Ellie's Equity Portfolio

A Research Project on the Los Angeles High School of the Arts

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Founded in 1998, the Los Angeles High School of the Arts (LAHSA) joined the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in 2010.

The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus is located in Koreatown. It is a collection of six, autonomous pilot schools: Ambassador School of Global Education, Ambassador School of Global Leadership, LAHSA, New Open World Academy, School for the Visual Arts and Humanities, UCLA Community School.

Map Courtesy of Google Maps

The first Robert F. Kennedy Pilot Schools were established in 2007, with the goal of providing high-quality education to students while tailoring to their specific needs and interests. They strive to be "role models of educational innovation and research and development sites for effective teaching and learning in urban public schools". These pilot schools are very independent, having control over their instructional program, schedule, staffing, calendar, and budget.

The Scene at LAHSA

LAHSA's mission statement: "To foster a rich academic, innovative, and professional artistic community inspiring our students to become the next generation of creative thinkers. Students are able to independently research and collect data to solve complex problems, allowing them to flourish in collaborative environments and meet challenges with creativity and determination.

LAHSA has an "arts-based curriculum", where academic courses are driven by performing arts such as theater and dance."

Special Programs

Thematic Units: classes and interdiciplinary projects revolving around culturally-relevant topics
Action-Based Projects: problem-solving research projects that prepare students to become productive, socially-active adults
Senior Defense: a cumulative assessment that is required in order to graduate
Electives such as professional ensemble, dance, voice, computer design, and journalism
Parent Participation Programs

Images courtersy of LAHSA.net

LAHSA is STEAM certified by LAUSD, Gold Certified by Linked Learning Alliance, and boasts of an 81% graduation rate and a 27% AP Course Enrollment (as of 2019). The student-teacher ratio is 16:1. Roughly 13% of the student population has a disability.

LAHSA is a small school- about 440 students. The school has a very low suspension rate: less than one student every 2 days. Chronic absenteeism rates doubled from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022: 15% to 30%. Additionally, LAHSA has a "Positive Behavior Support Committee", in which parents are welcome to participate in.

Demographics of LAHSA

Socioeconomic Status

According to the California School Dahsboard, in 2022, nearly all (96.6%) of LAHSA's student population qualified as "socioeconomically disadvanged". Likewise, about 94% of all students qualifed for free or reduced-priced meals, according to Ed-Data. This data has stayed relatively consistent since 2017.

English Learners

About one in every five (21.3%) of all LAHSA students are English Leaners, almost all of which speak Spanish as their home language (L1). The CA Dashboard reports that a high rate of English Learners are reclassifed as proficient (RFEP) each year. More than half of all EL students progress at least one English Learner Progress Indicator (ELPI) Level every year.

Data Anomalies

Cumulative enrollment and the number of Redesignated English Proficient students fell slightly in the years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, possbily due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Academic Performance

English Language Arts

According to the California School Dashboard, LAHSA's performance on standardized English tests as "low" - 3.2 points below the standard

About one-quarter of LAHSA students did not meet the CAASPP (California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress) standard. This data has stayed relatively consistent since 2017. English Learners did not meet the standard at a higher rate than their English Proficient schoolmates. There are gaps in the data, most likely due to COVID-19.

Mathematics

According to the California School Dashboard, LAHSA's performance on standardized Mathematics tests was " very low" - 122.2 points below the standard

More than half of all LAHSA students did not meet the CAASPP standard for mathematics. This data has stayed relatively consistent since 2017. English Learners did not meet the standard at much higher rates than their English Proficient schoolmates. There are gaps in the data, most likely due to COVID-19.

Physical Fitness

LAHSA 9th graders have higher rates of flexibility and trunk extension strength than aerobic capacity and upper body strenth. About 27% of students have a health risk due to body composition, and about 15% of students have a health risk due to aerobic capacity. However, physical fitness tests were not conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.