Learning Policy Institute Impact Report: How an EduCare ACE Initiative school closes the achievement gap
In May 2021 a Learning Policy Institute study of an EduCare ACE Initiative school, Social Justice Humanitas Academy (SJ Humanitas), gave a close look at how community schools support positive educational outcomes for their students. SJ Humanitas is a public school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) where ninety-three percent of its students are identified as economically disadvantaged. Despite serving a more disadvantaged population, SJ Humanitas continues to outperform their LAUSD peer schools on academic performance, graduation rates, and healthy mindsets and habits. What’s the secret to SJ Humanitas’s success?
A Whole Child Education
At all the schools where we work, EduCare aims to build partnerships with the students, parents, teachers, school counselors, administrators, and community to support the holistic needs of our students. At SJ Humanitas, EduCare’s ACE Initiative program is honored to be a core community partner in providing students with a “whole child education” that supports their well-being and academic achievement through a range of approaches. Throughout the year EduCare’s ACE Initiative provides students with mental health services, college access support, social-emotional learning (SEL) workshops and programs integrated into their daily classes, and afterschool interest clubs and activities. EduCare also supports bringing in external resources when needed to address critical needs that might arise. An example given in this study was how EduCare’s ACE Initiative Coordinator at the school, Jennie Rosenbaum, has played a key role in procuring temporary shelter, food, and resources for students struggling with external challenges so they could meet their essential needs and return to their studies.
“[Families] start to see that I can’t solve their problems for them but that the school is a good center of information. We have connections in the community to say, ‘Go look here.’ Whether it’s for food services, mental health, or even something like donating a refrigerator.” – Principal Jeff Austin
Yielding Positive Results
Learning Policy Institute’s study found that these collaborative partnerships yield enormous positive outcomes by creating learning environments that simultaneously attend to students’ academic, cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and mental health needs. In fact, SJ Humanitas outperforms its counterparts in LAUSD on a number of measures. In the 2018–19 school year, 97% of SJ Humanitas students graduated from high school, compared to 82% in the district, and 95% of students completed eligibility to California’s public university system, which nearly doubled the district rate. On the state’s state assessment, 72% of SJ Humanitas students met or exceeded standards for English language arts, compared to the district average of 53% of students. The study also found that SJ Humanitas students hold a range of important mindsets and habits, such as holding a growth mindset, feeling connected to their school, and being socially aware and self- efficacious, at higher rates than their peers in other district schools that set them up for long-term success.
“I lived in really bad poverty and never saw myself even going to high school or college.... That wasn’t in the plan for me. Orientation [at SJ Humanitas] really got my attention and it made me believe in myself. The teachers and mentors were working with me one-on-one. I became very good at reading, [got] high test scores, and began doing [well] in school, but they were not only focusing on my academics but what I was going through. I was going through very emotional hard stuff. The counselor[s] took their time talking to me and making sure I was OK.... It really stuck with me, knowing that I can seek out help and that I’m not going to be shamed.” – Student
A Vision for What Schools Can Be
We give a huge shout out to the students, parents, educators, and community partners at Social Justice Humanitas Academy for demonstrating what a school can accomplish. EduCare’s ACE Initiative is honored to be a partner in this effort, and we look forward to supporting many more schools with building these types of supports in the months and years to come. As a graduate of SJ Humanitas, Gilberto Ochoa, wisely said, “There’s no point in doing great work if you’re not a good person and you’re not treating those around you well and looking out for their welfare.”
Learning Policy Institute: Social Justice Humanitas Academy: A Community School Approach to Whole Child Education. May 10, 2021. Available in full at https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/social-and-emotional-learning-case-study-humanitas-report
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Read the full Learning Policy Institute report here.
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