Recently, California’s education system has experienced a great shift in the way that funding is distributed to districts and schools, thanks to the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) signed into law by Jerry Brown in the summer of 2013. This new approach to funding makes great strides toward a more equitable education system, in that “funding follows need,” and schools serving large populations of traditionally high-needs students, including English Language Learners, students living in poverty, and students in foster care, receive additional funding to address these students’ needs and promote their achievement. The LCFF allows decisions about funding priorities to be made at a more local (district and school-site) level. With this increased responsibility for school-site budgeting comes increased expectations around tracking and reporting outcomes. Under the new law, each district much create a Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) that outlines the school’s priorities and goals and the expected annual outcomes related to each goal. While schools and districts have great flexibility in identifying and addressing their own priorities, all districts must also include goals and measures that address an established set of State Priorities. These priorities are organized under three categories: Conditions for Learning, Pupil Outcomes, and Engagement.
Perhaps the most exciting and progressive set of State Priorities fall under the “Engagement” category, where districts are asked to address and measure three priorities: parental involvement, student engagement, and school climate. As you can imagine, the work of All-in! and our Unconditional Education model is incredibly aligned with these priorities, and some of our schools are even incorporating results from the School Climate Assessment Instrument (SCAI) into their LCAPs! For example, Cox Academy has a goal that “All students attend school in a safe, engaging, and nurturing environment.” One of their annual measurable outcomes for this goal is that each year, students, staff, and family responses on the “Attitude and Culture” dimension of the SCAI will average 3.5 or higher.
We are excited to see the many ways in which our Unconditional Education partnership aligns with and is integrated into each school’s overall vision for success. The LCAP is just one example of this. If you are interested to learn more about your school’s LCAP, they are publicly available documents that can most likely be found on your school’s website. Please feel free to share (in the comment section below) other ways in which your school is promoting a deep and integrated partnership with Seneca!
We are excited to see the many ways in which our Unconditional Education partnership aligns with and is integrated into each school’s overall vision for success. The LCAP is just one example of this. If you are interested to learn more about your school’s LCAP, they are publicly available documents that can most likely be found on your school’s website. Please feel free to share (in the comment section below) other ways in which your school is promoting a deep and integrated partnership with Seneca!
 Blog post written by: Jenny Ventura, Director of Model Implementation and Assessment |
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