Giving Compass' Take:

• According to a study by Innovate Public Schools, Sol Price Center for Social Innovation and the Rossier School of Education Center on Education Policy, Equity and Governance at USC, there are only few schools that are closing the achievement gap for low-income black and Latino students in Los Angeles.

• Other findings reveal that it is possible to close the achievement gap, despite few schools successfully doing so. How can school district leaders collaborate on a 'roadmap' for success to closing the gap?

• Here are six K-12 school districts to watch in 2019.

Of the 1 million low-income African-American and Latino public school students in Los Angeles County, only 2 out of 10 of them are enrolled in a high-quality school, a first-of-its-kind study found.

There are 279 public schools closing the achievement gap for low-income Latino and black students, the study found. That’s out of a pool of 1,800 schools in the county that are serving a vast majority of these students. In total, there are 2,068 public schools in L.A. County.

The study was conducted by Innovate Public Schools–Los Angeles, a nonprofit focused on access to quality education, along with the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation and the Rossier School of Education Center on Education Policy, Equity and Governance at the University of Southern California.

USC’s Sol Price Center for Social Innovation has previously worked with Innovate Public Schools through one of its graduate programs, but this is the first time they have partnered for a research project. The Los Angeles study was released in late April and was funded by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, which provides funding to this news organization.

Here are six takeaways from the Innovate/USC study:

  1. In L.A. County, ‘Not a lot of schools are closing the achievement gap.’
  2. A lower proportion of traditional schools made it to the top public schools list.
  3. Very few schools are closing the achievement gap for black students.
  4. Charters dominate the list of top public high schools for low-income Latinos.
  5. Here are the breakdowns for L.A. Unified schools that made the list.
    1. There are 130 schools in L.A. Unified that made the list of top performers for low-income blacks and Latinos.
      1. 125 L.A. Unified schools are closing the gap for low-income Latino students.
      2. 9 are closing the gap for low-income black students.
      3. 4 are closing the gap for both student groups.
    2. Of the traditional schools in L.A. Unified, 73 made the list:
      1. 70 are closing the gap for Latinos.
      2. 7 are closing the gap for blacks.
      3. 4 are closing the gap for both student groups.
  6. The goal is understanding better practices to close the achievement gap.

Read the full article about closing the achievement gap by Esmeralda Fabian Romero at The 74.