Accountability Plans (LCAPs) of 29 key school districts throughout the state, and the impact those LCAPs are having on English Learner students, was released today by Californians Together. This report is a follow-up to the year 1 report released in May 2015 and serves to document the key differences between first and second-year LCAPs in demonstrating increased or improved services to English Learners.
The report, titled "A Review of Year 2 LCAPs: A Weak Response to English Learners," found that LCAPs are distressingly weak in identifying English Learner needs, building capacity to serve English Learners, and supporting the program and services that are responsive to English Learners. In addition, the study, which was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Equity for English Learners at Loyola Marymount University, found that the usefulness of the LCAP as a means of accountability is compromised by the difficulty in gleaning a sense of a coherent approach to comprehensively address the pressing needs of English learners.
"If the districts, state and county offices are going to live up to the equity principle of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and LCAPs, they need to seize the opportunity to define the needs and develop comprehensive, research-based approaches, programs and services to once and for all make the remaining years of LCFF about closing gaps and raising the level of language and academic growth for English learners at the core of their work," said researcher and report co-author Laurie Olsen of Californians Together.
The same sampling from the Year 1 report of districts with the largest English Learner enrollment, high percentage of English Learners and several with a history of comprehensive services for English Learners were included in the report. These 29 districts constitute 32 percent of all of California's 1.4 million English Learners.
"As it is functioning now, the LCAP is far from adequate as an accountability mechanism to target funds and ensure equity and access to educational services to ELs", concluded Dr. Magaly Lavadenz, author and Director for the Center for Equity for English Learners, Loyola Marymount University.
The general patterns of LCAP's nonresponsiveness to English Learners are similar to Year One.
LCAPs demonstrated minimal investment in building the capacity of teachers to meet the needs of ELs.
The vast majority of LCAPs lack specific attention to strengthening or providing EL coherent programs and services.
Engagement of EL parents in both the LCAP process and implementation remains very weak.
It is difficult to discern district-wide services and school site allocations supported by supplemental and concentration grant funds.
English Learner data was seldom citied as informing LCAP goals, and the use of English Learner indicators appears quite weak as a component of LCAP accountability.
The report can be downloaded here and on www.californianstogether.org.
Californians Together is a statewide coalition of 25 parent, teacher, education advocacy and civil rights groups committed to improving policy and practice for educating the state's 1.4 million English Learners. Since 2001, Californians Together, a nonprofit organization, has served as a clarion voice on behalf of language minority students in California public schools.
I appreciate your comment we should be looking into the Title III plans. Also, as I have witnessed, ELD teachers and EL Coordinators are not reading Title III plans or helping to implement them or the Goal 2 in LEA plans, who are the chosen to assist parents in the parent councils for ELAC English Language Advisory Council. I guess it is too much work, people don't have time, and the system not working for school wide improvement or achievement for all.
We should be looking at Title III plans and Goal 2 in LEAPlans. Thats where districts must address EL programs with more specifics.