Hope Change ChoicesHope Change Choices | Hope Change Choices

LAUSD Open Enrollment 2012-13 Map and Lists

Rustum Jacob — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:49:05 +0000

Open Enrollment is in progress. Open Enrollment is the last chance for LAUSD families to pick a new school for next year. For existing LAUSD families you can usually pick-up a pre-signed applciation from your neighboorhood school, you need a signature from an administrator at your neighborhood school as part of the application.

The Good:

The application is easy (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean or Armenian). Every student qaulifies. There are no points, no minimum test scores, and no limit on schools you can apply to.

The Bad:

No transportation.

Where are the Open Enrollment schools? HopeChangeChocies.org has a map and we've listed schools by Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools. LAUSD has a list of all schools participating in Open Enrollment either by alphabet or by Local District.

Direct link to the map:

http://bit.ly/LAUSDopen

LAUSD Open Enrollment In Full Swing

Magnet Angel — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:12:35 +0000

Today marks the start of the Open Enrollment period. Between May 7 and May 25, families may apply to any of the schools listed on the LAUSD.net website (go down the right hand side, and look for the announcement and links.

Transportation is not provided, but this is yet another option to choose the school that is right for your child.

HCC style LAUSD Charter Map

Rustum Jacob — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 04:28:38 +0000

We've been directing you to the California Charter School Association (CCSA) map, and you should keep using it. The CCSA map is fast and includes schools outside of the LAUSD boundaries. Part of what we do at HCC is advocate for LAUSD to make finding its schools easier including charters. Right now parents who visit LAUSD to learn about charter schools get a giant spreadsheet. We could write letters to LAUSD to encourage them to make interactive maps, or HopeChangeChoices could just go ahead and make the map of charter schools in LAUSD. http://bit.ly/CharterMap

Keep in mind LAUSD Open Enrollment 2012-13 should be announced in the next 2 weeks, this is the last chance.

LAUSD SAS map 2012-13

Rustum Jacob — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:00:48 +0000

Applications are open for LAUSD School for Advanced Studies (SAS) for the 2012-13 school year. SAS programs are for students who have met or exceeded specific academic criteria. There are 181 SAS programs in LAUSD with 100 elementary schools, 50 middle schools and 31 high schools. We've created an updated map to complement the list of schools LAUSD provides.

Essential Links

Applications are available here
There is an ad hoc list of school tours (Magnet Angel)
The HCC school tour checklist
CBS 2 has their own SAS guide that is worth reading.

We've made a map of SAS schools operating in the 2012-13 school year. http://bit.ly/hccSASmap

The best piece of advice courtesy of Magnet Angel:

Parents should tour as many schools as they find meeting their needs. Then, since most tours are held during the day, bring the potential student back to look at the top two or three. Parents should *always* have the final say, but there is something to be said about a student who is eager to get up in the morning to go to school. Famillies should compare notes together (parent and child) after the tours and figure out which schools are worth an application, and then in which order families will accept.

Inter-District Permits LAUSD

Rustum Jacob — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:24:33 +0000

LAUSD has lots of great schools, but for various reasons you might want to apply to a school in a dsitrcit outside of LAUSD. Inter-district permits allow families to transfer out of LAUSD to another school district.

Facebook group Stop LAUSD From Denying Permits For Inter-District Student Transfers!! is a great resource for families. Their number one piece of advice is:

"don't lie on your application; be very clear as to how the programing at the school of choice is better/more tailored to your child's educational needs; don't bash the local school that you don't want your child at."

Here are the official LAUSD links

LAUSD office of Student Permits

Inter-District Permits page

Application process as described by LAUSD

*Be very careful about dates and required documentation. Applications submitted late or without proper documentation are not processed.

Join us on Facebook and Twitter

Rustum Jacob — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 03:31:34 +0000

Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter where we are sharing additional news about school choice in LAUSD and useful tips for parents. We will be posting news related to school choice in LAUSD as well as running polls. As always, share with the social buttons below.

School Tour Checklist

Rustum Jacob — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:36:07 +0000

The HCC School Tour Checklist (beta 1.0)

LAUSD SAS enrollment is going on now with many schools offering tours of their SAS program. (thank you Magnet Angel)

  Visiting a school can leave you with a lot of questions, so we went ahead and put some of the most popular questions on a checklist for you. This is our first attempt at a school tour checklist. Please send us your feedback so we can make it better.  The checklist is meant to be universal for Magnets, Charters, or any other school.

More info for SAS programs

CBS 2 Guide to SAS

LAUSD SAS applications are available at the schools or from LAUSD

Schools Operating in “Silos” Versus Working Together for the Kids

Magnet Angel — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:02:10 +0000

As the popularity of small-learning academies on campuses increases, it’s important to ask how a school supports a student with multiple interests. If attending a music magnet on a campus with a math academy, can a child switch for a class that better suits his or her needs? Will jazz band conflict with theater? Some schools do a great job of accommodating the needs of all students. Others will often tell a student they must choose their top interest. Ask on a tour, and get the school’s policy clearly.

A policy point: magnet courses need only be 75% magnet students and magnet students only require three courses per day in the magnet itself to comply with magnet regulations. This is especially important if your child excels in more than one area, or as time goes by, shifts interests. For instance, my son was in a multimedia magnet, when in 10th grade he realized he was more focused on math and science than on technology. His school was wonderful in letting him take courses outside of the magnet to get the specific levels he wanted (Honors instead of AP) or more advanced than he could have received in the magnet itself.

Schools can also “dual roster” a class. This allows a teacher to teach both an honors and regular level in the same class when there aren’t enough students to hold separate classes. Students typically sign a contract to do the extra work to get the honors credit. They might read an extra novel in a literature class, or they might be asked to complete more challenging projects than other students. Dual rostering allows students to take the courses that best suit their needs.

So ask questions, and find out how the school will accommodate the needs of your child.

A better charter map 2011-12

Rustum Jacob — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:23:25 +0000

The California Charter School Association has a great map of charter schools in the LA area. The CCSA map is better than anything we could do on our own. I like that all cities are represented in this map and not just LAUSD schools. Every bubble here has a link to the school’s respective website. You can enter your zip-code and get a list of schools within a 5 or 10 mile range. The only things that would make this better would be the ability to filter by grade level and see the number of available spaces with the number of students who applied last year.

Initial reaction to Increasing Choice

Rustum Jacob — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:39:04 +0000

Ms. García and Ms. Martinez presented their Board “Resolution to Examine Increasing Choice and Removing Boundaries for Neighborhood Schools.” I am glad that LAUSD is looking at enrollment. We’ve long advocated that the LAUSD school choice processes are too complex and thus inaccessible to many families. What is not readily clear from the resolution is if it was written with an awareness of the existing school choice options. Also absent from the resolution is any mention of families in which the child is the one seeking a choice and the parents, for whatever reason, are not driving the discussion. I like the idea of having a wide discussion about school choice in LAUSD, best stated here. I look forward to the reading the Superintendent’s report in 90 days which should recommend actionable steps. I’m curious who is going to be tasked with researching and writing the report?

For those of you unfamiliar with Board resolutions they start with a series of “Whereas” clauses stating the need for action, and are followed with a series of “Resolved” actionable steps.

Full resolution:
4. Ms. García, Ms. Martinez – Resolution to Examine Increasing Choice and Removing Boundaries for Neighborhood Schools (Noticed January 10, 2012)

Whereas, The Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District is responsible for ensuring that children educated in the District have the opportunity to receive a quality education; to earn a meaningful, college preparatory high school diploma; and to graduate college-prepared and career-ready;

Whereas, Every child is unique with special talents, strengths and needs, and school placement decisions must therefore be made in the best educational needs of each individual student, addressing such factors as proximity to home, areas of academic interest, and interest in specific educational supports;

Whereas, Research validates that parental involvement in public schools is a key factor in producing measurable gains in student academic success, closing the achievement gap, reducing dropout rates, increasing graduation rates, promoting positive adolescent behavior, and furthering student's emotional development;

Whereas, A parent/guardian has the right to demand what his/her child needs to succeed in school, and should have the right to consider school atmosphere, class size, test scores, before- and after- school programs, specific academic focus, and proximity to the home, when deciding where a student will obtain his/her education;

Whereas, In-district models for open enrollment policies illustrate the ways in which they support accelerated academic achievement. These include the Belmont Zone of Choice, which offers 17 different pilot schools and Small Learning Communities from which incoming 9th graders and their families may choose, and the Kennedy Zone of Choice, which offers six small schools from which students and their families may choose; and

Whereas, The current Open Enrollment Transfer process provides opportunities for families to choose District schools outside of their attendance boundaries, but is unnecessarily limited in the number of students that may participate; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District instructs the Superintendent to develop a plan that would consider removing boundaries for schools in order to give parents the flexibility for their children to take advantage of all seats in high-performing schools, and, be it finally

Resolved, That the Superintendent will return to the Board within 90 days with alternatives and recommendations for a new Open Enrollment Policy that will serve all students District-wide and will allow all students and their families to select the school that best meets students' educational needs.