CA Charter Public Schools Provide Lessons in Closing the Opportunity Gap for Latino Students
By Myrna Castrejón, President & CEO, California Charter Schools Association
As this year’s Latino Heritage Month comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on my own Latina roots and California’s strong Latino communities which are central to our state’s history and cultural identity.
According to recent census data, California is now home to 15.6 million Latinos — nearly 40% of Californians identify as Latino. Latino students make up 55.3% of the K-12 public school student population.
Within California’s charter public schools, the Latino student population has increased by 5% over the last 7 years. In 2021, 52.4% of charter public students are Latino or 361,537 students.
The Latino student population within charter public schools is diverse: 26% are English learners, 13% are on specialized learning plans, 4% are homeless and 77% are considered low-income.
In CCSA’s new research brief Two Charter Public Schools, One Mission: Latino Academic Excellence, we look at Latino student demographics, their academic achievement thus far, and shine a bright light on two charter public schools — Libertas College Preparatory Charter in South Los Angeles and Santa Rosa Academy in Riverside County — that have been able to identify and establish fundamental “building blocks” that are leading to strong academic gains among their Latino students. In fact, these two schools are performing in the 85th percentile or higher for Latino students statewide on the annual state assessment (CAASPP).
At Libertas College Preparatory Charter, Latino students are not only performing above standard but are scoring well above the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) average in both English Language Arts and Math. Not only does the school set high academic standards, Libertas stresses the importance of character education for its students and the cultural competency of its teachers. Weekly character assessments are conducted which value the student’s engagement and participation in class. Teachers build their curriculum around engaging the student in their studies, emphasizing hands-on activity and active learning.
Recognizing that students are more engaged when the teacher reflects the students, the school makes diversity in hiring an intentional focus. Along with hiring diverse teachers, the school works to remove the language barrier in communicating with students’ parents, understanding that better communication with parents is an essential component of student success. School communications are translated into Spanish, and parents are encouraged to speak or write back in Spanish.
Hear from Libertas College Prep Charter Principal Alma Zepeda on how monitoring academic skills works:
Roughly 80 miles away in the city of Menifee in Riverside County, Santa Rosa Academy also sets a high academic bar for students to reach and places a strong emphasis on community involvement.
Santa Rosa Academy’s high school freshmen are motivated and inspired by identifying and completing a community service project. The charter public school partners with local charities to increase engagement and support the students’ projects. In addition, Santa Rosa Academy seeks to provide a multi-tiered level of support that satisfies the needs of the whole student — from providing mental health support to addressing safety concerns. Students are assessed at the beginning of each year to understand the needs of each student and provide individualized support.
Lastly, Santa Rosa Academy students are given the opportunity for dual or concurrent enrollment at a local community college and earning over 30 college credits prior to graduation, participate in one of the Career and Technical Education programs offered, or simply complete the newly revamped a-g course pathway offered.
Watch Santa Rosa Academy Executive Director Robert Hennings explain what the school’s greatest strength is:
I believe its critically important to draw the state’s collective attention to the two “bright spot” schools and the fundamental building blocks they have adopted because — implemented at scale — these best practices can work to close the wide and pervasive opportunity gap that continues to produce inequitable educational outcomes for Latino students.
Based on 2019 testing, our most recent year when tests were conducted due to the pandemic, Latino public school students showed a gap in both ELA and Math when compared to all students. While test scores for Latino students attending charter schools scored higher than their peers attending traditional public schools, the numbers show that more work needs to be done. Latino students at charter public schools were 14 points below the met standard in English, whereas Latino students at traditional public schools were 25 points below. In Math, Latino students at charter public schools were 50 points below the met standard, compared to Latino students at traditional public schools who were 59 points below in Math.
This Latino Heritage Month, it is important that we look forward to how we can serve California’s Latino students going forward and provide equitable educational opportunities. All of us have been affected by this pandemic, especially those students that need additional support. As the leader of the California Charter Schools Association, I am excited to highlight how two schools have been able to find success through adversity and educate the next generation of Latino Californians that are our future leaders and innovators.
You can learn more about California’s nonprofit charter schools by following CCSA on Twitter @CALcharters.
Myrna Castrejón is President & CEO of the California Charter Schools Association
