The Los Angeles Unified School District overflows with bad news. The second largest school district in the country has a graduation rate of a mere 72 percent, 8 percent lower than the state average. Thirty-two of the city’s worst performing schools were essentially auctioned off to rebuild as charters. The school board and teachers’ union voted to shorten the school year, cutting five days from this year. 

A team of Neon Tommy reporters visited campuses across Los Angeles to see how well the reports match what happens in classrooms on any given day. 

Arlington Heights Elementary
Community Magnet
Hyde Park Elementary
Millikan Middle School
Muir Middle School
Nimitiz Middle School

Lincoln High School

Twenty-four Lincoln High School students stroll into room B-02 for biology. It’s worn, decorated with student projects and posters that say things like “The Six Pillars of Character.” A couple of students immediately sit down, pull out their notebooks, and answer the warm up question, “Why do we pee?” A group of boys stands at the back of the class, unaware that everyone else is sitting down. Susana Rafael, a student teacher from UCLA’s co-teaching program, breaks them up. 

The freshman students, joined by sophomores and juniors who have to retake the class, are forced toward the front because of arranged seating. They’re talkative during the warm up as the teachers go around stamping their homework. A student curses and Rafael corrects him saying, “Watch your language. Think about it before you say it.”

Reina Pastor, the actual teacher of the class, supervises the student teachers as they go through a powerpoint presentation on the urinary system. A slide shows an illustrated male figure’s urinary tract system. The class moans with “eww” at the sight of the penis and has a similar response when a girl says women pee from their vagina.

“I’ve been here for four years,” says Pastor. “It takes experience to learn classroom management skills.”

Pastor is friendly but strict. A hanging “Wall of Shame” poster ousts students who used their cell phones during class.

“The first time they get a warning and the second time we call their parents,” explains Rafael.

A drawn-by-hand pile of poop is next to some of the names.

As the presentation continues, the students become engaged, and ask questions about donating kidneys and eyeballs.

***

Lincoln is large, yellow, and worn down. The shades on the windows are worn; the desks in any given classroom have various finishes and styles. A statue of the school’s patriarch Abraham Lincoln looks upon the 2,400 students who walk the hallways on a daily basis. I imagine not much has changed since my grandfather went here in the 1950s and his father attended the school before him.

In September, administrators and teachers found out Lincoln High School dropped 22 points on its academic performance index, falling below 600.

“We hit rock bottom,” says Ricardo Rosas, one of the five assistant vice principals who has been at Lincoln since 2001.

Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines ordered the school to shape up. Lincoln responded by creating a new plan designed by not only administrators and teachers, but students and parents, too. They’re converting their five small learning communities to four smalls schools and one pilot charter school. They’re changing the students schedule from six classes a day to block periods.

They’ve even begun improvements by setting up tardy stations that discipline students for being late to class.

“We’re enthusiastic because it’s really our plan,” says Rosas.

Standardized testing is an area Lincoln is trying to improve but it’s an uphill battle. According to Lincoln’s 2009 STAR scores, only 29.7 percent of students score proficient in math, and 24.9 percent in English.

Ayala, who served as a general counselor for five years before becoming the college counselor, says the students have no incentive to pass the STAR because it doesn’t count for a grade or toward graduation.

“I’ve tried telling them better test scores will bring more money to the city and more kids will want to go here so it’ll raise their parents home values but, that’s not relevant to teenagers,” says Rosas.

Rosas says sometimes the teachers don’t even take the tests seriously. One year, a teacher offered their class pizza slices to the first 20 who finished the test first. An unintended consequence was the students speeding through their tests.

While the school tests low, it has a big emphasis on getting students to go to college. Starting in ninth grade, Ayala visits classrooms to tell students their post-graduate opportunities. Throughout the school year, there are workshops for students to learn how to apply to college and get financial aid. Once a week, a representative from Cal State LA, Northridge, or East LA College visits the school and works with students. Students take field trips to different campuses.

Ayala’s office, dubbed “College Corner,” is open most of the day with five computers for students to use. But he says he’s under resourced. His office is a small space, without a printer and copy machine, and too few computers to serve his 465 seniors who are starting to seek financial aid.

What the school lacks in district resources it makes up in outside resources. One such resource is Upward Bound. It’s a federally funded program to help kids get into college. The program, with the East Los Angeles Community Union, puts three counselors on campus to help low income; first generation kids apply to college. The counselors currently help a group of fewer than 10 students, but also help out Ayala with 2,000 more.

Despite the program’s successes, there are still frustrating obstacles. “The kids expect us to hold their hand,” says Andrea Solis with Upward Bound. She says kids have a hard time being independent when filling out applications and applying for student loans, especially when the parents aren’t involved. “We try to show them to be independent. Because when they’re in college, there’s nobody like us there with them unless they go out and find the resources, which they don’t.”

Mayra Perez, a counselor for Upward Bound, says Lincoln’s students are “technology babies.” Perez says students turn in personal statements with text abbreviations like “idk” for “I don’t know.”

“I’ve seen it happen. But the teachers sometimes say, ‘I see your point anyways’ so the kids get away with it,” says Perez.

A major impediment for students curious about college is money. “Students say, ‘if our parents don’t have the $5,000 to go to Cal State LA, then why should we apply in the first place?’” said Ayala. “Then I show them the money they can get from financial aid, and that after paying for school they get to keep the extra money, and they get excited. They realize ‘I can actually make money that way.’ Some even more than their parents.”

A group of 40 kids lined outside of the “College Corner” door just after fourth period started. They heard the former job counselor was looking for 40 kids to work a type of poll. Soon, 40 kids grew to more than 100, each vying for a spot to earn $125 a day. Angelica Moro, a senior looking at all the action, said there used to be jobs for students. But the woman finding those jobs retired, and the school had yet to hire anyone since.

The 40 positions went quickly, and Ayala was left signing late slips for all those students. The students reluctantly strolled back to class, enjoying the company of their friends and sunshine before returning to their teachers.

To read the rest of this series, click here.

To reach Stephaine Guzman, click here.