Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa got a chance to show off several of his Partnership schools today. He toured the campuses with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and ended the visit with a commendation.
Villaraigosa and Superintendent Tom Torlakson took short tours of 99th Street Elementary School and Gompers Middle School, and ended the morning at Jordan High School in Watts.
Together with LA Unified School Board president Monica Garcia and Melanie Lundquist - who’s given $50 million to fund the partnership - they visited classrooms and held a roundtable discussion with seniors.
The Partnership of LA Schools took over Jordan in 2010. The school had the highest Academic Performance Index score jump in the state this year – up 93 points from last year's 551 API.
Torlakson commended the staff for their dedication.
Villaraigosa credited much of Jordan's success to a complete overhaul of the staff - a process called "reconstitution." That change ushered in new positive culture at the school, he said. Teachers also received ongoing professional training through the peer-developed Pioneer Program.
The Partnership for Los Angeles runs 22 of LA Unified’s lowest performing schools. None had an API score above 700 when the Partnership began in 2008. Today, 17 have API scores above 600, and nine schools hover near the 700 mark.
