What is autonomy and what does it mean for my school?
The Los Angeles Unified School District, through its newly created Innovation
Division (iDivision) is engaging the seven school communities in the LMU Family
of Schools (Westchester High School, Orville Wright Middle School, and Cowan,
Kentwood, Loyola Village, Paseo del Rey, and Westport Heights Elementary
Schools) in a dialogue and decision-making process to examine the potential of
becoming autonomous while still remaining part of the District.
For more information about the iDivision, click here for a
detailed concept paper.
Do you have more questions about the iDivision? Check this Frequently Asked Questions Document.
Local Decision Making
The reforms offered through the Innovation Division are, at
their heart, about location, voice, and equity of decision-making in the
educational decisions about students. By supporting local control of budgetary,
human capital, and instructional decisions, combining this with clear
performance expectations, and structuring school-level capacity building
through the inclusion of external network providers, we take an important step
towards making education more accessible and more attuned to the needs of all
stakeholders, particularly the students. The iDivision requires that schools
entering into this new management structure be linked to a local "external
Network Partner" who will be held accountable for success, alongside the
partner schools.
The Role of Loyola
Marymount
University
Loyola
Marymount
University, through its Family of Schools structure has been invited to
enter into an agreement with LAUSD to function as an “external Network Partner”
on behalf of interested
Westchester
cluster school communities.
Led by its
School
of Education, LMU is uniquely positioned to take on this challenge and set a
bold precedent in doing so. We see this as nothing less than a radical
redefinition of the role of a university in the success of the public school
communities in its region.
Want to learn more about LMU's role in this work? Check the FAQ page here.
The 5 Main Areas of Autonomy
1. Budget- Schools will have the freedom in allocating their budget to specific programs or whatever needs the school is in need of.
2. Professional Development- Schools will have the opportunity to re-hash professional development to meet the needs of their students and programs.
3. Instruction & Assesment- Schools are able to adopt new methods, or keep the current structure, of instruction while adhering to state and federal standards. Additionally, schools will have the freedom in implementing a student portfolio approach to assessment.
4. Staffing- Schools will have the authority to hire new staff without the lengthy process through the main and local districts.
5. Governance- Schools will have authority in all governing and budget activities in their school.
For more information regarding the 5 areas of autonomy, please click the links below:
Budget
Professional Development
Staffing