L.A. schools Supt. Michelle King pushes for 100% graduation in her State of the District speech
More magnet programs, more bilingual education programs, more attention paid to preparing the youngest students in L.A. Unified’s system. Above all, more graduates.
L.A. Unified Supt. Michelle King — her contract newly extended until 2020 — laid out her priorities Tuesday morning in a speech that promised to push ever harder for her goal of 100% graduation but offered few new proposals.
The superintendent’s State of the District address, delivered this year at Garfield High School in East L.A., is an annual tradition. The event is part pep rally for the 1,500 administrators in the audience, who will begin a new school year on Aug. 15, and part political performance.
Last year, King used her platform to announce that L.A. Unified’s graduation rate had broken records. It had soared to 77% for the class of 2016 from 72% the year before. It was an ideal introduction for the then-new superintendent and welcome news for a district that has struggled to convince families it should be their first choice for schooling.
This year, King did not reveal the 2017 graduation rate, saying instead that she would wait for the state to put its stamp of approval on the final figure. More than 26,000 high school seniors had earned diplomas, about 85% of their class, she said, offering a statistic that is considered a less comprehensive metric of a district’s academic performance than the graduation rate.
Rather than trumpeting this year's graduation rate, King emphasized L.A. Unified’s falling suspension rates and increasing success with students learning English, as well as the district's ever-expanding number of magnet programs.
She announced that the district is opening 28 new pre-kindergarten programs and that there are plans for 10 new dual-language programs for 4- and 5-year-olds with instruction in either English and Spanish or English and Korean.
“Students have the right to realize their full potential,” King said. “And we collectively have a moral obligation to get them there.”