Special Kind of Schooling : L.A. Unified Programs Help Students Develop Self-Esteem and Motivation

The Los Angeles Unified School District is offering many programs during the current school year that are designed to motivate, educate and train students--from the very young through adulthood. Here are just a few of the programs offered in the nation’s second-largest school system .

Aid for Homeless Students

PURPOSE: The Coeur D’Alene Avenue Elementary School in Venice offers approximately 70 homeless students extra medical and psychological services, as well as a counselor who works mainly with parents to help them obtain social services. The program also offers computer-assisted instruction in reading and writing.

FUNDING: A $70,000 grant from the Greater Los Angeles Partnership for the Homeless, a private nonprofit agency.

Basic Skills and Pre-Employment Class

PURPOSE: The district offers pre-employment training--including work to beef up basic education skills--through an elective, credit class for approximately 125 students planning to get jobs after completing high school. Students work and attend classes simultaneously so the two experiences can be integrated. The program is coordinated with the Summer Youth Employment Program at Banning, Van Nuys, Fremont, Dorsey and Belmont High Schools.

FUNDING: $357,030 in federal funds under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).

L.A.’s BEST

PURPOSE: Better Educated Students for Tomorrow is an after-school education and child-care program that began in 1988 at 10 schools, with three teachers and teacher’s aides running the programs at each of the schools. The program was expanded in 1989 to include 15 schools, offering 3,000 elementary students a chance to learn and play in safety during after-school hours. In 1989, two new components were added: Four parents, who are longstanding community members, have recently been added at three of the 15 schools to encourage more parent participation and attract more students; and approximately 60 college students from three California State University branches are tutoring fifth- and sixth graders at seven of the schools. Some college students will volunteer, some will be paid $15 per week and others will receive class credits. Five new schools will be added in September, bringing the number in the program to 20.

FUNDING: A two-year, $2-million grant from the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency and a $500,000 grant from the Kaiser Permanente Foundation. California State Universities will pay the salaries of the students who tutor and will absorb some administrative costs.

College-Bound Students

PURPOSE: In this program, which is based at Montague Street School, 54 fifth- and sixth-grade minority students are encouraged to develop the skills, values and attitudes they will need to succeed in college. Students and their parents participate in field trips to local college campuses, and students receive T-shirts that identify them as “Kollege-Bound Kids.”

FUNDING: A $2,222 grant from the California Educational Initiatives Fund (CEIF).

DARE After-School Alternative Program

PURPOSE: An offshoot of the nationally known DARE program, which began in 1983 as a tough anti-drug curriculum in the classroom and is now used in every elementary and junior high school and more than half of the high schools in Los Angeles. In the expanded, after-school DARE program, Muir Junior High School students are participating in a nationwide pilot program designed to enhance personal and social skills as well as to increase students’ pride in themselves, their school and community. After school, students participate in sports, a modeling club, a video production club, drill team and a singing group called “DARE Up With Life.” The program also provides field trips for cultural and educational enrichment. These students are not required to maintain the “C” average that is required of other students who participate in after-school sports.

FUNDING: A grant from the Nancy Reagan Foundation for $36,392.

FATHERS

PURPOSE: Twenty-five youths, ages 16 to -21, who are married or unmarried fathers, are trained for full-time employment in jobs that provide opportunity for advancement and help them understand parental responsibilities. Basic skills and parenting/family life classes are held at the Crenshaw-Dorsey Community Adult School. The Youth Intervention Program in South-Central Los Angeles also will provide training in cabinetmaking, scaffolding construction, computer literacy, computer repair and running a small business. The program’s full name is Fathers, Academics, Technology, Health, Economics, Responsibility and Success.

FUNDING: A $60,000 JTPA grant.

Listen and Learn

PURPOSE: Students can phone in and hear prerecorded messages on drug abuse prevention, self-esteem and the value of education. On the line are celebrities such as Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser, the Lakers’ Michael Cooper, Raiders tackle Bob Golic and disc jockey Rick Dees. There is also a homework hot line staffed by 13 college students from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Assistance information or help with personal problems is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at (213) 250-4555 and (818) 548-9111.

FUNDING: A $350,000 three-year grant from Great American Bank.

Part-Time Jobs Program

PURPOSE: Through the Los Angeles Youth Service Academy project, the city arranges jobs in the Department of Recreation and Parks for 1,000 students who are at risk of dropping out. This project offers clerical, custodial and computer programming positions, as well as work in carpentry, gardening and sports officiating. The students, ages 14-20, who are recommended for the program by counselors at 49 high schools, are required to be enrolled in a high school or a regional occupation center where vocational training is part of the curriculum. This project is scheduled to begin in late March.

FUNDING: A $5-million donation from the Department of Water and Power for the first year.

Pre-Genesis Program

PURPOSE: Think of it as a head start for high schoolers. The purpose of this program is to help 180 youths improve their basic reading and employment skills so they can qualify for the Genesis program, which is designed to keep youths from dropping out. Students in Genesis are required to maintain a 2.5 grade-point average and have a 90% attendance record at school during their senior year. Priority for enrollment in the pre-Genesis program is given to 11th-grade students who are behind in graduation credits, read below grade level and have had little or no work experience. The Pre-Genesis program operates at Locke, Lincoln, Garfield, Roosevelt, Manual Arts and Jefferson high schools.

FUNDING: $380,000 in federal funds through the JTPA.

School Safety Program

PURPOSE: This program is designed to reduce campus disruptions at two schools. At Jordan High School, students are trained as peer counselors skilled in conflict management and resolution. Virgil Junior High School’s program includes crime awareness training for community members and production of a crime prevention video by the students. Approximately 2,700 students--nearly two-thirds of the total student body of the two schools--are expected to have participated by the end of the school year.

FUNDING: A $10,000 grant--$5,000 each for Jordon and Virgil--from the California School/Law Enforcement Partnership, a joint effort of the California State Department of Education and attorney general’s office.

Vision for Architecture

PURPOSE: This effort, with the full name of Student Vision for Architecture/Built Environment Education Program, provides approximately 600 first- through ninth-graders at 21 schools instruction from a teacher and a professional architect. The semester-long program aims at helping students learn the importance of working in harmony with the environment, recognize that they can affect the quality of the environment and gain problem-solving experience with real-life issues.

FUNDING: Co-sponsored by the school district and the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Services of the architects are offered free to the district, and there are no other costs.

Square-Foot Gardening

PURPOSE: Designed to increase 750 students’ self-esteem and awareness of ecological and environmental concerns by allowing them to put together and manage a garden on the campus of Van Nuys Elementary School. Assistance is given by a senior citizens gardening club as well as the agricultural class from Van Nuys High School.

FUNDING: A $4,794 grant from the California Educational Initiatives Fund (CEIF).

Teen Parents Program

PURPOSE: Designed to provide job training and entry-level employment experience to 100 teen-age girls who are pregnant and 10 teen-age fathers who attend one of the district’s programs for school-age parents. Big Sisters of Los Angeles provides 35 mentors, and a psychological counselor works with the youths and other family members.

FUNDING: $675,000 in JTPA funds.

Turning Transiency Into Teamwork

PURPOSE: Transient students who are living temporarily at the Bible Tabernacle shelter are provided with after-school tutoring and projects to boost self-esteem, additional school psychologist time and parent training at the Coeur D’Alene Avenue School. The program is designed to increase student attendance and parent participation in their children’s education. Many of the students in this program also participate in the Aid for Homeless Students program at the school.

FUNDING: A CEIF grant of $11,995.

Video Link Project

PURPOSE: This program integrates video technology into the core curriculum through the production of Video Link, a weekly 15-minute video program that spotlights academic accomplishments, special events and the contributions of community volunteers at Rosemont Avenue Elementary School. Each Friday, Video Link is presented to all students through the school’s closed-circuit television system. Southern California Gas Co. sends volunteers to assist with production in the classroom. Local groups, including the Boy Scouts, PACE Head Start and the Echo Park Coordinating Council, use Video Link in their staff and parent education programs.

FUNDING: A CEIF grant of $6,500.

Literacy Skills at Work

PURPOSE: Provides training for 65 drop-outs and at-risk youths in basic education skills and vocational training in a variety of clerical positions. The program includes on-the-job training, summer youth employment and placement services. Instruction is individualized, based on a student’s skill level, and encompass a variety of teaching methods, including computer assisted instruction, hands-on use of audio-visual equipment and materials, and listening centers.

FUNDING: The federal government has chipped in $1.3 million through the JTPA.