And now, some good news about schools
The school-within-a-school at Jefferson High is giving students personalized attention and a chance to shine. Jason Song visits the Student Empowerment Academy:
The sound of the Los Angeles Unified School District's preferred future comes from the north end of Jefferson High School's campus. It's loud.
Students at one end of a warehouse-sized classroom mill around computers, their voices reverberating off the concrete floor as they compare notes. At the other end, a math teacher practically shouts to her students.
Although chaos seems to be the order of the day at the Student Empowerment Academy, the small campus has produced some of the biggest academic gains in the district. The school, which is housed on Jefferson's campus but has its own administration and teachers, scored a 638 on the most recent state Academic Performance Index, which measures schools and districts on student test scores in math, English and other subjects. Jefferson scored a 457. The state target for 2007 was 800.
More in Jason's full story about the school.
--Veronique de Turenne
Photo: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times
