comes around. Just like every other school in Southern California, when one student gets sick others always follow.

“What kind of things do we do when we get sick?” she asked the class. “You should drink lots of water,” one student offered. “Eat your fruits and vegetables,” said another. “What about washing our hands?” Mrs. Taylor suggested.

In fact, doctors and health professionals have long maintained the importance of good hygiene habits such as keeping hands clean, particularly in closed settings like classrooms, as a way to prevent the spread of germs and not getting sick.

“Whatever we touch we get germs,” says Mrs. Taylor. “And if we don’t clean our hands with soap and water or with sanitizer we can spread those germs everywhere. And if those germs spread then students get sick. And if they get sick then they can’t learn because they won’t be in school.”

“It’s very important that schools and households as well, have hand-washing techniques in place and easily accessible,” says Dr. Raj Dasgupta, pediatrician at St. John’s Well Family and Child Center. “Alcohol-based hand sanitizer is a useful alternative.” Dr. Dasgupta also says making sure students know how to wash their hands properly is just as important.

Foster Elementary School Principal Jessicka Mears says they work closely with parents to keep students healthy and in school. “As the seasons change students begin to get sick and we try to minimize that. We communicate with home by suggesting things they can do at home. Here at school we encourage the students to drink lots of water, to wash their hands frequently and make sure they keep their germs to themselves.”

That’s why Compton Unified Board Member Micah Ali says the district’s partnership with Gojo Industries, makers of Purell hand sanitizer, has been effective. “We believe that Purell is a preventative measure where students can utilize hand sanitizer to zap those little cooties and make certain they are in their seats and ready to learn each day.”

The company installed hand sanitizers in several CUSD schools at no cost to the District, as part of a unique student hygiene project designed to help keep students healthy and in school.

“Compton is kind of an iconic place and there’s been such a turnaround story here,” says John DePace, a Gojo Industries spokesman. “We just thought they would be good partners. They were willing to invest their time, we were willing to invest our resources.”

The turnaround DePace is referring to is the recent academic success of the district on a national level in addition to higher test scores, graduation rates and college placement. John Brassfield, Jr. says he supports the project and advocates the clean-hands strategy at home with his grandson, a first-grader at Foster.

“We try to tell him, if another kid has a runny nose, stay way, and if they do (get close) wash your hands. Anything you touch, a pencil, door knob, chair, there’s germs there.”

Ramon Castro, another parent added: “I work in the medical field so I teach them the importance of hand washing. We don’t send our kids to school when they’re sick and don’t want them anywhere near sick kids as well.”

“We have hand sanitizer stations in every building,” says Principal Mears. “It’s available for all of our parents and scholars and staff. We encourage the students to use it before recess, before and after lunch. And it’s a great benefit to reach our goal of having every child at school every day.”

By Erika Maldonado
For the Latino Policy Connection

The power of parent engagement and the impact it has on a student’s academic success has rid doubt of even the most skeptic. But the debate about effective parent engagement strategies – even about what constitutes parent engagement – continues to divide.

Through our research and interviews we have come to some conclusions we hope will be useful to education policymakers in this region. We’ve learned that in order to be effective, Parent Engagement should:

• Be adequately funded
• Provide training for all staff
• Promote awareness of what schools need
• Effectively engage families with culturally appropriate outreach
• Engage parents over the course of the year – no more one-offs!

Funding and Training
More frequent participation beyond a workshop once a year or an occasional parent-teacher meeting is what organizations such as Families in Schools, FIS, champion. Though the funding needed for resources and training may seem like an initial barrier to school districts, FIS President and CEO Oscar Cruz says it is a matter of prioritizing.

“There is a huge mismanagement of investment versus resources when you look at parent engagement programs for schools,” Cruz said. “At best, schools are using one percent of Title I money, but if we want to increase parent engagement, that has to change.”

The Azusa Unified School District Board approved FIS’ program last month, which includes training workshops for all school staff in order to improve communication and engagement with parents.

“It really does take a village,” said Azusa Unified School District Board President Yolanda Rodriguez-Peña. “From the board members, family members, teachers and even cafeteria workers, we are all a team and we need to stay that way if we want our kids to succeed.”

Rodriguez-Peña says the funds are currently available and that Azusa Unified is implementing the family and school program after voting to approve it last month.

Parent centers were established throughout the Azusa district to connect families with student’s progress, with furniture donated by families, including Rodriguez-Pena. She says it provides a sense of ownership and a welcoming space for family engagement.

Academic and Cultural Relevance
In order to be effective, parent and family engagement must be culturally relevant to parents. This means meeting the specific needs of each school’s parent “community.” Implementing the Latino Family Literacy Project throughout the Culver City Unified School District, for example, looks different for each school site, said English Language Development Specialist Claudia Benitez. The project encourages family reading that is tailored for preschool, elementary and middle and high school with up to 10 sessions throughout the school year.

“It starts with a welcoming environment,” Benitez said. “Being able to support parents and students so that they know they’re not alone with concerns and questions they may have will encourage them to be more involved.”

For Pomona Unified School District Board Member Frank Guzman, it meant starting a bi-weekly family support group, modeled as round table discussion where parents share advice and address concerns.

“In order to get results, you have to be a person of action,” said Guzman. “We are in the business of educating students. How can we do that without engaging their parents? We’re also empowering families to educate themselves.”

FIS’s Cruz agrees. That is the one thing preventing many parents from engaging with their child’s school beyond just picking up and dropping them off. “Many parents don’t feel like the school belongs to them. They don’t feel empowered. They feel pushed out.”

Having teachers who live within the communities they teach will provide deeper connections with students and enrich learning. Other methods such as providing a translator for school meetings and alternating meetings times in mornings, afternoons and evenings to accommodate working parents are a few solutions Benitez from Culver City Unified found to be effective. With more control being given to schools on how money is spent, inviting parents, students and community members to have a voice in decision-making will foster more inclusion.

Frequency of Interaction
An approach that fosters constant interaction rather than a once a year parent conference is considered optimal by educators such as Maria Paredes, Director of Community Education at Creighton School District in Arizona.

The FIS director cited Paredes’ model as a good example of a welcoming space where parents can establish familiarity with teachers and other parents. Cruz believes that a collaborative approach to education is crucial.

“When you talk about parent engagement—It’s perceived as what parents are not doing,” Cruz said. “It’s more about what are the roles and capacity of the schools? And how can they work together?”

More Parent Engagement Resources can be found at:
Attendance Works
Abriendo Puertas
Univision’s Clave al Exito

Erika Maldonado serves as a programs associate at The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California where she manages social media and oversees the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times poll series along with supporting daily operations. She is a Journalism graduate from San Francisco State University.