Hawthorne School District: Positive Outliers Case Study. Positive Outliers Series

Y

51

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Sandler Foundation

School Districts; Minority Group Students; Racial Differences; Ethnicity; Academic Achievement; High Achievement; Language Arts; Mathematics Achievement; Socioeconomic Status; Predictor Variables; Correlation; African American Students; Hispanic American Students; White Students; Standardized Tests; English Language Learners; Common Core State Standards; Administrative Organization; Equal Education; Professional Development; Special Needs Students; At Risk Students; Values; Objectives; Administrators; Personnel Selection; Employment Qualifications; Instructional Leadership; Barriers; Family Involvement; Elementary Secondary Education; Educational Environment; Trust (Psychology); Interpersonal Relationship; Leadership Responsibility; Capacity Building; Teaching Methods; Asian American Students; Pacific Islanders; Alignment (Education); Social Emotional Learning; Well Being; Positive Behavior Supports; Culturally Relevant Education; Trauma; Enrollment Trends

Serving a working-class suburb of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the Hawthorne School District (HSD) is a small district with 11 schools: seven elementary schools, three middle schools, and one dependent charter high school. HSD's students are predominantly from low-income families (87%). Most students (71%) are Latino/a and about fifth (21%) are African American, with smaller numbers of Asian, Filipino, Pacific Islander, and White students. HSD is one of seven districts studied by researchers at the Learning Policy Institute in a mixed-methods study, which sought to learn from positive outlier districts in which African American, Latino/a, and White students did better than predicted on California's math and English language arts tests from 2015 through 2017, after accounting for differences in socioeconomic status. This in-depth case study complements the research series by describing the critical practices and policies within HSD that have promoted student learning, especially among students of color, in the context of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the deeper learning they seek to foster. Through an analysis of interviews and documents, this case study describes key factors that participants described as central to the district's success.

ERIC

2021

ED610894