School Context
107th Street Elementary School is located in South Central Los Angeles, California. 107TH Street School opened its doors in September, 1959 within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Recently, 107th Street elementary became part of The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools in the 2015-2016 school year. 107th street currently has 909 students enrolled. There are 24.4% are African American, 73.4% are Hispanic, 1.9% white, 0.1% Filipino, and 0.2% Pacific Islander. With a diverse staff of 44 teachers and 4 coordinators serving students from ETK- 5th grade, 40% Hispanic, 36% African American, 17% Caucasian, 4% Asian, and 2% Pacific Islander. 107th Street School is a Title I school with 100% free and reduced lunch.
To help identify current levels of student achievement, I am using the Text Reading Comprehension (TRC) Beginning of Year (BOY) data from October of the 2016-17 school year. To assist with referral data, I disaggregated the amount of referrals for African-American males by grade level for the 2015-2016 academic year. The total days lost to suspension for African American males helps us to understand a reason for the amount of far-below proficient in African-American male reading achievement. My goal in triangulating the data is to understand why students are being sent out of the classroom for undesired behavior which affects student achievement and success. The comparison with other sub-groups will show the disparity of referrals and suspensions of African-American males at a disproportionate rate compared to other sub-groups.
The Student Discipline Data Report shows suspensions for African-American students are 9.48% of 232 students compared to 0.91% of 658 Hispanic students. Out of the 83 days lost of instruction 65 were lost to African-American students compared to 18 instructional days for Hispanic students. Out of this data, African-American males represent all data outcomes of suspension data for African-American students collectively. This data chart shows a great disparity of suspension for African-American males compared to any other subgroup especially since 22% of our population is African-American and almost 10% of that population has been suspended compared to almost 1% of Hispanic students which is 76% of our population. Take a second and think about this, does it sound familiar?
The Data chart for African American Male referrals in the 2015-2016 by grade level comes from, "My Integrated Student Information System" (MISIS). Although most referrals are for repeated students, that amounts per grade level gives us a lens that provides us which grade levels to target for more support with teaching African-American males. In addition, out of all these referrals only one student had interventions in place. 107th must collaborate to transform the school culture from a punitive to restorative practices to meet the unique needs of our student population.
The reading data summary was collected from the MCLASS website by ethnicity of African-American students who were at far below proficient during the Beginning of Year (BOY) TRC levels for the 2016-2017 school year. This data chart shows us that 64 African American males are reading at a level far below proficient to their peers. This data coincides with the referral and suspension data. Days lost in instruction due to suspensions or out of the classroom time in office referrals has a direct effect on African-American male’s reading levels.
The plague of marginalization of African American males at 107th Street Elementary is far too similar across the state and nation. It is vital that 107th Street Elementary address the needs of African American males. With all of the systematic racism and discrimination going on in the country and the Black Lives Matters Movement, we need to be vigilant. Optimistically, my project will aide 107th Street Elementary to be committed to our African American males by utilizing restorative practices, implementing culturally relevant pedagogy, and developing teachers through professional development to build a culture of care.
Through the years, 107th Street has regressed from a model school to program improvement 7 years plus, Public School Choice (PSC) process, and recently became part of The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools in the 2015-2016 school year. The Partnership has brought tremendous progress to our school community. The focus on student achievement, blended learning, building school culture, and restorative practices has made a difference within our school community.
Collaboration amongst grade level has increased and common planning is becoming more evident. Finally, we are incorporating restorative circles and "Calm classroom daily," to help reduce undesired behavior. 107th Street Elementary is in the early stages of building a culture to reduce the marginalization of African American males.