LEARN: accountability, policy and performance.

Members of a broad community-based coalition of parents, educators, administrators, business and civic leaders have hammered out the provisions of a comprehensive educational reform plan for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Months-long deliberations of the seven task forces of the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) have culminated in draft proposals which will be consolidated into a unified plan of change to be presented to the School Board for approval later this year.

The cornerstone of the reform agenda calls for decentralization and accountability. Under the plan, decision-making authority would be transferred from a centralized administrative governing body to the principal, teachers and parents at each individual school. The objective is to reduce the bureaucracy, to run schools more efficiently and to make them more flexible and responsive to the specific needs of their community. "What we propose is very radical in that it moves decision-making about how money is spent to the school level," said Virgil Roberts, a founding member of LEARN who also serves as chairman of the Los Angeles Educational Partnership (LAEP). Along with decentralization, the plan foresees greater accountability of school administrators. Success of school policy and budget decisions will be monitored by regularly assessing student achievement through tests, projects, portfolios and by utilizing other measuring tools. Teacher's performance will in turn be controlled by a centralized administration.

Other elements of the plan seek to furnish schools with the tools necessary to implement the reforms with success. They include: professional development of teachers through continued training programs; and increase in parental input; curriculum reforms to facilitate students' transition from school to work; and facilities reform to enable schools to lease existing space in private buildings, such as office complexes, instead of building new schools.

In addition to structural changes, the task force on Professional Development has also outlined the need for a "new school culture." The basic assumption is that meaningful change can only be brought about in a constructive environment. Schools would take their cue from companies whose success often results, to a large extent, from their corporate culture--i.e. the expectations, norms, beliefs, attitudes, systems, and values that influence behavior.

"Schools need to be organized around the goal of continuous improvement, led by a principal who encourages collaborative decision making," said Bob Leo, executive director of the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The thirteen-member Executive Working Group of LEARN, reflects the broad support coming from a variety of advocacy groups. Trustees include Helen Bernstein, president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, Eli Brent of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles and Robert E. Wycoff, chief operating officer of ARCO.

Commitment to systematic change within the LA schools has reached even beyond partisan issues in this election year. United under the LEARN umbrella are, for instance, businessman and lawyer Richard Riordan, a Republican who may run for mayor in the April election, and Democrat Mike Roos, who resigned as Speaker pro Tempore of the California State assembly to join LEARN as president and CEO.

Seven groups were studying the following elements of the reform agenda: Accountability and Assessment; Facilities; Parental Involvement; Professional Development; School Governance; School-to-Work Transition; and Social Services.

Specific provisions of the reform proposals compiled by each task force are not being released until a comprehensive plan has been synthesized, which is expected to happen in August.

In the process, the reforms will be analyzed by legislative experts who will highlight those changes that would need to be made on the federal, state and local levels as well as in school board policy before implementation could take place. At the same time, the proposals will be studied by budget analysts who will assign dollar figures to the various elements of the plan.

Before trustees actively seek community support, the consolidated proposal will have to be presented to the full Council of Trustees (composed of all 632 LEARN members) for ratification. The process will culminate in the presentation to the School Board some time in the late fall.

Roberts said he anticipates no opposition from the School Board, but does foresee problems on the legislative level. "Implementing some of the reforms will require changing legislation at state level which means dealing with some of the sacred cows," he said.

As an example of where he expects resistance he cited one of the reform provisions which calls for giving schools autonomy in selecting their own instructional materials to fit the need of their specific community. Under the current system, the School Board approves, for instance, all textbooks which are then used in every public school. "I anticipate tremendous pressure from lobbyists for textbook publishers," Roberts said. LEARN vice-president Mary Chambers is more optimistic, believing that elected officials will rally around the reform plan after its likely approval by the Board of Education.